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BHeemsoth

Platinum Member
Jul 30, 2002
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Good evening. I've built a few dozen computers over the years, but it's been about 5 years since I built my last desktop, so I've fallen out of familiarity with modern hardware. I'm looking to build an ultra-budget (~$500) HTPC that includes a Ceton PCI-E card. I'll be waiting for the Ceton to go back on sale before purchasing, so I figure I have about $350 to spend on everything else I need. My price range is pretty strict, as I'm mostly looking at this as a way to get out of paying $40/month for DVR and cable boxes, so I want to keep the break even period as close to 1 year as possible. I don't own a 3d TV, so I'm not concerned about that, and the only game I play is CS:Source.

I already have an OS (Win 7), and a wireless keyboard/mouse. I'll be moving two 1TB drives over from my current build for media storage, as well as an optical drive.

The PC will be used to run WMC, record HD content via the Ceton and stream live TV and media to 360's used as media extenders. In addition, I will also use this system to host a VM of my girlfriend's old desktop computer once I P2V it.

Answers to the typical questions:

Budget: Under $350 (not including Ceton) ~$500 with Ceton.
Country: USA
Brand Preference: None
Current Parts: Win 7 Ultimate 2x 1TB HDD
Overclocking: No
Resolution: 1080P (46" Samsung)
Build time frame: 15-45 days
Software purchase required? No

Case/Motherboard/Cooler/PSU (Foxconn SFF R20-H1) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16856119053 - $89

RAM (4GB GSkill Value Series DDR3 1333) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687 - $20

HDD (Samsung EcoGreen 2TB) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152245 - $109

Rosewill MCE Remote - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16880101007 - $15

CPU (i3 2120) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115077 - $125

Total: $358

I'm not locked into the HDD choice, and will likely purchase whatever I can get for the best deal when it comes time to order. I'll also likely add an SSD as an OS drive, but for now will use a partition on the 2TB drive.

My main concerns are:
1. Will this system be robust enough to do what I want it to do? How future-proof is it?
2. Will the Ceton work with the barebones kit? From what I can tell it appears it will, but would like to confirm.
3. Any potential cost savings here?
 
Last edited:
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BHeemsoth

Platinum Member
Jul 30, 2002
2,738
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Bump. I know there are tons of these threads posted, but I would really appreciate your input!
 
T

Topweasel

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2000
5,437
1,659
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BHeemsoth said:
Bump. I know there are tons of these threads posted, but I would really appreciate your input!
Click to expand...

If I had to pick one thing to worry about, it would be using a green drive as a boot OS drive. Honestly its not a great capturing drive either. Its purely a storage drive. The Centon unit can PVR 4 channels in HD right? That is a lot of video being written to a slow drive. You might end up having issues with dropped frames.

http://www.storagereview.com/samsung_spinpoint_f4eg_review_hd204ui

Real world testing its even slower then the previous version. For some stuff the platter size helps keep it's performance high. But really you are talking about the performance of like a 5 year old or older 7200rpm drive.
 
pauldun170

pauldun170

Diamond Member
Sep 26, 2011
9,563
5,814
136
The reviews on that Foxcon combo are not confidence inspiring.
Its a really tight fit in that case based on some of the images I've been able to pull up.

There is one PCIe 2 slot on that board and thats where you will be plugging in the CETON card.
That board is probably has a low spec (max 65w CPU) so that i3 (which is a good choice) is as far as you will want to go.

This looks like a build it and seal it deal. The i3-21XX should be more than enough CPU and the HD2000 is fine for most HTPC work.
 
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BHeemsoth

Platinum Member
Jul 30, 2002
2,738
0
76
Thank you for the feedback.

The WD Black drives are a little pricey right now. Are there any drives that would offer better performance at a lower price point?
 
M

mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
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www.mfenn.com
What kind of drives are the 1TB ones that you're going to be bringing over? I agree that you want at least a 7200RPM drive for the OS, so if your 1TB drives are 7200RPM, use one of those. Actually, now that I think about it, the Foxconn case doesn't support 3 drives unless you convert the 5.25" bay to 3.5".

The Ceton card come with a low profile bracket, so I don't see why it wouldn't work in the Foxconn case.
 
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