HTPC Noob

Carefree Chris

Carefree Chris

Carefree Chris

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Joined
14 May 2009
Posts
71
Hi,

I'm in the planning process of buying a first home in the next 6-8 months or so. As part of that planning process, I'm considering what entertainment setup I would like :D

What I would like to achieve is to be able to use either my main PC (built myself last year), laptop or a TV to play whatever music, video (including HD) files I may have. My idea is a HTPC (with its own O/S obviously) to host all the media files, connected wirelessly in a network to my main PC via the O2 broadband router and hard-wired to the TV, which would hopefully allow me to use any of the PC, laptop or TV to access any play the media held on the HTPC. I don't have any gaming consoles and have no plans to get any.

However, given the HTPC would be sitting next to the TV, ideally it should be as inconspicuous as possible - small and quiet with minimal power consumption. However, it would need some sort of grunt in order to play HD video. Are there any suggestions in terms of HTPC spec, which would fulfil these requirements?

Thanks in advance! :D
 
I've tried this sort of thing a few times over the years but it never really works. The PC is always too big and not quiet enough (i.e. silent) for my liking. It may better to get something like this http://www.playonhd.com/en/ and have the media PC networked into it but in another room.

If you do go for a PC directly then I can confirm that G41 chipset motherboards with a 2GHz E2180 CPU can play back HD inc ripped bluray OK, although CPU usage can get pretty high. They also have integrated VGA out ports. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=5&subid=1490

Only other thing is that ripped blurays can be up to 40Mb/sc I think and wireless may not be fast enough to transer it smoothly.
 
Would you not be better with a big NAS drive and just store all your media on that? Put it in a different room to look inconspicuous.

edit - posted at the same time. defo agree with above. try an Xtreamer Pro. Ive heard good things about them and they are a NAS drive aswell. Could have about 4TB inside networked.
 
ed79 said:
I've tried this sort of thing a few times over the years but it never really works. The PC is always too big and not quiet enough (i.e. silent) for my liking.
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It's entirely possible to build a HTPC that looks good, plays HD content and is silent.

I built one 3 years ago with a low power CPU that can be passively cooled, two quiet case fans running at a low RPM and quiet Samsung hard disks all in a decent looking Antec Fusion case. Sure this case is a little bigger than a slim DVD player but it looks perfectly normal under a TV.

Whilst my spec is completely out of date now if I could build it for ~£450 3 years ago, sure you can do it a lot cheaper now. Plus you can't beat the utility of using a full PC rather than a media streamer.
 
vanandjuanunited said:
Asus e35 m1-I deluxe will run silent.

I have one in a Silverstone ml03 case with 4tb hdds 64gb ssd 8 gb ram.
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This. AMD Zacate platfom seems ideal for your needs. It will play 1080p video pefectly fine and as it has an AMD/ATI integrated graphics card it will play Blu-Ray much better than an onboard Intel graphics for example, ie 23.976fps playback will be smoother will less frame skipping.

As for Zacate, it's perfect for a media player solution (and very light browsing) as it can be cooled passively (in larger cases, but in smaller slim HTPC cases will probably need a small fan) and is very power efficient at both idle and load.

Unfortunately OcUK don't really offer much in the way of HTPC cases but there are a few on the market that are reasonably priced, have a look at Silverstone cases and the "Vision Media Centre Case."

If your hoping to do any sort of gaming then you'd need more performance than Zacate has to offer and perhaps should look the at Intel i3 2100T, with a dedicated graphics card.

4GB of DDR3 RAM is fine, my Windows 7 HTPC actually ran fine with just 2GB RAM so no need to go bonkers and get 8GB (although it is dirt cheap).

Depending on your budget you could get a smallish (60GB) SSD for your OS, I would highly recommend one in a HTPC!:)

Have a look through this thread, lots of ideas re. HTPCs.

My very cheap & basic HTPC built around an AMD Athlon II here.

  • Have a think about how much storage you need. If you need more than 2 or 3 3.5" HDD then a server/NAS may be more appropriate.
  • HTPC sytle case or not?
  • Just playing media & light browing or more intensive workload?
 
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What about Llano? Not sure on the price difference between Zacate and Llano, but Llano has the greater grunt - or is Llano overkill for mere HD media playback (locally hosted and possibly iPlayer and elsewhere online)? Also, could Llano be passively cooled? Ideally I'd like to avoid boxy cases.
 
Yes AMD Llano is more powerful but for just playing back movies/browsing Zacate is fine. It's also cheaper and much more power efficient. Llano is aimed more at those wanting to a bit of light gaming due to the better GPU.
 
Thanks for that!

I'm making up two specs for myself, one for mATX and one for mITX. Settled on a Silverstone LC16-MR for the mATX, but struggling to find a mITX case that will internally house 2x3.5" or 4x2.5" HDD, plus an optical drive. Is anyone aware of one? They all seem to house either 1x3.5 and 1x2.5 or 1x2.5 and 1 optical.
 
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