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First HTPC build / Opinions?

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domerocket

Junior Member
After going over Assassin's awesome free guide I picked up his paid guide. (Extremely well worth it btw)
Below is the build I am looking at. Future proof for 3D with very light gaming. If I game it will be Diablo3/SC2/DOD:S which should run well enough to get by.

$144.99 CPU: INTEL I3-3225
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116774
$69.99 MOBO: ASROCK H77M MATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157303
$17.99 RAM: G.SKILL VALUE SERIES 4GB x 1 DDR3 1333
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231421
$89.99 HD: WD INTELLIPOWER GREEN 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136939
$64.99 SSD: SAMSUNG 830 64GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147162
$66.99 CASE: nMEDIAPC 5000B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811204035
$44.99 PSU: ANTEC NEO ECO 400W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371029

$536 shipped with 2 6ft HDMI cables as well.


Please feel free to critique and add input.
 
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Spend a few bucks more and kick it to 8GB. You can do it with 4gb, but its only $18 more, and you mention gaming. You may need to add a video card, depending on the amount of gaming. I'd definitely build it without the card first and see how well it works on those games. The SSD is nice, but that's the first thing I'd cut if costs are a concern. I have SSD's in every box here but the HTPC gets the least benefit.
 
Looks Good...I also agree that ram is so cheap go for 8gb...I also bought Assassin's guide and they are indispensable and help avoid much heartache...

are you going to rip your bluerays or dvd's somewhere to create a library?
 
Not sure why an SSD is really necessary for an HTPC.

Only benefit you'll get is faster boot times. Launching media files is so lightweight that the superior speeds of an SSD really can't even help you anywhere. I think I'd save the money and get an entry-mid level video card instead.

To combat boot times, I simply hibernate with an HDD in my HTPC, and its only 10 seconds till I'm ready to go.
 
thelastjuju said:
Not sure why an SSD is really necessary for an HTPC.

Only benefit you'll get is faster boot times. Launching media files is so lightweight that the superior speeds of an SSD really can't even help you anywhere. I think I'd save the money and get an entry-mid level video card instead.

To combat boot times, I simply hibernate with an HDD in my HTPC, and its only 10 seconds till I'm ready to go.
Click to expand...

SSD = WAF at my house. If anything hiccups upon sleep resume, she knows to reboot. My PC is up before the Ceton has synced with the headend most of the time.

I also prefer to keep my recordings off the OS drive. I know you can partition, but I prefer a seperate drive for recordings.
 
The speed improvements from an SSD are somewhat negated when you're sitting 10 feet away using a very imprecise mouse/keyboard/remote, and you're primarily viewing media content. Compared to a desktop (where I would NEVER suggest anything other than an SSD), things just don't feel as slow on a mechanical HD as compared to an SSD. There's a slight boost and certain things like menus and caching still images from video will certainly be faster, but it's just harder to notice in this usage scenario.

Disclaimer - I have three desktops and 2 HTPC boxes in my house and every one of them has an SSD...
 
SSD absolutely does improve opening of large (like 500+) libraries in XBMC, WMC+MB, etc.

Its not an overly dramatic improvement but is an improvement none the less. I have SSDs in all my HTPCs as well.
 
I find SSDs do have an advantage in HTPCs, beyond speed. I find the grinding noise of HDDs really annoying and distracting when watching movies, and with a HDD only system, I would only be able to tolerate a green drive's noise. These drives are not ideal for a primary/boot drive for speed reasons, and most of the faster 7200rpm drives are still noisy (I have both a WD Black and Hitachi Deskstar, both fairly loud). And even though the amount of I/O when watching a movie isn't too bad, background OS tasks add to the noise level. A 64GB SSD plus larger capacity Green HDD is a great combo, IMHO and doesn't add too much to the cost. Fan noise I can deal with, but grinding, not so much.
 
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SSD as your OS and a large HDD as your Recorded TV drive is the way to go. The SSD made a huge difference in the response time of MediaBrowser and vastly increases reboot time.

You say reboots are far and few inbetween, and I agree. However, the only reboot time that matters is when there is a glitch 2 or 3 minutes before the wife's TV show and you have to reboot. Having an SSD means you can reboot and become stable, open the TV show and start recording or whatever with time to spare before the show starts.

Worth every penny. The only reason you need more than 4GB RAM is if the games you want to play recommend it.
 
don't worry about moving to 8gb... per assassin's guide (i'm a paid member as well) you'll never need more than 4gb in HTPC duty
 
Fry's has 8GB kits for $30AR. This shouldn't even be a debate. If you want to play any games (op mentions Diablo3/SC2/DO?S), and an extra $12 is inconsequential, then 8GB is a pretty easy choice.
 
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