Want to build an HTPC - Need help.

Robert1986

Robert1986

Robert1986

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I'm sick and tired of streaming content through my PS3 and having to put up with converting every file and what not. So, I'd like to build a HTPC for all my movie watching.

I just don't know where to start on building one. Can anyone give me a budget I should set myself to build one? I'd like to to play blu-ray 1080p.
 
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I have an old system laying around I could turn into an HTPC. Might need to upgrade a few parts though.

What can I do with this? I'd like to run windows media centre on it.

Motherboard: ASUS A7N8X Deluxe NVIDIA nForce2 SPP Motherboard DDR
Processor: AMD Athlon XP Processor 3200+
Memory: 1GB Corsair XMS DDR SDRAM PC-3200 - 2x512MB
Video Card: ATI RADEON 9800 XT 256MB 8x AGP w/DVI & S-Video
Hard Drive: 160GB Seagate Barracuda Serial ATA 7200rpm w/ 8MB Cache
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 6.1
Optical Drive One: Plextor Plexwriter Premium 52x32x52 CD-RW
Optical Drive Two: Plextor PX-708A 8x DVD R/W Drive
 
The spec looks ok, the gfx card will be overkill but would do the job.

The big option for you is wghat case you're going to get?

I have an Antec Fusion 430 which it an awesome HTPC case but your motherboard needs to be micro-atx size
 
crestj said:
The spec looks ok, the gfx card will be overkill but would do the job.

The big option for you is wghat case you're going to get?

I have an Antec Fusion 430 which it an awesome HTPC case but your motherboard needs to be micro-atx size
Click to expand...

Should I upgrade the graphics card? I'd like it to have an hdmi port.

I don't want to spend a ridiculous amount on a case, so, the Antec Fusion is just fine for my needs.

So, you think I can get away with building an HD HTPC with this system? It would have to be able to run vista home premium. I'd also like to throw in up to 4TB of HDD space.
 
I think you can get a AGP version of the 3650 which would be a good upgrade. The Fusion only has space for 2 HDD's iirk, the Silverstone LC17 is probably a better choice for you. Would maybe try and get 2gb of RAM too
 
I've decided on a dh101 case for my HTPC set up. Good choice for my needs?

Also, I'd like this thing to run quite, so, it doesn't need to be able to run crysis or any top end pc games. Just play 1080p video content and good enough to be able powerful enough to run a game like half life 2.
 
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Looks like a good case but even that case only holds 3 hard drives. Good for most but as you say you may go for 4TB of storage i'd still have a look at the LC17. Looks very similar, bout same price and can hold 6 hard drives. If you get a newer ATI card, 1080p won't be a problem and should be okay for the odd game too imo.
 
Spec looks good but I'd change the graphics to something like the ATI 34xx series so you can have proper HDMI including sound. Also, the card has a of HD hardware which will help with decoding BluRay/Well encoded MKV.

Are you aware of TVersity for streaming to your PS3? I'm actually just about to do the opposite of you, I'm selling my HTPC to buy a PS3 and stream everything via TVersity which will transcode on the fly (No re-encoding). If you have tried this but still want a HTPC - what are your reasons as I'd like to hear your experiences before I ditch the HTPC!
 
R4z0r said:
Are you aware of TVersity for streaming to your PS3? I'm actually just about to do the opposite of you, I'm selling my HTPC to buy a PS3 and stream everything via TVersity which will transcode on the fly (No re-encoding). If you have tried this but still want a HTPC - what are your reasons as I'd like to hear your experiences before I ditch the HTPC!
Click to expand...

Yea, I usually use that or GOTsent, but I've got other needs for an HTPC that the PS3 can't do. I don't really like streaming content, would rather turn off my PC while I watch a movie to be honest. Plus, I think building one with my old pc might be fun. :p

Would this graphics card do the job? Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3450 Silence 512MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI/HDMI

Noob question: I don't see an HDMI output on the card. would I just use a dvi-hdmi converter?
 
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That card is a PCI express card and your mobo seems to be only AGP, so wont work. Have to look for AGP cards, i know there is a AGP 3650 but there mite be a 3450 too im not sure. Tbh they wont really play games at a decent res tho and yes you just use the bundled DVI/HDMI adapter
 
Sorry to keep bumping/double posting, but I rather not create a new thread for every question I have.

After thinking about my needs for an HTPC, I decided to start clean and just buy new parts.

I ended up with this set up, all from OCUK.

CASE: Antec Fusion Black HTPC Case - £123.36
CPU: Intel Celeron E1200 1.6Ghz Dual-Core - £35.24
CPU Cooler: Scythe Mini Ninja - £28.19
GPU: GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 HDTV/DVI - £46.99
MEMORY: Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-5400C4 TwinX (2x1GB) - £32.89
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - £42.29

Total - £307
 
You'll want a much more capable CPU to handle HD content. The rest appears fine. Again tho, the graphics card is overkill, you could use onboard graphics if you're not planning on gaming.

Back to your original question tho, if you're fed up of having to convert each file before playing it, have you tried using TVersity? It'll transcode in real time for your PS3, provided your source PC has the power
 
Ok, so, I guess I'll go with this CPU.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 - £88.11

I do want it for games, but not high end games like crysis.
 
Ok, So I've decided to go with a Giga-byte GA-MA78GM-S2H Motherboard and just use its integrated graphics card to save money. Its still a decent enough card to run games.

Updated HTPC spec

CASE: Antec Fusion Black HTPC Case - £123.36
CPU: AMD Athlon X2 4850e - £50
MOTHERBOARD: Giga-byte GA-MA78GM-S2H - £70
MEMORY: Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-5400C4 TwinX (2x1GB) - £32.89
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - £42.29
CPU Cooler: Scythe Mini Ninja - £28.19

- £346

Is this good enough to run all my 1080p content without a hitch?
 
as far as bluray goes, get a decent decoding gpu and your laughing. my laptop's got a mobility 3450 and a p8400 c2d and 90% of the time the cpu will sit at 1.6ghz with 30-40% usage.
 
Robert1986 said:
CPU: AMD Athlon X2 4850e
MOTHERBOARD: Giga-byte GA-MA78GM-S2H
Click to expand...


I am using these parts along with 3gb of Geil in my HTPC, it runs 1080 perfect. The biggest problem I have is the required codecs.

You could get a 3450 and run the onboard and the additional card in Hybrid crossfire.
 
Robert1986 said:
Ok, So I've decided to go with a Giga-byte GA-MA78GM-S2H Motherboard and just use its integrated graphics card to save money. Its still a decent enough card to run games.

Updated HTPC spec

CASE: Antec Fusion Black HTPC Case - £123.36
CPU: AMD Athlon X2 4850e - £50
MOTHERBOARD: Giga-byte GA-MA78GM-S2H - £70
MEMORY: Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-5400C4 TwinX (2x1GB) - £32.89
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - £42.29
CPU Cooler: Scythe Mini Ninja - £28.19

- £346

Is this good enough to run all my 1080p content without a hitch?
Click to expand...

The motherboard is 780G so has an intergrated HD video card and will be fine with BluRay. What might be harder is 1080p MKV's as many of them are poorly encoded preventing your graphics card from being able to decode them in hardware. In these cases, it will be down to your CPU and codec. I've no idea what that CPU is like but if it's roughly equivilent to a C2D 2.2GHZ or so you should be fine - just make sure you use a codec that is multi threaded (Lattest ffdshow tryouts or CoreAVC).
 
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