HTPC - Building from scratch...

Vazzyb

Vazzyb

Vazzyb

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Joined
13 Apr 2011
Posts
4
Hi,

Im building a PC to use as my home theatre PC and am trying to get a decently fast system without spending too much money. Im not really bothered about the physical size/appearance because its going to be hidden away.

The spec is attached.

http://img546.imageshack.us/i/screenshot20110412at170.png


I have a few questions

1. Apart from these items, what additional items will I need to get my system up and working? (I have HDMI cables and a wireless mouse and keyboard)
2. Will this spec work together? Will this processor + MB allow me to take advantage of the in-built graphics?
3. I don’t want to play games but clearly need the PC to be capable of playing back HD movies – is this spec (without a graphics card) sufficient to do that?
4. Will I be able to get this system up and running without a standard VGA monitor ie. all over HDMI ? I guess I wil definitely need a standard mouse and keyboard or will be USB (wireless) one do?
5. If I want a graphics card in the future, will this spec allow me to get one of those basic low-end ATI cards incase the in-built graphics give poor HD performance?
6. And finally…Is there anything here that is a glaring waste of money and I can downgrade to allow me to save even more money?

Thanks for your help

Vb
 
Vazzyb said:
Hi,

Im building a PC to use as my home theatre PC and am trying to get a decently fast system without spending too much money. Im not really bothered about the physical size/appearance because its going to be hidden away.

The spec is attached.

http://img546.imageshack.us/i/screenshot20110412at170.png


I have a few questions

1. Apart from these items, what additional items will I need to get my system up and working? (I have HDMI cables and a wireless mouse and keyboard)
2. Will this spec work together? Will this processor + MB allow me to take advantage of the in-built graphics?
3. I don’t want to play games but clearly need the PC to be capable of playing back HD movies – is this spec (without a graphics card) sufficient to do that?
4. Will I be able to get this system up and running without a standard VGA monitor ie. all over HDMI ? I guess I wil definitely need a standard mouse and keyboard or will be USB (wireless) one do?
5. If I want a graphics card in the future, will this spec allow me to get one of those basic low-end ATI cards incase the in-built graphics give poor HD performance?
6. And finally…Is there anything here that is a glaring waste of money and I can downgrade to allow me to save even more money?

Thanks for your help

Vb
Click to expand...

Answer to question 6. Total waste of cash for a HTPC. It will destroy 1080p video and is really overkill.

The website you plan on buying those items from also sell an Acer revo 3700 for £185. That will do everything you need out of the box without any faffing about. It will do 1080p perfectly. Just add an external hdd for the storage.
 
Yeah I mean I thought that might be the case but there's a few other things I want it to do too like be able to download files off Usenet at 8 MBps and unzip them etc at the same time as smoothly playing back the movies, and also act as a server in the house for media while again playing the movies back without any jerks. I need a pretty fast PC but just wanted to make sure that the on-board graphics were up to the task - im just not that versed with the current capability of on-board graphics; the last time I built a computer myself, they were completely terrible! I also might upgrade it later with a decent graphics card + a better power supply if I decide too so having the i3 in there is important...

I sort of meant, the Asus MB - if there's another board thats £60 that does exactly the same things...that kind of thing.
 
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At the end of the day, if youre happy spending that money and youre not paying too much for that spec, then why not? Sure, it might be overkill, but if you dont mind, then nor should anyone else.

I just put together an HTPC, I used a Lian Lu PC-C50, i5 2400S (wanted low power chip and integrated graphics), got an Asrock H67M-GE mobo, 4GB of low voltage OCZ ram, OCZ Vertex SSD for Windows and programs and a Green Seagate drive for storage, and then a Pioneer Blu-ray writer to top it off.

Sure it wasnt cheap, but that didnt matter to me, I wanted a certain spec and wanted it to run cool as its going to be in a very confined space. CPU runs about 38c under load, 32c idle with case around 28c. perfectly acceptable to me.

My spec fell out of my criteria. I wanted a low power chi[, onboard graphics and a mobo that outputted HDMI 1.4a for 3D functionality. I wanted an SSD for super fast loading, and the case fits in perfectly with the rest of my kit.

Everyone is different, buy to your budget and to your needs.
 
The Asus P8H61-M Intel H61 Board does the same as the H67. well almost.
If your not interested in Sata3 and USB 3.0, which i can't see being of mega use in a HTPC.
Not to toot OcUKs horn (much :)), but this saves you £££'s off that other place:

Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
Asus P8H61-M Intel H61 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION**
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM 1yr Warranty (ST31000528AS) £39.98
G.Skill RipJawsX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL) £39.98
Coolermaster Elite 334 Midi Case - Black £33.68
LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99

Total (With Shipping) : £297.72

The i3's graphics will more than enough for HD output.
 
Thanks very much for your suggestions guys, I think I might well use the P61 chipset if SATA/USB 3 are the only differences! Unfortunately there's very poor TV signal where I am so a TV tuner is probably out. Are there any good barebones PC for Sandybridge yet?

Could someone clarify one point though, will I need to buy a DVI cable/mouse/keyboard to set up the computer or can the output come from HDMI without any drivers installed?

Thanks again
 
Well you'll need a keyboard and mouse to install the OS and your choice of media programs.
Depends on the OS you go for. If you going to be running windows then you'll need to install the motherboard drivers which will include the VGA/DVI/HDMI outputs. No different than setting up any other computer.
 
Vazzyb said:
Thanks very much for your suggestions guys, I think I might well use the P61 chipset if SATA/USB 3 are the only differences! Unfortunately there's very poor TV signal where I am so a TV tuner is probably out. Are there any good barebones PC for Sandybridge yet?

Could someone clarify one point though, will I need to buy a DVI cable/mouse/keyboard to set up the computer or can the output come from HDMI without any drivers installed?

Thanks again
Click to expand...

To answer the question directly. It will be fine to use HDMI to connect to your tv when installing windows and setting up. No monitor required.
 
Thanks for the help

I put the computer together today but when I press the on button the fan momentarily turns on and then turns off straight away on my ASUS MB. The green power LED is on - could it be the crappy power supply ive used?

Ive got an i3 2100, on the P8H67 Pro MB with two 2 GB GSkill DDR3 memory modules in channels A1 and B1, ive used a really rubbish quality 450 W PSU - it has a 4 pin 12V connector (the ASUS MB has 8 pins) - could that be the problem or is the orientation correct because the power LED has come on?
 
Vazzyb said:
Thanks for the help

I put the computer together today but when I press the on button the fan momentarily turns on and then turns off straight away on my ASUS MB. The green power LED is on - could it be the crappy power supply ive used?

Ive got an i3 2100, on the P8H67 Pro MB with two 2 GB GSkill DDR3 memory modules in channels A1 and B1, ive used a really rubbish quality 450 W PSU - it has a 4 pin 12V connector (the ASUS MB has 8 pins) - could that be the problem or is the orientation correct because the power LED has come on?
Click to expand...

The only way to tell is too try another PSU. However you can normally get away with 4 pins provided you don't OC.

Try the memok option, Asus boards have it.
 
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