Quality Build HTPC

[101turkey]

This site is awesome I feel like I can get a college degree equivalent for all the great information on this site and the links from here to other informative sites.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Approximate Purchase Date: next couple weeks

Budget Range: $1,200.00 plus or minus mostly minus

System Usage from Most to Least Important: I would like to be able to surf the web while watching over the air and internet stuff, I want to build a library of DVD movies and music. Of course the DVR is big and I will be doing some picture editing. Have FIOS and do not think I can run that into the PC.

Parts Not Required: I am thinking that I would do an HTPC and run one HDMI into the Onkyo receiver TXSR 508 (HDMI switching) that goes to a Toshiba 47HL167 (HDMI and VGA in) Boston speakers 5.1. The other I would like to run under the floor and over to a table by MY Chair about 25 feet or so. I have a logictech wireless key board and mouse. Hard wired network cable.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg

Country of Origin: I am a Baltimoron, USA (I love “the Mouse that Roars” Grand Fenwick)

Parts Preferences: No Just want Quality

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: 1080P on both?

Additional Comments: Like everyone else I am tired of giving MS money. I have been reading about Unbutu and would really like to try it as I will be laid up with shoulder surgery for a couple weeks I thought I would give it a try. However wife should also be able to use it once we have the system set.

OK here is my list. Every time I have picked a part for 20-30 more you can get a better part and then that adds up.

nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Steel HTPC 2000B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811204032
I like all the drive bays

GIGABYTE GA-H67A-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128475
I thought the ATX form would run cooler (less dense more air flow) and an easier build with future expansion

Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz 2 x 256KB L2 Cache 3MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I32100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115078
if I go to 3D in the future I will be able to upgrade this processor stock cooler should work
Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT51264BA1339
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148347
There are cheaper memory cards but I get confused on picking cheaper memory

Rosewill Green Series RG630-S12 630W Continuous @40°C,80 PLUS Certified, Single 12V Rail, Active PFC "Compatible with Core i7,i5" Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182200

HITACHI Deskstar 5K3000 HDS5C3020ALA632 (0F12117) 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145475

Kingston SSDNow V+100 SVP100S2B/96GR 2.5" 96GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139412
I keep playing with the size of the SSD boot drive. Then I saw several SSD with Windows bundles on new egg and wonder if that would be the way to go. Which brings the whole windows thing but that would be to play the blu-rays? Is that worth spending $140 for windows and increasing the SSD size? Having not experience Unbutu I just do not know how steep the learning curve will be.

LG Black 10X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model UH12LS28 OEM LightScribe Support - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136232

AVerMedia AVerTVHD Duet - PCTV Tuner (A188 - White Box) - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815100041

MSI N450GTS-M2D1GD5/OC GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127527
I was going to feed this to the Reviver. Is this overkill?

ViewSonic VX2253mh-LED Black 22" Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor Slim Design w/Speakers 300 cd/m2 DC 30,000,000:1 (1,000:1)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116477
This would be the second monitor by MY Chair. Will the mother board HDMI pass sound I keep getting confused on that point.

I have not built a system in fifteen years. It has been easier to buy a box and live with it. Time and money. I have time now whereas I did not before.

So as described above the system is $1,200 plus shipping without windows.

Any and all help is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Wisecracker]

I just ordered the ASRock E350M1/USB3 E-350 APU Mini ITX and will be test-driving with Ubuntu, XBMC and MC Classic.

AMD’s UVD3 decode engine supports hardware H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2, Xvid, Flv, and DivX acceleration through their 'APU' while also supporting Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA bitstreaming over HDMI (and full 23.976 fps support). Does not support *3D* BluRay (not interested, anyway). It's got a PCIe slot if you want to pop in that GPU to support *3D* if you were so inclined. The motherboard/chipset will support dual monitors but #2 will have to be connected via the D-sub.

I would suggest heading in that direction as you may save the PCIe slot for the Ceton InfiniTV 4 -- I suspect a cable card would be available to you. Good luck finding one (the Centon cablecard tuner, that is). You may well run into DRM issues (among other potential problems) but a quick check revealed your provider in 'Ball-Mer' offers the service, and does not appear to be as DRM-onerous as other providers.

I would also recommend that consideration be given to an eSATA external enclosure for your media similar to the Sans Digital TowerRAID. Using the 'port multiplier' function it is possible to connect 15 devices to a single eSATA host port.

I'm currently running 2 5-bay enclosures consisting of 9TB of 'hot swap' storage (over 9 HDDs) in my media library. I leave one bay open as I'm switching over to 1.5TB drives as my budget permits.

I'm hoping 2TB drives will work, too, but I haven't tested any of those (yet)