htpc from spare parts? help me please!

tommytinkle

tommytinkle

tommytinkle

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Hey,

I have a complete spare pc minus power supply, but alas its in a case thats really far too big to be a htpc (coolermaster wavemaster) -

I have the following spare bits -

E6420, e6600
IX38 Quad GT
4gb Kingston 8500 ddr2
2gb Corsair 6400 ddr2
Big fugly unfriendly htpc case (wavemaster)
2x terratec cinergy 2400i cards
GTX 280
Ati 4850


Now I see it that I have a few options ......

1) Build it in the wavemaster and get earache over it being ugly and too big
2) But uatx motherboard and case (SG02?)
3)Buy itx case and itx 775 motherboard
4) Sell it all and get i3 or similar itx setup

I have a real interest in the board being raid capable, purely for redundancy and security incase it gets loaded with lots of family photos and other stuff.

Any suggestions on where to go with this would be much appreciated :)

Thanks
 
You could just buy a small, unassuming mid tower case and whack it in there.

Then either put the GTX280/4850 in, or buy a cheap HTPC style card like this, depending on how much you care about power consumption/noise. E6600 can probably decode 1080p h264 anyway.

Won't need more than 2GB RAM so you could sell the 4GB kit, should fetch a decent amount of money.

Don't need RAID for redundancy, it just makes the process transparent, can just have two hard drives and copy data to both.

Got a nice frankenstein setup myself at home - athlon 64 3000+, 512MB RAM and a Radeon HD3450. Does everything inc. blu ray rips etc, in a plain black mid tower under the TV. Mobo/CPU must be going on for 5 years old now lol
 
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Hey mate,

Thanks for your reply! I like the wavemaster case - first proper one I actually got for myself! Though airflow is a bit naff, its still an ok looking case. I don't think I'd be allowed to leave it on show though!

I've been considering a dinovo mini and external blu-ray reader and hiding the case away - by far the cheapest option but I liked the idea of the htpc size case. Nothing I've seen takes atx motherboards though!

The gtx 280 isn't bad in 2d for power, and I quite like the idea of a quick ten minute session of CS:S at 1080p :)
 
Hey -

Any chance of a photo of your frankenstein setup?! :)

I had another thought - adapt the current tv stand and take one story of it up, put perspex around the sides and front and just have bare components.... bad idea maybe? I'm just worried it'll look hideously cheap if I do that?

Any opinions at all?
 
My htpc :

e6600
2gb ddr2
mATX G41 motherboard (has all the outputs you would want and can handel blu rays, h.264, etc)
400w corsair psu (quiet)
freezer 7 cooler (nice and quiet)

case is a £30 coolermaster mini black tower(fairly quiet)

Result:
Quiet and reliable, only thing I would change is the case, only to make it look a bit nicer. As for gaming, nice idea but the only thing that you can controll games comftable from a sofa is a console controller, so just get a ps3 and NAS or somthing.
 
Hey,

Thinking of going and using my current stuff ... knocked up some perspex....... not sure how it'll look when done but at current -




Basically I'm thinking I'll aquire a mainboard tray, and build it all inside the perspex (got to be little one proof!) the 120mm fans are going to need some decent grills however.

Maybe I'm mad, maybe it'll look pap, but its worth a go! Plus - Cooling should be brilliant given its got 4x120mm fan availability? :)
 
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