HTPC 4 ME

Mitzy

Mitzy

Mitzy

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Joined
1 May 2012
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734
Location
London
I'm speccing up a build, I already have a Lian Li C50 and a 530 Corsair PSU.

Now some things about the spec, don't judge me but I'm going with the cheapest IB i7 I know I don't need it but it will satisfy an urge so it's non negotiable. I was looking at something like the Asus ROG matx board as it seems to tick all the boxes but do I really need it?

I specced up a build that was just shy of £700, it included the CPU and Mobo as described above, cheap Samsung BR player, 8gb Samsung Green memory, 120 GB crucial M4 SSD and a 2tb drive for £90 odd quid.

I was using the SSD as primary for OS and the larger drive for media, figured it would be quiter because when I wasn't watching/listening to anything it would spin down. The MOBO is where I see the biggest saving potentially, what do you think?

Sorry for not linking to everything but I'm on my phone.
 
You are planning a HTPC build with an i7 - thats just wrong.

My HTPC uses a G620 and my mums uses an old Athlon 4000+ and neither of them have any issues at all.

I agree with the SSD part of the HTPC, I have a crucial c300 in mine and I generally only sleep it which means from turning it on to being usable is about 5 seconds.

Oh and to add my mums HTPC set me back about a third of your £700 and that included Windows 7 retail!!!
 
pepp77 said:
You are planning a HTPC build with an i7 - thats just wrong.
Click to expand...

Completely agree.

Absolute waste of cash. One of the new Ivy Bridges with HD4000 Intel Graphics could replace your i7 and has the graphics umph you might need. And it would be cheaper than an i7.

Any small motherboard would work fine, as its an HTPC you probably aren't looking to overclock, so its looking at connectivity for hard drives, TV tuners etc. If you use a TV tuner you can record TV. You would probably want to get a case with an IR reciever, or get an external one so you could use a remote with it and Windows Media Center or something like that.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3450 3.10GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £145.99
1 x Corsair Force Series 3 90GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F90GB3-BK) £103.99
1 x MSI Z77MA-G45 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard £93.60
1 x Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (ST2000DL003) £89.99
1 x Compro VideoMate E900F Dual Tuner TV Card - Retail £84.98
1 x LG CH10LS28 BD-ROM 10x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £59.99
1 x Samsung Green 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit (MV-3V4G3D/US) £53.99
Total : £644.53 (includes shipping : £10.00).



Something like this?

Edit: realised you already had case and PSU, changed to reflect that, you could spend spare cash on bigger SSD(which in my opinion would be a little pointless) or a bigger HDD? Or you could get rid of the TV tuner from this spec and use the rest of the money on whatever :D
 
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Meh @ HTPC altogether.

Build a home server + use a low power extender
 
Rooster, Pepp & idleman thanks for the input, food for thought on the SSD/ram and CPU.

I might trade down to the i5, I'll ditch the tv cards though, both the builds specced had 5900 rpm drives, aren't they slower than the 7200?

When I get home I'll respec a couple of configurations and post back again.
 
Mitzy said:
Rooster, Pepp & idleman thanks for the input, food for thought on the SSD/ram and CPU.

I might trade down to the i5, I'll ditch the tv cards though, both the builds specced had 5900 rpm drives, aren't they slower than the 7200? OK for storage.

When I get home I'll respec a couple of configurations and post back again.
Click to expand...
 
Idleman said:
i3

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £94.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £91.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (ST2000DL003) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77M-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £86.99
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM / DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £60.98
1 x Compro VideoMate S900 True-HD DVB-S/S2 TV Tuner Box with Remote Control £43.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £39.95
Total : £520.88 (includes shipping : £10.00).

Click to expand...

I like this BUT remember the SB IGP has issues with bluray playback. So the OP will need a cheap GPU.

An AMD llano system would have a better IGP (so no need for a GPU) but in all honesty i would favour the intel socket as it caters to more CPUs. Just incase you ever want the system to be more than a HTPC.

Idlemans choice of SSD is better. You could use the smaller 64GB M4 but it writes slower than it's bigger bro. Nothing worng with the eco storage drive he has chosen either.....nice work bud!
 
I've just done a quick respec and your suggestions have knocked £100 off, how do I paste in the basket like you guys have?
 
honosuseri said:
I like this BUT remember the SB IGP has issues with bluray playback. So the OP will need a cheap GPU.

An AMD llano system would have a better IGP (so no need for a GPU) but in all honesty i would favour the intel socket as it caters to more CPUs. Just incase you ever want the system to be more than a HTPC.

Idlemans choice of SSD is better. You could use the smaller 64GB M4 but it writes slower than it's bigger bro. Nothing worng with the eco storage drive he has chosen either.....nice work bud!
Click to expand...

What are the issues with IB & BR, I really would prefer not to get a GPU at this stage.
 
honosuseri said:
I like this BUT remember the SB IGP has issues with bluray playback. So the OP will need a cheap GPU.

An AMD llano system would have a better IGP (so no need for a GPU) but in all honesty i would favour the intel socket as it caters to more CPUs. Just incase you ever want the system to be more than a HTPC.

Idlemans choice of SSD is better. You could use the smaller 64GB M4 but it writes slower than it's bigger bro. Nothing worng with the eco storage drive he has chosen either.....nice work bud!
Click to expand...

I have no noticeable issues with blu-ray playback via TMT in WMC using the G620 onboard GPU on a H67 mobo. What issues are you specifically referring to?
 
you are wasting your money buying an i7/i5 system for an HTPC setup UNLESS you intend to use the system for other purposes. save your money and buy a Llano system
 
After lots of thought, this is my current build. I've dropped the SSD and BR player for now, I can always add those in the future.

I do expect to do a little conservative over clocking (maybe 4GHz) and I realise that I don't have an aftermarket cooler. So the CPU cooler is on the todo list along with the other 2 items, it's really hard to find something that would fill my needs though, must be lowprofile and decent. Suggestions?

Thoughts on RAM, I know it's overkill but it's so cheap, is it worth while paying the extra for proprietary sticks, is there much difference to be seen going for faster speeds?

Oh and I know this spec is overkill but it's making me smile and that's what counts at the end of the day :o Also if I'm in the mood at a later date I can chuck in a moderate GFX card of some description and have some gaming fun.

This is the existing case.

The PSU is a Corsair 520W Modular jobby from about 4 years ago, hasn't been in use for the last 2.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Asus Z77 Maximus V Gene Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £150.98
1 x Logitech diNovo Edge - Retail (967685-0120) £124.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £99.95
2 x OcUK Value 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit £29.99 (£59.98)
Total : £627.89 (includes shipping : £10.00).

 
Well I pushed the button.

Bought an IBI7K, Asus MVG, 16 GB Samsung Green and the Logitech Dinovo Edge. This is going to be sweet!

Delivery is due Friday so I should be a happy camper when I get home from work.
 
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