HTPC Spec

borich_planner · 31 Jan 2010 at 12:40

I'm looking to build a HTPC to run windows 7 and it will run mainly xvids and the odd trailer in HD. Budget is fairly tight at £300 and I have come up with the following spec:

400W Colours IT PSU400MICRO 20+4 Pin, uATX PSU pPFC Silent £18.67
2GB (2x1GB) SuperTalent DDR3 PC3-8500 (1066MHz) 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 7-7-7-15 £44.87
1TB Western Digital WD10EAVS Caviar Green £65.32
AMD Athlon II X2 250, Regor Core, S AM3, 3.0GHz, 512KB x 2 Cache, FSB/HT 2000MHz, 65W, Retail £50.49
Asus M4A785TD-M EVO, AMD 785G, AM3, PCI-E (x16), DDR3 1333/1600/1800, SATA 3Gb/s RAID, uATX, VGA £68.71
Silverstone SST-GD05B Grandia HTPC, Micro ATX, black £60.99

Total: £320.90

Does this sound ok? It will be connecting in to a Onkyo 706 Amp via HDMI

Borich

chipps101 · 31 Jan 2010 at 12:47

i have a celeron e3200 in my htpc and it handles windows 7 with ease and can be found for about £35, so if you were to couple that with a g41 chipset with x4500 graphics that will cope with all your media playing needs.
or one of the low power athlon x2's with a 785g chipset and hd4200 graphics if you want an amd option.

chipps101 · 31 Jan 2010 at 13:01

as long as you can cope with the 785g not supporting 8 channel lpcm audio over hdmi that would do the job nicely.
never heard of that psu brand though i have to say.

borich_planner · 31 Jan 2010 at 13:24

Whats the advantages of 8 channel lpcm audio over hdmi, this machine will not be playing any blu ray dics, as I have a Panasonic Blu ray player That PSU does seem rather cheap, i think ill go for a better known one. Could Overclockers provide a nice HTPC for 300?

Oh I have also gone for Mirco ATX to reduce the size of the case.

Borich

chipps101 · 31 Jan 2010 at 13:31

if you have a high end 7.1 channel surround setup and are playing files capable of outputting 7.1 surround then the 8 channel lpcm is what you would need for best results i think, but if you only have a 5.1 setup you wouldn't need it.
thats my understanding of it but i'm no expert.
my sony dav-sc8 is only 5.1 so it's never mattered to me.

borich_planner · 31 Jan 2010 at 13:32

I have 7.1 setup, So it might be worth getting a better mobo..

Borich

chipps101 · 31 Jan 2010 at 13:37

or you could add a gfx card like a radeon 4350/4550 or an nvidia gt 210/220 as i believe they handle 8 channel lpcm fine and you can get low profile versions of them and that would let you choose whichever chipset fits your budget best.