HTPC Advice and Recommendations please

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Thanks for looking in, the situation is that I built my first HTPC a few years ago and have a nice if big Silverstone LC10B-M case (ATX) that I want to reuse. The bits inside were just ones I had spare at the time so it wasnt very well thought out or anything.

What I want to do is upgrade everything inside the case so I can have a nice HTPC that will run 1080p mkv files, bluray movies etc. I was planning on running XBMC with Aeon which looks nice, I havent played with it yet but it looks like a good bit of software.

The PC wont be used for anything else apart from media as I have a gaming PC uptairs.

So basically I would like some ideas for what to put inside.

I need a bluray drive thats a no brainer, I was thinking of using onboard graphics, maybe an 880G chipset ?

paramount to this build will be the noise, want it to be as quiet as possible so I need a quiet CPU cooler and a quiet PSU, I really only want to use 1 case fan, probably volt modded.

I was going to go with an Origen M10 case as they look gorgeous but I just cant justify the expense. As for the bits inside, I just want something that will do the job and be quiet so not worried about cost yet. Not sure if I should go for a large internal HDD with some quiet screws and mounts or play from my 2GB Western Digital external drive.

Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Chris
 
If you're planning on running XBMC on Linux the 880G is a no-go. XBMC Linux only supports acceleration via proprietry nVidia API, so no ATi. Otherwise the 880G or 785G will be perfect.

You have lots of room in that case, why would you not have internal drives? A green version will be quieter and cheaper than an external.
 
Sorry, planning to run it on Windows 7

Will the onboard gfx with an 880G be ok for running 1080p MKVs ?

What CPU should I pair it with ?
 
880G will definitely be fine.

I'd suggest anything from an Athlon X2 235 up, perhaps the 'e' variant. They are cheap, low power but more than fast enough for an HTPC. I have a 245e with a 780G myself.
 
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