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Building a HTPC and other questions

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  • Build Your Own
  • NAS / RAID
  • Systems
  • Build
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March 6, 2014 11:25:38 AM

HI,

I want to build a HTPC.

I want the HTPC to be able to play 1080p flawlessly and 3D would be nice but not a requirement. I'm not interested in gaming.

The HTPC must:
1. Play 1080p without stuttering.
2. Play analog 5.1 surround sound.
3. Allow me to connect an HD antenna and watch OTA local channels.
4. Automatically load XBMC on startup.
5. Be silent and cool.
6. As small as possible.

Price range: about $500 but willing to pay more depending on what features.

I have an old PC that I want to make it a NAS.

The NAS must:
1. Allow me to access my movies/tv shows anywhere around the house.
2. Be able to stay on 24/7
3. Must be cool
4. Must use low power.

Now for the questions:
1. Are NAS HDD's necessary or do any HDD's work?
2. Are SDD's worth the extra money for the HTPC?

I already have speakers, a mouse, keyboard, and TV.
I do not need an optical drive or Windows OS.

Thank you.

More about : building htpc questions

March 6, 2014 11:53:36 AM

What's your budget? Knowing that will help to suggest a rig. To answer your questions:

1. No, any HD will be fine.
2. Yes.
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March 6, 2014 12:05:59 PM

g-unit1111 said:
What's your budget? Knowing that will help to suggest a rig. To answer your questions:

1. No, any HD will be fine.
2. Yes.


About $500. Also is the HDHomeRun good for OTA as opposed to a TV tuner?
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March 6, 2014 1:29:21 PM

Re #2, I would disagree somewhat on the SSD. It depends on your typical usage. The main advantage is reduced boot time, but many people leave their HTPCs on full time, especially with power saving hibernate modes of modern computers. Reliable SSDs really come at a price premium, and you have a somewhat limited budget, especially since you are adding a TV tuner card. A regular HDD is usually a necessity for a HTPC, so a good SSD plus HDD is going to eat up a big chunk of your budget. So I would say budget out the rest of your computer, then see if you have any wiggle room to spend $70-$100 on a SSD. It is certainly not a necessity.
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March 6, 2014 1:31:50 PM

Aristotelian said:
Re #2, I would disagree somewhat on the SSD. It depends on your typical usage. The main advantage is reduced boot time, but many people leave their HTPCs on full time, especially with power saving hibernate modes of modern computers. Reliable SSDs really come at a price premium, and you have a somewhat limited budget, especially since you are adding a TV tuner card. A regular HDD is usually a necessity for a HTPC, so a good SSD plus HDD is going to eat up a big chunk of your budget. So I would say budget out the rest of your computer, then see if you have any wiggle room to spend $70-$100 on a SSD. It is certainly not a necessity.


I don't need a HDD since I will be streaming from a NAS
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March 6, 2014 1:43:44 PM

Also I think I will go with a HDHomeRun instead of a tv tuner. I'm still waiting on the build recommendations.
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March 6, 2014 1:55:54 PM

The integrated GPU is plenty for 1080p playback.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.29 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H87N-WIFI(REV2.0) Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($121.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $496.23
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-06 16:52 EST-0500)
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March 6, 2014 2:08:08 PM

shortstuff_mt said:
The integrated GPU is plenty for 1080p playback.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.29 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H87N-WIFI(REV2.0) Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($121.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $496.23
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-06 16:52 EST-0500)


The processor needs 2-4weeks to ship. Also isn't 8gb overkill for a HTPC?
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March 6, 2014 2:16:47 PM

If you get the CPU from Newegg it has a $15 promo code. There's also a Newegg combo of the CPU and CPU cooler that saves $8. I guess you could say 8GB of RAM is overkill for a HTPC, but I wouldn't want to run a nice i5 system with 4GB of RAM.
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March 7, 2014 5:47:29 AM

Kobeissi25 said:
Also I think I will go with a HDHomeRun instead of a tv tuner. I'm still waiting on the build recommendations.


If you read your post carefully, you never asked for build recommendations, you only asked the two questions.

Shortstuff's build will work, but I think it is overkill in certain areas, and HD HomeRun would put you over budget. For pure HTPC (no gaming) corei3 or even Celeron will be plenty. Liquid cooling is completely unnecessary. i3 + SSD would give you much better performance than i5 + liquid cooling.
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March 7, 2014 11:53:26 AM

Yes, I went with the i5 + liquid cooling since the cooler is quiet and he stressed how important it was to him to have a quiet machine. It wasn't clear if the tuner was part of the budget, so I maxed out the budget without the tuner. An i3-4130 would work well for HTPC use and save about $55.
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March 8, 2014 10:04:27 AM

shortstuff_mt said:
Yes, I went with the i5 + liquid cooling since the cooler is quiet and he stressed how important it was to him to have a quiet machine. It wasn't clear if the tuner was part of the budget, so I maxed out the budget without the tuner. An i3-4130 would work well for HTPC use and save about $55.


Im thinking about building a similar HTPC. Has anyone confirmed that the liquid cooler will work inside this case??
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