2012-11-05, 20:54
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!
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!