Spec me a HTPC for my requirements

mediamatt

mediamatt

mediamatt

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15 Nov 2010
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Hi,

Could somebody spec me a HTPC for the following requirements please? It wont need a tv card as i only ever watch catchup tv anyway.

Must be able to run XBMC smoothly.
Must be able to play Full HD and Blurays that have been ripped.
Must contain an SSD as i want it quick but i have an external hard drive with all my music/films/music etc so it wont need to be a big hard drive

Finally , what O/S do you recommend?

Budget is as close to £250 as possible

Matt
 
OS I'd say is a fairly simple choice: XBMCbuntu

Do you need a DVD drive, or do you already have one you can reuse in the micro ATX builds? The ITX requires a slimline optical drive.

Micro ATX Haswell:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Pentium G3430 3.30GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £69.95
1 x Toshiba SSD HG5D Series THNSNH 7mm 60GB Solid State Hard Drive - (THNSNH060GCST) £58.99
1 x MSI H81M-P33 Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £39.95
1 x Imp MicroATX Tower Case (500w PSU) £31.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £31.99
Total : £246.37 (includes shipping : £11.25).



More expensive but somewhat tidier Haswell ITX Build:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus H81I-Plus Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £68.99
1 x Akasa Crypto Vesa Mini-ITX Case with 80W PSU - Black £59.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HG5D Series THNSNH 7mm 60GB Solid State Hard Drive - (THNSNH060GCST) £58.99
1 x Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £47.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £31.99
Total : £279.35 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Micro ATX AMD:

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A6-6400K 3.90GHz (Socket FM2) APU Richland Dual Core Processor (AD640KOKHLBOX) £59.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HG5D Series THNSNH 7mm 60GB Solid State Hard Drive - (THNSNH060GCST) £58.99
1 x ASRock FM2A75M-DGS AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £52.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £31.99
1 x Imp MicroATX Tower Case (500w PSU) £31.99
Total : £249.46 (includes shipping : £11.25).

 
High bitrate 1080p video can be pretty demanding and H264 is often decoded on the integrated graphics. These CPUs have very good integrated graphics chips.

Also they are two of the cheapest Intel processors available on OcUK.
 
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If planning to use a linux based OS (e.g. XBMCbuntu) then there is possibility of a bug with intel integrated graphics which will cause flickering.

I've just been putting together an HTPC to use with XBMC and after a bit of research went for a G1610 as it *should* handle all the decoding no probs with HD 2500 integrated graphics. But in the end I spent an extra £20 on a nvidia G210 though to use instead of the intel integrated graphics to avoid the flickering bug.
Still not finished putting it altogether yet though so haven't tested it. Will do so this weekend and can let you know how a G1610 + nvidia G210 handles XBMCbuntu
 
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Much work has been done into getting opensource video decoding on AMD.
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=174854

i have a e350 apu running nicely with XBMC, have it in my bedroom pretty quiet only hear the caviar green spinning.

EDIT: the XBMC devs have dropped supporting XvBA decoding for the binary fglrx drivers due to AMDs incompetence and neglect, it's vdpau from now on for radeon.
 
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its pretty close call in the end. get a more expensive and faster AMD cpu with good APU and better linux support, or buy a cheap-ass intel CPU and stick a GFX card in there.
 
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