My first HTPC

[gilljoy]

Hey all,
Im currently looking into getting my first HTPC, atm I'm not sure wither or not its better to build a pre-built system or build myself something.

Currently im looking for the following features:

1. 1080p video output.
2. small
3. quiet
4. low power.
5. Blu-ray Drive would be a bonus.

Can the apple tv output 1080p?.

Any idea of a suitable system?

Price wise not too expensive £300-400?

 

[blackangst1]

No, Apple TV is 720p. However, you may or may not even see the difference. Remember-alot of DTS is 720p.

In order to answer about your HTPC question, need more info. Are you looking to build a PC that you will use as a PC, possibly game on, AND use it to stream media to your TV/receiver? Or just a box to store and play media? If so, will it be networked to your main PC so you can trasfer all your media to it?

 

[Matt1970]

I would always recommend a custom built machine, but worst case a brand name box plus $100 for a Blue-Ray player and an add-on video card(Most add-on video cards will handle 1080P video but a lot of onboard won't) will do.

 

[gilljoy]

Thanks for the replies,

I dont really plan on gaming on it or using it as a pc its mainly gona be used for watching movies and shows etc.

I'd prefer to have a box that I could store all my media onto rather than stream it too, I've got an i7 930 and a gtx 570 based main system which I cant imagine being too power efficient so having that and the HTPC on at once prob wouldnt go down too well.

 

[Monster_Munch]

< &#163;400 is going to be tight. Your best bet is probably an AMD motherboard with decent on-board gfx, plus a cheap dual core cpu. Stick in 2GB of RAM, a 1.5TB hard disk and the cheapest blu-ray drive you can find. Case and PSU are up to you, but if you want quiet don't go for a no-name PSU, get something like a corsair or an ocz.

 

[velillen]

Here is a sample build taken from a thread over at AVS. This build is sorta buried...its like on page 38 or something
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1302559

CPU: 2 choices here. Both are enough for typical HTPC use. Both are low wattage as well. The E5200 is harder to find and out of stock at Newegg but I prefer it over the E3400 slightly if you can find it. Both CPUs are more than enough for playback. Idle wattage is only 30-40 watts.
1. E3400 Wolfdale 2.6 GHz Slot 775 - $51
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116348
2. E5200 Wolfdale 2.5 GHz Slot 775 - $54

Motherboard: ASUS P5G41T-M Micro ATX - $60
Great board for HTPC. Has optical output. This motherboard takes cheaper, more efficient DDR3 RAM.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131616

Graphics and Sound: Sapphire Radeon HD 5450 Fanless - $26 AR
Since Wolfdale doesn't have built in HD Graphics you'll need one. This will play and bitstream all HD video and audio formats. Has HDMI. Quiet without a fan and idles at about 6 watts of power.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102922

RAM: Since this is a super budget build look for a sale on 4GB RAM. This can be found for about $35. I'll post my "go-to" RAM for reference though.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231190

Hard Drive: The size is up to you but something like the Samsung F4 2TB is what I recommend. This drive can be found frequently on sale for $80.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152245

Case: As stated in my first post of this thread this is a personal choice. Since this is a super budget build I think we should target $50 for the case and PSU.

So that's $172 for the CPU ($51), Motherboard ($60), RAM ($35), and Video Card ($26).

Add in another $80 for a huge 2TB drive and an additional $50 for a case and PSU and that puts you right at $300 total for a very capable HTPC that's pretty low wattage as well.

Doesnt include a blu ray player is the only thing. but you can always add one later if wanted.

As for size, micro-atx is fairly small. My htpc is slightly bigger than my onkyo reciever. If you look at that AVS thread you can see micro-itx (think thats the name) builds which are super small. Though those are a bit more expensive i think

 

[LikeLinus]

This is what I picked up last week from Amazon. I spent just $247 for the computer, minus the hard drives. The motherboard has built in Audio and an ATI 4250 video card with HDMI output. That helped save money and it performs flawless. I'm running XBMC with the Aeon skin. I had extra hard drives and didn't need to spend any there. So depending on what size drive you need, you could come in around $300-$325 (1TB - 2TB).

Motherboard - Gigabyte AMD AM3 6 Core MotherBoard GA-880GM-UD2H - $89.99
CPU - AMD Athlon II X2 250 - $60
PSU - Antec EA-380D Power Supply EA-380D - $40
RAM - Kingston ValueRAM 2 GB 1333MHz PC3-1066 DDR3 - $22
CASE - Cooler Master Elite 341 m-ATX Mini Tower Case Black - $35

$247 shipped
____________________________________________________________

OPTIONAL

REMOTE - Windows 7 Vista XP Media Center MCE PC Remote Control and Infrared Receiver - $15.50
Wireless Keyboard/Mouse - IOGear Multimedia Keyboard with Laser Trackball and Scroll Wheel - $45

Grand Total: $308 Shipped