HTPC upgrade

Soldato
Joined
20 Dec 2004
Posts
16,360
My trusty little Zotac Zbox ID41 is creaking a bit now and I want something with a bit more grunt, but not really sure what the best value route is at the moment.

Requirements :

Fits my existing 2.5" SSD + 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM
Has sufficient GPU power to drive 4K display + hardware decode video
Has sufficient CPU power to software decode 1080p + transcode 720p ish.

I'll be running Plex on it, hence the requirement for a solid CPU for transcoding. The 4K requirement isn't critical but would be nice to have for future proofing.

I'd like as powerful a CPU as I can get in a small, quiet, power efficient form factor, preferably quad core. A CPU that can idle at very low consumption but ramp up to chew through transcoding tasks would be perfect...electricity costs here in germany are :eek: I also run a 256-bit OpenVPN connection the UK 24/7 so the CPU needs the overhead to handle that...hence the quad core preference.

Edit : I'm not bothered about 3D performance, but something that can handle video streaming, steam link and stuff.
 
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ASRock H81M-ITX, Sockel 1150, ITXSingle piece
Intel Core i5-4460
LC-Power Case Mini-ITX 75W LC-1350MI
4GB G.Skill PC3-10667U

? Totally lost with CPUs these days...4460 any good or a crippled low power option?
 
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