[maximoo]

Hello all,

I recently had a fire at my home and lost my DVD player. I thought that I should build an HTPC instead as I have a lot of music I would like to be able to play in my living room.

There are so many options on the hardware front and it's hard to know what to get. I considered getting a pre-built HTPC but I would rather build one myself due to the extra value for money and the fact that it's easy to upgrade.

I want the HTPC to be very future-proof so that I only have to upgrade it every 3 to 5 years if that.

Here's the hardware I've decided on:

Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar 2TB Drive
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ZCXK0I

Processor:
Intel Core i5-650
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i5-650-Proce...B0030DL3FU
OR
Intel Core i5-2500K
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-BOX80623I525...B004EBUXHQ

Power Supply:
Cooler Master 460W
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Elit...002G1YPHK/

DVD Drive:
Samsung 12X Blu-Ray Drive
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-12XReadabl...B003XIM3QK


Now my problem is that I don't know how to choose a good Motherboard, Graphics Card and RAM which will all be compatible. I'm not looking for anything that can handle video games, but of course HD playback needs to be smooth.

I also don't know what case to choose and I'm scared of choosing something too small or that doesn't work with what I already have. I'd rather have a low-end case as I'm not worried about the looks. I'm also wondering whether I should opt for a SolidState Drive or not.

Can someone please help me choose decent hardware that's compatible with my choices and a preference between the two processors?

Thanks in advance!

Maximoo

[eskro]

Maximoo , have you read this forums stickies?

[bluray]

If all-in-one system is what you are after, I am recommending this cheaper option. It'll playback everything (all BD files in 1080P video, bitstreaming DTS-HD/TrueHD, 3D and some newer games too). Here is the list:

Case- SilverStone SG06B (it's very high quality built and Silverstone included high quality 300W PSU and case fan in it too)
Mobo- ASRock A75M-ITX (you'll have the option to turn off/on using MCE IR/Remote.)
CPU- AMD A8-3850 Llano 2.9GHz (HD6550D is the best iGPU in the market.)
RAM- Corsair 4GB (4GB is the magic number for W7 64-bit)

One of the guy in here, went as far rebuilding his Intel HTPC with AMD A8-3850- post #2.

[maximoo]

Eskro, I had read your stickies but none of the systems I saw had i-5 so I thought it would be best to ask about hardware that's compatible with my choices rather than waste hundreds on something that doesn't work.

Thanks, bluray, that's really helpful. I'll definitely check them out as they look perfect for my build.

[eskro]

u simply had to get an i3 build from my HTPC guide,
and replace the i3 CPU for an i5-2500K

http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=720...stcount=11

[maximoo]

Thanks eskro, that's good to know!

[eskro]

my pleasure!