[[eFe]]

After visting my cousin's home a few weeks ago and showing me XBMC on his HTPC I got hyped and wanted to change my WDTV. So I started digging into the forum for advice on hardware for my fisrt HTPC. This is the result.



[MOBO] Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H Socket FM1 Micro-ATX
[CPU+GPU] AMD A8-3850 2.9GHz Quad-Core FM1 100W / Radeon HD 6550D
[RAM] G-Skill 2x2GB DDR3 1333MHz
[HHD] Seagate 250GB 2.5" SATA
[CASE+PSU] OverCase Mini 2028 Black / PSU MA-6550 550W (+12V 18A)
[HDD] Seagate Freeagent Xtreme 1TB External (USB 2.0/eSATA) 7200RPM
[WiFi] Linksys WUSB600N

I'm not sure what group it belongs on eSkRo's list. Maybe a new one... 2 and a half ?
Group #2 1/2

• HDTV possess HDMI ports
  
• wants to play SD movies (DivX, XviD)
  
• wants to play DVD movies
  
• wants to play 720P movies
  
• wants to play 1080P movies
  

(Note: I live in Buenos Aires, AR... some stuff is hard to get and very expensive.)

[cwide]

That is one powerful htpc!

I don't know what you plan on doing with it in the future, but if all you are ever going to do is at most play 1080P video.... you can get by with a lot cheaper system.

Maybe I'm an outlier, but I would recommend dropping down a few notches on the AMD FM1 series. That APU is definitely more than you need unless you are going to start doing 3D blurays and heavy gaming. You will also save power by going with a lower TDP FM1 APU (but some people don't care as much about power consumption as I do).

You also don't need a 550W PSU, but I understand that comes with the case.

I would take the savings from the APU downgrade and invest in an SSD instead of the 250 GB HDD.

That would be my preference.

Either way... looks like a good machine.

[[eFe]]

Thx cwide.
I read about the A8-3800 that has a 65W consumption, but it doesn't get imported here in Argentina and I was anxious to build my HTPC and couldn't wait for someone to bring it.
I might try some games, but it won't be a dedicated for HEAVY gaming, those days are past, besides I have a PS3 for that.

I will have to mod the case to lower the temps down, there are pretty high now. But, I just finished assembling it last night.

[eskro]

dont know about that case nor its PSU, probably low quality, but overall,
cwide ir right.
u could drop to a A6-3500 APU here...
and use an SSD as O/S drive

[bluray]

Good looking case.

[MOBO] Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H Socket FM1 Micro-ATX

If you can find this "ASRock A75M FM1 AMD A75", I'm recommending it. It included "Supports On/Off Play Technology". It'll allow you to turn on/off HTPC with MCE IR/Remote.

[CPU+GPU] AMD A8-3850 2.9GHz Quad-Core FM1 100W / Radeon HD 6550D

You'll enjoy this powerhouse all-in-one APU. You should be able to playback BD in full 1080P video with DTS-HD/TrueHD audio (or 3d and some games) with ease.

[HHD] Seagate 250GB 2.5" SATA

Since you included a USB drive, why not go for SSD "Patriot Torqx 2 PT264GS25SSDR 2.5" 64GB " for Windows. If you cannot find the exact brand and model at your market, you can find something similar to it. You'll have faster bootup time.

[CASE+PSU] OverCase Mini 2028 Black / PSU MA-6550 550W (+12V 18A)

You don't need 550W to power an A8-3850. 350W or lower is plenty to spare. If you can find one of this "Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D" there, it should be very good.

[eskro]

i doubt he wants to buy another PSU.
since his case came with one....

and, since gaming days are past for him,
a 32GB SSD is enough.

[cwide]

i doubt he wants to buy another PSU.
since his case came with one....

and, since gaming days are past for him,
a 32GB SSD is enough.

Not to hijack this thread...

But is a 32 GB SSD enough for Windows 7 (64 bit) + XBMC + Artwork?

[bluray]

Not to hijack this thread...

But is a 32 GB SSD enough for Windows 7 (64 bit) + XBMC + Artwork?

Yes!

[bluray]

i doubt he wants to buy another PSU.
since his case came with one....

Probably not! Just in case the same case has 350W at lower price, he can opt for 350W instead of 550W.

and, since gaming days are past for him,
a 32GB SSD is enough.

Considered he included 250gb hard drive in his list, he might have other plans other than just HTPC in mind!

[eskro]

probably avoid paying too much

[bluray]

probably avoid paying too much

Avoid paying too much I can agreed on. But....

32gb is not enough for video editing, photo editing, office work, game, converting video, etc. It's always good to avoid virtual memory at all cause, and avoid converting/editing video via USB drive too. Again, it's depending on his overall plan for his HTPC.

[[eFe]]

32GB would be to small, and the cheapest 64GB SSD around here is over $200. A smaller 2.5" HDD is also almost imposible to find.
The case might be low-end but it's small and nice, besides very cheap $60 and it brings the PSU that has decent voltages. There aren't too many other options for mATX only cases and the Hi-end ones like Lian Li are over $200.

[[eFe]]

Good looking case.
If you can find this "ASRock A75M FM1 AMD A75", I'm recommending it. It included "Supports On/Off Play Technology". It'll allow you to turn on/off HTPC with MCE IR/Remote.

Hmmm... i didn't know that the ASRock had that. I'd have considered it. On the other hand, it's not that difficult for me to turn it on from the front button and I can turn it off from the usb remote.

[[eFe]]

BTW: do you guys recommend Win7 32 or 64bits ? mainly for XBMC.... I think XBMC is 100% built for 32bits so I wouldn't get any advantage there...
I will also use a dual boot to install a linux, just to play around with it and experiment.

[eskro]

x64, lets move forward