Could someone spec me a very budget htpc?

withnailuk · 16 Jan 2013 at 21:41

Hi peeps, as the title suggsts im in the market for a cheap htcp. I would like to spend no more then £170 on this system. I would like it to stream 1080p from xbmc and of course handle my large mkvs. I would also like it to have 5.1 surround sound. Hd does not have to be that large as i have externals maybe 350gb or the like. Optical would be grand and im not that worried about a dvd drive. I have looked at the acer revo and thought maybe a self build could get me better specs.

I have built a pc before but that was over 4 years ago and that was not a htpc, which i must be honest ,i have not got a clue about. so any help would be great.

Name · 17 Jan 2013 at 08:53

withnailandi are in the same position! ....withnailandi? ok that was bad.

Im looking at a cheap HTPC for the parents as the laptop they use in the living room is going to die a death soon.

Was thinking of putting a small HTPC next to the TV stand so they can surf the internet/play films or TV (iplayer)

paradigm · 17 Jan 2013 at 09:58

If you use some 2nd hand parts pretty much anything is possible.

I managed to build a Core i3-2100 build into a BitFenix Prodigy for under £200, an Asrock H61M-ITX, with 8GB of RAM, a 40GB SSD & 1TB HDD, and an MSI 5850 Twin Frozr II video card.

The case was B-Grade, as was the PSU (some XFX thing around 500W IIRC), the RAM was new, and the motherboard, CPU, GPU, SSD and HDD were used.

This does my GF proud for any gaming she cares to throw at it

withnailuk · 17 Jan 2013 at 11:38

MSI H61M-P31-G3 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £35.99

Intel Celeron G530 2.40GHz Socket LGA 1155 Processor £31.19

Sapphire HD 6450 HM 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £26.99

Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz £23.98

What about these for a start still need case , sound card for optical and hd.

ZXSpectrum · 17 Jan 2013 at 12:32

Yeah i think a lot of it depends what case you would be happy with.

I would go for:

AMD A6-5400
Gigabyte F2A55M-HD2
TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

Thats £113 just get a second hand HDD and optical in whatever case/psu you want, Should have no issues with XBMC.

Deep · 17 Jan 2013 at 13:36

Just get the Acer Revo tbh, it'll do exactly what you want

p1RATE · 17 Jan 2013 at 13:44

im using a HP micro server at the moment, it was £140 after the redemption and i have an AMD 5450 in it which was £20, add a low profile sound card and it qualifies.

passey89 · 17 Jan 2013 at 16:06

withnailuk said:
MSI H61M-P31-G3 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £35.99

Intel Celeron G530 2.40GHz Socket LGA 1155 Processor £31.19

Sapphire HD 6450 HM 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £26.99

Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz £23.98

What about these for a start still need case , sound card for optical and hd.

You don't need a gpu.

I was running at Celeron g540 with a 5450 but my new mobo case all arrived today M-itx and just tried 12GB avengers 1080p film out and it played perfectly no laggy, stutters at all.

ZXSpectrum · 17 Jan 2013 at 16:35

Actually what about one of those Pulse-Eight units? One of their barebones with 4gb stick of memory, cheap/small SSD and Openelec with XBMC distro.. Sorted..