HTPC

chrisvb · 26 Apr 2011 at 17:46

I'm wanting to build a htpc:

budget is £500. If possible i'd like it to be able to play games aswell. (maybe a 5830?) I don't mind mini-atx or mini-itx.

movies will not be stored on the computer but on my home-server.

I don't mind it being micro atx.

powelly · 26 Apr 2011 at 20:07

that build is great, what games are you going to play and what resolutions?
people will say the card is rubbish but from past experience(i had one) it isn't, it doesn't require any extra power and i could easily run most games off it including metro 2033 at 4000x900 (eyefinity) on low settings at a steady 30fps

chrisvb · 26 Apr 2011 at 20:37

powelly2010 said:
that build is great, what games are you going to play and what resolutions?
people will say the card is rubbish but from past experience(i had one) it isn't, it doesn't require any extra power and i could easily run most games off it including metro 2033 at 4000x900 (eyefinity) on low settings at a steady 30fps

probably wow,source games,rift,original crisis, fifa, possibly cod. If theres anyway i can get near the same performance for less money as 400-500 is my top end. I'd like to be able to take this PC around (i visit my grandparents in Scotland a lot) and my current PC is a pain to lug around.

edit: i need a cpu cooler as i would quite like to OC the processor.

powelly · 26 Apr 2011 at 21:55

chrisvb said:
probably wow,source games,rift,original crisis, fifa, possibly cod. If theres anyway i can get near the same performance for less money as 400-500 is my top end. I'd like to be able to take this PC around (i visit my grandparents in Scotland a lot) and my current PC is a pain to lug around.

edit: i need a cpu cooler as i would quite like to OC the processor.

allright, i will make you a spec, i guess you don't want i5 2500k ect as you have that as your main rig

powelly · 26 Apr 2011 at 22:06

this will offer around the same performance of the i3, and can overclock.

to reduce price, you could change the case to suit you, and maybe go for a 500gb drive instead of 1tb(about £10 difference)
and im not sure if the 5830 will fit the case but i think the sapphire extreme ones have a shorter pcb than the original ones, someone will have to clarify

Disco Boy · 26 Apr 2011 at 22:25

With it being a HTPC and, therefore, queietness is a consideration I would avoid the 125W AMD and instead go for either the 73W i3-540 or the 65W i3-2100. In fact, unless you think that you will benefit from hyperthreading, I would go with the i3-3100 because it's a more up-to-date socket so there is more of an upgrade path too.

powelly · 27 Apr 2011 at 00:59

Disco Boy said:
With it being a HTPC and, therefore, queietness is a consideration I would avoid the 125W AMD and instead go for either the 73W i3-540 or the 65W i3-2100. In fact, unless you think that you will benefit from hyperthreading, I would go with the i3-3100 because it's a more up-to-date socket so there is more of an upgrade path too.

you can't overclock on them can you? just add an aftermarket cooler

chrisvb · 27 Apr 2011 at 12:18

thanks for all the help i've decided on a htpc and i'm looking to build a nas on the cheap. i like the look of the TS-219P+ but at £300 plus two 2tb drives it's pricey.

if i could get a nas/server for £200 or £250 all in that would be great.

i'd like to stream to xbox/ps3/htpc/itunes on all pc's/probably raid1 aswell

chrisvb · 27 Apr 2011 at 17:12

bump

i'd like it to be under £300, even cheaper if possible with 2x 2tb drives

an attempt of mine:

as it will be on 24/7 it would be nice if it only used a small amount of watts. the NAS i was looking at used 19w normally (i'm not expecting this) so around £180 for case,psu,mobo,ram,cpu and £120 for 2x 2tbs.

intel

EDIT: if anyone knows of a decent NAS i can stick 2x 2tb drives in raid with good features cheaply that'd be great.