First HTPC thoughts/advice

ValiantUK91

ValiantUK91

ValiantUK91

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so planning on building a HTPC but i have no idea what parts to use, after searching a few forums ive come up with a list of parts that may be suitable.

will probably run linux instead of windows.

Amd A4-6300(stock cooler)
Asus A78M-A FM2 Matx Mobo
Corsair 500w builder series PSU (Overkill i know but i have it lying around)
4GB or 8GB ddr3 ram
64gb ssd (Os drive)
1tb or 2tb storage drive
TBS 6280 DVB-T2HD Freeview card (currenly got a youview box so it will replace that)

will all be thrown into a corsair air 240 i have lying around

more than likely im missing something.

Any advice or changes you would make?
 
Where is this going to sit? I've seen quite a few complaints about noise from that stock cooler so if it's going to be in your living room you may want to consider a custom cooler or a cooler running platform altogether.

Just a thought.
 
Will be sitting under my TV dont think the cooler will be an issue as I'll have my sound coming through my soundbar so I'm guessing that will drown out the noise.

Thinking of going Intel now though and going for a g3258 or something similiar.
 
Looks okay, I know it's a HTPC but I would suggest something a little more powerful.

I don't really understand why HTPC's have to have such pathetic specs.

My HTPC is currently housing a i7-920 with GTX960, powerful enough for some gaming yet quiet enough when not under load to go unnoticed, hand-me-downs from main system.
 
Shocky-FM said:
Looks okay, I know it's a HTPC but I would suggest something a little more powerful.

I don't really understand why HTPC's have to have such pathetic specs.

My HTPC is currently housing a i7-920 with GTX960, powerful enough for some gaming yet quiet enough when not under load to go unnoticed, hand-me-downs from main system.
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I use an old amd x2 64 (circa 2007)with an old nvid 210 gpu 2gb ram, it does everything a htpc should do, why does it need to be more powerful?
 
good choice though an APU is usually better for these builds, because you can have the smallest case that will fit an ssd and a storage and a decent size power supply those small form factor ones are good if you dont need more than 350w so long its not the old E350 as while its decent, cant run games well and cant run 1080p well either.

unless you plan to game you would only need a 5450/210/610 and 4gb ram.
 
used to have that exact TV tuner card myself,

been using an athlon 5350 onboard graphics good enough for steam streaming @ 1080p 60fps, whilst recording two HD channels at the same time and sending a recorded program to a xbox360 with zero hiccup to any of them.

had a lot more success with a HD homerun instead of the TBS though, actually thinking of downsizing my case and motherboard of the HTPC as it no longer needs a pcie slot

oh, and the entire system pulls just 24w idle form the wall [cpu, SSD / 500gb 7200rpm scratch drive] is probably a lot less but i only have a CX430 to hand which isn't going to be very efficient at such low wattage
 
Noise is a real issue when the pc is in the sitting room. for example, when you're recording a tv show but not watching tv/listening to music, you want the pc to be whisper quiet. i.e as few fans as possible and therefore you want a system with modest power consumption.

I use an old socket 775 mobo with 4GB RAM. I just upgraded the cpu from an E7200 to a Q9300 (for £17) just to keep the system running well for a while yet. I can play back blue ray just fine using powerdvd. Recording multiple simultaneous Freeview shows whilst also watching tv, uses very little cpu as the tv stream is just written to disk with virtually no processing.

Have you sorted our an IR receiver and remote control?

I use Nextpvr for all my tv recording stuff. I think it's unbeatable. there is a plugin to work with kodi for people who prefer to use kodi as a frontend.
 
Mine runs great as a HTPC with the fan replaced by a corsair sp120 quiet.

It still overclocks to 4.5 and is a very competent gaming and photo/video processing rig.

Only problem is it gets a bit noisy when gaming but that doesn't bother me at all, even withoutngeadphones.
 
In the end I didn't get the freeview card ive managed to get a friends and family discount on virgin.

It runs quite I only have 1 fan in which is silent I can hear the stock cooler now and then looking to get a replacement for it but first km after a new case as I want the htpc to sit in my AV unit instead of sitting next to it on the floor.
 
Shocky-FM said:
Yes, I'm sure it handles MadVR with GPU acceleration just fine. :D
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dont need it I can play full fat BR rips, and stream at same time to another player
also the image processing in modern tv's is far superior to pc based real time processing

and it only supports windows
RUNS ON:
Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8 / 10
 
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i quite like madvr, to dont think our few years old samsung can match it without doing horrible things to other scene types with way oversharpening
 
Shocky-FM said:
It's crap on my Samsung TV's, streaming anything to it from windows looks like a horrible murky mess.
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sounds like crushed blacks effect, if your playing back films

Use limited color range (16-235)instead of full color range (0-255). Limited range should be used if your display is a regular HDMI TV, while full color range should be used if your display is a PC monitor.
 
pingu666 said:
i quite like madvr, to dont think our few years old samsung can match it without doing horrible things to other scene types with way oversharpening
Click to expand...
your probably still using factory settings for the tv

run through this guide Picture perfect

For setting up the sharpening I paused a br playback that had straight lines in it eg a table. Then adjusted the sharpening so the straight edge looked as good as possible.
 
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