HTPC

dan958 · 4 Nov 2013 at 11:12

Hey,

After using my Raspberry Pi for quite a while, I'm getting a bit fed up of it's sluggishness. (What can you expect for the price?)

I'm looking at building a HTPC, as cheap as possible to run XMBC. I'd like it to be very low powered as it will be on all the time (or fast booting if I will turn it odd) and be silent.

What sort of prices and parts am i looking at?

Subliminal Aura · 4 Nov 2013 at 12:21

Might be worth asking in official xbmc thread

What OS ?

If linux, best stick with Nvidia based GPU or onboard.
If windows then a low powered AMD solution might do the trick.

Take a look at my build in sig for ideas of an Nvidia linux setup. Its been running XBMC/NAS/torrent services flawlessly for almost 3 years and is good enough for upto 1080p.

The CPU I use is a celeron SU2300 and really this should be the absolute minimum that you should go(if linux, windows will need more) for unless you're a sucker for doing your own optimisation

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Celeron+SU2300+@+1.20GHz&id=595

Zacate has a few more watts over my build - but is going to be sluggish with windows

dan958 · 4 Nov 2013 at 12:29

i plan on upgrading my current gaming rig (currently has a amd a10k 5800k, so this will be going spare) Will this fit into a micro motherboard, or would it just be worth selling it and using the money to buy something that does work?

I'll probably be using a linux build, since it's free.

Idleman · 4 Nov 2013 at 12:44

dan958 said:
i plan on upgrading my current gaming rig (currently has a amd a10k 5800k, so this will be going spare) Will this fit into a micro motherboard, or would it just be worth selling it and using the money to buy something that does work?

I'll probably be using a linux build, since it's free.

Something like this would be ideal.

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte F2A85XM-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 micro ATX Motherboard £40
Total : £45.97 (includes shipping : £4.98).

What other spare parts do you have that can be reused?
And how much are you looking to spend?

dan958 · 4 Nov 2013 at 12:47

Idleman said:
Something like this would be ideal.

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte F2A85XM-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 micro ATX Motherboard £40
Total : £45.97 (includes shipping : £4.98).

What other spare parts do you have that can be reused?
And how much are you looking to spend?

Thanks.

I can probably find a HDD spare. I don't have a budget, but would like it to be as low as possible. It will only be used for streaming from my NAS drive.

EDIT

I've also got a bunch of RAM I could use, of all types.

Subliminal Aura · 4 Nov 2013 at 12:48

Size wise...

mITX < mATX < ATX

mITX has standard fittings so will fit in mATX and ATX cases.

The bigger the case the more options you have. It might also be worth looking at an Intel solution using the iGPU. It certainly has the power to render 1080p but how efficiently with XBMC I'm not sure of, I've never tried. Mind you a decent processor like that would be yards ahead of any ION based solution

Funnily enough there has been no update to the ION chipset for a couple of years which is a pity.

Idleman · 4 Nov 2013 at 12:56

dan958 said:
Thanks.

I can probably find a HDD spare. I don't have a budget, but would like it to be as low as possible. It will only be used for streaming from my NAS drive.

EDIT

I've also got a bunch of RAM I could use, of all types.

OK, so you have ram, Cpu and a hdd.

So you need mobo, Psu and a case!
Any restrictions on the size of the case, are you wanting to put it in a TV cabinet, for example.

Idleman · 4 Nov 2013 at 12:59

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte F2A85XM-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 micro ATX Motherboard £40
1 x OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £35.99
1 x Zalman T1 Mini Tower Case - Black £19.99
Total : £107.68 (includes shipping : £9.75).

I take it you have a cooler for the Cpu.

dan958 · 4 Nov 2013 at 13:01

Subliminal Aura said:
Size wise...

mITX < mATX < ATX

mITX has standard fittings so will fit in mATX and ATX cases.

The bigger the case the more options you have. It might also be worth looking at an Intel solution using the iGPU. It certainly has the power to render 1080p but how efficiently with XBMC I'm not sure of, I've never tried. Mind you a decent processor like that would be yards ahead of any ION based solution

Funnily enough there has been no update to the ION chipset for a couple of years which is a pity.

'More options' is not needed. I'll only need a hdd for the OS - all files will be streamed from a NAS.
Doesn't need to be wireless as I have wired up an Ethernet cable.

USB ports - a few of these needed. (2-4 or so)

EDIT

I take it you have a cooler for the Cpu.

Yeah, i think i've got it somewhere.

I'd like the case to be a bit more on the width than the height, just so it can go in under the TV and not look silly.

Subliminal Aura · 4 Nov 2013 at 13:01

Idleman said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte F2A85XM-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 micro ATX Motherboard £40
1 x OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £35.99
1 x Zalman T1 Mini Tower Case - Black £19.99
Total : £107.68 (includes shipping : £9.75).

How much power this is going to consume ?

dan958 said:
'More options' is not needed. I'll only need a hdd for the OS - all files will be streamed from a NAS.
Doesn't need to be wireless as I have wired up an Ethernet cable.

USB ports - a few of these needed. (4 or so)

Fair enough.... I thought you were looking for something at the bleeding edge of power consumption.

dan958 · 4 Nov 2013 at 13:04

Subliminal Aura said:
How much power this is going to consume ?

Fair enough.... I thought you were looking for something at the bleeding edge of power consumption.

I'm looking for something as lower power as possible.

Subliminal Aura · 4 Nov 2013 at 13:16

dan958 said:
I'm looking for something as lower power as possible.

Not sure myself but this review states idle @35W to 120W load

Now idle is dependant on the quality of your PSU. Most PSU are very ineffecient at low wattages so you're probably looking at 40-50W idle..... average cpu usage will take you to 60-70W.

Happy with that ? Go for it.

Personally for a 24/7 machine my ceiling is 20W. In actual fact my home network is even leaner where the 24/7 machine has been demoted to being on-demand.

dan958 · 4 Nov 2013 at 13:17

Subliminal Aura said:
Not sure myself but this review states idle @35W to 120W load

Now idle is dependant on the quality of your PSU. Most PSU are very ineffecient at low wattages so you're probably looking at 40-50W idle..... average cpu usage will take you to 60-70W.

Happy with that ? Go for it.

Personally for a 24/7 machine my ceiling is 20W. In actual fact my home network is even leaner where the 24/7 machine has been demoted to being on-demand.

Yeah i'm happy with that. I probably would turn it off after use anyway thinking about it.

Subliminal Aura · 4 Nov 2013 at 13:22

dan958 said:
Yeah i'm happy with that. I probably would turn it off after use anyway thinking about it.

Cool

I used to run web/mail servers, Seti, folding, milkyway etc 24/7 now I'm a Wattage Nazi

The only thing that runs 24/7 now is the network and a single android tablet which I cross flashed to Ubuntu.... Main server and workstations are suspended to RAM.

If the internets have something new for me, the tablet wakes the main server up and instructs it to do it's stuff.