Login at Kodi Home

Pawn · 2012-05-17, 19:13

I've been using my laptop for quite some time and have been more and more wanting a dedicated HTPC, not wanting to spend a whole lot of money on one though. I have little to no experience actually building PCs so I'm not entirely sure if these parts would play well together or not. No hard drive since I've got a number lying around and all my media is on my external drive. Not sure if I'm forgetting anything here, I looked up the integrated video card on the CPU and as far as I can tell it can handle 1080P video fine so I don't see a need for a dedicated video card since I don't plan on using this for anything other than watching stuff.
Love to hear some suggestions/comments on parts since as I said I'm new to this.
Also I'm in Canada so if you wish to recommend a part please take that into consideration if you link to an online retailer Smile

[MOBO] http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6813138345
[CASE+PSU] http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6811154087
[CPU] http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6819103876
[RAM] http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6820134927

Total cost comes out to $228.58 with shipping and taxes.

cwide · (This post was last modified: 2012-05-17, 20:00 by cwide.)

I think Llano might be right for you. Here is an option:

[mobo] http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6813131813

[cpu] http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6819106014

Or you can go A6-3500 for $15 more.

The passmark on the CPUs are similar and the GPU of the A4 is miles ahead of the onboard Radeon 4250 on that mobo.

Pawn · 2012-05-17, 20:02

(2012-05-17, 19:44)cwide Wrote: I think Llano might be right for you. Here is an option:

[mobo] http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6813131813

[cpu] http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6819106014

Or you can go A6-3500 for $15 more.

The passmark on the CPUs are similar and the GPU of the A4 is miles ahead of the onboard Radeon 4250 on that mobo.

Only problem with the Asus mobo you linked to is there is no HDMI which is a must for me =\

cwide · (This post was last modified: 2012-05-17, 20:20 by cwide.)

Whoops.

How about: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6813138336

Cheaper here:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/S...CatId=7242

bluray · 2012-05-17, 20:14

This combination should make a great HTPC.......

Case/PSU- http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6811154087
Mobo- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813138337
APU- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...pk=a6-3500
RAM- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820104260

Pawn · 2012-05-17, 20:48

Hmm... I seem to have switched completely over to Tiger Direct now, hows this?

Case/PSU - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/S...=A406-2018
Mobo - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/S...=B450-2429 (nice find Cwide, has $10 MIR too)
APU - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/S...u=A79-0350
RAM - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/S...u=A79-1003
Total: $234.48

cwide · (This post was last modified: 2012-05-17, 21:02 by cwide.)

(2012-05-17, 20:48)Pawn Wrote: Hmm... I seem to have switched completely over to Tiger Direct now, hows this?

Case/PSU - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/S...=A406-2018
Mobo - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/S...=B450-2429 (nice find Cwide, has $10 MIR too)
APU - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/S...u=A79-0350
RAM - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/S...u=A79-1003
Total: $234.48

I think that's a great build. I think the case looks nicer and you upgraded almost everything for just 6 more dollars. That should be a great HTPC for years.

EDIT: The case seems to get decent reviews, but people complain about the PSU fan noise. Maybe down the road you can take it out and replace it with a pico for a quieter experience.

Pasoa2021 · 2012-05-17, 20:58

(2012-05-17, 20:48)Pawn Wrote: Hmm... I seem to have switched completely over to Tiger Direct now, hows this?

Case/PSU - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/S...=A406-2018
Mobo - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/S...=B450-2429 (nice find Cwide, has $10 MIR too)
APU - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/S...u=A79-0350
RAM - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/S...u=A79-1003
Total: $234.48

These seem like great builds. I like the size factor of those cases. how many hard drives typically fit in one of these?

Does the APU you recommended handle everything from 1080P with 3d? etc?

Pawn · 2012-05-17, 21:05

(2012-05-17, 20:57)cwide Wrote: I think that's a great build. I think the case looks nicer and you upgraded almost everything for just 6 more dollars. That should be a great HTPC for years.

Oh wow, so I did. I think I've got a winner here now Smile

(2012-05-17, 20:58)Pasoa2021 Wrote: Does the APU you recommended handle everything from 1080P with 3d? etc?

Will handle 1080P but I have no idea about 3D, only 3D video I watch is on my phone.

Pawn · 2012-05-17, 21:43

Thanks for the help guys. I did end up going back to the case I originally had on Newegg (this one). bumped the price up by $12 but I honestly prefer it's design more. And there were a lot of reviews on that $43.99 case that said the PSU died on them and various other things breaking due to shotty build quality. Anyways ended up coming to $249.44 which is still in the $250 budget I gave myself Smile

Maybe I'll post pics when I get it as I assemble it.

bluray · 2012-05-17, 22:09

(2012-05-17, 20:58)Pasoa2021 Wrote: Does the APU you recommended handle everything from 1080P with 3d? etc?

With proper hardware and software, A6-3500 will playback everything in your list......and here are some tests on it- AMD A6-3500 with GIGABYTE A55M-S2H, Entry APU OC Review ....

Pasoa2021 · 2012-05-17, 22:15

(2012-05-17, 22:09)bluray Wrote:
(2012-05-17, 20:58)Pasoa2021 Wrote: Does the APU you recommended handle everything from 1080P with 3d? etc?
With proper hardware and software, A6-3500 will playback everything in your list......and here are some tests on it- AMD A6-3500 with GIGABYTE A55M-S2H, Entry APU OC Review ....

What do you mean by proper hardware? I like the case formfactor a lot Smile

But I don't mind spending a few more dollars to make XBMC as "future proof" as possible.

lagledavid · 2012-05-18, 04:39

great job hopefuly we will start seing solid builds at the $200 range

bluray · 2012-05-18, 05:49

(2012-05-17, 22:15)Pasoa2021 Wrote:
(2012-05-17, 22:09)bluray Wrote:
(2012-05-17, 20:58)Pasoa2021 Wrote: Does the APU you recommended handle everything from 1080P with 3d? etc?
With proper hardware and software, A6-3500 will playback everything in your list......and here are some tests on it- AMD A6-3500 with GIGABYTE A55M-S2H, Entry APU OC Review ....

What do you mean by proper hardware? I like the case formfactor a lot But I don't mind spending a few more dollars to make XBMC as "future proof" as possible.

I'm referring to 3d HDTV, 3d AVR, 3d media player (TMT5, PDVD12, etc), etc to be able to playback using A6-3500.........As I said, A6-3500 is capable of playback everything in your list....