HTPC Build for Dummies

dan.iel

dan.iel

dan.iel

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13 Jan 2016
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11
Morning everyone, As the title suggests, i'm building my first HTPC and need some advice on what components I should get...

Mobo - Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-HD3 (AMD A88X)
CPU - AMD A8 7600 X4 (4x3.1GHz)
RAM - 8GB 1866MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM HyperX Fury Black Series
RAM - 8GB 1866MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM HyperX Fury Black Series
CPU Fan - Cooler Master Hyper TX3 EVO 3 Heatpipes/1x92mm Fan
SSD - 120GB Mushkin SSD SATA-III, Read 555MB/s, Write 525MB/s - Silent
HDD - 1 TB Seagate (1000 GB) SATA-III HDD 7200 RPM 64MB

What are your opinions on the above? Anything you would change? My main aim is to have a powerful dedicated HTPC thats quiet and future proof (to an extent)

Still trying to figure out

Case Fan
Mobo Ethernet LAN
Wireless Network Card (PCI-e)
TV Tuner Card (PCI-e)
Power Supply Unit
Power Cable
DVD/CD Drive

My budget is around £400

Thanks in advance
 
Welcome to the forums.

Is you media stored elsewhere?

You haven't listed a case. If the case is large enough for a full size PSU I have the Nexus NX-5000 R3 530W in my HTPC which is/was one of the top recommended PSUs at silentpcreview and I haven't been disappointed.

I'm using two TBS6280 dual DVB-T2 tuners. I could have picked a quad tuner but I didn't want the risk of being without any TV is the tuner died. I use them with Window Media Centre on Windows 7 and have no problem recording 4 HD channels simultaneously.

You might also need a fan controller to keep the RPMs low. My HTPC is under the TV so needs to be quiet.

Have you decided what software you will use to playback your videos and record TV?
 
I would go with an Intel CPU as they are lower powered, run cooler and hence the cooler fan wont need to run very fast. You only need 4gb ram for HTPC purposes so save some money and use it to buy a low cost GPU with hdmi. I have used GT520, HD5450, HD6750 GPU's in the HTPC's. I assume you will go with either miniITX or microATX so get the smallest case you can that fits with yhe style you want, Silverstone Tek do some very good HTPC cases. I use 300w psu's made by BeQuiet, but in my SFF HTPC it use an Intel Atom processor and a 60w psu.
 
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Mujja said:
Welcome to the forums.

Is you media stored elsewhere?

You haven't listed a case. If the case is large enough for a full size PSU I have the Nexus NX-5000 R3 530W in my HTPC which is/was one of the top recommended PSUs at silentpcreview and I haven't been disappointed.

I'm using two TBS6280 dual DVB-T2 tuners. I could have picked a quad tuner but I didn't want the risk of being without any TV is the tuner died. I use them with Window Media Centre on Windows 7 and have no problem recording 4 HD channels simultaneously.

You might also need a fan controller to keep the RPMs low. My HTPC is under the TV so needs to be quiet.

Have you decided what software you will use to playback your videos and record TV?
Click to expand...

I had media stored on an external hard drive but its now full, so i would probably use the HDD to store media and the SSD to run the operating system. Thinking windows 10 and pretty soon windows 7 will be out dated, no?

Majority of my watching will be streaming and freeview so not too worried about storage for now, if needed, i'll get more at a later date.

I want to keep the case size as small as possible, mini atx sort of size, but i will go bigger in the name of a better quality system.

Im thinking Kodi for the software, only because thats all i know of...

Thank you for the advice on the tuners, i've seen some that are a lot cheaper than the one you are suggesting, i dont know a lot about the cards, is there a big difference between cheap and not so cheap?

Mine will also be under my TV, i picked a low power processor and quiet fan to try and keep the noise down. Will the CPU that ive picked do the job i want it to?

I havent included a graphics card in my set up, do you think it needs one? the CPU has integrated graphics i believe.

Im a bit of a noob i'll be honest :(
 
flowrider99 said:
I would go with an Intel CPU as they are lower powered, run cooler and hence the cooler fan wont need to run very fast. You only need 4gb ram for HTPC purposes so save some money and use it to buy a low cost GPU with hdmi. I have used GT520, HD5450, HD6750 GPU's in the HTPC's. I assume you will go with either miniITX or microATX so get the smallest case you can that fits with yhe style you want, Silverstone Tek do some very good HTPC cases. I use 300w psu's made by BeQuiet, but in my SFF HTPC it use an Intel Atom processor and a 60w psu.
Click to expand...

I picked an AMD CPU because it had integrated graphics and was a lot cheaper, comparatively. Could you suggest an intel chip that would do the same job as the AMD A8?

Reducing the RAM will save me around £30 so good shout!

What is a GPU? Sorry im not familiar with a lot of the abbreviations.

I want to go with as smaller case as possible really, i will look on their site, Thanks!

how does intel atom compare to an i3 for example?
 
GPU = Graphics Card! Got it! sorry haha

So, you'd recommend an Intel chip with seperate graphics card rather than an AMD chip with integrated graphics?

How much difference will it make? Baring in mind im trying to stick to £400 budget
 
dan.iel said:
I picked an AMD CPU because it had integrated graphics and was a lot cheaper, comparatively. Could you suggest an intel chip that would do the same job as the AMD A8?

Reducing the RAM will save me around £30 so good shout!

What is a GPU? Sorry im not familiar with a lot of the abbreviations.

I want to go with as smaller case as possible really, i will look on their site, Thanks!

how does intel atom compare to an i3 for example?
Click to expand...

I have an Intel G3258 in my HTPC, the graphics power of it is more than enough and it is a great chip for general use (i.e. not super-CPU intensive applications). Don't get an atom, an i3 would be good, though I would stick to the cheaper 1150 chipset rather than go 1151.

You don't need that much RAM by a long shot, 8Gb is more than enough.

A GPU is a graphics card.
 
Thanks for the help guys. I've never done this before and the hardest thing for me is matching the compatibility of the components. Dont want to end up buying something i can use or fit into the case lol

I will drop the RAM to 8mb, thought 16 might be over kill
 
would you avoid AMD all together? They are just so much cheaper than intel... is intel really worth it?

I had an i3 in my last computer, didnt build it myself, but i was never overwhelmed by its power...
 
AMD for HTPC discrete graphics if you go the intel cpu route. Have found AMD cards do HDMI right in regards to audio passthrough (DTS-HD, Dolby, etc).. when using HT receivers for surround sound etc. Nvidia cards work ok but sometimes get strange issues. To this day i cannot get my GTX 460 or GTX 560 to pass DTS-HD to my Denon amps or show support for it in sound properties, whereas my HD7850s (2 HTPCS) work flawlessly.
 
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Justintime said:
AMD for HTPC discrete graphics if you go the intel cpu route. Have found AMD cards do HDMI right in regards to audio passthrough (DTS-HD, Dolby, etc).. when using HT receivers for surround sound etc. Nvidia cards work ok but sometimes get strange issues. To this day i cannot get my GTX 460 or GTX 560 to pass DTS-HD to my Denon amps or show support for it in sound properties, whereas my HD7850s (2 HTPCS) work flawlessly.
Click to expand...

will the integrated graphics in the AMD A8 7600 do the job without needing a dedicated graphics card?
 
Mujja said:
Welcome to the forums.

Is you media stored elsewhere?

You haven't listed a case. If the case is large enough for a full size PSU I have the Nexus NX-5000 R3 530W in my HTPC which is/was one of the top recommended PSUs at silentpcreview and I haven't been disappointed.

I'm using two TBS6280 dual DVB-T2 tuners. I could have picked a quad tuner but I didn't want the risk of being without any TV is the tuner died. I use them with Window Media Centre on Windows 7 and have no problem recording 4 HD channels simultaneously.

You might also need a fan controller to keep the RPMs low. My HTPC is under the TV so needs to be quiet.

Have you decided what software you will use to playback your videos and record TV?
Click to expand...

Hi

I'm interested in the TBS dual -t2 tuner, ether in a HTPC or in my media server and stream using Kodi or Plex.

how easy is it to install set up the TBS?

What backend software do you use for TV guild and channel information?
 
ok so heres where im at. Im over budget (£400) and i havent even picked the case and case fan. Any suggestions to bring the cost down?

Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-HD3 (AMD A88X) - £41.87
AMD A8 7600 X4 (4x3.1GHz) - £68.99
8GB 1866MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM HyperX Fury Black Series - £32.40
Cooler Master Hyper TX3 EVO 3 Heatpipes/1x92mm Fan - £20.49
StarTech PCIe 300 Mbps Wireless N Network Adapter 802.11n/g 2T2R - £16.98
AVerTV Nova T2 HD DVB TV PCI-E Tuner Card - £43.79
Toshiba Q300 RG4 120GB SATAIII 2.5inch SSD - £33.99
WD Blue 1TB 3.5" SATA 1TB Desktop Hard Drive - £41.99
Corsair CXM 500W Semi Modular - £52.80
LiteOn iHAS124 24X Internal DVD Writer with SATA - OEM - £15.70
Windows 10 Home - £39.90
 
 
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dan.iel said:
Thanks for this, definitely something to think about! and a lot cheaper
Click to expand...

Dont forget you need to add the SSD, HDD and tuner card.

BTW if you decide to go with the AMD option I would rethink the CPU cooler as slim HTPC cases wont take the Evo cooler due to height restrictions.
 
flowrider99 said:
Dont forget you need to add the SSD, HDD and tuner card.

BTW if you decide to go with the AMD option I would rethink the CPU cooler as slim HTPC cases wont take the Evo cooler due to height restrictions.
Click to expand...

funny you say that, I dont think that cooler is compatible with the CPU that ive chosen anyway.

Which cooler would you choose for AMD A8 7600? is it even worth changing it? doesnt it come with a stock fan? I was looking for something quieter that was all...
 
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