HTPC - Spec me

Anewbe4u · 20 Nov 2011 at 16:51

Hey guys. I know we have a lot of these!

Basically I'm a bit fed up of my WDTV Lives limitations. So after looking at the Revo 100 and almost buying it. I decided that seeing as I was going to hide this away I could get a cheap ugly case and probably build something much better speced for the same price.

What I want to it to.

1 - Play all Video content I throw at it from my Nas. I will be using XMBC
2 - Play oldish games
3 - Run emulators
4 - Pass sound through HDMI (seeing as its being hidden away the HDMI cable will need to carry everything)
5 - Silent
6 - Low power

Things I already have

Windows
Keyboard & Mouse
HDD
4gb Low voltage pc3 10666 ram
DVD Drive

Soooooo, what can we do? Around £250 - 300

As I said, case can be ugly as hell! As long as its cheap and holds the bits I don't care. Ideally an HTPC case though as the area its going in isn't huge.

I was thinking possibly this for Proc and MB?

Gigabyte GA-A75M-D2H A75 (Socket FM1) DDR3 Motherboard £78.98

AMD Llano A6-3500 2.40GHz (Socket FM1) £59.99

Thanks guys

moody89 · 20 Nov 2011 at 16:59

A Llano build would be where I'd be looking too. Cheap enough, and will give you decent CPU performance whilst being able to play some older games etc. I'm not too hot on HTPC cases but I like the Silverstone ones myself - they look nice enough and seem to have good cooling considering the size of some the cases. Have you thought about a remote control or is this not needed?

shadow_boxer · 20 Nov 2011 at 17:05

AMD Llano sounds good for your needs. Max TDP of 65W isn't too bad either.

For some cheapish HTPC case have a look at these

[Competitor] Vision Media Centre Case, comes with a cheap 300W PSU. I've had it for a while now and never had a problem with it.

Silverstone Milo ML03B Micro ATX, Black, Slim/HTPC Case with USB3 w/o PSU (ATX).

Anewbe4u · 20 Nov 2011 at 17:12

How quiet is that psu in the Vision?

So it looks like I'll be getting the llano. Is that motherboard ok?

Thanks

Anewbe4u · 20 Nov 2011 at 17:13

moody89 said:
A Llano build would be where I'd be looking too. Cheap enough, and will give you decent CPU performance whilst being able to play some older games etc. I'm not too hot on HTPC cases but I like the Silverstone ones myself - they look nice enough and seem to have good cooling considering the size of some the cases. Have you thought about a remote control or is this not needed?

Think I'll just be using a keyboard and mouse to be honest. I do have a cheap Logitech Harmony though, wonder if that could be setup to work on it?

shadow_boxer · 20 Nov 2011 at 17:23

Anewbe4u said:
How quiet is that psu in the Vision?

It's acutally not too bad. The stock AMD cooler is louder than it though so I don't really hear it. Case is very limited on air flow which is the major drawback. The AMD Athlon II X2 idles at around 40-45ºC and a passive HD5450 at around 60ºC. Silverstone cases do offer more cooling options though.

R088ieS86 · 20 Nov 2011 at 17:35

If you wanted to go even smaller with a Llano have a look @ the ASRock A75M-ITX
It retails @ around £75.

Anewbe4u · 20 Nov 2011 at 17:39

R088ieS86 said:
If you wanted to go even smaller with a Llano have a look @ the ASRock A75M-ITX
It retails @ around £75.

Thanks for that. To be honest I'm not sure I need to go that small though. These cases have a fair bit of room I think/hope!

shadow_boxer · 20 Nov 2011 at 18:00

Anewbe4u said:
Thanks for that. To be honest I'm not sure I need to go that small though. These cases have a fair bit of room I think/hope!

Here's a few pics of my build in that HTPC case. Not a whole lot of room but fine for a media center as long as you only ever plan of getting low profile expansion cards.

Anewbe4u · 20 Nov 2011 at 18:15

shadow_boxer said:
Here's a few pics of my build in that HTPC case. Not a whole lot of room but fine for a media center as long as you only ever plan of getting low profile expansion cards.

That case actually looks really nice. With a PSU though prob more than I need to spend seeing as I wont be able to see it!

I'm thinking this is what I will get.

Gigabyte GA-A75M-D2H A75 (Socket FM1) DDR3 Motherboard £78.98
(£65.82) £78.98
(£65.82)
AMD Llano A6-3500 2.40GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor AMD Llano A6-3500 2.40GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
OcUK Opera Media Case - Black OcUK Opera Media Case - Black £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Akasa AK-182-L2B Amber Ultra Quiet 80mm Fan - 3 pin Akasa AK-182-L2B Amber Ultra Quiet 80mm Fan - 3 pin £3.98
(£3.32) £7.96
(£6.64)

Anewbe4u · 20 Nov 2011 at 20:08

Quick bump before I place the order.

Everything work together and ok to output video and sound through HDMI?

Thanks

Anewbe4u · 20 Nov 2011 at 23:26

Your silence must mean its fine! Ordering tomorrow. Thanks guys

shadow_boxer · 20 Nov 2011 at 23:51

Motherboard and CPU are compatible along with your existing RAM. Not keen on the case at all, I'd spend the extra £10 personally and get the Silverstone Milo ML03B Case. HDMI will carry audio fine. Any thoughts on a PSU?

edit

A cheaper case is the Cooler Master Elite 360 Mini Tower Case - Black. Bit tight in there given that it can accomodate full ATX form factor motherboards but I think it's a bit better than the Opera case.

Anewbe4u · 21 Nov 2011 at 08:20

Well its going to be hidden right away so it really wont ever be seen. Its more a case... of price. It comes with a PSU which I might look at changing down the line to an improved model but it "should" do for the short term.

I do realise the crowd here hate cheap PSU's but if I were to get a good one, it would cost just as much as the components I'm buying!

Thanks for the confirmation everything works together.