Need help building a good HTPC

[misenlai]

I've decided to build a HTPC. I've built (and OC) a few PCs before but never HTPC so I'm really new to this and have no idea what to get . I would listen to any advices you guys offer (hardwares, what to get, how to set it up..etc..)

Budget: $800 - $2000. Let me know if I need more $ ...

Goals:

1. it would be nice to be able to run games well too but not top priority. If possible, i'm hoping to run 3-4 instances of wow, diablo 3, starcraft 2 coming up at highest setting. Also run crysis.

2. Turn this into a home theater kinda thing. The rig will connect to my 46" 120HZ 1080 LCD in the living room to act as a TV and also connect to my monitor in the room for gaming. We will cancle cable and hoping to stream everything live off this rig. Maybe connect to other TVs too at home if it's possible.

3. Going to set up a karaoke system on this rig too.

4. No noise (a must) and no heat

5. High end.. quality sound, also remote controls and DVR, pick up as many channels as possible

6. Small? optional if it costs too much

I also live close to multiple micro-center if it helps choosing the parts.

Thanks in advance

 

[misenlai]

please let me know if this is the wrong section to post. thanks

 

[BlueCat57]

You can find a recommended system build in this thread.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/269162-31-recommended-builds-usage

And you can read about the components I bought in this thread.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=31&post=271424&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0

I should have my system up and running this weekend.

You might have some difficulty finding a "silent" passively cooled discrete graphics card but they are out there. And based on what I read while planning my system if you plan to do any gaming you will want to go with a discrete card instead of the one on the motherboard.

You should be fine with a 4x Blu-Ray drive. I asked about the difference between 4x and 8x and the reply I received seemed to support 4x as being fine for watching movies.

I went with Intel because I've never used AMD. It seems like AMD is a more popular brand for HTPC.

I chose Caviar Black over Green because the reviews I read about Green were not as good. I'm not sure if noise will be an issue with Black. Seems like Seagate Spinpoint is more popular in the recommendations to the best of my recollection. You'll want to confirm that.

Best of luck with your build. I can wait to fire mine up. I expect I'll learn a lot since this is my first complete build.

 

[BlueCat57]

And be sure to read all you can here at Tom's. There are several articles about HTPC. Search for Maui for the most extensive one.

 

[misenlai]

doesn't seem expensive. But it seems like there's a tradeoff of gamer vs htpc.. can't have both cuz of the quiet issue.... sigh

quick question; so with a tuner i will be able to pick up some channels; what determine what channels i can pick up? like can I pick up HBO?

 

[BlueCat57]

If you have a TV Tuner card and an antennae you can pick up over the air broadcast channels. Do a search for TV signal locator and you can find which stations broadcast in your area. Those are the ones you'll receive.

Most of the networks offer online viewing of their shows. And through iTunes and Amazon you can buy the shows you want to watch. Netflix offers streaming for $9 a month. Hulu and others like that offer tons of TV shows. And of course YouTube, et al offer millions of videos. YouTube now offer many movies and old TV shows like those at Hulu.

But you won't be able to just run on HBO unless you feed either a satellite (DirectTV or DishNetwork) or a cable into the tuner card.

As for gaming, you can get to a reasonable level with an HTPC build that is quite. The main issue will be heat. With a good case you might be able to get enoug quite airflow to keep the insides cool. Check out silentpcreview.com for some more articles on HTPCs.

I'll be posting about my build soon since everything but the RAM arrived today.

 

[misenlai]

sweet. Keep me posted on how yours go