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HTPC build

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texag   08-21-2009 at 09:31:35 AM

Hey this is my first post here but have been following Tom's for a while. Just want to get people's opinion on my HTPC build which I am about to buy all the parts for. Hope to get some input and maybe some ideas but I think I've got a pretty good idea of all the parts I'm going to use.

Money wise I'm planning on spending about $1000 and want this to be pretty much noiseless other than the storage hard drives.

Case - Want to be able to turn on with remote
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811163076

Power Supply - 20 + 4 pin and fanless
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817104035

Motherboard - 1.3 HDMI capable chipset 785G (I realize it does not do the 7.1 audio, but in the future I will prolly add a sound card)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131398

20 pin to 24 pin converter - Buying it b/c motherboard has 24 pin and power supply 20 pin (Know it doesn't matter usually, but not sure with this build since the remote control cable adapter uses 24 pin)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6812201001

CPU - 65 watt dual core 3.0GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103681

Main HDD - Purely for system and necessary drivers and codecs. All other tasks like ripping DVD's etc. will be done on my other comp and then the files will be transferred by USB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227393

HDD converter - Dock for converting 2.5" to 3.5" internal HDD (for SSD above)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817994064

Memory - 4 GB DDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820148227

Blu-ray/DVD reader - To play blu-ray movies (Blu-rays take up too much room still on HDD since I rip DVD's uncompressed w/ all features hence until larger than 2TB HDD come out I'm not ripping Blu-rays since I would want those uncompressed as well)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827106325

CPU Heatsink - Could go fanless if desired but will buy 120mm fan as well (below)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835220019

CPU Heatsink Fan - 120mm 8.7dBA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835185004

Case fans (5) - 80mm 4.5dBA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835185099

Some extra sataII cables - 2 of each type to use or spares
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6812189193
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6812119230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6812123157

Storage HDD are not shown since I already have those.
Mouse and keyboard - Will use my logitech revolution mx5500 for W7 installation etc just by switching the bluetooth usb adapter to my HTPC. Will do that too for maintenance, but other than that no keyboard or mouse necessary

I believe all these parts cover my build correct? My main points (fast bootup, fast media browser loading, and quiet operation) should be covered with this as my PSU is fanless, my 5 case fans are 4.5 dBA, and my CPU heatsink fan is less than 9 dBA which I might not even use. Also the case has plenty of HDD slots


Message edited by texag on 08-21-2009 at 09:37:44 AM
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englandr753   08-21-2009 at 10:27:16 AM

Everything looks good. Make the following adjustments:

Drop the 20 pin to 24 pin power adapter. 1st of all the 20+4 pin is the 24 pin you need and is already provided on the power supply you are getting. 2nd, if you ever run across the need for using that adapter, don't. Get the correct power supply. This is a potential fire hazard as this connector is sometimes prone to get very hot and catch on fire. To me the risk isn't worth it as a fire in your home with you there or away is never a good thing.

The other issue you could run across is you may be disappointed by the onboard video and may want to later go with a video card. From what I can see about your case you will lose 2 hard drive bays if you get the now standard 10" video card. This could potentially be a problem if you want to use all of the hard drive bays and not go external anytime soon. I went Intel and got the EVGA 730i that has 8 SATA ports to support all of my drives internally. I wanted to stay AMD but EVGA doesn't currently have a motherboard that supported my Phenom II 940.

I think you will get tired of transferring you data by USB if you do a lot of movies like I do. I would get at least 1 Seagate 1.5 SATA drive to start and you should easily find one for 119.99. I like Seagate due to the 5 year warranty and hassle free RMA. I just RMA'd a 500G with no issues.

------------------------------ EVGA 780i mobo | EVGA GTX 275 | Q9550 OC @ 3.6Ghz | 8Ghz 1066Mhz Corsair Memory | Corsair 1000 watt PSU | Coolermaster Stacker CM830 Case | Ultra TEC CPU Cooler | Vista Ultimate 64

 

Reply to englandr753

batuchka   08-21-2009 at 11:37:53 AM

Well i understand your hardware decisions for silent ops but i feel there were areas that were overkill but its your call i guess. For typical HTPC and with recent price drops perhaps something like this would interest you?
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q205/batuchka/PHTPC1.jpg

Reply to batuchka
huron   08-21-2009 at 12:30:01 PM

Agreed...I was thinking that was quite overkill for a HTPC. I think the case is beautiful, but awfully expensive. I just got one of the Antec HTPC cases that comes with the LCD and remote, plus a quality PSU. I think the grand total on parts will be around $300 and it will definitely do HDMI and audio.

------------------------------ Antec 900, MSI P7N Diamond, E8400,
4 GB (2 x 2GB) Crucial Ballistix 4-4-4-12, 8800 GTS 512 SLI
 Reply to huron
IH8U   08-21-2009 at 02:17:04 PM

Replace that PSU, some FSP PSU's are good. But I wouldn't take the chance.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817702014
$70 BFG 450W (has a fan, but it's nearly silent ie won't hear it past 6')

drop the 24 pin converter

and I'd replace that cooler with this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835608001
$63 Noctua NH-C12P

Reply to IH8U
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