Spec me a HTPC build!! :D

Monkeyspaz5000

Monkeyspaz5000

Monkeyspaz5000

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Looking into this and wondering how cheap I can do it for.

Needs to be able to play HD content. DVD/Blueray drive not required.

No idea personally what the min spec is for this sort of thing.

cheers! :D
 
 
LukieBoy007 said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI A75IA-E53 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £71.99
1 x AMD A6-5400K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD540KOKHJBOX) £49.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 500GB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA050) HDD £43.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.98
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £38.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD38G2133HC11DC01) £35.99
Total : £292.93 (includes shipping : £10.00).



It'll play games at playable framerates too.
Click to expand...


Handle HD content ok?

I need it to be as quiet as possible, do you know if that case has much spoke to fit a quiet cooler?
 
 
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
ASRock H61M-ITX Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 M-ITX Motherboard £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
Toshiba (7K1000.D) 500GB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA050) HDD £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Cooler Master Elite Power 500W Power Supply £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
Intel Celeron G530 2.40GHz Socket LGA 1155 Processor - Retail £28.99
(£24.16) £28.99
(£24.16)
TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34096M1600HC11DC) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Sub Total : £191.61
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £40.67
Total : £244.03
Click to expand...

Add a video card to play games or if you definitely do not want gaming functionality shave a few quid off and get this mother board

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Toshiba (7K1000.D) 500GB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA050) HDD £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
Gigabyte H61N-D2V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Cooler Master Elite Power 500W Power Supply £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
Intel Celeron G530 2.40GHz Socket LGA 1155 Processor - Retail £28.99
(£24.16) £28.99
(£24.16)
TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34096M1600HC11DC) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Sub Total : £174.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £37.34
Total : £224.03
Click to expand...
 
If you're streaming HD (H.264) from network or internet sources, the cheapest HTPC is the Raspberry Pi with Raspbian. It'll do iPlayer etc, too, and even works as an Airplay reciever, so you can play music/films from your iPhone.

£30, plus an SD card and an Android/Blackberry phone charger if you don't have one, so probably about £40 total.

Otherwise, the cheapest possible actual PC as an HTPC would be the cheapest pre-built PC from OcUK, which is about £150. The cheapest HTPC-sized PC isn't going to be much cheaper than BadCompany's second build.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW_r1o_0QfI
 
Last edited:
I am in the process of researching for one around that price point... this is the spec I have so far:

ASRock H61M-ITX
Intel Celeron G550
Geil Black Dragon 10666 8gb
Asus HD 6450 SILENT EDITION
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX
Cheapy PSU
£235.93

or swap the motherboard and processor for a mobo/processor combo
Gigabyte GA-E350N
£230

or swap the mobo/processor combo for an alt
Gigabyte D525TUD Intel Atom
£220

?

(I already have HDs)
 
snips86x said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A8-5500 3.20GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD5500OKHJBOX) £77.99
1 x MSI A55M-E33 AMD A55 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £40.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Plug and Play 4GB (2x2GB) 1866MHz - KHX1866C11S3P1K2/4G £39.95
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £38.99
Total : £249.90 (includes shipping : £10.00).

Click to expand...

That's notebook RAM. ;)

+1 for a Trinity build. Could probably go cheaper by going down the route of AMD E350/450 but FM2 gives you a bit more horsepower plus the dual core A6-5400K will be great for playing 1080p movies and will handle 3D Blu Ray too.
 
shadow_boxer said:
That's notebook RAM. ;)

+1 for a Trinity build. Could probably go cheaper by going down the route of AMD E350/450 but FM2 gives you a bit more horsepower plus the dual core A6-5400K will be great for playing 1080p movies and will handle 3D Blu Ray too.
Click to expand...

ha, completley missed that one! I thought they had squashed the image :D
 
Audigex said:
If you're streaming HD (H.264) from network or internet sources, the cheapest HTPC is the Raspberry Pi with Raspbian. It'll do iPlayer etc, too, and even works as an Airplay reciever, so you can play music/films from your iPhone.

£30, plus an SD card and an Android/Blackberry phone charger if you don't have one, so probably about £40 total.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW_r1o_0QfI
Click to expand...

That actually looks very interesting and if worked well it would do the job fine.
 
They work superbly, I don't even bother turning my PC on for iPlayer, video streaming, music etc anymore. And for £40, if it doesn't work then stick a couple of USB drives in it - instant NAS
 
Audigex said:
They work superbly, I don't even bother turning my PC on for iPlayer, video streaming, music etc anymore. And for £40, if it doesn't work then stick a couple of USB drives in it - instant NAS
Click to expand...

Ordered one along with power supply, case, memory card.

Been playing with XBMC on the PC and much prefer it over plex. Can't wait for the PI to arrive. Been watching some youtube vids of it and it certainly looks capable.

thanks for the headsup!
 
No worries. Even if you don't like it, the worst case is that you've wasted £40 (and can probably sell it straight on again for £35) or can use it for a NAS, home server etc. I'd advise you to install Raspbmc on a USB drive - it still needs the SD card to work as some sort of bootloader, but it runs faster off a decent USB drive.
 
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