2011-08-28, 13:12
Hi guys,
Decided to build a HTPC for streaming and managing mainly HD content to my TV and devices in the house. I also want it to serve as a bit of a NAS, although just having 1 big hard drive is fine.
I've got a couple of options, and don't know which route is best - or if I should be looking at different parts completely.
Here's my main requirements
Right now I see 2 main routes to go down, I have a spare Core 2 Duo E6750 that's been sitting doing nothing since I got my i7 machine almost a year ago. With that in mind, I've come up with this spec
BUILD #1
------------
Mobo - Zotac GF9300-K-E ITX WiFi Motherboard - £89.99
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zotac-GF9300-K-E...739&sr=1-5
CPU - Core 2 Duo E6750 - £FREE (already own)
RAM - Corsair CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 XMS3 8GB Two Memory Module Kit - £37.52
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CMX8GX3M...ers_text_b
BUILD #2
------------
Scrap using my existing C2D, and put it in the pile of unused stuff with the GF 8800GTS & other bits ;-)
Mobo - Asus AT3IONT-I DELUXE NVIDIA ION Integrated Intel Atom N330 CPU (1.6GHz) Motherboard - £150.40
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-at3i...x-with-psu
RAM - 4GB kit (2GBx2), 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-8500 - £21.59
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpartspe...35A5CA7304
For both setups, I quite like this case - although I do realize id need to get a PSU for setup #1, so may just look elsewhere.
Lian Li Mini-Q PC-Q07 - £56.24
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lian-Li-Mini-Q-P...895&sr=8-9
For both setups id just stick to a generic 2TB HDD
Samsung HD204UI 2TB Spinpoint F4 Hard Drive SATA II 3Gb/s - £52.31
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2tb-samsu...e-89ms-ncq
And once again, probably this BR drive for both
Lite On BD-ROM, IHOS104-37, SATA, Black, OEM - £38.75
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/liteon-ih...c-software
Bringing #1 to £274.81
and #2 to £319.29
Although bear in mind ive not looked up cheapest prices on the net yet. Either way I wanted to spend less then £400, which is done easily - but if there's any noticable upgrades anything thinks would be good, then do let me know. I've still got quite a bit of scope in terms of budget, that's not the real issue here.
My questions on them are...
Would Build#1 be over powered? produce too much heat/noise for a small HTPC ?
Would Build#2 with the Atom approach be powerful enough?
Which Build would best suit my needs?
Decided to build a HTPC for streaming and managing mainly HD content to my TV and devices in the house. I also want it to serve as a bit of a NAS, although just having 1 big hard drive is fine.
I've got a couple of options, and don't know which route is best - or if I should be looking at different parts completely.
Here's my main requirements
- Stream 720p/1080p content via HDMI
- Be able to manage content grabbing - All this means is ill be running XBMC within a W7 environment
- Act as network storage for all my devices in the house
- Needs to be relatively small as I want it to sit behind next to / behind my TV
- Needs WiFi & Ethernet
Right now I see 2 main routes to go down, I have a spare Core 2 Duo E6750 that's been sitting doing nothing since I got my i7 machine almost a year ago. With that in mind, I've come up with this spec
BUILD #1
------------
Mobo - Zotac GF9300-K-E ITX WiFi Motherboard - £89.99
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zotac-GF9300-K-E...739&sr=1-5
CPU - Core 2 Duo E6750 - £FREE (already own)
RAM - Corsair CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 XMS3 8GB Two Memory Module Kit - £37.52
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CMX8GX3M...ers_text_b
BUILD #2
------------
Scrap using my existing C2D, and put it in the pile of unused stuff with the GF 8800GTS & other bits ;-)
Mobo - Asus AT3IONT-I DELUXE NVIDIA ION Integrated Intel Atom N330 CPU (1.6GHz) Motherboard - £150.40
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-at3i...x-with-psu
RAM - 4GB kit (2GBx2), 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-8500 - £21.59
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpartspe...35A5CA7304
For both setups, I quite like this case - although I do realize id need to get a PSU for setup #1, so may just look elsewhere.
Lian Li Mini-Q PC-Q07 - £56.24
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lian-Li-Mini-Q-P...895&sr=8-9
For both setups id just stick to a generic 2TB HDD
Samsung HD204UI 2TB Spinpoint F4 Hard Drive SATA II 3Gb/s - £52.31
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2tb-samsu...e-89ms-ncq
And once again, probably this BR drive for both
Lite On BD-ROM, IHOS104-37, SATA, Black, OEM - £38.75
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/liteon-ih...c-software
Bringing #1 to £274.81
and #2 to £319.29
Although bear in mind ive not looked up cheapest prices on the net yet. Either way I wanted to spend less then £400, which is done easily - but if there's any noticable upgrades anything thinks would be good, then do let me know. I've still got quite a bit of scope in terms of budget, that's not the real issue here.
My questions on them are...
Would Build#1 be over powered? produce too much heat/noise for a small HTPC ?
Would Build#2 with the Atom approach be powerful enough?
Which Build would best suit my needs?