1st build, am I on the right track?
#1
So I've been lurking around here on the forums for the last few weeks trying to piece together exactly what I want when it comes to building my very first HTPC. I am a complete newb when it comes to building computers, but I thought this would be a fun way to start to learn. After lots of research and many changes of opinion about which hardware to go with, I was hoping that you guys could take a look at my progress so far and help point me in the right direction.

First off, here is what I am hoping to do with my build:
  • TV Tuning- I hope to record and watch. I hear this is possible through XBMC? What do I need to make this possible?
  • Video Playback from Hard Drive-I have a substantial amount of movies (2+TB) ripped to my hard drives as of right now. Lots of storage would be preferable.
  • Mild Gaming- Not a huge PC gamer, but I would love to have the opportunity to play games like Starcraft 2 and Civ V if I so choose
  • Blu-Ray- Playback mostly, maybe some burning
  • Netflix Playback- I hear this is possible through XBMC? What would I need?

I hope to run as much as possible out of XBMC. My goal is to have as simple of a setup as possible since I have many people in my family who have very little patience for technology at times.

My (Very tentative and partial) Build:
Obviously, I am still missing some key pieces (Power Supply, Case, Hard Drives) and was hoping you could help shed some light on which would work best for the current build I have picked.

First question: Is this too much? Not enough? I am hoping to keep the price as low as possible, but decent performance is the key for me. I would rather pay a little bit more for adequate performance rather than paying less and ending up with performance issues.

Second Question: How will this build work with XBMC, specifically. Because of the Netflix support, I think the best option is for me to run Windows on the machine, is there any issues I should be aware of?

Third Question: Internal hard drives vs. Networked drives. Right now since I am trying to keep the cost down, I was hoping to hold off on building a networked server for a few years. If I add a few hard drives (including an SSD for the OS, XBMC, etc) should I be worried about heat/sound? How about power consumption? I was hoping to have about 4-6TB of storage space

Thank you so much in advance for all of your help. Let me know if I missed any information. Any and all input is greatly welcomed. Super excited to get this thing up and running!
Reply
#2
You may have already been here, but you need to visit these pages:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=94199
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=104489
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=94268

And also look for the guy name "Assassin" Find a post by him and look at his signature. I cant help you as I dont know about tv tuners. I'm not sure if you can build a quiet low energy pc with what you want. I may be wrong, but if you ware wanting to game, you're going to use some power and make some noise. But thats just my opinion. These guys are smarter, read what they have to say. A question like yours comes up daily here and most of the time they direct them toward these links or not answer at all.
Good luck
Reply

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
1st build, am I on the right track?0