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**ratzofftoya** · 2014-04-22, 19:08

Hey all,

I've never built an HTPC before and would like to put together something that has Steam In-Home Streaming (60FPS, 1080P) and XBMC capabilities plus bonus points for being able to handle constant library maintenance/updating and some light emulator action. No Blu-ray necessary.

Some details:
1.)I have a NAS box storing all of my media, so a ton of storage is not necessary.
2.)It's possible that I won't be able to run an ethernet connection to this thing, so may have to rely on Wifi
3.)The gaming PC from which Steam will be streaming is fairly robust and powerful.
4.)I currently have library updaters/SAB/SB/CP/xbmc.mylibrary (for updating PlayOn links) running 24/7 on my main PC. I'd like to move those functions over to the HTPC, which will probably be used less, so that I can free up the main PC for gaming and working from home. I take it that these activities are somewhat CPU-intensive.
5.)Silence would be great, because this thing is going in our bedroom.

No set budget--I'd like to know what I'm looking at to achieve all of these goals simultaneously. Definitely open to watercooling, as well.

Let me know what you guys think I should pick up!

jammyb · 2014-04-22, 19:39

Don't use WiFi. If you can't run a cat5 cable in. Can you not budget in some homeplugs/power line adapters?

What country you from so users know which currency you have?

I'd start off by picking a case as that will dictate the guts that go into it.

**ratzofftoya** · 2014-04-22, 20:05

(2014-04-22, 19:39)jammyb Wrote: Don't use WiFi. If you can't run a cat5 cable in. Can you not budget in some homeplugs/power line adapters?

What country you from so users know which currency you have?

I'd start off by picking a case as that will dictate the guts that go into it.

Got it--I'll cat6 the joint. Smile

I'm the US.

I was just informed that a NUC might do the trick--seems like you sorta specialize in those. What do you think about using a NUC for this?

jammyb · 2014-04-22, 20:28

Dip your toes in the Haswell NUC thread and get a whiff of their capabilities.

I'd be looking at the i3/i5 models myself. Dependant on budget you could get a fanless case for it too.

**ratzofftoya** · 2014-04-22, 20:36

(2014-04-22, 20:28)jammyb Wrote: Dip your toes in the Haswell NUC thread and get a whiff of their capabilities.

I'd be looking at the i3/i5 models myself. Dependant on budget you could get a fanless case for it too.

Awesome, thanks.

Is there anything about the NUC architecture that precludes a scratchbuilt enclosure? I was hoping that this might afford me my first opportunity to engage in a scratch build!

rodalpho · 2014-04-22, 20:46

You don't need a corei3 to run XBMC and steam streaming. The asus chromebox with a haswell celeron would work just fine and save you a good $200. It's plenty fast to handle sabnzbd/sickbeard/whatever too. I run all that stuff on an ancient core2duo myself.

As for connectivity, wifi is fine IF you can get 5Ghz N to reach to the TV. The chromebox has 5Ghz N built-in also. If you can't get a 5Ghz signal to reach, you're probably better off using MOCA or powerline.

jammyb · (This post was last modified: 2014-04-22, 21:00 by jammyb.)

I'd rather be using i3/i5 if running SAB whilst gaming/streaming Smile

just a little bit more oomph.

Plus future proofed a bit longer. Smile

Scratch build? Pass. Never heard of it.

rodalpho · 2014-04-22, 22:39

Streaming takes very little resources. You're basically playing a video file.

Gaming is another matter, of course.

shabuboy · (This post was last modified: 2014-04-23, 06:56 by shabuboy.)

Surprise no one has mention Fire TV. any reason why?
I do not have one, but looking into getting one and replace my htpc with it.

My htpc is currently a zbox nano but all my media files are on a NAS.

Been waiting for a while for a media player that can do xbmc, fire tv and an apple tv v2 are the only options. Hence I will probably go with the FTV.

tential · 2014-04-23, 07:15

(2014-04-23, 06:12)shabuboy Wrote: Surprise no one has mention Fire TV. any reason why?
I do not have one, but looking into getting one and replace my htpc with it.

My htpc is currently a zbox nano but all my media files are on a NAS.

Been waiting for a while for a media player that can do xbmc, fire tv and an apple tv v2 are the only options. Hence I will probably go with the FTV.

Because some people are capable of reading the actual thread.

Steam In-Home Streaming

Obviously you can't do Steam In-Home Streaming on a FireTV.....

Hence why people don't only recommend AppleTV2 (just again a horrid choice), and the Fire T.

As for helping OP out, it's VERY hard to help you out when we don't know the system requirements of Steam In-Home Streaming because it's still in Beta. You've basically asked an impossible task as we don't know what steam's in home streaming service requires.

shabuboy · 2014-04-24, 02:09

Doh! I thought it was a typo... "Steam In-Home" vs "Stream In-Home".

My bad! Never heard of it, but today learnt something new.

**ratzofftoya** · 2014-04-24, 21:15

I ended up going with the Core i5 NUC and a fanless Akasa case. I'll post a log and let y'all know how it goes. Next question--OS?

If I want XBMC, emulators, Steam In-Home Streaming, and SAB/SB/CP, should I do xbmcbuntu? Ubuntu? SteamOS, maybe?

tential · (This post was last modified: 2014-04-24, 22:24 by tential.)

How is anyone supposed to give you a recommendation on what OS to use when Valve's own documentation of Steam In-Home Streaming is "Test it and report back to us on the forums if it works."

This type of question isn't something you really can ask us without MORE INFO. If your favorite emulator isn't on Ubuntu or Steam or whatever then that heavily influences your choices.

You're essentially asking right now "Figure out what I'll use my box for, figure out how Steam In-Home Streaming will work with 0 documentation when it's in Beta, and then tell me what I should do."

If you want GOOD recommendations, you need to be specific about what you're doing, and you need to drop requirements like Steam In-Home Streaming when none of us really know the limitations of the program until it hits an official release.

You'll most likely come to the correct answer before us because you know what programs you use. If your favorite emulator is windows only, then obviously you'll use windows, etc.

**ratzofftoya** · 2014-04-24, 22:50

(2014-04-24, 22:22)tential Wrote: How is anyone supposed to give you a recommendation on what OS to use when Valve's own documentation of Steam In-Home Streaming is "Test it and report back to us on the forums if it works."

This type of question isn't something you really can ask us without MORE INFO. If your favorite emulator isn't on Ubuntu or Steam or whatever then that heavily influences your choices.

You're essentially asking right now "Figure out what I'll use my box for, figure out how Steam In-Home Streaming will work with 0 documentation when it's in Beta, and then tell me what I should do."

If you want GOOD recommendations, you need to be specific about what you're doing, and you need to drop requirements like Steam In-Home Streaming when none of us really know the limitations of the program until it hits an official release.

You'll most likely come to the correct answer before us because you know what programs you use. If your favorite emulator is windows only, then obviously you'll use windows, etc.

Re: Steam In-Home Streaming, I figured that if anyone had used it without problems, they'd likely be able to give me good recommendations. I didn't expect people to dig up a tome--you're correct that it's certainly up in the air at the moment, and hopefully my experience will assist others. Jeez.

Re: emulators, I've never really dipped my toes into these waters before! The most complex thing I've ever used has been ZSNES with Windows. Never even attempted PS2 or Gamecube emulation, let alone setting up something like the ROM Collection Browser. So if there are any emulator users out there who are having or have had a particularly great or awful experience, please chime in!

Obviously, if you have no experience with In-Home Streaming or emulators in XBMC, you're not as well equipped to answer my queries, and that's OK. I'm not going to hold it against you.

tential · (This post was last modified: 2014-04-24, 23:47 by tential.)

It's not a tone at all. You asked a question that can't really be answered.

You're asking a question that is in ZERO way related to XBMC. Steam In Home Streaming has nothing to do with XBMC. It's not the correct place to ask about a place. If you want the best information you always go to the forum that is dedicated to that issue.

This isn't a "I don't have experience with such things." This is a "You're asking an EXTREMELY open ended question." I'm doing this for your benefit because too many users come on here, ask extremely open ended questions like yourself. Then, they build their PC, and come back here and complain about how XYZ feature isn't working.

Some of the questions you've asked are similar to asking "What's the best car?"
So I answer Porsche 911. So you go out and purchase a Porsche 911 then go "Wow, no towing capability? This car is useless" Or I answer Chevy Silverado and you go "Wow, I can't get 0-60 in under 4.5 seconds? What?" Or I answer my Bentley GT Coupe and you go "That's out of my price range."
The real question you should ask in that situation is "What's the best car for 30k-40k(pick a price range), for towing/hauling things. I'd prefer leather seating and don't care about branding." See, that's a specific question and easier to answer than "What's the best car?" which is essentially the type of question you've been asking all throughout the thread.

In short, BE SPECIFIC.

I've seen so many people come on here, ask open ended questions like yourself, then come away completely unsatisfied because they didn't ask the correct questions.

So to help with your post to get BETTER answers and truly get what you want working:

Go to Steam In Home Streaming forum. You're not going to get Steam help on here this is an XBMC forum. The cross selection of XBMC to Steam users is low. The Cross Section of XBMC to a Steam In Home Streaming service is even lower so you aren't going to get decent answers there.
Ask there which OS/Platforms will be best supported, etc. blah blah. Even if 1-2 people here used Steam In Home Streaming, their experience would most likely be VASTLY different than yours as there are 1000s of combinations of processors, graphics cards, and OSes that could be used that your BEST bet of figuring out if your combination is decent is to head over to the forum dedicated to it.

Figure out WHICH platforms you're interested in emulating. Simply saying "Emulators" is so broad. There are 100s of different emulators that emulate different consoles. Any OS we recommend could potentially not play your favorite platform. So ask "Can I emulate XYZ platform." In your follow up post you've listed PS2/GameCube. Neither works for you.
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Hope that helps you because the most important thing when asking a question is asking the RIGHT question to the RIGHT people. I've learned the hard way with some of these things, so I'm passing the knowledge onto you so that you don't have to learn that same way.