[Devv]

Hello HTPC people. I have long thought about building myself a HTPC. And now I have put together a HTPC with parts I think is fine for my use. I lie under group 7 when it comes to HTPC. Listed below:

Group # 7
* HDTV HDMI ports possess
* Wants to play SD movies (DivX, XviD)
* Wants to play DVD movies
* Wants to play 720P movies
* Wants to play 1080P movies
* Want to stream 1080P Hulu content
* Want to stream Netflix movies 1080P (Windows only)
* Want to Bistream HD-Audio
* Wants to play 3D 1080P movies

These are the parts I have chosen (would appreciate feedback from you about the components if they are completely off track, thanks in advance.):

Processor: AMD A-Series A8-3850
Case: SilverStone Milo ML03 Black
PSU: SilverStone ST40F-ES 400W
Mobo: ASRock A75M
RAM: Kingston 4GB DDR3 1866MHz HyperX
SSD: Corsair Force Series 3 SSD 60 GB
Keyboard: Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard K400
Fans: 2x Enermax T.B. SILENCE UCTB8 80mm (These maybe wrong, but I'm ordering from a Norwegian site so I just looked up all the components on Newegg so it's readable for you guys)

Mostly I will use this HTPC to stream movies, series and music from my other desktop.
I think I'll run XBMC under Windows, haven't decided on that yet.

So what do you guys think?

- Tommy

[Mick1152]

I think it's wonderful! Pretty much exactly what I built for my living room htpc and I couldn't be happier. I currently don't have any case fans in mine, instead, I am running a better than stock CPU cooler.

[assassin]

By the time you factor in the extra cooling and wattage needed for the A8 you should also consider the Intel i5 or even upcoming i3 Ivy Bridge CPUs.

I don't see the point of the A8 really. The A6-3500 is a much better HTPC option.

[Devv]

I don't see the point of the A8 really. The A6-3500 is a much better HTPC option.

Why is that exactly if you don't mind me asking?

---

I think it's wonderful! Pretty much exactly what I built for my living room htpc and I couldn't be happier. I currently don't have any case fans in mine, instead, I am running a better than stock CPU cooler.

Thanks for the positive response! Always pleasant to get a good feedback on how the components are running.

[DavidT99]

A nice build but you are spending more money than you need to for no gain i.e an A8 processor is far more powerful than you need for an HTPC the A6-3500 is more than capable and cheaper, also 1866 RAM is not necessary when 1600 speed RAM is acknowledged as the sweet spot for HTPC use you will notice no difference with faster RAM.

You may not need the 80mm fans as long as you have a good CPU cooler.

David

[Mick1152]

Having the A6-3500 in my bedroom, I can tell you for the wattage and performance in htpc use it is perfect. I built the A8 system because I wanted to be able to play a few games and do a few things other than just watching my movie library or web browsing on it. It was also going to be taken with me in my RV so the kids could play emulator games and other installed games.

Of course, that's not to say the A6 won't do other things, but it does have less CPU power so I'm not really sure what it is capable of and I haven't ever tested it for anything other than htpc use.

If you are after performance for things other than htpc use, then the Intel i5 would be a great way to go, but, given the higher costs I really don't see the value in it if it is more than you need in terms of performance.

Just some other options and stuff, although you'll be happy with any of the mentioned ones.

I'm actually planning on building a dedicated htpc for my RV now with a Intel i3-2100T 35W CPU. Since about half of my camping is done running off batteries without shore power connections, I want something with as little power consumption as possible when running off the inverter to save battery power.

[GortWillSaveUs]

I would drop the case fans and instead of using the stock cpu cooler,..install this Scythe BIG SHURIKEN 2 Rev B. 5-Heatpipe Universal Low Profile CPU Cooler (SCBSK-2100)

It has a fan, but the design of the heat pipes pretty much do the job all by their lonesome. It's also essentially silent when set at speed 5 and below.

[EazyVG]

Really nice case and the see good ventialtion there and blue USB 3.0 ports. Do go with DDR3-1866, it does matter with the GPU. One thing though, I find 400W too much, about 200W is enough for such a setup unless you plan to use additional video card, which sincerely isn't needed for HTPC (movies, youtube, etc) daily use. As per SSD, as stated in my thread of recently built around mini-ITX HTPC, it is an overkill (my personal thought).

[DavidT99]

................ Do go with DDR3-1866, it does matter with the GPU......................

Only in benchmarks, in everyday use you will not notice any difference.

David

[GortWillSaveUs]

As per SSD, as stated in my thread of recently built around mini-ITX HTPC, it is an overkill (my personal thought).

I'm beginning to believe this too.
It's cool that you get fat fast times, but then what?
Now if these drives get really big in size,..and price drops drastically,.....then all bets are off.
Even though I say this,..I'm glad I went with installing a SSD.

[Dougie Fresh]

Given what an SSD speeds up beside boot times (menus, launching programs, brining up the program guide, fanart, covers, everything) I personally could not go back to having a HDD as my OS/prgrams drive. But, that's for me -- an SSD is not necessary but the performance impact for HTPC compared to say a faster processor or more RAM, it's very noticeable.

+1 on the comments above about the A6-3500. If you're doing more than "use this HTPC to stream movies, series and music from my other desktop" a lot of the time, then a more expensive and hotter running quad-core is worth it. Otherwise, it's a waste of money because it gains nothing for "use this HTPC to stream movies, series and music from my other desktop" over the A6-3500 but in the particular case of the 100W Llano APUs, adds a lot of heat to your HTPC which means you need more cooling which means potentially more noise or expense again with no gain for the intended usage.

[Devv]

Thanks for all the response guys. Let me clarify a few thing you've been pointing out.

* First off all like Mick1152 says I too am planning on using this HTPC for som lite emulation and mabye the occasional game when having friends over. This is my fault as i did not state that in my original post. Althou I will take your tips into reconsideration ofcourse, because this was and is supposed to be a kinda cheap build with a budget of 500$ +/- 50$. So I'll read abit on the A6 vs. A8.

* Second, as stated my SSD is an overkill. Yes, this is correct and I know it. But, if you look at my original post I'm stating that I'm currently shopping from stores in Norway and here the Force series is about 10$ more expensive then the lesser SSDs like Corsair Nova and more. This is why the overkill SSD were chosen.

* Third, PSU 400W. Yes, this is too much. But then again I'm shopping in Norway and it's unfortunatly bad selection when it comes to small scale PSUs. And when I choose my PSU i read some reviews about the SilverStone one and was rather pleased with it.

* Fourth, RAM. Ok, that was really just for kicks guys. And the cost difference is minimal, so I'm gonna keep my 1866 for just now and mabye snatch a good offer when the next week comes.

* Fifth (forgot this sorry) the fans, thanks for that input I will change the case fans and buy just a CPU cooler Scythe BIG shuriken.

Thanks so much for the response guys. This forum makes bulding HTPC and reading different configurations damn fun! Keep up the positive work guys!

[Dougie Fresh]

Sounds great. Please come back and post pictures, etc. when you're building your HTPC.

[DavidT99]

You can often get higher speed memory cheaper than lower speed memory so keep a lookout for offers. Did you look at the Intel options for you CPU and motherboard?

David

[assassin]

You can often get higher speed memory cheaper than lower speed memory so keep a lookout for offers. Did you look at the Intel options for you CPU and motherboard?

David

Nevermind.