HTPC build advice request

Carefree Chris · 5 Apr 2012 at 16:17

Hello all.

I shall hopefully be buying my first house this summer/autumn, and will naturally require an HTPC to store and playback music and 1080p HD video, to complement an Onkyo 509 AV receiver and wharfedale speakers

However, I'm not entirely sure if what I have chosen would be sufficient, so any advice and guidance would be appreciated. Ideally, I'd like the HTPC to be as quiet and low power as possible, and as small as possible, running W7 and XBMC, whilst fitting in 4TB of storage and an external optical drive. Oh and as cheap to buy and run as possible too, but without making it rubbish!

My spec thus far is:

Mobo: ASUS E35-M1-I Deluxe (link is for E45 not E35) [http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-499-AS&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=1949]
RAM: Corsair 1x4GB DDR3 single channel [http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-326-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1180]
HDD: 4GB (2x2GB) WD Caviar Green [http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-374-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1955]
Optical drive: Samsung Bluray [http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-140-SA&groupid=701&catid=10&subcat=314]
PSU: Antec EA380D or Corsair CX430W [http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-059-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084]
Case: Moneual 312, as this is one of the very few that has in-built IR whilst supporting 2 x 3.5" HDD and fits onto standard AV furniture.

You will notice the absence of a SSD, as this would add £65+. Is there anything that could be improved for the same money, or possibly a smaller case as it's quite chunky? Thanks everyone!

chippy08 · 6 Apr 2012 at 22:53

What about

AMD A6-3500 3x2.1Ghz/2.4Ghz HD6530D FM1 65W
ASRock A75M-ITX FM1 CIR USB3.0 SATAIII UEFI mITX

Then add your other bits Mem hard drive etc

Legion · 7 Apr 2012 at 11:14

Get the E45M1 deluxe,it's a great board and perfect for low power HTPC (mine draws 22w playing 1080 mkv's)

If you really must have a case to sit in and complement the rest of your AV gear, google Wesena E5 or E6
The E5 does have room for 2, 3.5" drives and it's simple enough to get more in later should the need arise.

you may at first think they are quite pricey but bear in mind all they will ever need is a change of hardware as time goes on, they are hi-fi/av footprint sized. Unlike buying a cheap and cheerful case now and then regretting it as it will look quite nasty in with the rest of your AV kit.

Have you considered an ITX case and pico psu?
Google Wesena and Streacom.

Avforums also has a huge HTPC forum packed with builds and advice.

saitrix · 7 Apr 2012 at 11:34

Not a bad build, as long as you understand the E350 won't cope with cpu decoded hd video and it does struggle with hd iplayer. Other stuff it is perfect for.

Personally I would use a picopsu for that, a 120W would be enough for that system and keep more heat outside of the case and remove the need for a psu fan. You may just need a silent case fan to keep temps in check.

Carefree Chris · 7 Apr 2012 at 12:22

Legion said:
Get the E45M1 deluxe,it's a great board and perfect for low power HTPC (mine draws 22w playing 1080 mkv's)

If you really must have a case to sit in and complement the rest of your AV gear, google Wesena E5 or E6
The E5 does have room for 2, 3.5" drives and it's simple enough to get more in later should the need arise.

you may at first think they are quite pricey but bear in mind all they will ever need is a change of hardware as time goes on, they are hi-fi/av footprint sized. Unlike buying a cheap and cheerful case now and then regretting it as it will look quite nasty in with the rest of your AV kit.

Have you considered an ITX case and pico psu?
Google Wesena and Streacom.

Avforums also has a huge HTPC forum packed with builds and advice.

Is there much different in performance between the E35 and E45? I know the GPU is a slightly higher spec, but is that it?

I had a look at the Wesenas, but at 390mm deep they're just a few cm too deep if I were to wall mount in the corner, whereas the Moneual is 340mm deep and would fit. But if I'll mount to a flat part of the wall it would fit and would be well worth considering, though it seems the IR is iMon, so would proably be best replaced with a better one.

saitrix said:
Not a bad build, as long as you understand the E350 won't cope with cpu decoded hd video and it does struggle with hd iplayer. Other stuff it is perfect for.

Personally I would use a picopsu for that, a 120W would be enough for that system and keep more heat outside of the case and remove the need for a psu fan. You may just need a silent case fan to keep temps in check.

Hmmm, in that case, is there anything you could recommend that could handle those operations and won't take up much more in terms of power? How about the E45, or is that a similar story?

Wouldn't a Pico PSU leave a great big hole at the back for where the ATX PSU would normally take up?

Legion · 7 Apr 2012 at 12:41

Carefree Chris said:
Is there much different in performance between the E35 and E45? I know the GPU is a slightly higher spec, but is that it?

A few more mhz on the E450 over the E350, the gpu is slighted updated also as you know.
Anytime these cpu's can't use gpu acceleration they will struggle, you can't have such low power usage without compromise, in this case it's very low cpu grunt.

If you will be using HD iplayer and possibly 3D mkv's later down the line the AMD A6 series would be a better choice.
Ivybridge i3's later in the year could be a good choice once we see the final line up and "if" Intel have fixed the 24fps bug in 1080p.

Carefree Chris said:
Wouldn't a Pico PSU leave a great big hole at the back for where the ATX PSU would normally take up?

You just buy a psu blanking plate for a few quid to sort this out.

Carefree Chris · 7 Apr 2012 at 13:06

Legion said:
A few more mhz on the E450 over the E350, the gpu is slighted updated also as you know.
Anytime these cpu's can't use gpu acceleration they will struggle, you can't have such low power usage without compromise, in this case it's very low cpu grunt.

If you will be using HD iplayer and possibly 3D mkv's later down the line the AMD A6 series would be a better choice.
Ivybridge i3's later in the year could be a good choice once we see the final line up and "if" Intel have fixed the 24fps bug in 1080p.

You just buy a psu blanking plate for a few quid to sort this out.

I understand that low power usage comes with compromise, ideally I'm looking for a setup which will have minimum power needs whilst able to play decoded 1080p and iPlayer HD. 3D however, does not really interest me.

Legion · 7 Apr 2012 at 13:54

Carefree Chris said:
I understand that low power usage comes with compromise, ideally I'm looking for a setup which will have minimum power needs whilst able to play decoded 1080p and iPlayer HD. 3D however, does not really interest me.

If the 24fps issue in current (and past for that matter) i3's isn't fixed in Ivybridge cpu's, buy an AMD A34xx/A35xx/A36xx series APU (whichever has the lowest power consumption for your needs) and the ITX board you fancy to go with it.
Any of the A3xxx apu's will play anything you can throw at them and have attractive power usage already.
The gpu is far superior to anything Intel have to offer.

If however the 24fps issue in Intels gpu is fixed in Ivybridge just pick the lowest power consuming i3, you really are making this complicated for yourself.

Carefree Chris · 7 Apr 2012 at 15:00

chippy08 said:
What about

AMD A6-3500 3x2.1Ghz/2.4Ghz HD6530D FM1 65W
ASRock A75M-ITX FM1 CIR USB3.0 SATAIII UEFI mITX

Then add your other bits Mem hard drive etc

Legion said:
If the 24fps issue in current (and past for that matter) i3's isn't fixed in Ivybridge cpu's, buy an AMD A34xx/A35xx/A36xx series APU (whichever has the lowest power consumption for your needs) and the ITX board you fancy to go with it.
Any of the A3xxx apu's will play anything you can throw at them and have attractive power usage already.
The gpu is far superior to anything Intel have to offer.

If however the 24fps issue in Intels gpu is fixed in Ivybridge just pick the lowest power consuming i3, you really are making this complicated for yourself.

I may well then plump for something similar to what chippy suggested earlier, with the A6-3500 CPU and Asus F1A75-M PRO board. Would a Pico PSU still be sufficient, or something a bit beefier, like the Antec? Also, I assume a non-stock CPU cooler would be beneficial, I've seen the Scythe Shuriken Rev.B mentioned a lot.

Legion · 7 Apr 2012 at 17:03

I've used the Asus F1A75-M PRO with an A8-3850 on a 150w pico psu.
You won't have any problems with an A6.
It's a cracking board btw, by far the best of the M-atx FM1 boards available.

The cooler that comes with the A6 is more than sufficient and easily silenced in the bios on the Asus board.
I'm quite anal about noise in my htpc's and never had any issue with the stock hsf supplied with any of the Llano's once silenced in the bios.

Carefree Chris · 7 Apr 2012 at 17:29

Legion said:
I've used the Asus F1A75-M PRO with an A8-3850 on a 150w pico psu.
You won't have any problems with an A6.
It's a cracking board btw, by far the best of the M-atx FM1 boards available.

The cooler that comes with the A6 is more than sufficient and easily silenced in the bios on the Asus board.
I'm quite anal about noise in my htpc's and never had any issue with the stock hsf supplied with any of the Llano's once silenced in the bios.

My only worry about using the Pico is that a PSU calculator suggests that at 85% load, 203W would be required.

Good to hear that board is excellent! Also nice to hear the stock cooler is sufficient, saves a few quid. When you mean silenced, I assume you mean a controlled, reduced speed?

Legion · 7 Apr 2012 at 18:10

Carefree Chris said:
My only worry about using the Pico is that a PSU calculator suggests that at 85% load, 203W would be required.

Good to hear that board is excellent! Also nice to hear the stock cooler is sufficient, saves a few quid. When you mean silenced, I assume you mean a controlled, reduced speed?

If you ran Prime and Furmark on it at the same time, that's about as much stress you can place on the cpu and inbuilt gpu at the same time, look for a few reviews which do this (easily found with a few googles)
It's never going to see those loads in a HTPC unless you foolishy decided to run the above mentioned programs at the same time.

My A8-3850 as described earlier never went over 130w whilst gaming, ever.
You'd be running a cpu with even less power draw than that, and would never even stress it with high intensity games, it's perfectly safe.
I wouldn't say it was if there was any doubt in my mind about yours or anyone elses safety.

Yes the bios of the board will reduce the speed of the fan to keep it quiet.
Again it's perfectly safe and nothing to worry about.

Carefree Chris · 7 Apr 2012 at 18:34

Legion said:
If you ran Prime and Furmark on it at the same time, that's about as much stress you can place on the cpu and inbuilt gpu at the same time, look for a few reviews which do this (easily found with a few googles)
It's never going to see those loads in a HTPC unless you foolishy decided to run the above mentioned programs at the same time.

My A8-3850 as described earlier never went over 130w whilst gaming, ever.
You'd be running a cpu with even less power draw than that, and would never even stress it with high intensity games, it's perfectly safe.
I wouldn't say it was if there was any doubt in my mind about yours or anyone elses safety.

Yes the bios of the board will reduce the speed of the fan to keep it quiet.
Again it's perfectly safe and nothing to worry about.

Ok, lovely. Thanks to you and saitrix and chippy for your help and advice, I appreciate it.

PB94941 · 8 Apr 2012 at 19:56

I wouldnt go for a WD HDD, they are not the most reliable

Carefree Chris · 9 Apr 2012 at 12:21

PB94941 said:
I wouldnt go for a WD HDD, they are not the most reliable

Really? Any other low power HDD you can recommend?

Legion · 9 Apr 2012 at 13:16

Caviar Greens are fine mate.
You won't have issues more than you would with any other brand.