Media streamer/HTPC, which should I get for what I want?

Nah, TV is on a stand

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so im just after a classy looking unit that wont look like I have a great big PC in the living room.

Looks like I should be fne with that PSU and no card. Although be interesting to know if it would be better picture quality with the ATI card?
 
I have the H55n usb3, and an i3 and 4gb etc with the scythe. Everything you listed bar the ssd and psu. I use the psu that came with the sugo.

It works like a dream.. you need to download the intel i3 gpu drivers. Then it handles any media i throw at it on a 42inch pioneer. Streaming from another computer via powerlines works perfect. Great system, great case, feed the cabling around the top to force the airflow onto the scythe and up out through the psu.

ALTHOUGH

Watch out when using the scythe as metal bits can block the pcie slot.

S
 
Well I actually have bought the first bits for my htpc. Bought some bits 2nd hand off here. So far I have got-

T2350 core duo 1.86ghz laptop cpu
1.5gb ddr2 sodimm
Ati hd4350 passive
m-atx to take the laptop cpu

I then bought a case, just a cheap cit s003b case. The smallest upright case that still took full size drive (for a bluray) and full size hdds (got a spare 500gb drive). It takes half height cards only but thats fine fire me. I have also got a hdmi to component cable as thats all my tv has. It is all passively cooled except I have a single 80mm fan in the case. It comes with a cheap psu which I bet will be loud and not very good so I am going to get a picopsu for it. Just need to work out the power usage first.

Last thing I need to order really is an infrared receiver, though I may build that. So far it has come to £135 which is really keeping to my budget htpc idea. Will get some pics of it when I get it.
 
I would have just gone for the WDTV Live with a couple of 1TB external HDD's lol plenty of customisable firmware about for it, it does YouTube but not sure about iPlayer.

Or spend 3x as much and get an HTPC! Lots more freedom with it but I think for your needs apart from possibly iPlayer the WDTV would do everything you needed.
 
Well I will be able to use it as a bluray player now, plus I have remembered I have a tv usb receiver so will give that a try too, though may need a bigger hdd to use it well as a pvr.

Out of interested I had looked on youtube and noticed that the menu system was really slow with the different firmware where the menu begins to look good. Plus surely no need to upgrade a htpc for years and years as long as it can play 1080 all fine?

Edit - Knew I had read somewhere, the wd live struggles with mkv's with subs built into it, which covers a lot of my viewing. Apparently they have to be remuxed or something, whereas I want something that can do the whole lot without having to play round with the files.
 
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Hi Saitrix,

I have all the components for my Atom home server, but I am still missing a case.

How did you get on with the CiT S003B? Was the PSU as noisy as it seems to be on reviews?

What did you do to reduce noise and would you recommend the case?

Cheers,

Alex
 
I didn't get to use it, the case is wrongly advertised at being able to fit a m-atx motherboard when you cannot due to the psu being in the way of it. I'd imagine an atom board will be fine, but yeah I can imagine the psu will be loud on it. Best way is to get a picopsu (or even a cheap copy) for silence. An atom system would only need an 80w one which you can pick up the parts cheaply.
 
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