HTPC build advice

[knutinh]

Hi all

I am currently looking at this noiseless build for my living room:
*ASUS H97M-E, Socket-1150 m-ATX, H97
*HyperX Impact So-dimm DDR3L 1866MHz 8GB 8GB 1866MHz DDR3L CL10 SODIMM (Kit of 2) 1.35V HyperX Impact Black
*Intel Core i7-4790S
*Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD
*Streacom FC10 Alpha Fanless Chassis
*Streacom NANO150 PSU Adapter

Any advice is appreciated (biggest question is if the mobo will fit comfortably with heatpipes).

As the case is unavailable for a couple of weeks, I might swap for the rumored i7-5775C 65W (Broadwell-C/iris pro 6200) if it is available in time. If things drag out in time (august?), I might even swap for the i7-6700 65W (Skylake-S/iris ???) with some accompanying Z170 mobo.

 

[Charlie98]

What are you doing with your HTPC that you need an i7 for?

 

[knutinh]

What are you doing with your HTPC that you need an i7 for?

1. I run Adobe Lightroom for viewing my images
2. I am picky about video playback. Instead of relying only on semi-fixed-function GPU acceleration, I want to be able to do pure sw playback/processing/rendering of current and future video codecs at high resolutions/framerates for some years.
3. The older I get, the lazier I get. I don't want to upgrade the guts of my PCs as often as I did before.

The flip side of your question is perhaps: what am I doing in the living room that warrants a full PC/OS rather than a thin media client (like AppleTV). If fixed-function "good-enough-today" is the target, then a PC seems like a poor solution.

-k

 

[Charlie98]

The flip side of your question is perhaps: what am I doing in the living room that warrants a full PC/OS rather than a thin media client (like AppleTV). If fixed-function "good-enough-today" is the target, then a PC seems like a poor solution.

-k

Not at all... you will note I have an i3 HTPC in my living room. I'm not on board all the way with the SFF machines just yet.

 

[Xtrem]

I can't get 4k to run on my TV with an i3 at 1.7Ghz. :/ It just lags

 

[Aikouka]

What's your time table on building this? I'm curious because it sounds like you'd prefer to build it once and have it last for a few years. Frankly, as an owner of a Streacom case, I prefer to avoid taking it apart as little as I can. Anyway, I'm curious because h.265 (HVEC) is going to start becoming a bigger deal over the next few years. Haswell does not have a full-fledged hardware h.265 decoder, which means you'll definitely be doing at least partially in software. However, Skylake, the next micro-architecture from Intel, is supposed to have hardware h.265 support. At this time, the only way to get full-fledged, hardware-based h.265 support is using a GeForce GTX 960.

Now, you did specify that you want an i7 so you can do software decoding, which might make this a non-issue.

 

[knutinh]

What's your time table on building this? I'm curious because it sounds like you'd prefer to build it once and have it last for a few years.

My current core2 2GB system is making me pull my hair, but it has been doing that for some time. I want to replace it, and I don't want to wait forever for "the next big thing". I have been pondering about the Mac mini (to late, too slow) and am looking to use Windows 10.

Now, I won't purchase anything before the case of my choice is available over here (may 17th).

Frankly, as an owner of a Streacom case, I prefer to avoid taking it apart as little as I can.

My sentiment exactly. I have a silverstone non-passive case at the moment, and it does not invite to tinkering either.

Anyway, I'm curious because h.265 (HVEC) is going to start becoming a bigger deal over the next few years.

My guess it that we will see h.265 become important, we will see 4k become important, we will see 4k@60fps become important, then we will see BT2020/uhd-spec deep-color, high-dynamic range become important. 3D? At every step I am guessing that the fixed hardware units will have to be replaced with ones featuring new HDMI revisions, more bandwidth, more calculation power and more features.

Haswell does not have a full-fledged hardware h.265 decoder, which means you'll definitely be doing at least partially in software. However, Skylake, the next micro-architecture from Intel, is supposed to have hardware h.265 support. At this time, the only way to get full-fledged, hardware-based h.265 support is using a GeForce GTX 960.

I don't see full hw offload as important. Rather I see "getting the job done with good quality, very low noise" as important. Having sufficient general-purpose number-crunching is one way of future-proofing things (as well as making it more likely that enthusiast open-source processing can be used instead of proprietary low-cost-country GPU frameworks)

Now, you did specify that you want an i7 so you can do software decoding, which might make this a non-issue.

Exactly. Having a (sufficiently) powerful cpu AND fully passive cooling in a sleak, pretty case really appeals to me.

-k

 

[Twitch03]

That system will work for what you want, now. But the next TV you buy it probably wont be up to the task.

I think now is the worst time to build a system with future proofing in mind. So many things just got finalized (Ultra HD Blu Ray, HDR, HDMI 2.0a) that nothing now supports these features.

What will the next line of Blu Ray players offer? Streaming Boxes? Like others have said h.265 hw decoding isnt supported with current technology, but the next gen processors will support it.

If you could hold off until the end of the year, when new hardware supporting the new specs rolls out, you will be much better off.