Are these good systems for a HTPC?

Dave3000

Golden Member
Jan 10, 2011
1,500
109
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http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-ins...&skuId=5859005

http://www.frys.com/product/7974830?...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

I'm considering buying a pre-built system to use as a HTPC with Kodi (former XBMC) installed. I need a system powerful enough to play my blu-ray 1080p MKV uncompressed rips with lossless audio without dropping frames. It also must be quiet and not bulky. I'm leaning towards the 2nd option because it's smaller and I think it will fit on the bottom shelf of my TV stand while with the 1st option it would not fit on the bottom shelf and I would have to place it next to my tower speaker and I don't feel comfortable placing a PC next to a tower speaker (magnetic fields destroying data on hard drives).
 

PhIlLy ChEeSe

Senior member
Apr 1, 2013
962
0
0
The that kind of money I would just build a budget setup my self, still have change when i was done.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
The first one is about as big as some of the larger Silverstone HTPC cases. Although, I prefer SSDs in my HTPCs to expedite any boot-ups, etc.
 

Binky

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
4,046
4
81
Why not a chromebox? If your goal is ONLY to run Kodi, you'd be crazy to consider anything else.
 

EliteRetard

Diamond Member
Mar 6, 2006
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you2

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2002
6,730
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under $500 is true; you can do it for $350 depending on what you want. Heck if you shop around for a nuc i3 (on sale) the total cost will be around $400 (ram+ssd). The chromebox is not bad - I have one with 4GB running linux; it does have its limit (slow processor) but the config I have made the whole thing cost around $230. Also it has full size hdmi/display port and sd slot (unlike the nuc that require mini-hdmi/display and no sd slot).