Advice on: Gaming PC Upgrade; HTPC x 2

[Cymera]

Hello all!

I am back to the source of hardware wisdom for some advice! I turned to the Anandtech forums when I first built my gaming PC a few years ago (and I might have posted 6+ years ago when I built my first PC!) and everyone was exceptionally knowledgeable and helpful!

I am trying to do two things this month (revised!): replace my current home theater PC with something that is relatively flexible in what it can do (e.g. game a bit if necessary) and with expandable storage (might end up as a home server) AND make an HTPC for my father which will not be used for gaming (potentially as a server, so storage expandability is good. There is no set budget for either but I am not looking to blow money pointlessly. I will be building the PC in Canada and am typically an Intel-Asus fanboy (but I'm very open to changing if other brands are demonstrably superior).

Don't worry about storage, that's already taken care of. I am not looking for performance beyond that which the components below can provide. If there are better/cheaper options, I'd be happy to hear them 🙂

I would also appreciate thoughts on the following:

1. Is there something literally a few weeks away that would give me reason to postpone this build? I'm no longer a serious gamer and I would rather get this done sooner than later.
2. Will onboard graphics be sufficient for the 'non-flexible' HTPC or should I invest in a discrete GPU?

Proposed HTPC 1 - 'flexible':

CPU: i5 4570 ($229.99) OR i3 4130 ($134.99)
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 ($35.99)
GPU: EVGA GTX 560ti (from my current HTPC)
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz (already have a kit laying around)
SSD : Crucial m4 128GB SSD (from my main rig which is getting a Crucial M500 240GB @ $144.99)
Mobo: Asus H87-Plus ($112.99)
PSU: Corsair CX600M ($84.99)
Case: CM HAF 912 ($74.99 if I want more cooling) OR CM K280 ($45.99)

Proposed HTPC 2 - 'server':

CPU: i3 4130 ($134.99)
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 ($35.99 would I even need a cooler for this one?)
GPU: iGPU sufficient?
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz ($95.99)
SSD : Crucial M500 120GB ($89.99)
Mobo: Asus H87-Plus ($112.99)
PSU: Corsair CX600M ($84.99)
Case: CM HAF 912 ($74.99 if I want more cooling) OR CM K280 ($45.99)

I chose a modular PSU for tidiness; the HAF 912/K280 is for expandable storage; and the 4570 for flexibility (in case the PC was ever used for something other than media).

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts on these builds! Thank you <3

**The above was updated in light of the wonderful feedback I received!**

 

[mfenn]

There's no point in upgrading from a 3770K to a 4770K, there simply isn't a massive speed increase. In fact, since Haswell doesn't OC as well as Ivy, you net overclocked performance will be extremely similar. The SSD upgrade is a good choice though.

What do you plan to do with your HTPC? As is, it is extreme overkill for typical browsing, streaming, etc. tasks. The HAF 922 is also not a very "home theatre friendly" case. It's a big tower with a "gamer" aesthetic (read: lots of angles which is out of place next to typical HT equipment).

 

[Cymera]

This is why I came here 🙂 Thank you for your thoughts, mfenn. I remember you helped me a lot when I first put my gaming rig together a few years ago.

I'll forgo the 3770K upgrade if you think its pointless (and in that case, I'll skip the mobo upgrade as well).

I'm putting together the HTPC for my father and I don't think it would be doing more than what you listed. I picked the HAF 922 for its HDD capacity more than aesthetic. I also though good airflow was still important? But I suppose with lower end hardware it isn't?

 

[Charlie98]

I'm putting together the HTPC for my father and I don't think it would be doing more than what you listed. I picked the HAF 922 for its HDD capacity more than aesthetic. I also though good airflow was still important? But I suppose with lower end hardware it isn't?

Not necessarily... how many HDDs do you plan on putting in this thing? A 922 is a fairly open case, and the size is relatively unnecessary. An HTPC has a low CPU demand, high air flow is really not required.

 

[krnmastersgt]

I wouldn't say Haswell doesn't OC as well, the few chips I've worked with recently seem to average roughly the same increases, my personal chip seemingly capable of way higher than my old 3770K (small sample size). But even if it is considered an increase in speed, not enough of an increase to warrant an upgrade due to cost, and very few applications will notice a difference at all.

Also that's quite a powerful HTPC you're putting together as mfenn said, most people would opt for a much cheaper/lower power CPU due to energy savings (not super important) and cost differences. No point going to an i5 when a Celeron or Pentium will pretty much accomplish the same thing 95% of the time. Now if it's for a local gaming server (I'm building one for friends) you could somewhat justify the difference but even then most server sided hosting for games isn't even as demanding as running it on the client side. Going to need to do a lot of server side hosting imo to justify that cost.

Out of curiosity on the SSD side of things, is there a reason you don't do what I'm about to do and retire your M4 into the HTPC build instead of buying another SSD for it? If you've treated it well it'll still have a long life ahead of it and while it's pretty slow compared to many other SSDs on the market the controller is very stable and reliable, and for the majority of usage scenarios it makes almost no difference over a newer M500. In fact I believe it's faster than the M500 120GB due to the NAND density that they used in many situations. No reason to throw away perfectly good hardware.

I like G.Skill memory but the Ripjaws usually command a higher price than just regular old memory, maybe for a showy gaming rig it's worth the little bit extra but for an HTPC I don't really see that being the case, just get the cheapest 8GB kit you can, preferably when its on a sale or something and you should be good to go (not that many weird brands for memory).

That's a pretty pricey PSU for an HTPC, while on paper going for a Gold or Platinum rated PSU seems like a novel idea for power savings, but the difference in efficiency between a Gold and a Bronze at lower loads is typically only a few watts in a low power HTPC and the price difference will never manifest itself as a savings within a reasonable time window. It'll save you a few cents a month but cost you twice the price from the get-go.

And lastly no reason to go with the Z87 chipset for a non-overclockable CPU when the cheaper and nearly identical H87 is available to you. If you want something that is overclockable for fun then the newest Pentium which launches soon(?) is going to feature an anniversary edition that's unlocked for probably close to $100. Though a regular ol' Pentium is enough for an HTPC to begin with.

 

[Cymera]

Not necessarily... how many HDDs do you plan on putting in this thing? A 922 is a fairly open case, and the size is relatively unnecessary. An HTPC has a low CPU demand, high air flow is really not required.

At the moment I believe 2 HDDs + the SSD, but he uses a lot of storage for various things, so the more the better. I think the 922 has 6 bays? Another reason I went for the Z87 (granted I haven't looked yet at the H87) was because it had 6 SATA3 ports. I'll take a look at other cases - any recommendations?

Also that's quite a powerful HTPC you're putting together as mfenn said, most people would opt for a much cheaper/lower power CPU due to energy savings (not super important) and cost differences.

I'll have a talk with him and confirm what he wants to do. I'm pretty sure it will be just an HTPC/regular server (just hosting and pushing files around). I'm also building the same HTPC for myself actually (I didn't want to post that and make it an even longer topic since it was basically duplicating the HTPC components above) and I like to go for flexibility. For example, I used to run some games on my old HTPC because my ex liked to play The Sims 3 (a surprisingly demanding game!). My current GF doesn't play games, so I don't think that would be an issue, but who knows. As it is, all I use my current HTPC for is running XBMC and browsing, and I think my dad would have the exact same uses.

Out of curiosity on the SSD side of things, is there a reason you don't do what I'm about to do and retire your M4 into the HTPC build instead of buying another SSD for it?

That SSD is going into my new HTPC 😛 Again, should have mentioned in the OP that I'm making two!

I like G.Skill memory but the Ripjaws usually command a higher price than just regular old memory, maybe for a showy gaming rig it's worth the little bit extra but for an HTPC I don't really see that being the case, just get the cheapest 8GB kit you can, preferably when its on a sale or something and you should be good to go (not that many weird brands for memory).

Okay, I'll do that!

That's a pretty pricey PSU for an HTPC, while on paper going for a Gold or Platinum rated PSU seems like a novel idea for power savings, but the difference in efficiency between a Gold and a Bronze at lower loads is typically only a few watts in a low power HTPC and the price difference will never manifest itself as a savings within a reasonable time window. It'll save you a few cents a month but cost you twice the price from the get-go.

Honestly I went for it because its modular, I really like those PSUs. Do you have a recommendation for a cheaper modular PSU? If not, that's fine, price isn't a big issue.

And lastly no reason to go with the Z87 chipset for a non-overclockable CPU when the cheaper and nearly identical H87 is available to you.

Not looking to overclock, only concern with how many SATA3 ports it has. I'll look at the H87. Thank you for your exceptionally detailed post!!

Also, will I need a discrete GPU on the HTPC(s) or will onboad suffice?

 

[Charlie98]

The HAF922 is a mid-sized ATX case... my suggestion would be to go with mATX on the mobo and find a smaller case. Even an mATX case like the Fractal Arc Mini or Define Mini will hold 6 drives. The benefit to a case like the Define Mini is sound damping material, useful on something like an HTPC where noise might be a bother. Even with 3 or 4 drives, as long as you have air moving through the case, heat won't be an issue.

Something like this ASRock H87 board would work and has 6 SATA ports, but at $83 I don't know how much of a savings that would be over a Z87 board.

As far as a PSU, the Corsair CX430M is a reasonable modular PSU (I have one on the bench fixing to go into a build as we speak...) and is on sale! I think the 430 is enough, but if you want a little more room, the CX500M.

Unless he is encoding video, the i5 is overkill... a Pentium G3220 would be perfectly adequate for HTPC duty (and pretty much all GP computing if it turns into a do-all machine) as well as the iGPU for everything but 3D. Don't get me wrong... I love my i5... but for your intended purpose not really necessary. If you are going to game on it, that's different... go i5 and drop in a dedicated GPU.

 

[Cymera]

Updated! Thanks for the advise everyone; looking forward to any feedback on the currently proposed builds 🙂

The HAF922 is a mid-sized ATX case... my suggestion would be to go with mATX on the mobo and find a smaller case. Even an mATX case like the Fractal Arc Mini or Define Mini will hold 6 drives. The benefit to a case like the Define Mini is sound damping material, useful on something like an HTPC where noise might be a bother. Even with 3 or 4 drives, as long as you have air moving through the case, heat won't be an issue.

Hmm, I'll have to take a look at those.

As far as a PSU, the Corsair CX430M is a reasonable modular PSU (I have one on the bench fixing to go into a build as we speak...) and is on sale! I think the 430 is enough, but if you want a little more room, the CX500M.

I went with a Corsair option as per your suggestion 🙂

Unless he is encoding video, the i5 is overkill... a Pentium G3220 would be perfectly adequate for HTPC duty (and pretty much all GP computing if it turns into a do-all machine) as well as the iGPU for everything but 3D. Don't get me wrong... I love my i5... but for your intended purpose not really necessary. If you are going to game on it, that's different... go i5 and drop in a dedicated GPU.

Dropped it down to a low i3 for his HTPC.

 

[mfenn]

For a normal HTPC/file server, here's what I would build:

Pentium G3220 $65 - good for any typical HTPC/server task except heavy duty media encoding
ASUS H87I-Plus $120 - 6 SATA ports
Team DDR3 1600 8GB $70 - single stick because an HTPC doesn't need dual-channel performance and it leaves a slot open for future upgrades
Crucial M500 120GB $83
HDDs to taste
Corsair CX430M $50 AR - 430W is already about 4 times what this machine could ever draw
Fractal Design Node 304 $90 - small, looks nice, 6 HDD bays
Total: $478 AR

The stock cooler is more than sufficient in terms of keeping the CPU cool. It can get a little loud under load, so if you'd like the machine to stay quiet even when loaded, pick up the Silverstone NT06-Pro for $78.