Budget HTPC Build

Nutkin · 21 Jul 2013 at 21:46

Intel Pentium G2120
Asus P8H77-I Mini ITX LGA1155
4Gb Memory
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM
Cooler Master Elite 120
Corsair Builder 430W

Can anyone suggest any modifications to either make this cheaper, or anything I could adapt to make it better for watching HD on my TV.

I used to use one of those all in one Atom330 boards but it has fried itself beyond repair. I'm guessing anything is better than the slow performance of that machine.

RJC · 21 Jul 2013 at 21:48

Can you remove the link please and check the FAQ regards competitors

Nutkin · 21 Jul 2013 at 22:03

Sorry, I guess indirectly its competition lol. Didn't think.

Nutkin · 21 Jul 2013 at 22:04

Also I am wondering if it would be cheaper to move to an AMD processor instead but I am also aware heat is an issue with small form factor pcs.

teppic · 21 Jul 2013 at 22:36

Heat's not an issue with AMD APUs. I'd go for one of those in a mini-ITX HTPC system. They've got lower power usage at idle and perform well. Which one depends on whether you want it to be more capable of gaming / 3d stuff.

Doomedspeed · 21 Jul 2013 at 23:01

teppic said:
Heat's not an issue with AMD APUs. I'd go for one of those in a mini-ITX HTPC system. They've got lower power usage at idle and perform well. Which one depends on whether you want it to be more capable of gaming / 3d stuff.

As said here ^

An AMD APU will be a lot better Graphically than a rig with no GPU and due to the lack of stress the CPU will be under you can get a good chip for a low price.

Something like this would be good:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI A75IA-E53 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £69.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £68.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £49.99
1 x AMD A6-5400K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD540KOKHJBOX) £47.99
1 x Lian Li PC-Q07B Mini-ITX Case - Black £45.95
1 x Thermaltake Smart 430W '80 Plus' Power Supply £37.99
1 x OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £357.77 (includes shipping : £16.60).

You can cut back on somethings if over budget.

I wouldn't think you'd use a lot of RAM so 4GB would be fine (though 8Gb is nice)

Optical drive can be scapped if you already have one/have no need to use one.

A6 processor can be swapped for an A4, the A6 just gives you a bit more "umphh" and a better on-board GPU..

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI A75IA-E53 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £69.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £68.99
1 x Lian Li PC-Q07B Mini-ITX Case - Black £45.95
1 x AMD A4-5300 3.40GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD5300OKHJBOX) £37.99
1 x Thermaltake Smart 430W '80 Plus' Power Supply £37.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34096M1600HC11DC) £29.99
1 x OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £327.77 (includes shipping : £16.60).

teppic · 21 Jul 2013 at 23:28

You can even go down to 350W easily on one of these. I've got a Silverstone SG06 ITX case with a 350W Be Quiet PSU and it runs the A10-6800K fine (even overclocked to 4.7GHz). And with a £20 Coolermaster low profile fan it's silent and cool at normal loads, can't hear anything at all.

Nutkin · 22 Jul 2013 at 00:02

What fan have you got teppic.

I think thats solved it AMD will be cheaper. Not got a need for the DVD drive as I have a Blu Ray drive already on my desktop upstairs which I just dont need.

Gaming is going to be an option, so i will start with 1 4gb stick and internal graphics but with a view to upgrade later on when say GTA 5 is out.

teppic · 22 Jul 2013 at 00:08

I've got a Coolermaster GeminII M4. Should fit fine in any ITX case as it's not very high, but you can't use it with RAM with large heatsinks.

If you want it for some gaming too I'd go for an A8 or A10 model instead, as they're not only faster CPUs but the graphics are better too. Remember you're not going to be playing demanding games on high settings on this APU but it's fine for most games at 1080p with lowered settings, and a lot of older stuff on high. It'd be better to get 2x4gb because one stick will hit performance. You could always stick in a PCI-E graphics card later, of course.

Nutkin · 22 Jul 2013 at 00:14

i think that would be the plan, the cpu compare says the A6-5300k is underpowered compared to the G2020 but It also says when overclocked it is unstoppable. Considering most games barely support 2 cores. A nicely overclocked amd processor looks like it could be great.

If i wanted to game though i would definitely double up the ram and install a graphics card.

teppic · 22 Jul 2013 at 00:23

The A8-5600K is well priced, and includes Sim City (worth about £15 if you sell it). You get quad core there, and with the new consoles, games will all be using 4 cores well. Ones like Crysis 3 and BF3 already do. I'd definitely be more inclined to go with that for that reason if you want the best gaming performance.

Otherwise the A6-5400K is a good low cost choice, it'll never struggle with HTPC stuff.

Doomedspeed · 22 Jul 2013 at 08:01

Make sure if your getting an APU for gaming get the fastest RAM your board will support. It helps no-end for FPS.

Marine-RX179 · 22 Jul 2013 at 12:22

Doomedspeed said:
Make sure if your getting an APU for gaming get the fastest RAM your board will support. It helps no-end for FPS.

Am I the only one who's thinking...if one have to spend £125 on a A-10 6800K and pay a £20-£30 premium for high speed DDR3 memory, people would be better off just getting a G2020/G2120 (faster than the overclocked A10, with only exception to games that utilize all 4 cores fully- in which case both would become more or less on par with each other) and get a 7750 which already got GDDR5 memory onboard (G2020£45 or G2120 £60 + 7750 £70= £105 or £130).

Also with the socket 1155, at least there's upgrade path for going from the G2020/G2120 to a i5 in the future (which can easily increase the CPU performance by more than double)...whereas for the FM2 board there would be no hope for upgrade which would significantly improve on CPU performance side of things.

Doomedspeed · 22 Jul 2013 at 12:44

Marine-RX179 said:
Am I the only one who's thinking...if one have to spend £125 on a A-10 6800K and pay a £20-£30 premium for high speed DDR3 memory, people would be better off just getting a G2020/G2120 (faster than the overclocked A10, with only exception to games that utilize all 4 cores fully- in which case both would become more or less on par with each other) and get a 7750 which already got GDDR5 memory onboard (G2020£45 or G2120 £60 + 7750 £70= £105 or £130).

Also with the socket 1155, at least there's upgrade path for going from the G2020/G2120 to a i5 in the future (which can easily increase the CPU performance by more than double)...whereas for the FM2 board there would be no hope for upgrade which would significantly improve on CPU performance side of things.

Your right,

Though If (if being the major factor) the 7750 is bottlenecked by the chip, the A10 would be a better chopice as it doesn't have this issue.

It also has the ability to double up with the 6670 or 7750 to increase the performance even more where as adding a 7850 (lets say) to a G2120 system may have a fairly big bottleneck.

Its a tough decison but you have 2 good options.

teppic · 22 Jul 2013 at 13:27

If the machine is primarily an HTPC, the APU is fine, and has no problem with light gaming without any extras. I wouldn't recommend the A10-6800K normally, the price is too high. The A8 above would make a very good base, and after selling Sim City is only about £50. The A10-5800K is basically a slower clocked 6800K, but is £25 cheaper.

I'd avoid the G2120 - it'd need a graphics card for even basic gaming, it's a poorer performer than an A8, and even with a discrete card it can be very weak in modern gaming:

http://techreport.com/r.x/amd-fx-8350/crysis-99th.gif

I'd probably get the best APU within budget and see how it goes. I mean, my A10-6800K can run Half Life 2 at max settings 1080p at 60fps smoothly. It's not exactly Crysis 3 I know, but that's pretty decent performance for a single chip.

Nutkin · 22 Jul 2013 at 17:44

Marine-RX179 said:
Am I the only one who's thinking...if one have to spend £125 on a A-10 6800K and pay a £20-£30 premium for high speed DDR3 memory, people would be better off just getting a G2020/G2120 (faster than the overclocked A10, with only exception to games that utilize all 4 cores fully- in which case both would become more or less on par with each other) and get a 7750 which already got GDDR5 memory onboard (G2020£45 or G2120 £60 + 7750 £70= £105 or £130).

Also with the socket 1155, at least there's upgrade path for going from the G2020/G2120 to a i5 in the future (which can easily increase the CPU performance by more than double)...whereas for the FM2 board there would be no hope for upgrade which would significantly improve on CPU performance side of things.

I like this thinking better and have gone with the 2020 chip seeing as it just has the better upgrade path. I will just wait for a nice discount on here for something half decent. Right now I am just focussed on getting my HTPC back up and running.