Htpc for £550

[lirancoh85]

Hey guys,
I want to build my first media centre which will be build mainly for streaming the web, watching FullHd films and XBMC software.
The system will be connected to a Full HD TV "50 by a good receiver and 7 speaker bose system.I
I got a few suggestions to take the i3 2100 sandy bridge coz its cooler than the ivy bridge ? is that so ?, im not gonna overclock it !
Im not sure about the case as well, ive got some limitation about the size, the max would be (44x16x36)

I thoght about that system.

Intel core i3 3225
Gigabyte H77-d3h mATX
8gb ram corsair xms3
2tb seagate 7200rpm sata 3
schyte shuriken low profile rev b OR SilverStone NT01-E (Passive)
silverstone grandia GD04
corsair 430w builder or seasonic s12 430w
liteon blueray reader
logitech dinovo mini

what do u think ?
can i go any better with £550 ?

Tnx
leo

 

[jmsellars1]

At stock settings should be cooler than SB, IB just gets a bit hotter when overclocked. We are talking a few degrees, it's nothing to worry about. IB also has MUCH better integrated graphics.

Overall it looks good, much bigger than I would go for in a HTPC but that's up to you.

One main improvement I could suggest is to build something based on the A10-5700. Pretty much the same price but it's a quad core with much better integrated graphics.

 

[jmsellars1]

AMD A10-5700
2x4GB Corsair Vengeance LP 1866Mhz 1.5v
Gigabyte GA-F2A75M-D3H
Samsung 840 Series 120GB
1TB Seagate 2.5'' 5400RPM Hard Drive
Silverstone SST-SDP08B 3.5'' to 2 x 2.5'' adapter
Silverstone LC19B-R with Fanless 120W PSU
Silverstone NT07-AM2 CPU Cooler
Sony BC-5550H-01 Slim Internal Blu Ray Drive

Total - £512.64 on Scan

Better performance in a sexy slim case. Might have to keep an eye on the temps and possibly add one or two fans to keep it in check but it would look great and perform great.

 

[lirancoh85]

Thanks for your comment, The problem is that the media centre is not for my self, its for my brother which doesnt have any knowledge of computer hardware and etc'.
Also i would like the system to be intel based, im pretty confident about all the components except the case and cpu cooler.
which htpc case and cpu cooler would you say is the best at this price (around £150)
the criteria will be
1.max size (W x H x D) 44x20x36
2.low temp
3.noise
4.easy to assemble

if you could list me a few it would be perfect.

thanks so much
leo

 

[jmsellars1]

1: Most HTPC cases are going to be smaller than that, this shouldn't be an issue.

2: All but the very smallest of cases should be able to deal with a 55W CPU fine.

3: This one is hard to judge, just make sure you have at least 40mm room for a CPU cooler and not too many fans and you should be OK. A single 60-80mm (or bigger) fan should be OK with this kind of build. A fanless PSU would be a bonus.

4: Generally any really small case is going to be fairly difficult to build into. By difficult I just mean time consuming and it will take some thought. You shouldn't need any special knowledge as such.


If you must go with Intel, the i3-3225 is definitely the best choice. Here's another good suggestion in a slightly bigger case. Still has a nice fanless PSU and looks great but the extra room helps with ease of building and cooling.

i3-3225
2x4GB Corsair Vengeance LP 1600Mhz 1.5v
Gigabyte GA-H77N-WIFI (There are cheaper boards but this has wifi and surround sound etc.)
Intel 330 Series 60GB
Sony BC-5550H-01 Slim Internal Blu Ray Drive
Scythe Kozuti 40mm height CPU cooler
Lian-Li PC-Q09B with 110W fanless PSU

Total - £433.87 on Scan


You will notice that only has 60GB of storage and the case has no more room for drives but this is a good thing in my opinion. No mechanical drive keeps the system incredibly quiet and the SSD will be way faster. For storage you could get a cheap NAS, that way the whole network can access the data and it also cuts down on noise as previously mentioned.

Something like this perhaps:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00499DMRQ/ref=asc_df_B00499DMRQ10457289?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B00499DMRQ

That brings you to the top of the budget, if you can afford to push it a little bit, this is a nice bit of kit as well:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-K400-Wireless-Touch-Keyboard/dp/B005LDLQXG/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1352233741&sr=1-1