New to HTPC, would like some help!

[Brumboy]

I've never really looked into HTPC's but as I'm researching 3D TV's I wanted to see what they are about. From what I've read they are basically a mini PC that has a tv tuner, blue ray drive, large HDD and a dual core processor which is then connected to a TV via HDMI and used as a pure media device.

Can you provide me with some examples of components for a HTCP including motherboards and processors?

Build 1:

Motherboard - MSI G31TM-P35 Intel G31 (Socket 775) DDR2 microATX - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-138-MS - £33

Processor - Intel Celeron Dual Core E3400 "LGA775" 2.60GHz - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-350-IN&tool=3 - £37

Memory - Kingston 2GB (1x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C6 800MHz Single Channel Memory - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-086-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813 - £24

GPU - HIS ATI Radeon HD 4350 iFan 512MB DDR3 HDMI Low Profile AGP Graphics Card - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-023-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1842 - £46

HDD - Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA-II 64MB Cache - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-327-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1955 - £60

Case & PSU - OcUK Hades Micro ATX Tower Case - Black (450W PSU) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-018-OP - £27

Total - £227

Build 2:

Motherboard - Asus P7H55-M Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-411-AS - £68

Processor - Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) with intergerated graphics - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-312-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1671 - £84

Memory - Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-203-CS- £36

HDD - Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA-II 64MB Cache - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-327-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1955 - £60

Case & PSU - OcUK Hades Micro ATX Tower Case - Black (450W PSU) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-018-OP - £27

Total - £275

Which build would be better for me? I do have a 2TB external HDD too so I could always play films straight from that aswell.

But I've also read a bit about these AMD Fusion setups like the Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3 Zacate with HD6310 iGPU - AMD Fusion (ITX). They include a motherboard, CPU and GPU all in one, would this be suitable for playing back blue ray/1080p video onto a 3D TV?

Or the Zotac Z-Box Mini PC which is £180 and you'll have to buy your own memory & HDD, is this good enough for 1080p playback on a 3D TV?

 

[topher]

on bundle 1 you have specc'd a pci-e motherboard with a AGP gfx card.. change gfx card for http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-118-HT&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=168

the zacate and the zotac should play 1080p fine

I have a foxconn nt330i (atom + nvidia ion) that I use xbmc on and it plays 1080p fine. I gonna be putting it up forsale in the next day or 2 if your interested.

 

[munz]

in a very similar boat myself

from what ive read a dual core should be fine for full hd playback,
is power usage any concern, i think i3 2100t/ amd fusion use less power than older chips but cost bit more.

i've also been looking at the acer revo and then getting a seperate NAS

but there also option combining a htpc + NAS in one, noise + size of case could be an issue with this option.

£27 for case + psu is very very cheap? is the psu any good?

 

[shadow_boxer]

Also worth considering is whether you'd want high definition audio (True HD / DTS-MA)? More important really if you're going to be connecting it to an AV Receiver and surround sound.

As mentioned above there are quite a few different options, but a dual core base system will cope with full-hd fine, as too would an Atom (330 and above) with nvidia ion.

A slightly more expensive build would be around the Intel 9300/9400 chipset with a Core 2 Duo CPU. More powerful than an Athlon dual core setup (so full HD video with complete ease) they will also do high definition audio and handle

7.1 LPCM over HDMI! - essentially means your HTPC will decode True HD / DTS-MA and output it as uncompressed audio to your amplifier or av receiver.

Another option would be to get a Radeon HD5450 (or any other 5000 series card) to bitstream HD audio (and video) via HDMI to your receiver.