[SumitU]

Greetings,
I need some expert advice on what I can reduce/down grade from the below configuration to have optimal performance for a HTPC which will be running windows 8 with XBMC and will be used as media server too.

The idea is to download, manage and play all kinds of videos (1080/3D/etc.) and maximize the use of the DENON 7.1 home theater and Samsung 55 LED it will be connected to.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/SumitU/saved/1nka


CPU Intel Core i3-550 3.2GHz Dual-Core $99.98
CPU Cooler Zalman CNPS9500 AT Ball Bearing $24.99
Thermal Compound Arctic Silver Premium Silver 7g $11.59
Motherboard Biostar TP55 ATX LGA1156 $104.49
Memory Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 $46.99
Storage Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM $89.99
Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB 2.5" SSD $117.77
Video Card Gigabyte GeForce GT 640 2GB $85.97
Sound Card Asus Xonar DS $37.99
Case Silverstone SST-LC10B-E-USB3.0 (Black) HTPC $114.99
Power Supply Cooler Master 700W ATX12V $69.99
Optical Drive LG UH12NS29 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer $49.98

[Ned Scott]

Skip the soundcard. It will won't do anything for you, since you are sending a digital signal to your Denon receiver already. I'd also skip the graphics card (the ones that comes with the core-i processors are more than enough for XBMC). For $500, I would get a better motherboard (I'm not a fan of Biostar, at least for for a $500 HTPC) and at least an i5. Skipping the sound and video cards should allow for that.

[bluray]

I have to agree with Ned. Since you will be bitstreaming audio codecs to AVR for decoding, there is no need to have a sound card in there. It'll take up space and restrict air flow too. For the hardware you selected, you don't need a massive 700W PSU. 300W PSU should be more than enough for your build. I'm using 240W for the top tier Intel i7 and a discrete gaming NVidia GPU, and I still have power left for spare....

[SumitU]

Thanks for your input guys...
I have a spare VGA from my old PC, ATI Radeon HD 4650, should i use that instead of a new one?
What mother board do you guys recommend ?

i5 sounds do able...

[Dougie Fresh]

For the uses you've outlined, an i3-3225 would be plenty of CPU/GPU. You don't need a separate GPU. The HD4650 would actually have less capabilities (no HD sound, no 3D) than the i3-3225's built-in Intel 4000HD GPU. I don't see the need here for an i5.

The i3-550 you've selected in two generations old.

A 300W ATX or SFX PSU or a 120W picoPSU, no sound or video card, an i3-3225, motherboard, BD drive, HDD and SSD and the case would be a good build.