HTPC

adam55443

adam55443

adam55443

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Joined
31 Jul 2010
Posts
53
Location
Nottinghamshire
im in a bit of a dilema im currently using 4 external hard drives to store all my media mostly 1080p and im getting fed up with all the wires everytime i want to watch a movie and trying to find which hard drive has what in it.

so i thought i should just get a htpc and store it in my cupboard in my room, my question is can the amd fusion board play 1080p easily or would i be better of with a different set up could someone suggest some specs ideally as cheap as possible i will probaly re use the haf x below i no its massive but it will be hidden away and it can hold a lot of hdd.

Things i already have laying around.
Coolermaster haf x
4 1tb hdd
windows 7
wireless keyboard/mouse

Thanks.:)
 
Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - OEM £69.98
(£58.32) £69.98
(£58.32)
**B Grade** Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard £56.36
(£46.97) £56.36
(£46.97)
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
**B Grade** MSI GeForce GT 430 OC Twin FrozR 1024MB GDDR3 Low Profile PCI-Express Graphics Card £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
**B Grade** Xigmatek Dark Knight CPU Cooler £13.79
(£11.49) £13.79
(£11.49)
Sub Total : £200.08
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 : £42.02
Total : £252.10

or

AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
**B Grade** MSI GeForce GT 430 OC Twin FrozR 1024MB GDDR3 Low Profile PCI-Express Graphics Card £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
**B Grade** Gigabyte GA-M68MT-S2 (AM3) Motherboard £29.96
(£24.97) £29.96
(£24.97)
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
**B Grade** Xigmatek Dark Knight CPU Cooler £13.79
(£11.49) £13.79
(£11.49)
Sub Total : £157.25
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 : £33.45
Total : £200.70

i woundt go for an itx fusion board they are really over priced and offer very poor performance i would go for one of these two depending on you budget (they are cheaper than the fusion system as well fusion system with the same spec ie psu is about £250 (not including postage) they will run video at 1080p easliy and offer great all round performance

oh yeah not many people know what b grade is it will be a perfectally working product where the box maybe damaged or accessories missing so they sell them at a fraction of the price
 
Last edited:
I understand the mess with the wires as this drives me nuts. I would consider saving your money and just adding something like xbmc-media-center. This is a very good free bit of software that will eliminate the issues you have with looking all over the drives for the films and has a lot of basic but very good functions.

Maybe hide you tower and the ext drives out of site and then its all good. Maybe just get a couple of 2TB int drives and sell the ext ones so it does not cost you anything and then you have lost the wires ;)
 
Well the haf x has been sitting there for a few months.. Waste not want not.

But as long as it out the way keeps all the drives cool. LOl

plus im running out of disc space rapidly so ill prob add a 2tb sammy into the mix


EDIT: Also would the on board graphics of the mobo be able to pump out 1080p to my tv
 
Last edited:
adam55443 said:
Well the haf x has been sitting there for a few months.. Waste not want not.

But as long as it out the way keeps all the drives cool. LOl

plus im running out of disc space rapidly so ill prob add a 2tb sammy into the mix


EDIT: Also would the on board graphics of the mobo be able to pump out 1080p to my tv
Click to expand...

graphics will be fine :)

Not considered a small form factor media pc and perhaps a NAS?
 
adam55443 said:
Well the haf x has been sitting there for a few months.. Waste not want not.

But as long as it out the way keeps all the drives cool. LOl

plus im running out of disc space rapidly so ill prob add a 2tb sammy into the mix


EDIT: Also would the on board graphics of the mobo be able to pump out 1080p to my tv
Click to expand...

Seriously then, wanna swap for my HAF932? if it's out of the way it won't matter will it, and it's just as good at cooling... :D:D:D:D:D
 
Tbh i have been meaning to build myself a sandybride pc in it to replace my laptop but ain't had the time to get it together, working to hard. So it can be a temp case for my htpc till I get round to sorting stuff. The wires just drive me nuts.

Sorry:(
 
adam55443 said:
i suppose that would be an option but prob more costly it would be..

could you recomend any good 4 bay nas??
Click to expand...

The HP microserver is a 4 bay NAS, Can be had for around £135 after the £100 cashback offer. (ends soon)

You could then get yourself a nice little Acer Reco 3700 which has gigabit lan built in and can handle 1080p playback easily.

I don't have the HP microserver but I do have the revo and use it everyday as HTPC. It's top class, silent and small to. So you don't need to hide it in a cupboard.

The only downfall is, it doesn't have an optical drive... but comon, if you wanted to use discs you would just buy a bluray player. Totally defeats the purpose of a HTPC IMO.

So, £200 for the revo and £230 for the nas. £430 up front and you get £100 back. Not bad at all. Saves you the hassle of building in small cases as well.
 
Pohly said:
Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - OEM £69.98
(£58.32) £69.98
(£58.32)
**B Grade** Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard £56.36
(£46.97) £56.36
(£46.97)
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
**B Grade** MSI GeForce GT 430 OC Twin FrozR 1024MB GDDR3 Low Profile PCI-Express Graphics Card £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
**B Grade** Xigmatek Dark Knight CPU Cooler £13.79
(£11.49) £13.79
(£11.49)
Sub Total : £200.08
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 : £42.02
Total : £252.10

or

AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
**B Grade** MSI GeForce GT 430 OC Twin FrozR 1024MB GDDR3 Low Profile PCI-Express Graphics Card £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
**B Grade** Gigabyte GA-M68MT-S2 (AM3) Motherboard £29.96
(£24.97) £29.96
(£24.97)
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
**B Grade** Xigmatek Dark Knight CPU Cooler £13.79
(£11.49) £13.79
(£11.49)
Sub Total : £157.25
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 : £33.45
Total : £200.70

i woundt go for an itx fusion board they are really over priced and offer very poor performance i would go for one of these two depending on you budget (they are cheaper than the fusion system as well fusion system with the same spec ie psu is about £250 (not including postage) they will run video at 1080p easliy and offer great all round performance

oh yeah not many people know what b grade is it will be a perfectally working product where the box maybe damaged or accessories missing so they sell them at a fraction of the price
Click to expand...

i think your maths is abit off ;)

fusion boards can be had for £99.99

compared to the amd system at £110.94
and the intel at £162.33

so the fusion is actually cheaper than both even thou ur using b-grade for them as well

they might not be comparable for performance, but for a htpc, you dont need the extra performance so its wasted.
also they use less power and less noise which makes then ideal for HTPC's
 
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