Your Very First HTPC? But Where do You Start?

Your Very First HTPC? But Where do You Start? - Printable Version

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- iBurger - 2011-12-05 23:31

garylfox Wrote:I feel for you on this, but you have to admit to a noob, this place is like information overload! It is a great resource and full of a lot of great info, but a little overwhelming at the same time. It could take a month or more to read all of the threads here.

I think the guide does explain very well why you go, or rather, shouldn't go for the AMD platform. I have been researching this issue for a while but nobody seems to provide a clear answer.

Probably because things are moving so fast?

- baldmosher - 2011-12-05 23:43

There is no clear answer, it depends on your requirements.

If you need raw CPU power + HTPC stuff and have money then go Intel i3 + discrete GPU.

If you need a HTPC + CPU power, then go AMD A8. Or drop to A6 for less money and less CPU power.

Video Quality is marginally better on the Radeons vs GeForce which are both much better than the PowerVR Sandy Bridge onboard GPUs.

In short it doesn't really matter. They're all kickass.

garylfox Wrote:I feel for you on this, but you have to admit to a noob, this place is like information overload! It is a great resource and full of a lot of great info, but a little overwhelming at the same time. It could take a month or more to read all of the threads here.

Personally I'm lucky that I've got to wait until March before I purchase, so Intel will hopefully get things right, Ivy Bridge will come along and shake up the market, and hopefully the prices will drop on the A6/A8 as AMD start to panic Wink

Or it'll throw a spanner in the works and I'll go for Intel, LOL

PS I'm giving myself 3 months to read everything. It's taken me 3 weeks but I haven't slept much

- 1gr8ftoy - 2011-12-05 23:56

I'm sorry if this has been answered already but I am going with the ZBOX-AD03BR-PLUS-U based on the which group do you belong post. It is a group 6 system but runs an AMD M1 onboard cpu. With all the AMD issues I am curious if I am going to have a problem. I plan on going the W7 route. TIA

- iBurger - 2011-12-07 18:18

baldmosher Wrote:There is no clear answer, it depends on your requirements.

If you need raw CPU power + HTPC stuff and have money then go Intel i3 + discrete GPU.

If you need a HTPC + CPU power, then go AMD A8. Or drop to A6 for less money and less CPU power.

Video Quality is marginally better on the Radeons vs GeForce which are both much better than the PowerVR Sandy Bridge onboard GPUs.

In short it doesn't really matter. They're all kickass.

Personally I'm lucky that I've got to wait until March before I purchase, so Intel will hopefully get things right, Ivy Bridge will come along and shake up the market, and hopefully the prices will drop on the A6/A8 as AMD start to panic Or it'll throw a spanner in the works and I'll go for Intel, LOL

PS I'm giving myself 3 months to read everything. It's taken me 3 weeks but I haven't slept much

Thank you.

I have been reading so much good stuff on Intel's H55 platform and
can't wait to get a Core i3 myself. I don't mind spending a few
extra bucks now if that means I can do more with my hardware later.

You mention that you are waiting till march. I also play a waiting
game. I am curious to know if the Apple TV 3 will be good enough to
run 1080p and 1080i content once it is hacked by the XBMC team.
If this happens it means that we will have a very inexpensive capable
xbmc machine.

Reading up on the news I learned that the Apple TV 3 is expected to be
released soon. Some say it will be in the first quarter of 2012. Apple
has been a little shaky as of late, so I have my fingers crossed that
they don't screw up! Wink

- bluray - 2011-12-07 19:36

baldmosher Wrote:Personally I'm lucky that I've got to wait until March before I purchase, so Intel will hopefully get things right, Ivy Bridge will come along and shake up the market, and hopefully the prices will drop on the A6/A8 as AMD start to panic Or it'll throw a spanner in the works and I'll go for Intel, LOL

PS I'm giving myself 3 months to read everything. It's taken me 3 weeks but I haven't slept much

For the all-in-one stuff, Intel should be worry instead. They're behind AMD in iGPU department, and AMD is rolling out their Trinity APU in Q1 2012. Both their CPU and iGPU will get up 30% performanc increase with their Trinity version next year! Smile

AMD Trinity APU internal benchmark slides surface

- jnelsontn - 2011-12-08 20:51

I haven't really been following too much of the current technology but I've been thinking about building one of the A8 configurations listed in the OP, could the A8 builds handle running an emulator such as Dolphin (wii)?

I plan on building an HTPC to run MAME/SNES/Sega Genesis games (my main PC is a 27" i7 iMAC)... not watching blu ray video or anything as I stream from my iMAC to my ATV2 for that (blu ray rips).

Thanks guys.

- Kiggerbare - 2011-12-12 23:07

I just lost my HTPC to lightning that Poofyhairguy and Beer40oz help me put together back in the days.. I ordered a new one (Including the A8) the day after, at first i had to wait until the 7 this month, then they pushed it back to 22th December and just today all the way back to 2 of January.
Any idears how to build something similarly but with an APU /CPU thats possible to get a hold of? Or wont i find anything as good for that price, so it's worth the wait?
Anyway thats for a great guide. Smile

Ps. Beer40oz let me know if you come to denmark this year with your wife, so you can bring me an A8 from "over there". Wink

- baldmosher - 2011-12-13 00:16

Similar price range & capability? You're looking at an Intel solution (G620 or more likely an i3) with a separate GPU card. If you don't have the space for a GPU then you're stuck with an A6 chip unless you have the patience for Ivy Bridge in March/April. AMD production line is shot and Ivy Bridge might be the last we see of AMD for a few years. But there probably won't be anything at the low end of IVB for a few months beyond that.

- Kiggerbare - 2011-12-13 01:43

Thank you alot for the answer.
I guess i just wait it out, just boggles me how it's impossible to buy just one in Denmark at all in any online shop. Guess it's not only the hard drives that's made in Thailand and there's a shortage of these also.

Recommendation on Group#7 HTPC Build - pglover19 - 2011-12-15 01:27

Recently I found out about XBMC and purchased a HP N40L to use as a HTPC in my home theater room. Now, I want to expand XBMC in other rooms in my house (Master Bedroom and Family Room). Currently I have 5.1 surround sound in those rooms as well.

I have some left over computer parts from a computer build 2 years ago and was wondering if they can be used to build a Group #7 Mini-ITX HTPC. Here are the parts:

1. Hard Drive – Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 250 GB 8MB Cache
2. Hard Drive – Maxtor DiamondMax 100 GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache
3. Memory - HP 2GB DDR3 1333MHz Pc3-10600e Memory
4. Memory - HP 2GB DDR2 800MHZ PC2-6400 Memory
5. Power Supply – Antec EarthWatts Green 380 watts
6. CPU - Intel Celeron Processor 2.2 Ghz 64-bit
7. CPU COOLER - Stock coolers from an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 and Intel Core 2 Quad 9300 processor
8. CPU COOLER - Zerotherm CF800 cooler

If none of the parts can be used, I will look thru this thread to come up with a parts list for a Group #7 mini-ITX HTPC and post the list tomorrow for feedback.

Thanks...