Spec me a HTPC :)

Westovski

Westovski

Westovski

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Hi All

I was wondering if someone could spec or help me spec a reasonable HTPC?

I have a budget of around £400 - I want everything excluding Keyboard (I intend to get a bluetooth keyboard with trackpad built in).

The main criteria are, enough storage to rip the films off of 300-400 DVDs, so about 4tb?

I'd also like a mobo with HDMI built in (and preferably wifi) so I can just use it on my television.

The other consideration is that i'd like it fairly small to fit under my television - like a console or DVD player.

...And that's it. Do your worst :)

Thanks in advance guys.
 
Taking into consideration of price i only put in a single 1tb HDD because 400 DVD Rips (Average 700mb each) would only be 280gb so 1tb seemed adequate.

screenshotww.png
 
Also, 4GB not really necessary for media pc. 2GB should suffice, though not sure OCUK are selling 2GB alone right now.

Also, the 5450... I had the 4350 which had the same number of stream processors, and it really couldn't handle Win 7 media center at 1080p. Though not sure if that was down to the 80 processors or the 256MB memory.

For mobo, maybe this and drop the need for GPU

Lastly, if you are close to the wireless router, just get one of the cheap usb wireless dongles - though OCUK seem out of stock of them too :(
 
If you're looking to just watch films on it why not get a dedicated media player like the Western Digital WD TV Live Plus HD (now included DVD menu support!!) and get a 4tb Wireless NAS drive? You can connect the player and the NAS via a USB Wireless adaptor.

If you do want to consider this make sure your looking at the right product, WD have a few previous models with similar names so be careful.
 
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A GPU is not needed, the 785G chipset is more than adequate for full Blu-Ray quality 1080p. If you're running Windows 7 I would recommend 4GB, I initially ran with 2GB but found that running background tasks (like ripping) would fill the RAM and cause disc paging.

This is more-or-less what you need:
basketh.png

- I've included a single 2TB drive for cost reasons and also because there is little point in buying a second one now, wait until you've filled the first one and buy the second one cheaper. I've chosen a 'green' version for power and quietness reasons.
- The case I've included is more as a price guide since OcUK don't stock many HTPC cases. It's not bad, but I don't like it. Shop around, Silverstone make some nice ones. If you want to add a Blu-Ray drive later make sure it accepts full size optical drives, slimline drives are always at least twice as expensive.
- This is all assuming you're running on Windows 7. If you plan on using XBMC for Linux you need an NVidia GPU as it doesn't support acceleration on ATi.

TBH £400 is slightly low to include everything you might need, but you can add stuff as you go along. Suggestions:
- Optical drive (~12 for a standard DVD drive)
- Remote (I recommend the Fractal Shape for a birlliant budget remote)
- I run my OS and apps off a smaller 2.5" SATA drive, which prevents the main drive from spinning up all the time. These can be had very cheaply second hand.
- Windows 7 license

As mentioned, a WD Live is an alternative but is best suited to people who run file-servers IMO. I'd rather have my HTPC machine as the always-on box and leave my high-powered gaming PC off when I'm not using it. But then I also use mine as a PVR so it has to be on anyway.
 
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I have an acer revo3610 with 2g ram. connected to XBMC taking data of a readynas.
This is by far the best option. for the price . Also if you just want for media streaming (MKV AVI DIVX ect..)
then a popcorn hour or a xtreamer is your options.

look here for my setup

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu3v5QFBaWE

and google other acer revo xbmc setup's.
 
I'm not really fussed about a NAS as I really want to use XBMC and be able to browse on my TV, thanks for the suggestion though.

Based on your responses I've come up with the following spec, is this ok?

XHKU6y.png


The case has a PSU built in.
 
Saint Jimmy said:
Taking into consideration of price i only put in a single 1tb HDD because 400 DVD Rips (Average 700mb each) would only be 280gb so 1tb seemed adequate.
Click to expand...

thats if he wants a drop in quality. Even DVD-shrink which halves the size of an 8GB DVD there is a noticable drop in quality, let alone all the way done to 700mb in an avi format which i personally think look awful.
 
Westovski said:
I'm not really fussed about a NAS as I really want to use XBMC and be able to browse on my TV, thanks for the suggestion though.

Based on your responses I've come up with the following spec, is this ok?
...
The case has a PSU built in.
Click to expand...
That's ok, though I would shop around for the case personally. And I really would suggest getting a single 2TB drive, small cases can only support a limited number of drives so you want the biggest ones you can get. Green ones should be slightly quieter too.
 
As someone who owns 2 xbmc setup's 1 as a build like u specced below. and 1 as a acer revo. i prefer the revo a lot.

for £199. its a all in one setup with Audio available from the hdmi port. not neededing extra setup or u can run it from the digital i/o

i would never build a pc for one again.

also u dont really need a keyboard or mouse for xbmc just a remote control so the whole experiance feels like a Media player rather than a pc

you should also look at boxee.
 
you could get an Acer Revo and a USB external hard drive rather than a NAS.
Or even esata external if you want extra speed (although USB should be fast enough for evebn 1080p)
 
The Revo's ok for what it is, but it's really just a step up from a WD Live. You still need external storage, you can't add an optical drive, you can't add any PCI-E cards (for Tv for instance) and tbh I found XBMC a bit slow running on Atom. If that's what you want then fine, but it's not the best solution for everybody.
 
Mcfake said:
I have an acer revo3610 with 2g ram. connected to XBMC taking data of a readynas.
This is by far the best option. for the price . Also if you just want for media streaming (MKV AVI DIVX ect..)
then a popcorn hour or a xtreamer is your options.

look here for my setup

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu3v5QFBaWE

and google other acer revo xbmc setup's.
Click to expand...

I've two of these (one/two FS in MM now) and can confirm that XBMC is the software of choice. Linux version comes as your OS and boots straight into XBMC. Supports MCE remotes too.
 
Mcfake said:
I have an acer revo3610 with 2g ram. connected to XBMC taking data of a readynas.
This is by far the best option. for the price . Also if you just want for media streaming (MKV AVI DIVX ect..)
then a popcorn hour or a xtreamer is your options.

look here for my setup

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu3v5QFBaWE

and google other acer revo xbmc setup's.
Click to expand...

Nice. How did you install the fast boot version of Linux? Links?
 
when u say ur gonna store your rips, does that mean u'll be doing the ripping/encoding on the media pc, or will u do that elsewhere ?

if not, then u wont really need much in the way of processing power, especially if you go for something like XBMC on linux.

in that case, u could save urself abit of money and get an Ion, they range from about 100 to 150, they all have hdmi and allow hardware playback with XBMC and can handle 1080p.

some of them come with wifi built in, and the Asus deluxe version even comes with its own remote and psu.
 
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