(2012-04-11, 17:37)Andro Wrote: I am getting ready to build my second htpc. My first box it running great, I'm just finished switching it to XBMCbunto and loving it. The second will be hooked up to a 46" lcd. I am considering building a machine that would play world or warcraft and the soon to be released Diablo 3 in addition to primarily playing 1080p rips. Unfortunately that would mean investing in a Windows license... something I am against.
Any thoughts from the community? Is this a bad idea? Where would I need to beef up the machine? GT430 still the way to go?
Thanks for the advice.
It may be a little overkill for running WoW specifically, but i run my HTPC as my primary gaming rig hooked to a tv of the same size as yours. My specs are below (done from memory so i may not have the model numbers for everything):
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500k
Ram: 8GB Corsair
Mobo: Asus P8 Motherboard (don't have the exact number but i can look if you want)
Primary Drive: OCZ Vertex2 60gb SSD (OS/XBMC)
Secondary Drive: WD 2TB Caviar Green (Game installs)
Video: Zotac Geforce 560TI OC
Case: Antec Micro ATX (can't remember model name)
This rig runs pretty much everything i can throw at it (i don't play a ton of FPS, but it has recently ran both Reckoning and Mass Effect 3 with everything cranked all the way up, as well as the PCSX2 and Dolphin emulators with the upscaling set to 1080p 4x msaa), with the CPU software overclocked to 3.5 ghz using Asus's built-in tuning tool. I'm using stock cooling for everything, and it runs pretty quiet and never has heat issues. The only time i can hear the computer at all is when i'm running something specifically demanding of the videocard, and even then it's only a low hum from the GPU fan.