(Another...) First HTPC build
#1
Hi Guys & Gals

I'm afraid I'm another noob, looking for reassurance on their first HTPC build; so I apologies in advanced for any cliched questions that I may ask, and have been answered a thousand times before.

This isn't my first PC build, as I recently successfully designed and built a NAS to store all of my media (I will post the specs in my signature later, should anyone be interested). I now want to replace my standard desktop PC which is currently serving as my front end platform; with an all singing, all dancing dedicated media center which is worthy of the mighty XBMC.

A little bit of background on my circumstances and needs:

- I would place myself in eskro's group 7, but would also like to be able to run Wii (Dolphin) and other emulators should the mood take me.

- I intend on running XBMC over Windows 8. Primarily because I want to be able to use Sky Go through the device, and due to DRM this requires Silverlight.

- I will likely being using AEON MQ4 as my skin, which I understand to be one of the more processor intensive skins.

- I eventually will be purchasing a TV tuner, but am currently undecided as to whether I will be running this through this build, or through my NAS. Either way I would like to leave a PCI-Express slot free should I need it.

- Finally if possible, I would like to keep the system silent. Although this is not essential, and before making my final purchase I may decide that the cost of this is not justified.

I think that covers most of the important details.

Here is my current plan for the silent build:

Case - FC5WS EVO Black No Optical Fanless HTPC Aluminium Chassis - £175 to £200
CPU - AMD FX-6 6100 Black Edition 6 Core 3.3Ghz Socket AM3+ 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor - £84
Mobo - Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 760G Socket AM3+ VGA DVI HDMI 7.1 Channel Audio mATX - £38
RAM: Corsair 8GB DDR3 1866MHz Vengeance Red Heatspreader Mem - £38
SSD: OCZ 120GB Vertex 2E SSD - £51
PSU: Minibox 12v 160w picoPSU-160-XT - £30

Total Cost: £427

What is the general consensus about this design?

Are the CPU and RAM overkill for an HTPC?

Are the on-board 760G graphics sufficient for running x264 1080p MKV's, and any games run by the emulators?

Would the picoPSU be sufficiently powered to run this set up?

I would really like your guys feedback and advice. I could potentially scrap the ambitions for a total silent system, and get a more standard case. Save myself £150 or so. That way I could also run a graphics card should the on-board set up not suffice.

Sorry to have rambled on. Many thanks in advance for reading the post, and any advice you could offer.

Cheers! Smile
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#2
change cpu and mb for fm2 socket a6 or a8 for normal gaming or Intel 1055 i3 3225 for emulator and replace the ssd for Samsung 830 120gb Smile
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#3
(2012-11-05, 22:51)RaggSokk3n Wrote: change cpu and mb for fm2 socket a6 or a8 for normal gaming or Intel 1055 i3 3225 for emulator and replace the ssd for Samsung 830 120gb Smile

Hi RaggSokkin,

Do you not think the CPU would be sufficient, or is it over kill? I'm not particularly bothered about playing PC games as I have my PS3 and Xbox. I would also need a graphics card if I was going to try and do that.

Is your recommendation for a change in SSD down to the brand? I notice that the Samsung you have suggested is SATA-III. One of the reasons I chose the OCZ SSD was because it was SATA-II, and those were the only ports that came on the mobo.

My main concern is having powerful enough graphics, so I don’t run into any issues playing back my 1080p content. Could you offer any advice on this?

Thanks
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#4
(2012-11-06, 10:46)Samu-rai Wrote: My main concern is having powerful enough graphics, so I don’t run into any issues playing back my 1080p content. Could you offer any advice on this?

I'm not one to say AMD is inferior, but I prefer to build HTPC's with Intel CPU's & chipsets.
Especially their Low Voltage/Low Profile 35W TDP CPU's.
Not sure how tight your budget is, but if your limited to that store:

M/B :
http://www.ebuyer.com/288743-gigabyte-ga...-h61n-usb3

CPU:
http://www.ebuyer.com/393555-intel-core-...637i33220t

And if you can afford some more, look at the newer H77 chipset motherboards.
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#5
Intel has more power cpu wise - you'll need that for dolphin.
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#6
(2012-11-05, 20:54)Samu-rai Wrote: - I will likely being using AEON MQ4 as my skin, which I understand to be one of the more processor intensive skins.

I as well as others here run AEON MQ4 skin flawlessly using an A6 CPU. Just saying.
Sure,..I understand that you want to step it up a bit,..but just trying to show that you don't need the most expensive CPU out there.
Good luck in your build and would love to see what the final outcome looks like.
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#7
(2012-11-06, 11:15)Jasp Wrote:
(2012-11-06, 10:46)Samu-rai Wrote: My main concern is having powerful enough graphics, so I don’t run into any issues playing back my 1080p content. Could you offer any advice on this?

I'm not one to say AMD is inferior, but I prefer to build HTPC's with Intel CPU's & chipsets.
Especially their Low Voltage/Low Profile 35W TDP CPU's.
Not sure how tight your budget is, but if your limited to that store:

M/B :
http://www.ebuyer.com/288743-gigabyte-ga...-h61n-usb3

CPU:
http://www.ebuyer.com/393555-intel-core-...637i33220t

And if you can afford some more, look at the newer H77 chipset motherboards.

Hi Jasp

I don't really have any preference between Intel & AMD. I guess I sided with AMD on a purely 'bang for your buck' basis.

I understand your point about the Intel i range being less power hungry, but for more money I get less power right?

The FX-6 listed above provides 6 cores at 3.3Ghz, but the i3 3220T has 2 at 2.8Ghz.

Would you say it is more important to have a lower TDP, than a more powerful CPU on an HTPC?

I'm happy to make that change if it is the general consensus it’s the right way to go.

If I went mini-ITX I could also save some money on the case, but keep things silent with this.

(2012-11-06, 14:29)GortWillSaveUs Wrote:
(2012-11-05, 20:54)Samu-rai Wrote: - I will likely being using AEON MQ4 as my skin, which I understand to be one of the more processor intensive skins.

I as well as others here run AEON MQ4 skin flawlessly using an A6 CPU. Just saying.
Sure,..I understand that you want to step it up a bit,..but just trying to show that you don't need the most expensive CPU out there.
Good luck in your build and would love to see what the final outcome looks like.

Hi GortWillSaveUs

I'm currently running AEON MQ4 on a Intel Pentium Dual Core Sandybridge G630 2.7GHz. It does lag a little at times between windows, so I was hoping to address that with a more powerful CPU and SSD. Although I take your point that I may have gone OTT.

I know that a lower powered processor such as the G630 can handle XBMC and MQ4 pretty well, so anything more than that should be fine; but the main area I am uncertain around is onboard graphics. I haven't had any dealings with this before, and my current set up runs with a dedicated NVIDIA graphics card.

Could you offer any advice here, as my knowledge is very limited?
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#8
Hey,..if you have the money,...why not spend it on something that's really cool. I would. Wink
But,..there are a lot of people out there with tight budgets, and wives that know when you're stretching the truth when you say, "Oh this'll only cost $300".

I would say,..this topic has come up so many times on this forum,...
Search for "onboard graphics" and you'll find success stories.

One of the good things about the A-series, is that you could add a graphics card if you find you need more bang.
So far,..I've been able to play Netflix, XBMC, games that I enjoy,..all flawlessly,..and all on an A6 CPU with 4GB ram.
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#9
Dolphin won't care about 4/6/8 cores so intel i3 is a much better choise - go for 3225 Smile
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#10
(2012-11-06, 15:10)Samu-rai Wrote: Hi Jasp

I don't really have any preference between Intel & AMD. I guess I sided with AMD on a purely 'bang for your buck' basis.

I understand your point about the Intel i range being less power hungry, but for more money I get less power right?

The FX-6 listed above provides 6 cores at 3.3Ghz, but the i3 3220T has 2 at 2.8Ghz.

Would you say it is more important to have a lower TDP, than a more powerful CPU on an HTPC?

I'm happy to make that change if it is the general consensus it’s the right way to go.

If I went mini-ITX I could also save some money on the case, but keep things silent with this.

The CPU you have selected has a TDP of 95W

If you have a look at both those cases, TDP plays a very important part, both cases say max TDP of 95W.
There isn't much headroom for hot days, bad ventilation etc. They even state that they prefer 65W TDP.
You wouldn't want it overheating and have to through a fan in there to cool it.

What you seem to not grasp with a HTPC is, it's not about the CPU grunt.
It's about achieving everything you want your HTPC to do with as little power (Watts) as possible.
If it stays on 24/7, the power draw will be minimal.

I always think its best to write a list of what you require from your HTPC, then find the best/cheapest parts to achieve everything on the list.
Sometimes AMD will come out on top, sometimes they don't. With a fanless spec. I would definately go Intel.
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#11
FX-6100 passmark: 5430 @ 95W TDP + TDP of discrete GPU (760G is not going to cut it)
i3-3225 passmark: 4530 @ 55W TDP

Even 65W CPUs run a bit warm in a mini-ITX case. A 95W CPU would fry.

In this comparison, the i3-3225 is a no-brainer.

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#12
(2012-11-06, 21:10)Jasp Wrote:
(2012-11-06, 15:10)Samu-rai Wrote: Hi Jasp

I don't really have any preference between Intel & AMD. I guess I sided with AMD on a purely 'bang for your buck' basis.

I understand your point about the Intel i range being less power hungry, but for more money I get less power right?

The FX-6 listed above provides 6 cores at 3.3Ghz, but the i3 3220T has 2 at 2.8Ghz.

Would you say it is more important to have a lower TDP, than a more powerful CPU on an HTPC?

I'm happy to make that change if it is the general consensus it’s the right way to go.

If I went mini-ITX I could also save some money on the case, but keep things silent with this.

The CPU you have selected has a TDP of 95W

If you have a look at both those cases, TDP plays a very important part, both cases say max TDP of 95W.
There isn't much headroom for hot days, bad ventilation etc. They even state that they prefer 65W TDP.
You wouldn't want it overheating and have to through a fan in there to cool it.

What you seem to not grasp with a HTPC is, it's not about the CPU grunt.
It's about achieving everything you want your HTPC to do with as little power (Watts) as possible.
If it stays on 24/7, the power draw will be minimal.

I always think its best to write a list of what you require from your HTPC, then find the best/cheapest parts to achieve everything on the list.
Sometimes AMD will come out on top, sometimes they don't. With a fanless spec. I would definately go Intel.

(2012-11-06, 21:26)Dougie Fresh Wrote: FX-6100 passmark: 5430 @ 95W TDP + TDP of discrete GPU (760G is not going to cut it)
i3-3225 passmark: 4530 @ 55W TDP

Even 65W CPUs run a bit warm in a mini-ITX case. A 95W CPU would fry.

In this comparison, the i3-3225 is a no-brainer.

OK guys, I take your point. If its going to be fanless, TDP is the most important element, especially in a confined case.

I guess on reflection I have approached this build as a 'money no object', lets create the biggest, most powerful HTPC ever, and slightly missed the point.

I'm building an HTPC and not a gaming rig. I shall return to the drawing board with your comments in mind. I'm still not 100% confident on the on-board graphics side of things, but will try and do a little more research and report back with build 2.0 in the next 24 hours.

Thanks for your help.
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#13
If it's beefier on-board GPU you're after then consider the A10-5700. It's 65W and has the HD7660D integrated GPU. Maybe that's your compromise.
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#14
(2012-11-06, 23:56)Dougie Fresh Wrote: If it's beefier on-board GPU you're after then consider the A10-5700. It's 65W and has the HD7660D integrated GPU. Maybe that's your compromise.

Thanks Dougie

I'm going to try and design a system over my lunch break today, and then will post back with my revised build.

It would be great to get your guys feedback.
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#15
Looking forward to seeing your parts list!
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