Spec me an HTPC!

mcwildcard · 5 May 2009 at 16:39

I'm considering selling up my PC and putting together an HTPC system in it's place.
All I want it for is Usenet, web browsing, emails and office stuff, also to output 1080p via HDMI (although DVI is acceptable).
It's not going to be used for gaming at all.
My current system is:
E6300 @ 2.8GHz
4 x 1GB CAS4 Geil DDR2 PC6400
2 x 320GB 7200.10 SATA 3.5" HDD
8800GT OC BFG
GA-965P-DS3 v1.0
SB Audigy EX Soundcard
1 x SATA DL DVDRW

What out of that could I use and what else would I need?
I want to do this as cheaply as possible, paying for it with the sale of my excess PC bits and hopefully having some cash leftover at the end to take a chunk out of my credit card. Obviously I'd like it to be as quiet and small as possible, but cost > size > noise.
I'm a complete noob when it comes to this sort of thing, I know nothing about what sort of PSU is needed and what SFF graphics cards are capable of 1080p.
All I've known until now is bigger, faster, more FPS!

Any help is gratefully received.

champ222 · 6 May 2009 at 13:29

Hi

I have been fiddling with htpc stuff over that last couple of weeks.

If i was you, i would do this:

Keep your mobo, cpu and ram, sell you gfx card and your sound card (assuming you are using a surround sound reciever) by an Asus ATI 4350 graphics card (its the only passively cooled one with hdmi, DVI, and VGA all on board that i could find. about £35 i think, it does 5.1 over hdmi, apparently, but i think you can get spdif from your ds3 if your amp doesnt do audio over hdmi.

Fit it all into a nice HTPC case (obviously thats not essential)

install windows XP, and XBMC as a front end, and your good to go

I have tried very similar hardware to you, my main pc is a DS4 and a 6300 running at 3 GHz, and it plays everything without hassle.

XBMC doesnt use any hardware decoding at all, unfortunately its all done by the cpu, but you'll have enough power there anyway.

my htpc is a E2140 at 2.6ghz, 2 gb ram, el-cheapo asrock mobo, and its running a standard xp install, with xbmc, and will playback a 1080p video ripped straight off a blu-ray, before any transcoding, without a problem at all.....

.....however, i havent tried blu-ray at full res, my monitor is only a 19" at 1280x1024 res, so i dont know what will happen if the htpc is connected to a full def display, i dont know if running on a lower res screen is easier for the pc or not, at its still got to process the huge bandwidth, then scale it down to fit my screen.... i dont know

I have tried a 12 gb 1080p MKV from my main pc into a full def plasma, and it looked amazing!! and was as smooth as silk, so i doubt you'll have a problem

mcwildcard · 6 May 2009 at 14:36

Thanks, advice duly noted, that graphics card is well loved it seems!
I was also considering going down the Mini-ITX route, but I really have no clue at all what my options are for that, I'm hesitant to go for it, as I don't want to end up buying crappy components due to my ignorance, but info on Mini-ITX stuff seems quite limited online.

champ222 · 6 May 2009 at 16:03

i would only go for mini-itx if space is really an issue?

you have a pretty solid system there, going down the mini route, would mean a new mobo, psu, half height cards etc...

there are some nice cases about that will fit your existing stuff, although most will require a micro atx board, although gigabyte make a micro atx mobo with spdif out, dvi, hdmi, and vga out for about £55 only 20 quid more than that graphics card i suggested earlier, then you could just use your existing chip, cooler, ram etc, i assume you have a reasonable ATX PSU?

i know nothing about mini-itx hardware, so i cant offer any advice there.

mcwildcard · 6 May 2009 at 16:11

Well my original system was built when I was gaming a lot, but that's transferred almost entirely to my PS3 now, so really it's being criminally underused for it's spec.
Looking at some of the mini-itx options, I can use a lot of my existing kit as well, which I didn't expect.
My current PSU is built into my case, so I'll have to grab a new PSU as well as a new case for any fresh build. I think that for my needs, an m-atx build will probably end up costing only slightly less than a mini-itx build!
Hmmm... it would seem I have much to consider!

champ222 · 7 May 2009 at 08:29

HTPC cases are surprisingly expensive, so maybe that will help sway you one way or the other, i'm not sure how much mini-itx stuff costs.

Good luck with it all tho mate.

What are you going to use as media player software?

mcwildcard · 7 May 2009 at 11:40

For playing media I'll probably just stream it to my PS3 via the Media player server, there's very few formats that it won't play natively now, so it'll just be problematic stuff with obscure codecs that might be watched via the PC.
I'm looking at grabbing the following:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-006-OP
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-000-ZT
+ a cooler that will fit and a quieter case fan to replace the stock one.

I reckon if I sell on the bits I don't need from my current PC, I should be able to do it all for an additional £50. The only other thing is is my OEM Vista HP, I'll try and talk MS round into letting me use it for the new build, I might get away with it, as it's actually only really the mobo I'm changing and I can just tell them the old one died.
I do need to pick up a retail one, although I'm wondering if Windows 7 might be worth a go instead. Is the beta still available for free?

champ222 · 7 May 2009 at 12:44

ive not used the ps3 as a media player myself, but deffo have a look at XBMC, its a really nice media player/front end, you might find yourself using it a lot, especially if like me, you want all your tv programs from the web. it looks really nice, plus it plays anything you throw at it.

that mini-itx stuff looks cool, i wonder how it would overclock, i guess a 45nm chip would suit your needs better, being more efficent and all, but thats another purchase, you may as well just start again if your going to go down that route, although that would mean you could sell your pc as a whole, although it would probably sell better as components...

cant help with vista... i'm still on XP hehe, i'll probably skip vista and go straight for 7

mcwildcard · 12 May 2009 at 11:41

Okay, so here's what I've basically decided on...
Old bits:
E6300 - (to be replaced by a 45nm CPU at a later date)
3.5" 320GB Seagate 7200.10 SATA HDD - (to be replaced by a 2.5" drive at a later date)
Pioneer DVDRW SATA drive - (to be replaced by a slimline drive at a later date)

New bits:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-006-OP
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-000-ZT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-014-OK

+ Windows 7 64bit

It's a pretty standard build, but I want to know roughly how much CPU OCing I'll be able to do with that 120w PSU?
Also, will any Zalman CPU coolers fit in there?