Sorry I know this has been done before a million times but wanted to make sure any build could actually meet my needs.
I host my files on my PC, so just want a cheap, small HTPC in the living room to stream HD movies over WiFi on XBMC, watch iPlayer/4od etc.
I use a Yamaha amp/receiver with 5.1 speakers so Audio+Video need to go out via HDMI to the receiver, which then does the sound and sends the video to the PC.
Also would like to be able to watch DVDs so need an optical drive.
I already have a 120gb SSD that I can use for the build. What else do I need? Is AMD better than Intel for this purpose? What's the bare minimum I can get away with for this? Don't want to spend too much but also am worried I'll go too cheap and find that it's too slow to do the things I would like it to do!
TIA
I host my files on my PC, so just want a cheap, small HTPC in the living room to stream HD movies over WiFi on XBMC, watch iPlayer/4od etc.
I use a Yamaha amp/receiver with 5.1 speakers so Audio+Video need to go out via HDMI to the receiver, which then does the sound and sends the video to the PC.
Also would like to be able to watch DVDs so need an optical drive.
I already have a 120gb SSD that I can use for the build. What else do I need? Is AMD better than Intel for this purpose? What's the bare minimum I can get away with for this? Don't want to spend too much but also am worried I'll go too cheap and find that it's too slow to do the things I would like it to do!
TIA