HTPC Project

miikeeyy92 · 29 Dec 2015 at 13:06

So I have wanted to upgrade my Mac Mini to a proper HTPC for a while. I think that I have done my research correctly, as I want it to bitstream the HD audio formats (DTS-MA etc), and to play without the 24p frame rate issue. Have been trying to keep the budget as close to £300 as possible, and so I am re-using some 1TB WD drives I have, and could use my Antec 300 case, but ideally I would like a proper HTPC case like the ML03.

Specs are as follows:

Intel Haswell G3220
ASRock H97M-ITX/ac
8Gb Ram
Silverstone ML03
Modular PSU
An SSD + mechanical drives for storage

And some bits that I have so far, will be picking up the rest in the next couple of days:

darwin1859 · 4 Jan 2016 at 13:10

Looks good! I wonder, would you expect the dual core Pentium to restrict how many streams you can run at once? If at all?

miikeeyy92 · 6 Jan 2016 at 01:32

So some more bits arrived:

Storage going in:

Some obligatory shots:

Whoops, its a bit tight:

Everything in (bar one SATA cable). Not the easiest case for cable management, doesn't help that I accidentally ordered the non-modular PSU:

New home:

Looks like I did my homework correctly! DTS - Master Audio bit streamed to my AVR. Took 25 mins to rip a blu-ray which ended up about 30gb.

darwin1859 said:
Looks good! I wonder, would you expect the dual core Pentium to restrict how many streams you can run at once? If at all?

Sorry, how many streams?

OJ46 · 6 Jan 2016 at 08:38

Very nice, that Silverstone case looks absolutely perfect with the Yamaha underneath it

darwin1859 · 6 Jan 2016 at 09:47

miikeeyy92 said:
Sorry, how many streams?

What I meant was, could you use the media server to send video to multiple devices at once? Or will you just be using it for one TV?

Nice looking case, by the way.

miikeeyy92 · 6 Jan 2016 at 09:53

darwin1859 said:
What I meant was, could you use the media server to send video to multiple devices at once? Or will you just be using it for one TV?

Nice looking case, by the way.

Just the one TV, and thanks

nicknack35 · 6 Jan 2016 at 21:28

miikeeyy92 said:
Just the one TV, and thanks

If you don't mind me asking how much that set up cost you altogether please. Im looking for something cheap and cheerful. Something simlar that you needed it for LOL

nicknack35 · 6 Jan 2016 at 21:30

I would be using it mainly for plex client and also kodi. BluRay drive not needed tho

miikeeyy92 · 6 Jan 2016 at 21:49

nicknack35 said:
If you don't mind me asking how much that set up cost you altogether please. Im looking for something cheap and cheerful. Something simlar that you needed it for LOL

Was ~£350, but I did already have the mechanical drives for storage.

nicknack35 · 7 Jan 2016 at 00:03

Storage won't be an issue really cause my HTPC in our Bedroom Acts as a plex server. So storage won't be kept on it so won't need anything big on it. What OS you using for it?

miikeeyy92 · 7 Jan 2016 at 20:14

nicknack35 said:
Storage won't be an issue really cause my HTPC in our Bedroom Acts as a plex server. So storage won't be kept on it so won't need anything big on it. What OS you using for it?

Windows 7. OP updated.