[Bretty]

Hi,

First post here. I'm gonna be putting together my first HTPC in a couple weeks and I wondered if you guys could have a look over the components I've selected and let me know if I'm taking any wrong turns?

Silverstone GD02MT case

GIGABYTE Z87N WIFI MINI ITX LGA 1150 MOTHERBOARD

Intel Core i5 4570S

SAPPHIRE AMD R7 250 Ultimate Fanless Graphics Card (1GB, DDR5)

HyperX FURY Series 8GB (2x 4GB) DDR3 1866MHz CL10 DIMM

Pioneer Internal Slim 6X Bdrw Drive with Bezel

Kingston Technology 60gb SSD

HITACHI 2TB Hard Drive

Silent ACE 550W AXT PC Power Supply Unit With Sata Power 550W PSU

[Dougie Fresh]

Unless you're gaming or running MadVR, this is looking very overkill. You'll have to say what you're planning to run on this HTPC to really determine though if you're taking any wrong turns.

[Topken]

Agreed as that is a nice Gaming rig and overkill for most HTPC tasks unless you are doing something there like needing to transcode or something.

[Bretty]

Thanks for your replies, guys.

It'll be used primarily for xbmc and secondarily for Web browsing. I've tried xbmc on three boxes so far (my laptop, an android box and raspberry pi) and none of them performed well enoughl, with sluggish transitions in the menus and having the inability to play 1080p files with hd audio smoothly. So, I really want to make sure I get it right, this time.

I guess I don't mind going over the top, a little, on the components, as long as I get that smooth performance I've been craving.

Has what I've picked going to give that, do you think?

[Sunflux]

Out of curiosity, what is your laptop? XBMC really doesn't require much horsepower to give flawless 1080p performance with, say, the default skin.

[Bretty]

It's an old Advent with dual core processor. It performed well, zooming through the menus, until I chucked a big full hd file with HD-MA at it, then it stuttered like crazy.

[Sunflux]

Any idea what graphics chip it has?

I ask because I came from an old dual core AOpen MiniPC with GMA945 (absolute minimum spec for Frodo), and it had great difficulty on certain demanding 1080p encodes... but then I recently got a $130 HP Chromebox, which is Intel-based and only benchmarks marginally more powerful on the CPU front, but it plays all those trouble files butter-smooth with very little CPU usage and no dropped frames, all because it has a much better GPU (HD4400).

I mention this only to say that for your stated needs, you don't need anything close to what you're building. Will it play back 1080p smoothly? Hell yes. But so will something that's modern and a heck of a lot less powerful. Just food for thought.

[Bretty]

I've no idea what graphics card the lappie has, Unfortunately. Probably nothing too special as it was only £330 when I bought it 5 years ago.

Reading you say that my set up, although overkill, will play the pesky files that I've had issues with, no troubles, is good enough for me!

Thanks for your words of wisdom, people!

[Dougie Fresh]

Even keeping the i5 and R7 250 card, you'll get no benefit from a Z vs. H motherboard and no benefit from an "S" processor vs. non-S processor.

The case you've chosen can support a micro-ATX motherboard so you don't need a mini-ITX. Even if you're just getting it for the WiFi, a micro-ATX motherboard plus a wireless card in one of the empty slots will work better.

If they're available, go for a H97 motherboard and one of the newer Haswell Refresh CPUs like an i5-4460 or i3-4160. Here they're the same price or less expensive than the older 8-series stuff.

For your SSD, look at the 120GB vs. 60GB and see if they're only a bit more. A 120GB will be faster than a 60GB (though they are both plenty fast).

You PSU is still too much for this system and will not run efficiently. Look to see if the beQuiet 300W PSU is available. It is plenty and will run more efficiently in your system.

[Bretty]

Thank you for your advice. I didn't realise my case could take an ATX board. I've got some more thinking to do now.

[Matt Devo]

Any idea what graphics chip it has?

I ask because I came from an old dual core AOpen MiniPC with GMA945 (absolute minimum spec for Frodo), and it had great difficulty on certain demanding 1080p encodes... but then I recently got a $130 HP Chromebox, which is Intel-based and only benchmarks marginally more powerful on the CPU front, but it plays all those trouble files butter-smooth with very little CPU usage and no dropped frames, all because it has a much better GPU (HD4400).

I mention this only to say that for your stated needs, you don't need anything close to what you're building. Will it play back 1080p smoothly? Hell yes. But so will something that's modern and a heck of a lot less powerful. Just food for thought.

point of clarification: the Celeron 2955u version of the ChromeBox uses an HD4000 GPU; the HD4400 is only paired with the Core i3 CPU.

[Dougie Fresh]

Thank you for your advice. I didn't realise my case could take an ATX board. I've got some more thinking to do now.

micro-ATX

[Bretty]

Had it all assembled today and it was super quick and all but silent. In fact, everything was peachy. For about ten minutes when the motherboard failed. Dammit!

[Bretty]

Well, six weeks later and I still don't have a working HTPC! When the first motherboard failed, it fried the cpu whilst it was at it, but I didn't find that out til the replacement mobo arrived. Second board failed, as did the third. All the same problem; bent pins (seems a fairly common problem with the Gigabyte board). So, I've finally given up on them and gone for an Asus Z97-I+, instead. Should be here tomorrow. Hopefully be up and running by Monday!

[skylarking]

Sorry to hear you had issues with bent CPU pins.

But best to get yourself a magnifying glass and inspect the CPU pins on your motherboard before you even try and install your processor.
If you see any bent pins, and if they exist they will be noticable, don't even bother trying to install the CPU, simply return the mobo.
If all looks OK, all pins aligned in the same way and at the same height, then go ahaed and install the CPU.
Note you must install the CPU gently and flat and evenly as possible into the socket, not by first placing one edge down into the socket as this can supposedly bend pins.

What i find odd is that iv'e never seen CPU insertion tools bundled with consumer CPU's despite the same socket design being used as seen on servers (and server OEM CPU bundles include CPU, fan & tool).
If you look at this HP docuement, you'll see what i mean about CPU interstion tool.

Who knows, maybe consumers are not as important or as wise as the server croud and consumer mobo makers love to see users stuff up their mobos and buy replacements

Anoyingly, I haven't actually seen any CPU insertion tool, as i haven't bought a OEM server CPU bundle, but does anyone know where to get just an interstion tool itself?