Oh no, not another HTPC thread!

Tunney

Tunney

Tunney

Soldato
Joined
11 Oct 2004
Posts
14,551
Location
London
Hi everyone.

I've been tempted by the idea of a HTPC for a long time now. My only computer is in my bedroom and so it's not much use if I want to listen to music or watch a film. With more and more legal media popping up on the net, I'd also like a living room PC so that I can leave it downloading overnight.

My main uses will be as follows:
  • Listening to music via my home cinema
  • Watching films stored on the HDD (copied from their original DVD discs)
  • Transcoding DVDs to H.264 for my iPod touch
  • Downloading large files from the internet
  • BBC iPlayer/4OD
  • Surfing from the sofa
I'm not interested in Blu-Ray/PVR functionality at the moment.

So here's my intended list of components from OCuk:

CPU: AMD Phenom Quad Core 9850 2.50GHz Black Edition (Quad core for decent video encoding)
CPU cooler: Scythe Mini Ninja CPU Cooler (I assume it will fit)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H AMD 780G Micro-ATX (everyone seems to recommend this chipset for HTPCs)
RAM: OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (not worried about overclocking and seems wasteful to only get 2GB when it's so cheap)
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache (lots of room for DVDs)
Case: Antec Fusion HTPC Case - 430HE Watt PSU (seems to be the default option)
Case fans: Noctua NF-S12 800RPM 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin (again, seen a lot of recommendations for these)
WiFi: Belkin F5D7000UK 54Mbps Wireless Desktop PCI Network Adapter (bog standard, I assume it will fit)
DVD drive: Samsung SH-S202JBEBN 20x DVD±RW IDE Dual Layer ReWriter (cheap!)
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit Edition (I like the look of the DVD library thing and I guess driver support is OK these days)
Keyboard/mouse: Logitech MX 5000 Laser Cordless Bluetooth 2.0 Desktop Combination (I want Bluetooth as I've had problems with RF in the past)

Total: £767.08 inc. VAT & delivery
Click to expand...

Do I need some thermal paste too? See anything wrong with my build?

My main debate I was having with myself was whether to go with Intel or AMD. The benchmarks I've seen put AMD slightly in the lead for video transcoding and AMD seems to have the better micro ATX chipset. Is there any reason for me to reconsider?
 
Last edited:
To address all 4 GiB RAM you'll need a 64-bit operating system.

In general you could spend a lot less to do the same job. A quad core proc is definitely not necessary for watching films, listening to music, and transcoding for your iPod. The chipset you have there is really nice and it should work quite well. The Mini Ninja will coe with heatsink sauce so you don't need to buy any more unless you want to.
 
if your watching films using home cinema would a sound card not be a good choice to add as well? most cases should support a few riser cards so you can add a full size pci soundcard asus zonar if you need a recommendation
 
Also, if you want to be streaming media over the network or similar you should consider dropping the WiFi card and going with a hard-wired connection. WiFi is just too damned unreliable for me to rely on it. Nothing's more irritating than having a film stop playing while you're watching as you wait for the WiFi connection to come back on. You also don't want downloads to fail or have to be restarted because the connection cuts out any time someone on your block uses a microwave oven. YMMV, of course.

EDIT: Also, the Fusion case is only really worth it if you absolutely require the front panel LCD display. You could spend half as much for what is essentially the came case sans the display.
 
PCDave said:
if your watching films using home cinema would a sound card not be a good choice to add as well? most cases should support a few riser cards so you can add a full size pci soundcard asus zonar if you need a recommendation
Click to expand...

I expect they are planning on using the digital out on the motherboard...
 
Yeah, I was planning on using the digital out on the motherboard but I don't mind getting a separate soundcard if there's going to be noticeable benefits (i.e. DD/dts live).

EDIT: Also, the Fusion case is only really worth it if you absolutely require the front panel LCD display. You could spend half as much for what is essentially the came case sans the display.
Click to expand...

Any recommendations? I didn't think the Antec looked like a bad deal considering its HTPC styling and built-in PSU.

Cheers for the feedback so far, guys. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom