Spec me an HTPC...

Guitarman0 · 5 Sep 2010 at 23:33

OK, I am trying to convince my dad to buy and HTPC and he likes the idea but says he is not spending over £300. He wants it to have a large HDD (preferably 1tb or over) and he is going to be browsing the web, using windows media centre and the online catchup services. So basically, is it actually possible to do all of this for £300? He needs it in an HTPC case also.

Thanks

hawker1986 · 6 Sep 2010 at 12:38

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-201-GI - Mobo
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-183-OC - 4GB RAM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA - Samsung F3 1TB
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-251-AM - AMD X2 CPU
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-020-OP - Blu-ray drive
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-131-SA - Case + PSU

Total £303.39

Obviously thats assuming you dont need an OS. But you could save money by getting a normal DVD rather than blu-ray and having 2GB rather than 4GB of RAM, 2GB would be plenty for his needs.

Hawker

timciren · 6 Sep 2010 at 17:12

I think lower the drive size, its still way more than a standard recorder, I never fill 500GB, you might want to add a CPU to the above, 2GB is enough, spend a bit more and go for silence !

Sootie · 6 Sep 2010 at 17:34

Buy this board instead and it will be under budget

Pretty good value for money - perhaps Gibbo and co. should take note

Sootie · 6 Sep 2010 at 17:51

To make the most of it you want to add a TV Card in preference to BluRay/4GB of RAM. Not used the OcUK Compro brand, but plenty of options - either as USB sticks or cards. You'll need a good aerial though.

FMTopfan · 19 Sep 2010 at 16:39

If there was one thing I would change, that would the 1TB HDD as the F3 isn't as quiet or energy efficient as my current favourite storage HDD - the Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB £79.89 inc VAT (Stock Code: HD-327-WD). If you can push a bit for for this drive then your sorted to do as much catchup tv as you wish.

hawker1986 said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-201-GI - Mobo
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-183-OC - 4GB RAM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA - Samsung F3 1TB
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-251-AM - AMD X2 CPU
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-020-OP - Blu-ray drive
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-131-SA - Case + PSU

Total £303.39

Obviously thats assuming you dont need an OS. But you could save money by getting a normal DVD rather than blu-ray and having 2GB rather than 4GB of RAM, 2GB would be plenty for his needs.

Hawker

Hope it doesn't sound like I'm nitpicking, the first link for the mobo is down or product now unavailable. The last two for the 'Blu-ray drive' and 'Case + PSU' are meant to be the otherway around. Just trying to help and nice choice there hawker.

Cycrow · 19 Sep 2010 at 19:10

personally, if u can, i would go for something like an ION instead.
can be had for £100 if you look around, so would be a simlar price to the motherboard and cpu together.

my HTPC went from an AM2 X2 to an ION, and it was noticable quicker.
my AM2 couldn't play 1080p MKV's that well, and kept stuttering, the ION plays them flawlessly.

as for the HDD, just be aware, that the WD Green is much slower than the F3, the F3 is 7200RPM, compared to the 5400RPM of the WD.

if noise and energy efficent is more important to you over performance, then this might be better
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-080-SA&groupid=1657&catid=1660&subcat=1665

also, for noise/energy efficent, the ION is far supieror, u can run them passivly and use very little power about 20-30W

Baboonanza · 20 Sep 2010 at 10:02

Cycrow said:
personally, if u can, i would go for something like an ION instead.
can be had for £100 if you look around, so would be a simlar price to the motherboard and cpu together.

my HTPC went from an AM2 X2 to an ION, and it was noticable quicker.
my AM2 couldn't play 1080p MKV's that well, and kept stuttering, the ION plays them flawlessly.

as for the HDD, just be aware, that the WD Green is much slower than the F3, the F3 is 7200RPM, compared to the 5400RPM of the WD.

if noise and energy efficent is more important to you over performance, then this might be better
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-080-SA&groupid=1657&catid=1660&subcat=1665

also, for noise/energy efficent, the ION is far supieror, u can run them passivly and use very little power about 20-30W

Well, firstly you're comparing a CPU to a CPU/GPU combo. The Atom by itself is too weak to play 1080p video, as an X2 is (maybe, I think mine does ok). Pair an X2 with a 785g chipset or cheap Nvidia GPU and it will out perform the Atom with ease.

Personally I wouldn't suggest an Atom ION for running Windows 7 Media Center. It works ok but it's at the limit. More CPU will give you a smoother GUI and the ability to do some multi-tasking.