First HTPC - 1080 and 3D On a Budget

[synkid88]

I am looking to build my first HTPC. I need 1080p and 3D capabilities and am hoping to keep the system relatively quiet. I have an AMD 6870 in my current gaming PC and I may be able to justify putting that into the HTPC and getting an upgrade for my gaming rig if it makes sense.

I found this build searching through the forums but I am not sure if it fits my needs:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/G3Cc

Thanks!

 

[synkid88]

I messed around a little on partpicker. I'm not very well versed in technical specs but came up with this:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/H1Yq

I'm not sure what I need for a GPU

 

[synkid88]

Anyone?

 

[bodeen2012]

from researching the a4 does support 3d playback . all of the apu's support 1080p . hell the raspberry pi can play 1080p

 

[tiny voices]

Get a corsair cx430 PSU
Get 4gb RAM
Don't use the 6870 for this.

 

[twelve25]

3D movie playback, right? That's easy.

3D gaming on a budget? No chance.

 

[synkid88]

I'm not trying to game. this is a dedicated HTPC.... 3D and 1080p are my only concerns...

 

[twelve25]

For a quiet, low power system, I'd run something like an ivy bridge Celeron 1610 and a Radeon 6450 or 6570 fanless card. Both of those explicitly state that they can do 1080p 3D bluray and Stereoscopic 3D glasses. And you probably only need 4GB of RAM tops. I'd also run a 5400RPM drive for noise and cooling benefits (and you don't need 7200RPM to play movies).

I bet you can find a more family room friendly case. Maybe something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163174

 

[twelve25]

How about this? SSD is optional, but would provide almost instantaneous boot. I know I'd hate waiting 2-3 minutes for the system to boot so I can watch TV! Could use sleep mode and the HDD only, too. I used a laptop drive because they are quiet and low power.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Hb8z
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Hb8z/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Hb8z/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Celeron G1610 2.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($39.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock B75 PRO3-M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($76.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($24.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Western Digital Scorpio Blue 1TB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($81.68 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($92.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6450 1GB Video Card ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone ML03B HTPC Case ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($56.23 @ Amazon)
Total: $497.82
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-03 03:44 EST-0500)

 

[synkid88]

Thanks Twelve. I really like that case and suggestions for a quite system. I am still going to keep my cable, this is more like a supplement to it. For that reason I am not too worried about boot times and probably wont add an SSD. This is only my second build and I dont know much about processors and motherboards. I appreciate the help.

 

[synkid88]

Best answer selected by synkid88.