HTPC uses? spec's?

[FatFishMonster]

hey guys
so im looking at building a htpc for when i move out. but im not exactly clued in on what they can actually do, so could someone explain what i could do with one?

i like the idea of watching my moives/tv shows that i have on my main pc.
im looking to use the bitfenix prodigy as the case, as i love it!

but what sort of specs are good for htpc's?
i dont wanna spend loads.
maybe 300ish?

thanks

 

[FatFishMonster]

sounds like it could up my street then! ive heard of people using them as servers aswell.
yeah i need everything minus an OS.
but depending on what sort of specs i need ill most probably try and get some bits off the MM
also there isnt really a lot of things in my current pc i could use.
i need to upgrade my mobo in cpu in my main rig but i dont think what i have currently would be very good for htpc, also i need to upgrade the ram, so i could use the ram and possibly my psu if i upgraded that

 

[FatFishMonster]

would i reall need harddrive that size? would i be able to get away with just using an ssd? for streaming etc....ive already got a 1tb, 500gb and 250gb, all are in my main rig but i could probably spare the 500gb once i get an ssd for it and i sort out all of my installations

 

[FatFishMonster]

That would certainly reduce the price. I included it for storage, but take it out to save £50.

also i could get a Blu ray drive for about 30 quid second hand.
so that would save me 80, 410 doesnt sound to bad to be honest!

yeah just noticed the mobo

are the i3's just as good as the trinity chips for htpc uses?

 

[FatFishMonster]

OP -
YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD580KWOHJBOX) £95.99
1 x ASRock FM2A75M-ITX AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £68.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Midnight Black £64.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5 SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT064M4SSD2) £59.99
1 x Adata XPG Xtreme v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C10 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (AX3U2133XC4G10-2X) £47.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £38.99
1 x Liteon IHOS104-06 4x BD-ROM (Black) - OEM £29.99
Total : £421.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Costs could be lowered, by possibly dropping the SSD - or dropping the A10 to a A8/A6. The A10 is perfectly capable for gaming, so if you wanted to play the odd game on it then it will run fine

me like!
but how do i3's compare to the trinity chips for htpc?

 

[FatFishMonster]

In terms of raw processing power, the i3 wins. However, the IGP in the A10 is significantly better and will therefore playback videos better.

ok so a10 it is.

im thinking about taking out the 1tb drive out of my main rig as theres no programmes on there and then using the htpc as a file server aswell

then when i run out of room on the 1tb ill take it out and chuck a 4tb in there, this will reduce the inital cost

 

[FatFishMonster]

If its purely for watching movies you could use a dual core AMD Trinity CPU, still plenty for decoding 3D Blu Ray but if you encoding and ripping DVD/BD's you'll be better off with one of the quad cores. Remember if you not gaming or planning on overclocking the A10-5700 has a TDP of 65W as oppose to 100W on the A10-5800K but just has a slightly lower clocked cpu and igpu (although actual idle power consumption of the two are very similar, and better than an i3).

Edit

I'd wait for some more itx fm2 boards personally. Lots of problems reported with the ASRock board, some even catching fire!

i dont know wether i will overclock it or not, ill have to see how i get one with it. is it worth the extra 4quid for the 5800k?

any eta on new mobos?

not planning on buy straight away ill probably either save or get it in 2 months, half each month

 

[FatFishMonster]

nah i wont be gaming it, well i wont be, someone else might, but i have my main rig and xbox for gaming.
sounds like ill give the 5800k a skip, and just go for the 5700
yeah, the prodigy will keep it pretty cool, at some point i might end up watercooling it and turning it into somewhat of a conversation piece aswell

 

[FatFishMonster]

AMD A10-5700 3.40GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD5700OKHJBOX) £91.99
(£76.66) £91.99
(£76.66)

Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 2.5" 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F120GB3A-B) £78.98
(£65.82) £78.98
(£65.82)

BitFenix Prodigy 'Yin' Mini-ITX Cube Case - White/Black £64.99
(£54.16) £64.99
(£54.16)

Antec High Current Gamer 400W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £40.00
(£33.33) £40.00
(£33.33)

TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD38G2133HC11DC01) £39.95
(£33.29) £39.95
(£33.29) Sub Total : £263.26 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00 VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £54.65
Total : £327.91