Building a budget gaming HTPC

[aure1ius]

Hello,

I am looking to build a HTPC specifially for WoW and watching blue-ray movies. I would want one that would be able to run WoW on the highest graphic options and be able to handle the expansion MoP with no issues. I also will need it to have wireless-N connectivity. I know thats not ideal but thats a requirement.

BUDGET RANGE: no more than $800.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, mouse, keyboard, and speakers

SOFTWARE: Need full version of Windows 7

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Would prefer the i5-3470k processor but am open to suggestions. HDD space isnt as much of an issue as the speed of the drive so if I can fit a SSD into my budget that would be ideal. This will be in a main room so the quiter then fans run the better. The case needs to blend in like an A/V reciever would and would like it to look nice and clean for it will be out in the open. This PC will be on all day and used for gaming about 3-4hrs a day and because of that it needs to stay as cool as possible. Thanks for all your help in advance.

 

[batuchka]

Perhaps elaborate more on the HTPC side of things : do u plan on tuner/s? Are u sending audio out to a coax/optical/HDMI AVR for example and your LCD TV 720p or 1080p?

 

[aure1ius]

I guess i could be a little more detailed.

AUDIO SETUP: All I would need is the standard optical out thats built in on most MB's

TV: Smasung 55" 1080p. It has DVI, PC and HDMI inputs so any of those are fine.

Tuners/ Video Capture: No

I did do some looking around and this is what I have seen so far:


SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum / 0.8mm SECC Grandia Series GD05B micro-ATX / Mini-DTX / Mini-ITX

ASUS P8H67-M PRO/CSM (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL11Q-16GBXL

Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Pioneer Black Internal BD/DVD/CD Writer SATA BDR-207DBKS

That puts me 100 bucks over budget any suggestions?

 

[batuchka]

Hmm based on your needs/uses i would suggest an mATX build stock/no OC so heat/noise isn't gonna worry u?

Wow isn't a particularly demanding game either so something in the GTX 560 - HD 7850 would be fine? Could be you could even get by with a HD 7770? 4GB RAM is more than fine and choice of chip/board perhaps i5 3450 +H77 (the H67s may or may not have an updated BIOS to fully/properly support the Ivy 1155s)

For cost cutting - if u put a HTPC on S3 sleep all the time, a SSD won't really be needed i.e a luxury one could do w/o when budget is the issue?

Lastly, if eventually you be playing files off a NAS/Home Media Server for HD files, best results with a wired rather than wireless solution ^^