HTPC/All-rounder (on a budget!)

terra1 · 27 Jan 2011 at 13:59

Hi All,

Have been trawling through lots of threads relating to building a htpc/small form factor pc and have been trying to spec my own budget restricted one which will be used for the following:

Some HTPC duties - films/music to xbmc
General web surfing and MS Office stuff.
Some basic HD video editing (tidying up home videos)

I've put together the following and was wondering if someone could let me know if it would be any good for my requirements.

Intel Core i3 540 Dual Core Clarkdale 32nm, 3.06GHz
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair DDR3 PC3-10666
Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2, Intel H55 Express,micro ATX
1TB Samsung HD103SI EcoGreen F2, SATA 3Gb/s
CIT MTX001B, Black, mini-ITX Case with 300W PSU
(am open for suggestions for HTPC/Mini cases though)

The above is coming in at around £260 at present. The maximum I want to spend is £300 (exc monitor)

Does this sound acceptable or do I need to through some more money at it? (really don't want to!!)

Thanks in advance.

Baboonanza · 28 Jan 2011 at 09:18

- You mobo is mATX but your case is mini-ITX. I think you'd find it wouldn't fit

- I would strongly suggest getting a GPU if you intend to do video editing and HTPC stuff on it. The Intel IGP is ok for desktop stuff but not much else. An alternative would be an AMD chip with onboard GPU, say 785/890 chipset.

jellybeard999 · 28 Jan 2011 at 12:49

I don't know the onboard GPU stands but;

a) video editing does not depend on a GPU AT ALL
b) make sure the onboard GPU has DXVA and passes through the HD audio codecs

terra1 · 28 Jan 2011 at 13:38

Thanks to both of you for the responses.

Good point on the mobo/case!! Like the look of the case - does anyone know of a similar one that accomodates mATX?

From what I read I thought that mobo was fine for HD content. I thought video editing would be more processor/ram reliant?

Cheers,

Tim

danewesley · 28 Jan 2011 at 15:02

i know its £40 over budget but all round better components, i would be careful buying no brand psu's etc, id rather spend the extra and get all trustworthy products.

jamesfreddie · 9 Feb 2011 at 17:34

danewesley said:
i know its £40 over budget but all round better components, i would be careful buying no brand psu's etc, id rather spend the extra and get all trustworthy products.

+1

terra1 · 10 Feb 2011 at 14:18

Thanks for the suggestions - looks like a good setup to me and I've seen that the Lian Li is a popular choice. Would rather a htpc style case if possible though - anyone know of a half decent cheap one?

I've also got 40gb and 60gb HDD's kicking around - would it be a good idea to use one for OS and then the 1tb purely for media storage?

Cheers

Tim

neil_g · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:45

you definately wont get 2 3.5" hard drives in the Q07 with an optical drive present.

Code13 · 22 Feb 2011 at 22:05

danewesley said:
i know its £40 over budget but all round better components, i would be careful buying no brand psu's etc, id rather spend the extra and get all trustworthy products.

That's a good build and I agree with getting a good power supply.

Though you hear the occasional horror stories and sometimes I think it may just be selection bias (those who have bad PSU's complain vocally, but for the people it works fine for never say anything). Then again high quality PSUs are more likely to actually perform at their rated wattage.

Myocardial Inf · 23 Feb 2011 at 15:32

neil_g said:
you definately wont get 2 3.5" hard drives in the Q07 with an optical drive present.

You can but you need to use one of these: Lian Li EX-553X 5.25" to 3.5" HDD & Slim Optical Drive Bay Converter
and purchase a slim DVD drive such as: LiteOn DS-8A3S 8x DVD±RW SATA Drive - OEM

Alternatively you could go for another of the Lian-Li range with more 3.5" drive bays but it's going to push up cost by between £20-60 over using the slim optical converter. Running an mitx build in the Q07 myself, it's not a case I would really recommend to anyone other than being a cheap lian-li as it's expansion capabilities are a little poor.

neil_g · 23 Feb 2011 at 16:24

Myocardial Inf said:
You can but you need to use one of these: Lian Li EX-553X 5.25" to 3.5" HDD & Slim Optical Drive Bay Converter
and purchase a slim DVD drive such as: LiteOn DS-8A3S 8x DVD±RW SATA Drive - OEM

Alternatively you could go for another of the Lian-Li range with more 3.5" drive bays but it's going to push up cost by between £20-60 over using the slim optical converter. Running an mitx build in the Q07 myself, it's not a case I would really recommend to anyone other than being a cheap lian-li as it's expansion capabilities are a little poor.

true, i was talking about a full size optical drive.

personally i prefer to run an SSD in mine and use a NAS for storage.

Myocardial Inf · 23 Feb 2011 at 19:10

neil_g said:
true, i was talking about a full size optical drive.

personally i prefer to run an SSD in mine and use a NAS for storage.

Certainly the direction I'm moving in.

buttkinz · 24 Feb 2011 at 11:10

I'd recommend at least a ati 4350 if your making a htpc, iv just built one and for tv and videos etc this card is stunning, I could never go back to integrated graphics after this.