Cheap HTPC Build

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hhara

Gawd
Joined
May 8, 2009
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Hi, I am trying to give suggestions to a friend of mine on what route to go with his HTPC build. I figured what better way of getting a good answer then asking here?

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Solely used as an HTPC.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~250$ including tax and shipping.
3) Where do you live?
Georgia - area code 31008.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, RAM, Motherboard, Videocard (?). He already has a case and power supply. No need for a Blu-ray Player or DVD Drive as he already has those devices hooked up to his TV.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I do not know the exact specifics on the PSU or Case. All I know is that the case is an HTPC case that can fit an ATX mobo and lets just assume the PSU is 500W.
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Displaying at 1920x1080 on his 63" Mitsubishi TV.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next few weeks
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
Nothing special at all. Onboard HDMI maybe - depends on the answer to another question I have listed below.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes - Windows 7 64bit.


Is a video card necessary? It is very very unlikely that he will be using this to play games, so its only purpose would be for the HDMI out and to help decode the 1080p content.

I know it might be easy to suggest getting a WD Live (or something similar) but based on what he has told me a HTPC will be much more beneficial.
 
Is he just going to use it to play downloaded video/audio or does he want a TV tuner to record shows as well? I think onboard video will suffice for this budget but having a dedicated 1080p decoder is nice as it can help keep CPU usage down. I'll put a build together in a little bit.
 
Yep you got it. He is just going to download audio/video to it. I really doubt he will ever put a TV tuner in it. I was under the impression that running through onboard HDMI could not be 100% reliable in terms of consistently decoding video without lag. This is what I told him, but I could be dead wrong.
 
Well, here's what I've figured out for you so far:

$85 -- ASUS M4A88T-M LE AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
$40 -- WINTEC AMPX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AXH1333C9WS4GK
$125 -- AMD Phenom II X4 925 Deneb 2.8GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor HDX925WFGMBOX
-----------
Total: $257 including $7 of shipping

Does he need a hard drive? If so, get this hard drive and CPU instead:
$72 -- AMD Athlon II X3 435 Rana 2.9GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX435WFGMBOX
$55 -- HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000.C HDS721010CLA332 (0F10383) 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
-----------
Total: $259, including $7 of shipping

I didn't check to see if there's a Microcenter or Fry's in your area but that might be an option to bring your total price down lower.
 
wow.. a 125w Phenom II for a HTPC.. Probably not the best course of action..

For the usage this is over 100 bucks cheaper & Will do everything just as well..

105 BIOSTAR A880G+ AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX + AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz Socket AM3 65W
40 G.SKILL Value Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

145 shipped. Leaves plenty of that 250 dollar budget to get whatever else your missing. & For an HTPC the cooler chip is almost always more advantageous then having an overabundance of processing power. Nothing worse then having to crank the volume to hear the TV over the HTPC..
 
bastage said:
wow.. a 125w Phenom II for a HTPC.. Probably not the best course of action...
... For an HTPC the cooler chip is almost always more advantageous then having an overabundance of processing power. Nothing worse then having to crank the volume to hear the TV over the HTPC..
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're right bastage (though the CPUs I included are 95w not 125.) Getting a less expensive, lower power CPU is a better way to spend the money. Might not be a bad idea to spend some of the extra money on an aftermarket cooler too, something like:

$32 -- Scythe SCSMZ-2000 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler

It might be overkill, but it'll be pretty quiet.
 
tonytnnt said:
Yeah, you're right bastage (though the CPUs I included are 95w not 125.) Getting a less expensive, lower power CPU is a better way to spend the money. Might not be a bad idea to spend some of the extra money on an aftermarket cooler too, something like:

$32 -- Scythe SCSMZ-2000 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler

It might be overkill, but it'll be pretty quiet.
Click to expand...

oops.. I Diddnt even look at the wattage on the Phenom.. Newegg only had the 125w 925's for a while (I know cause I was trying to order a 95w one)..

& an aftermarket cooler isnt a bad ideal at all, but since most HTPC cases clearance is almost always an issue I would go with the shuriken or big shuriken (I actually have one of each in use right now, shuriken on a phenom 9150e in my server & a big shuriken on a Phenon II x4 810 in my desktop) & much lower profile. Though not as good of a overall performers as the one you linked. For HTPC's they have other stong points..
 
bastage said:
wow.. a 125w Phenom II for a HTPC.. Probably not the best course of action..
Click to expand...


Kind of curious about this - why? Disregarding the obvious power consumption, is there any other reason why you wouldnt want to do that?
 
hhara said:
Kind of curious about this - why? Disregarding the obvious power consumption, is there any other reason why you wouldnt want to do that?
Click to expand...

For an htpc sound is an issue. And the higher the tdp the more heat and thus the more fans you need which create more noise.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
bastage said:
wow.. a 125w Phenom II for a HTPC.. Probably not the best course of action..

For the usage this is over 100 bucks cheaper & Will do everything just as well..

105 BIOSTAR A880G+ AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX + AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz Socket AM3 65W
40 G.SKILL Value Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

145 shipped. Leaves plenty of that 250 dollar budget to get whatever else your missing. & For an HTPC the cooler chip is almost always more advantageous then having an overabundance of processing power. Nothing worse then having to crank the volume to hear the TV over the HTPC..
Click to expand...

+1 for this, I personally think Athlon II X2 and 880G is the best bang for the buck right now as sole HTPC.
 
malih said:
+1 for this, I personally think Athlon II X2 and 880G is the best bang for the buck right now as sole HTPC.
Click to expand...

+1 for this. And if you have MicroCenter near by you can get some really good deals on CPU/mobo combos where the mobo is practically free.

http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html

I would still recommend a TV tuner. They aren't expensive. IMO, a htpc without a tv tuner and a decent GPU for at least some modest gaming, isn't much a htpc at all... But that's just me. :)
 
cmadki4 said:
+1 for this. And if you have MicroCenter near by you can get some really good deals on CPU/mobo combos where the mobo is practically free.

http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html

I would still recommend a TV tuner. They aren't expensive. IMO, a htpc without a tv tuner and a decent GPU for at least some modest gaming, isn't much a htpc at all... But that's just me. :)
Click to expand...

Last time I checked the point of a HTPC was to take over functions of your home theater.. Well gaming isn't normally part of that. To me if it can game it really isn't an htpc..
 
bastage said:
Last time I checked the point of a HTPC was to take over functions of your home theater.. Well gaming isn't normally part of that. To me if it can game it really isn't an htpc..
Click to expand...

Then by your logic he still needs a tuner card since TV is in fact part of home theater. And a GPU, even if not for gaming, could help video decoding. I guess he could always add a GPU later if he decided he wanted to game.

Do you not game in your home theater? On a console of some kind, perhaps (if not your PC)? Maybe not for the OP, but gaming in general IS part of the home theater for many. I'd say most HTPC builders/users on this forum are gamers and MANY of them use their HTPCs for that very purpose. BFBC2, WoW, etc. from the couch? Yes please :D
 
cmadki4 said:
Then by your logic he still needs a tuner card since TV is in fact part of home theater. And a GPU, even if not for gaming, could help video decoding. I guess he could always add a GPU later if he decided he wanted to game.

Do you not game in your home theater? On a console of some kind, perhaps (if not your PC)? Maybe not for the OP, but gaming in general IS part of the home theater for many. I'd say most HTPC builders/users on this forum are gamers and MANY of them use their HTPCs for that very purpose. BFBC2, WoW, etc. from the couch? Yes please :D
Click to expand...

I See your point, but no I dont game from my HTPC.. Never have.. I have a gaming system in my office with a very very comfortable lane computer chair & a Higher res monitor then any of my HDTV's.. So I still dont get it.. That said I also dont own a console at all..

And I Didnt argue with the recommendation for a TV tuner, But that is by no means an integral part of alot of Americans home theaters any more. a fairly large percentage of HTPC users have HTPC's so they can get all content from the net & thus no need for a tuner.
 
bastage said:
I See your point, but no I dont game from my HTPC.. Never have.. I have a gaming system in my office with a very very comfortable lane computer chair & a Higher res monitor then any of my HDTV's.. So I still dont get it.. That said I also dont own a console at all..

And I Didnt argue with the recommendation for a TV tuner, But that is by no means an integral part of alot of Americans home theaters any more. a fairly large percentage of HTPC users have HTPC's so they can get all content from the net & thus no need for a tuner.
Click to expand...

Well, let's agree to disagree. It's all good :D

OP, since your friend is on a budget have him just go for the bare minimum. No tuner, unless he wants to watch and record live TV (since not all shows are available on the net). And no GPU unless the onboard graphics need an assist. The suggestions above are good.
 
bastage said:
Last time I checked the point of a HTPC was to take over functions of your home theater.. Well gaming isn't normally part of that. To me if it can game it really isn't an htpc..
Click to expand...
GPU hardware acceleration can help w/ 1080p footage if you use a weaker (and therefor quieter and cool running) processor. A lot of people also hook up Nintendos, Xboxes, and Playstations to their home theaters, so I wouldn't totally rule out gaming as a good idea (wireless xbox controllers work for a lot of PC titles if you want the same console feel too). :)

Personally though, I like my HTPC box to be as small and quiet as possible.

I have built every single one of my other computers, and those for family, but I am really happy with the Dell Zino HD that I picked up for HTPC use. The proprietary case, mobo, and PSU is much smaller than I would have been able to build a system, and virtually silent.

The new ones come with quad-cores and dedicated video cards w/ up to 2TB storage drive and up to 8GB of RAM and BluRay. Your friend will also have a warranty, and if something doesn't work, he won't blame you and pick up the phone.
 
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