Advice for a XBMC build

Mdanger

Mdanger

Mdanger

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Joined
15 Feb 2012
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41
Hi,
I'm looking at maybe building a HTPC for the sole purpose of running XBMC. I only have around £150 to spend if this is doable. I have win8 so I don't need an OS and maybe an old HDD kicking about somewhere.

Many thanks in advance for any guidance you can give me.
 
Me and friends have all bought Gigabyte GA-E350N-WIN8 http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4461#ov I am using one with a small ssd, 2gb of memory and Fusion Openelec XBMC and it works fantastically. 1080p no problem with no skipped frames etc. Very cheap as well at about £48 all you have to add is a stick of memory, small SSD (It helps if you are using Aeon Nox to reduce/remove the slight stutter when browsing movieart) case and PSU. The fan is nice and quiet as well and it uses very little power. :)
 
The E350N is fairly old now and is soundly beaten by the AMD A4-5000 APU, which would be perfect for this if only you could buy the damn thing. The only way to get is currently is in an overpriced ZBOX / ugly HP desktop.
 
I was thinking about the Ouya but i think i would prefer a HTPC. Thanks for the help guys you have gave me some great stuff to llok at. How user friendly is Open elec?
 
I got hold of a HP DC7900 (E8400 & 4GB) for £70 on the bay. Added a HD6450 and had a working XBMC box for £100. I already had a 2TB & 3TB HDD so added both these drives in and it's performed great.
 
In that price range you might get something like an Acer Revo RL70 or RL80 if they're still available. I have one running openelec. It's easy to install, just need a few USB drives
 
 
A dirt cheap A4 FM2 APU can be had for £30. That'll have all the power you'll need for normal HD playback.
Suitable mobo's for between £60 and £75, depending on how well featured you want your HTPC to be.
As for ram, well 4GB of no nonsense DDR 3 is no more than £30.

That's just the basics and all new, of course. A case, psu and possible HDD's might start messing with this budget though.

Doing it 'on the cheap' is perfectly possible, but there is an argument for doing it properly and not having to mess with it for the foreseeable future, which I've always felt is the aim of a properly sorted HTPC.
 
OcUK Opera Media Case - Black (with 500W PSU)

MSI H61M-P31-G3 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard

Intel Celeron G530 2.40GHz Socket LGA 1155 Processor - Retail

Sapphire HD 6450 HM 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Would something like this work? I would love to spend a lot more than the £150 much it's just not that at this time :(
 
I'm struggling to find this opera case you mention on OcUK's website?

But knowing your happy to go for something bigger with a micro atx size motherboard makes it easier. This would in my opinion be a better build than yours above.

Theres no need for a sperate GPU as the CPU has one built inthat will work with that board. Assuming you have your own HDD you can use you can remove the small SSD from this bringing it down to £150. I'd personally try and get a small SSD if you can though as it will make the machine feel much faster than it's true specs.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus H81M-K Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £37.99
1 x Kingston 30GB SSDNow S200 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3 2.5" (9.5mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SS200S3/30G) £35.99
1 x OcUK Value Black Slim Micro Case 300W PSU - S003B £35.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £31.99
1 x Intel Celeron G1820 2.7GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £29.99
Total : £184.85 (includes shipping : £10.75).

 
BinnsY said:
I'm struggling to find this opera case you mention on OcUK's website?

But knowing your happy to go for something bigger with a micro atx size motherboard makes it easier. This would in my opinion be a better build than yours above.

Theres no need for a sperate GPU as the CPU has one built inthat will work with that board. Assuming you have your own HDD you can use you can remove the small SSD from this bringing it down to £150. I'd personally try and get a small SSD if you can though as it will make the machine feel much faster than it's true specs.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus H81M-K Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £37.99
1 x Kingston 30GB SSDNow S200 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3 2.5" (9.5mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SS200S3/30G) £35.99
1 x OcUK Value Black Slim Micro Case 300W PSU - S003B £35.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £31.99
1 x Intel Celeron G1820 2.7GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £29.99
Total : £184.85 (includes shipping : £10.75).

Click to expand...

No HDMI?
 
 
Noob alert, never used XBMC before but what is the difference in just installing XBMC to a laptop as apposed to buying all this gear?
 
I have just found an old asus v3-m2v890 hiding in my attic but I can't find any reall info on it. Was wondering if this could be used with the addition of a graphics card or some other essentials
 
Quinnaay said:
Noob alert, never used XBMC before but what is the difference in just installing XBMC to a laptop as apposed to buying all this gear?
Click to expand...

The laptop would need to be on for all the time you want to watch movies. Most people just want a small device such as the Pi that they can install and then just forget about (leaving it on all the time).
Laptops can also be pretty noisy.
 
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