new HTPC build. Please help.

KowDot

KowDot

KowDot

Associate
Joined
9 Jun 2007
Posts
11
Hi there. I've finally decided to build a new PC or more specifically a HTPC for under the telly.

I've built loads of PCs before but never a HTPC so could I please ask for some help with components etc?

The problem I've had (and the reason I've not done this earlier) is that the depth I've got, before hitting the wall, has to be 320mm max so this seriously limits cases. I've now found a case, the Lian-Li V350B, which fits nicely if turned sideways which also happens to have drive bays on the side, nice.

These are the components I've so far chosen, although they are all subject to change:

Lian-Li V350B Aluminium Mini-Tower - Black (No PSU)
Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 450W ATX2.2 Modular SLi Compliant PSU
Asus P5Q-EM Intel G45 Micro-ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2
Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.66GHz (1333FSB)
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2
Compro VideoMate DVB-E700 Digital TV Internal PCI-E
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (66I-01939)

Cooling?
Keyboard/Mouse?

Gonna connect to oldish Philips Ambilight 32" LCD which can manage 720 with DVI but obviously I'll be getting a new 42" Ambilight soon :) No marmite comments please.

I've read loads of stuff on most things and my brain is frazzled so I thought I'd mention specific components to begin with!

My only needs are that it should be quiet and I want to build it myself.

Any pointers etc or experience on these components etc would be very helpful. Thanks.
 
replace RAM, CPU, MB with

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus M3A78-EM AMD 780G (Socket AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £59.99
(£68.99) £59.99
(£68.99)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £39.99
(£45.99) £39.99
(£45.99)
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB) £36.99
(£42.54) £36.99
(£42.54)
Sub Total : £136.97
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DHL @ Home Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.49
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £20.55
Total : £157.52


will be fine for a HTPC as long as you dont plan to also use it to also encode media. for that get a quad core
 
jak731 said:
replace RAM, CPU, MB with

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus M3A78-EM AMD 780G (Socket AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £59.99
(£68.99) £59.99
(£68.99)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £39.99
(£45.99) £39.99
(£45.99)
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB) £36.99
(£42.54) £36.99
(£42.54)
Sub Total : £136.97
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DHL @ Home Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.49
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £20.55
Total : £157.52


will be fine for a HTPC as long as you dont plan to also use it to also encode media. for that get a quad core
Click to expand...

Thanks Jak731,

I've never gone down the AMD route before so this might be a good opportunity. Please could you provide reasons for doing so based on those components. Thanks.

I've got a budget of £1000 so money is not a huge issue although obviously the less I spend the better. I've also possibly got a Q6600 going spare since it might be an opportunity to upgrade the machine I'm typing on hence the Intel route.

Any thoughts on PSU/Cooling to keep noise to a mimumum?
 
corsair VX450 is the psu i would go for
stock cooler should be quiet enough

since you are building a HTPC, i assumed the following

it must be quiet therefore
must need as few fans cooling it as possible so heat is an issue
you have not mentioned using the machine to re-encode media to another format, so power isnt needed

it needs to be able to playback HD media (720P min) and the 780G chipset based MBs do 1080P decoding on board thus removing the need for a separate GPU or a powerful CPU

finally my setup is about the same as what you were about to spend on the CPU alone and it does everything as well as your setup does when it comes to displaying 1080P HD media i.e. its a lot cheaper, but does the same job
 
jak731 said:
you have not mentioned using the machine to re-encode media to another format, so power isnt needed
Click to expand...

I'm putting in place a NAS box that will host most of the media. Would I ever need to re-encode to different formats on the HTPC itself, i.e. on the fly?

Will the above components be sufficient for MAME?
 
Just been reading about LinuxMCE ... interesting ... perhaps I should be installing this instead of Vista Home Premium. What do you reckon please?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom