What to do with the htpc??

flame696

flame696

flame696

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I've been thinking of upgrading/sidegrading my htpc. My current htpc is an AMD A4 5300 on a cheap MSI mATX motherboard in a battered Fractal core 1000 which has to lay on its side so it will fit in the TV unit.

I use the htpc for movie watching on plex (streamed from my HP server) and thats all its used for. I use either the Xbone or PS4 for blu-rays. Now i was hoping when the consoles get the plex app i could use them and get rid of the htpc all together but because i don't subscribe to plex pass they haven't got the free facility yet

Now i have seen the CM elite 110 for £20 which i think is a steal but that would mean replacing the motherboard and getting a FM" itx board BUT they are expensive at £70+.

What I can do is replace the CPU and motherboard with a AM1 setup (itx mobo with AM1 5350) which will cost the same as getting just the FM2 itx mobo but i dont know what to do.

Any suggestions??
 
I have the same hardware as you, in a Silverstone ML03 case. I'm in the same kind of situation too. My HTPC used to also be a server, but I now have a HP Microserver, so my HTPC is now just used for Plex. It's complete overkill really!

But I do like the flexibility of it still. I could just do with something that uses a lot less power and still runs windows. I've been keeping an eye on those micro-pc things! Failing that I'd possibly go for a NUC.
 
I have looked at the Intel nuc but they seem a bit over priced for what they are, I was looking at the AND AM1 setup which would cost less then £100 with a nice it case
 
flame696 said:
I have looked at the Intel nuc but they seem a bit over priced for what they are, I was looking at the AND AM1 setup which would cost less then £100 with a nice it case
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Why buy more hardware if you already have the hardware to run plex? It makes no sense....
 
In the same boat as you all, I use my microserver to host my plex server via hyper v and and htpc for plex and watching Sky go etc. I have a PCI tv tuner as well which is fab and is the only thing I'm keeping my htpc for at the mo since having the plex app installed on my smart TV.

Been tempted to cash in on it as its a decent spec pc more than capable of handing high end games even. Must admit really enjoying the change from xbmc to plex mainly due to the flexability of plex across devices like phones and tablets.
 
easyrider said:
Why buy more hardware if you already have the hardware to run plex? It makes no sense....
Click to expand...

The reason i was going to buy more hardware is, at the moment my htpc is sat inside a fractal core 1000 which has been battered and it doesnt look nice. So i astarted looking at some HTPC cases but the good ones are around the £70 mark so i started looking at itx board for FM2 chips but they are also around the same money. so then i thought ill get a new itx board along with a new low powered CPU so decided to look at the AM1 setup
 
flame696 said:
The reason i was going to buy more hardware is, at the moment my htpc is sat inside a fractal core 1000 which has been battered and it doesnt look nice. So i astarted looking at some HTPC cases but the good ones are around the £70 mark so i started looking at itx board for FM2 chips but they are also around the same money. so then i thought ill get a new itx board along with a new low powered CPU so decided to look at the AM1 setup
Click to expand...

But you are still left with a PC !

Get a chrome cast then sell the PC....job done
 
I have tried a chromecast, got a few around the house. They are fine for playing home movies, looking at pics and watching movies with lower resolutions. When i try to use the full 1080p settings with everything turned up to the max it will struggle, it will start to buffer every 30 seconds or so. I have unlimited sky broadband and get on average 20mb but the sky router is terrible with wifi.

I want a solution which is hard wired to the net for smooth playback. The HTPC plays my movies without a problem
 
flame696 said:
I have tried a chromecast, got a few around the house. They are fine for playing home movies, looking at pics and watching movies with lower resolutions. When i try to use the full 1080p settings with everything turned up to the max it will struggle, it will start to buffer every 30 seconds or so. I have unlimited sky broadband and get on average 20mb but the sky router is terrible with wifi.

I want a solution which is hard wired to the net for smooth playback. The HTPC plays my movies without a problem
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree that's why I ditched the sky router it's garbage...keep the htpc then...!
 
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