Budget HTPC

[Raiders12]

Greetings all,

I've had the itch lately to finally build a dedicated HTPC for my theater. I've handled all PC duties by my Phenom II X4 build in my sig, but now want something small, efficient, and powerful to handle strictly media.

-My first thought was a cheap micro-atx AMD Dual-core build, had one spec'd for $500 shipped. (AM3 upgrade path and more functionality as opposed to mini-itx)

-Second build spec was for a mini-itx AMD E350 Fusion build, very low power consumption. Had one built for $500 shipped as well.

Basically it came down to how limited I wanted to be and power consumption and what trade offs I wanted to make.

The HTPC will basically replace my PS3 Netflix/Bluray duty, Cox Cable Digital Box, and Western Digital Live player.
The HTPC will be tasked for:

-Bluray, Netlifx, Hulu, etc
-DVD/Bluray archived collection
-DVR capability (Digital Cable)
-Slight, slight gaming
-Windows Media Center functionality/organization

I just ordered my parts last night, and I was going to get on the AMD AM3 Sempron 130 (2.4 Ghz) which would most likely unlock/overclock toa dual core, as it was a AMD II X2 Regor core disabled, for $30. I opted against this, as I later found a Phenom II X3 700e 2.4 Ghz energy efficient model. The X3 has 6MB L3 Cache, which the Smepron or even X2 have 0 of, and operates at 65W. Paid a $40 premium, but I feel like its worth it. The X3 700's can OC like most AMD chips.

HTPC Overview:
1) AMD Phenom II X3 700e , 2.4 Ghz
2) Arctic Cooling 92mm heatsink
3) Biostar A8800GU3 Motherboard
4) Corsair XM3 4GB DDR3 1333
5) Samsung 2TB HDD
6) OCZ Vertex 30GB SSD
7) 430W 80+ Rosewill PSU
8 ) Silverstone HTPC Case, w/ front USB 3.0
9) Samsung 12X bluray
10) Rosewill USB Wireless-N adapter
11) Generic Win MCE remote (USB IR receiver for my Harmony)

Total Price Shipped (NewEgg, Amazon, Tiger Direct)
$550

**Debating on the Ceton InfiniTV 4 CableCARd tuner for $300 or buying a used ATI Digital tuner thats one of the only CableCARD approved devices out there, that will allow you to receive encrypted digital/HD cable.


Now just the parts waiting game!

[Raiders12]

Here are some screen shots with my external 1.5 TB hard drive hooked up, and the new theme/plugins working. It took me many hours organizing and tweaking to get it to work, but it's awesome!





This is my media organization using MediaBrowser plug-in for Win7 Media Center. Very worthwhile!

[BLindsay]

wow thats nifty

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by Raiders12

Here are some screen shots with my external 1.5 TB hard drive hooked up, and the new theme/plugins working. It took me many hours organizing and tweaking to get it to work, but it's awesome!



This is my media organization using MediaBrowser plug-in for Win7 Media Center. Very worthwhile!

I need to get the plug-in, as I use WMC on my desktop, because no other HTPC software seems to work with my IPTV box. I may have to start playing my media files that won't read on my tv through it as well. I normally use VLC.

[Raiders12]

Yes, I used to use my Western Digital Media player to play all my .VOB or MPEG-4, etc files...but since I discovered the ability of Win MC, I was amazed. I believe Xbox Media Center is alsoa very open/modified software that many HTPCers use.

[Raiders12]

Also, Media Browser plug in, allows you to customize displays, artwork, themes, graphics, etc, its a very good plug in. It uses the internet to correctly find and label movie files and update artwork.

[brettallica]

That's a nice looking theme and slick interface you've got set up there with your HTPC software. I recently acquired Mac Pro tower that I am dual-tasking as my media editing computer (video, Flash, Illustrator, Photoshop, Final Cut, etc.) as well as the HTPC for my master bedroom. It's got dual DVI so one feed goes to the HDTV and the other goes to my desk and the Cinema Display I have there; there are also multiple audio outs so I have sound in both places.

I am currently using XBMC, which is fantastic and blows Windows MCE 2005 out of the water (that's what I was using before with my old Dell HTPC). Windows 7's default Media Center capabilities are no joke, though, and I wish Mac had something like that straight out of the box. Definitely a leg-up for Windows on that one. I had no idea that there are so many plug-ins and such a dedicated group of followers and users for Windows 7's Media Center. It makes me kind of want to install 7 on that tower (via Boot Camp or Parallels) and see if it outperforms XBMC. It looks really solid.

[Raiders12]

I'm going to start researching and playing with XBMC, since its a more community/user supported software.

[Raiders12]

HTPC parts came!!

Got her all set up, boy was it tight working with a small form factor case, but everything is in and running.

Here is the part goodness:


The build begins...


Running wires (Ughhhhhh)


Just a bit messy


She is ALIVE!


Funny sticker...


Now updating Windows, drivers, loading programs, etc...

[HyperRealist]

Nice!

[Raiders12]

Looks like I'll be investing in a low power video card, as I'm not too pleased with the performance of the integrated 4250. (Should have seen that coming).

Backing up blurays and enjoying them in WMC

[littlepooch21]

Originally Posted by Raiders12

Looks like I'll be investing in a low power video card, as I'm not too pleased with the performance of the integrated 4250. (Should have seen that coming).

Backing up blurays and enjoying them in WMC

how is the noise on it? i have been thinking about building one or turning my pc into one, but my pc is so noisy.

[Slaveknight]

same here I'm into HTPC for my media and games and I have a midrange setup which its not that expensive just assemble it myself. U can see my rig on my sig and oh I uploaded a video on my HTPC to HDTV w/ surround audio. I use xbmc as for my media center. Hope in helps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYlR-WeJmXk

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by Raiders12

Looks like I'll be investing in a low power video card, as I'm not too pleased with the performance of the integrated 4250. (Should have seen that coming).

Backing up blurays and enjoying them in WMC

Are you sure it's not the WMC bug in 7-64 Bit? I had issues where my Live TV playback and PVRs were acting all jerky (I have a Radeon 6850 HD). I ended up uninstalling PlayReady last night (nothing's gone screw so far, knock on wood), and updating my video card drivers, and haven't had a problem so far. It began to act up after I took my computer to my parents' for a week. It began to act up once I got back. I know several people have issues with PlayReady as it's a form of DRM.

I prefer watching TV through my PC, despite the slightly fuzzier picture, it has better AQ, and the program guide in WMC is far more detailed and nicer to navigate than the Bell Aliant one.