Soldato
- Joined
- 3 Jun 2005
- Posts
- 3,281
- Location
- The South
Hi all,
I'm needing some help on choosing a spec for building a HTPC and i'm a little lost as i've been out of the building game for 4/5 years (last built a system using a Q6600, so a fair while
) so i'm well out of the loop especially with APU's etc.
The main requirements are -
First, CPU/Motherboard.
Due to the low power usage, I’ve looked at the Atom/ION and Fusion based boards, specifically the Asus AT3IONT-I, E45M1-I and Zotac based boards. But all reviews I’ve read seem to have the same conclusion - "great for media playback/XBMC and light surfing but pretty gutless otherwise".
So I’ve also looked at using either a G620 or A6-3500, which are both apparently the best for performance vs power usage, coupled with either a GA-H61N-USB3/GA-A75N-USB3 or F1A75-I DELUXE/F1A75-M PRO. But obviously power usage increases; have read idle/load usage to be almost double that of an ION/Fusion system.
So, are the ION/Fusion based systems as gutless as the reviews say they are, especially for my PVR requirements?
If not, is it better to go Fusion (which apparently is a better graphics performer) or ION/Atom?
And are the boards I’ve listed worth going for/has anyone had any experience with the boards listed?
If they are gutless, am I better to go with Intel's offerings or AMD's (a lot of confusion over the upgrade path of the FM socket; apparently Intel would be a better choice in this case)?
And is the G620 or A6-3500 good shouts or should i look into using something else?
And again, has anyone had experience of the boards listed and are they any good (reviews I’ve read suggest they're ok)?
Just thinking ahead slightly, is it worth waiting for the G620 Ivy bridge equivalent (has anyone got an idea what it is or will be)?
Secondly, storage.
Most of my media is currently on a NAS box (Synology, has two mirrored WD Greens, 1Gbps connection), so was planning on using an SSD for the HTPC just for quick bootups etc. However with recording TV, a decent sized SSD is a fair amount of money.
Now i know it's possible on MCE7 with a bit of hacking and from what I gather MediaPortal to move the recording/playback directory; would it be a bad idea to shift this to the NAS box? I'm assuming recording would be a no-no, but if i scheduled to move the recorded media to the NAS box and then use it for playback only, would the HTPC experience suffer (ie: will it be laggy) at all?
Or would i be better off either using both a SSD (OS etc) and mechanical drive (recorded TV storage) or scrapping the SSD completely and just sticking to a decent sized mechanical drive?
And lastly, the case.
The system is to be hidden away in a rack and heat is my main worry, so although cases like the Streacom FC8/FC5 and Zeno's are great, i don't think they're suitable for this and i think this is somewhere i could save a little cash.
So can anyone recommend a decent, but not too expensive, case that is similar in size to the Wesena E5, the HEC 8K01 or the 'competitors' Vision Media Centre?
And similarly if I do opt for a G620 or A6-3500, can anyone recommend a decent low profile heat sink and fan combo?
Apologies for the long winded thread but much appreciated for any help
I'm needing some help on choosing a spec for building a HTPC and i'm a little lost as i've been out of the building game for 4/5 years (last built a system using a Q6600, so a fair while
) so i'm well out of the loop especially with APU's etc.The main requirements are -
- Playback of >1080p material, in a varienty of formats.
- PVR duties so a mixture of recording and watching, including live pausing, of Freeview and FreeSat - have already purchased a BlackGold BGT3600, so ideally a system that could handle recording HD from all four tuners (i know about the potential heat issue with the Freeview tuners), at worse record one watch one.
- Don't particularly want a system idling at 100w, nor using 500w whilst watching a film - so low (or certainly as low as possible) power usage is a must.
- Looking at mini-ITX or mATX for board size with the case being similar sized.
- Budget - nothing OTT but I’ll pay if components can be justified.
First, CPU/Motherboard.
Due to the low power usage, I’ve looked at the Atom/ION and Fusion based boards, specifically the Asus AT3IONT-I, E45M1-I and Zotac based boards. But all reviews I’ve read seem to have the same conclusion - "great for media playback/XBMC and light surfing but pretty gutless otherwise".
So I’ve also looked at using either a G620 or A6-3500, which are both apparently the best for performance vs power usage, coupled with either a GA-H61N-USB3/GA-A75N-USB3 or F1A75-I DELUXE/F1A75-M PRO. But obviously power usage increases; have read idle/load usage to be almost double that of an ION/Fusion system.
So, are the ION/Fusion based systems as gutless as the reviews say they are, especially for my PVR requirements?
If not, is it better to go Fusion (which apparently is a better graphics performer) or ION/Atom?
And are the boards I’ve listed worth going for/has anyone had any experience with the boards listed?
If they are gutless, am I better to go with Intel's offerings or AMD's (a lot of confusion over the upgrade path of the FM socket; apparently Intel would be a better choice in this case)?
And is the G620 or A6-3500 good shouts or should i look into using something else?
And again, has anyone had experience of the boards listed and are they any good (reviews I’ve read suggest they're ok)?
Just thinking ahead slightly, is it worth waiting for the G620 Ivy bridge equivalent (has anyone got an idea what it is or will be)?
Secondly, storage.
Most of my media is currently on a NAS box (Synology, has two mirrored WD Greens, 1Gbps connection), so was planning on using an SSD for the HTPC just for quick bootups etc. However with recording TV, a decent sized SSD is a fair amount of money.
Now i know it's possible on MCE7 with a bit of hacking and from what I gather MediaPortal to move the recording/playback directory; would it be a bad idea to shift this to the NAS box? I'm assuming recording would be a no-no, but if i scheduled to move the recorded media to the NAS box and then use it for playback only, would the HTPC experience suffer (ie: will it be laggy) at all?
Or would i be better off either using both a SSD (OS etc) and mechanical drive (recorded TV storage) or scrapping the SSD completely and just sticking to a decent sized mechanical drive?
And lastly, the case.
The system is to be hidden away in a rack and heat is my main worry, so although cases like the Streacom FC8/FC5 and Zeno's are great, i don't think they're suitable for this and i think this is somewhere i could save a little cash.
So can anyone recommend a decent, but not too expensive, case that is similar in size to the Wesena E5, the HEC 8K01 or the 'competitors' Vision Media Centre?
And similarly if I do opt for a G620 or A6-3500, can anyone recommend a decent low profile heat sink and fan combo?
Apologies for the long winded thread but much appreciated for any help
