HTPC Help with build

AndyCroft1982 · 1 Sep 2013 at 20:29

HI guys, my first ever post on the site

. Im after building a HTPC but i cant make my mind up on whether i should buy an Intel i3 and board and using parts i already have or to use the cpu and board out of my main pc and buy an FX 8350 and new board? My current build is

AMD Phenom ll 965 BE running at 3.9 with a Corsair H50 keep it cool
ASUS Crosshair Formula lll
HIS X2 Ice 7950 oc 1150/1350
Corsair Dominator 8GB DDR3 1600

I was either going to buy an Intel i3 chip with a mini atx board and use some spare corsair dominator ddr3 ram (4GB) and either use my old 5850 Black Edition or buy a low profile fanless cheao gpu

or use the phenom 2 and board and update my gaming pc?

ANy thoughts/builds are welcome

snips86x · 1 Sep 2013 at 20:46

What is your budget?

I would consider getting the i3/5 and use the IGP instead of getting a low profile graphics card.

Are you gaming on it?

AndyCroft1982 · 1 Sep 2013 at 20:53

Thanks for your reply, its purely to use as a htpc, xbmc, bluray player and streaming movies from network thats all. I was looking for around £400 including the case which id like to look similar in size to my av reciever

AndyCroft1982 · 1 Sep 2013 at 21:06

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £95.99
1 x Silverstone Grandia GD05 Desktop HTPC Case - Black (SST-GD05B USB3.0) £79.99
1 x Gigabyte H61M-USB3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard £42.95
1 x Asus GeForce GT 610 SILENT Low Profile 1024MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £29.99
Total : £262.42 (includes shipping : £11.25).

AndyCroft1982 · 1 Sep 2013 at 21:23

or i could buy the following and update my gaming rig and use the cpu and board from that in my htpc, never had enough grunt in the main pc lol

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8350 Black Edition 4.00GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £143.99
1 x Gigabyte 990XA-UD3 AMD 990X (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Silverstone Grandia GD05 Desktop HTPC Case - Black (SST-GD05B USB3.0) £79.99
1 x Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
Total : £377.46 (includes shipping : £11.25).

RJC · 1 Sep 2013 at 21:25

Use the integrated GPU, SSD for installing XBMC or OpenElec.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-3225 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (55W) - Retail **High Performance IGP** £109.99
1 x Silverstone Milo ML03 HTPC Case - Black (SST-ML03B) £56.99
1 x ASRock B75M Intel B75 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £52.99
1 x Asus P8H61-MX USB 3.0 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - OEM ** £41.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020046-UK) £39.95
1 x Crucial V4 64GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive £37.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £29.99
Total : £383.99 (includes shipping : £11.75).

AndyCroft1982 · 1 Sep 2013 at 21:30

will the integrated GPU be powerful enough? Ive always used a GPU card so i have no idea how powerful the integrated chips are

AndyCroft1982 · 1 Sep 2013 at 21:35

How does this look? I already have a spare PSU similar to your spec. Thanks btw youve been a big help

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-3225 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (55W) - Retail **High Performance IGP** £109.99
1 x Silverstone Grandia GD05 Desktop HTPC Case - Black (SST-GD05B USB3.0) £79.99
1 x ASRock B75M Intel B75 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £52.99
1 x Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
1 x Crucial V4 64GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive £37.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £29.99
Total : £374.45 (includes shipping : £11.25).

RJC · 1 Sep 2013 at 21:49

I used a Celeron NUC for my Media player and this handled 1080P MKV movie files without issue and this a had a low end integrated GPU, one above is a lot higher.