HTPC spec check

Liquid_Entity · 10 Apr 2013 at 12:29

Been playing about with xbmc on my desktop rig but am thinking of putting in an HTPC in the living room. Would this be a good spec for it. I was hoping I'd get something for under £300 as I need an O/S too. I already have an SSD to fit in for the OS/Apps.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EZRX) HDD £73.99
1 x LG CH10LS28 BD-ROM 10x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £59.99
1 x ASRock FM2A75 Pro4-M AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £59.99
1 x Silverstone Milo ML03 HTPC Case - Black (SST-ML03B) £56.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020046-UK) £40.99
1 x AMD A4-5300 3.40GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD5300OKHJBOX) £39.95
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £37.99
Total : £369.89 (includes shipping : FREE).

honosuseri · 10 Apr 2013 at 12:36

YOUR BASKET
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EZRX) HDD £73.99
1 x MSI A75IA-E53 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £71.99
1 x Thermaltake Element Q mini-ITX HTPC Case - 220W Power Supply £56.99
1 x AMD A6-5400K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD540KOKHJBOX) £55.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB2133C11DC) £43.99
1 x Liteon IHOS104-06 4x BD-ROM (Black) - OEM £29.99
Total : £332.94 (includes shipping : FREE).

Gaming capable to a certain degree too

mickyflinn · 10 Apr 2013 at 12:38

Do you plan to play games on it ?

Liquid_Entity · 10 Apr 2013 at 12:40

mickyflinn said:
Do you plan to play games on it ?

Not the fastest freshest newest games but I'd like to be able to hop in to a game of skyrim or sleeping dogs.

Liquid_Entity · 10 Apr 2013 at 12:43

honosuseri said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EZRX) HDD £73.99
1 x MSI A75IA-E53 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £71.99
1 x Thermaltake Element Q mini-ITX HTPC Case - 220W Power Supply £56.99
1 x AMD A6-5400K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD540KOKHJBOX) £55.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB2133C11DC) £43.99
1 x Liteon IHOS104-06 4x BD-ROM (Black) - OEM £29.99
Total : £332.94 (includes shipping : FREE).

Gaming capable to a certain degree too

That's pretty sweet, didn't find the cheaper blu ray players haha that's saved a few quid already.

I prefer the longer slimmer case though as it has room for expansion on the drives and also will fit in with the rest of the equipment on the tv stand

Doomedspeed · 10 Apr 2013 at 12:44

That Blu-ray Hono, really?

[Start analogy]
If 10x is 'running pace' 4x would be 'at the side of the road half-dead in a gutter covered in...[end alanogy]

Liquid_Entity · 10 Apr 2013 at 12:45

Doomedspeed said:
That Blu-ray Hono, really?

[Start analogy]
If 10x is 'running pace' 4x would be 'at the side of the road half-dead in a gutter covered in...[end alanogy]

Hmm take it that you need fast blu ray player then

stulid · 10 Apr 2013 at 12:51

Doomspeeds right.

I have one of those Liteon Blu-Ray drives here, "you get what you pay for" would be being generous to it.

Liquid_Entity · 10 Apr 2013 at 12:52

Shame, it's the only non dvd burning blu ray drive you can get on OcUK

honosuseri · 10 Apr 2013 at 12:53

Doomedspeed said:
That Blu-ray Hono, really?

[Start analogy]
If 10x is 'running pace' 4x would be 'at the side of the road half-dead in a gutter covered in...[end alanogy]

It's to playback not rip fella, I think you will find it only needs 1.5X to get the full data transfer rate required for a Bluray movie. You get what you pay for. You are welcome to do a spec. Last one I saw you do was a bit of a mess with the GPU not even fitting the case

stulid · 10 Apr 2013 at 12:54

Liquid_Entity said:
Shame, it's the only non dvd burning blu ray drive you can get on OcUK

It's very fussy as to what Blu-Rays it will play, going to sell mine and get a more "reputable" brand.

Liquid_Entity · 10 Apr 2013 at 12:56

stulid said:
It's very fussy as to what Blu-Rays it will play, going to sell mine and get a more "reputable" brand.

That's the answer I was looking for, not speed issues, but compatibility.

stulid · 10 Apr 2013 at 13:18

Liquid_Entity said:
That's the answer I was looking for, not speed issues, but compatibility.

As an example I bought the Daniel Craig 007 triple Blu-Ray set not long ago, only Skyfall will play, yet my main Blu-Ray player has no issues.

Prometheus was also iffy.

Liquid_Entity · 10 Apr 2013 at 22:14

I've just bought the 2tb WD Green HDD but for now that will be in my desktop rig, I need the space as running out. Will move it over when the time comes

acoustic · 15 Apr 2013 at 13:12

honosuseri said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EZRX) HDD £73.99
1 x MSI A75IA-E53 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £71.99
1 x Thermaltake Element Q mini-ITX HTPC Case - 220W Power Supply £56.99
1 x AMD A6-5400K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD540KOKHJBOX) £55.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB2133C11DC) £43.99
1 x Liteon IHOS104-06 4x BD-ROM (Black) - OEM £29.99
Total : £332.94 (includes shipping : FREE).

Just looking for some support/info on the above components. I have basically bought the same build except with a 3TB drive and a 60GB SSD in a different case. The issue I am having following connecting all the components together is that I am unable to get any picture on either my monitor or TV through the monitor or HDMI outputs. I also noticed that no lights appear on the mouse or keyboard. So am unable to install the OS etc. The CPU fan spins up, the blu-ray drive opens and closes and you can hear it check for a disc?

I have made a few builds over the years but none with an APU. Any thoughts on what the issue could be. Apologies if this is in the wrong section.

Cheers

DaleTheWhale · 18 Apr 2013 at 14:25

@acoustic - Have you plugged in the CPU power connector?

acoustic · 19 Apr 2013 at 20:00

Yeah that ended up being the issue. My fault for trying to rush everything together too quick. Managed to sort it the next day after taking a bit more time. Loving the performance though

Just need to customise XBMC and its all good. Thanks for the help.