HTPC

marc69 · 12 Aug 2011 at 20:40

Hi guys,

I've recently got my new Yamaha AV receiver and I'm thinking about building a HTPC. If I'm honest, I have no idea about HTPC's. I'm experienced in building desktop computers but this is a completely new area for me.

Any idea on what sort of price I'd be looking at for a decent one?

Also, is there any guides on them that I can read? I remember somebody did one in the general hardware forum for when people was building new PCs, is there anything similar here for these?

Cheers,

Marc

vanandjuanunited · 13 Aug 2011 at 07:06

Have you any existing components that you can use
Any size restrictions in case ie where is it being kept
What will it be used for- htpc only or some gaming etc
Its the same building process for desktops. Only difference is noise needs to be more controlled.
I have the following
Silverstone ml03 £45
Asus e35m1-I deluxe £125
4Gb ddr3 - £30
Slim bluray drive -£40
60Gb ssd £80
2Tb f4 -£50
psu -£50
Airflow by 2x80mm low noise fans. Not sure I even need them - virtually silent
There are many variations so you may need to set a rough budget and determine your starting point. Case size will be a good start.
The new llano chips from and might be worth a look.

marc69 · 13 Aug 2011 at 15:31

Hi mate,

Thanks for the reply, I've just put together a little spec together and I was wondering about what you think of it.

It needs to be output the audio through the HDMI, but I'm unsure if this motherboard supports this. I think it does but again, I'm not too sure.

Spec:

I'm going to post it in the general hardware section just to get a few others to look over it. You never know, some of those might never look in the audio and visual section

.

Cheers,

Marc

vanandjuanunited · 13 Aug 2011 at 20:40

not sure about the case and psu
otherwise that combo will give hd audio through hdmi

Participant · 14 Aug 2011 at 16:50

If you don't need to play games, which judging by that spec you don't (unless you're re-using a card), then what you need can be done a hell of a lot cheaper, smaller and quieter with a second hand Revo or something. These are basically very small one pre-fab HTPCs.

Venares · 14 Aug 2011 at 18:53

If you just want a small simple machine that will play any media you can throw at it then you want an Acer Revo r3610 / r3700.
For a bit more omph with heavier skins I definatly recommend the CULV powered Zotac ZBOX HD-ND22.
For the ultimate in power and flexability + BluRay playback then your looking at custom i3 System or similar.

I just built the following:

CPU: Intel Pentium G620T
Motherboard: Asus P8H61-I
RAM: 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3
GPU: PNY GT 430 Low Profile
HDD: 80GB Intel X25-M SSD
Optical: Sony BC-5640H-01 Slot Blu-ray Combo
Case: Wesena ITX7-2 Black
PSU: 150w PICO PSU + Power Brick

Play's everything you could ever possibly throw at it and then some.
For that your talking circa £500, where as one of the pre-builts above will set you back around £200 - £250.

platypus · 16 Aug 2011 at 11:34

That Zotac looks good, can't find any around though.

@Venares: I've read that the Revo 3700 isn't as good as the earlier revision, any light on that?

Venares · 16 Aug 2011 at 13:04

Its just as good.
Only minor negative if you can call it that is that the 3700 doesnt have an e-SATA port.

platypus · 16 Aug 2011 at 13:06

Tracking a few on the bay, £300 brand new, around the £100 second hand at the moment. Not sure I'd want a second hand one..

sHo0sH · 16 Aug 2011 at 13:20

Or have a look at the Boxee box, tiny, plays everything and comes already assembled.
£200.

No Bluray playback though, just Streamed media as it has no built in hard drive. you can attached via usb or use samba shares.

platypus · 16 Aug 2011 at 13:23

I specifically need to be able to use XBMC for one of the plugins. Thats my requirement for a htpc.

paulh · 16 Aug 2011 at 13:40

platypus said:
That Zotac looks good, can't find any around though.

@Venares: I've read that the Revo 3700 isn't as good as the earlier revision, any light on that?

I've got a 3700 with xbmc on it and it plays 1080p mkv's no problem, it runs xbmc like a dream. I love it and wouldnt swap it for anything else! My only grip is the optical out is on the front, other than that its been solid as a rock!

platypus · 17 Aug 2011 at 10:20

Cheers Paul!

Edit: The Acer Revo RL100 looks pretty sweet actually.

GeX · 17 Aug 2011 at 20:06

I've just built a system using a ZOTAC Zbox AD02. (£169) I stuck an OCZ Vertex SSD (£60) in there and 8gb DDR3 (£42).

It's mounted on the VESA mount holes on the back of TV, runs Win7 x64 with XBMC on top. My only gripe is that the iPlayerHD streams don't play properly but that is down to the way they are streamed, meaning they don't make use of the GPU to decode. Everything else is great. It outclasses the Revo 3x00 series.

FYI, boxee runs XBMC - can the plugin you want not be used on boxee?

platypus · 18 Aug 2011 at 16:08

I didn't particularly want to get a boxee then hack it about to play XBMC, unless its a straight forward process (and doesn't void any warranty)?

NeverWinter · 18 Aug 2011 at 16:47

Sorry to hi-jack...

If I get a HTPC in any form is it possible to use XBMC to stream to a PS3/XBox 360 or will it still need something like PS3 media server or similar to stream mkvs?

Venares · 18 Aug 2011 at 18:52

Kind of defeating the point of a HTPC then m8, as XBMC will be doing all the playing.

NeverWinter · 18 Aug 2011 at 21:57

The PS3 and Xbox are in the bedrooms, HTPC would be in the living room.

GeX · 18 Aug 2011 at 23:08

platypus said:
I didn't particularly want to get a boxee then hack it about to play XBMC, unless its a straight forward process (and doesn't void any warranty)?

the boxee box runs XBMC, it's a fork of it.

Venares · 19 Aug 2011 at 09:58

NeverWinter said:
The PS3 and Xbox are in the bedrooms, HTPC would be in the living room.

Ahh, I'm with you.
Yeh XBMC has DLNA capabilities so you could stream to your Xbox/PS3 but I think you would still have the same problem with mkv's and such.
Just sold my PS3 so cant test for you unfortunatly.