i7 HTPC Build

Kendray

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Mar 27, 2013
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Excited to finally get my HTPC going. For awhile now I've been using my personal/gaming desktop (which is 2 years old already) for the whole family and now I can start my build. Ill be receiving the last of the parts today

The current machine had:

Zalman Z11 Case
GIGABYTE GA-Z77-DS3H
Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge
Rosewill HIVE Series HIVE-650
Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (4 x 4GB)
ATI TV Wonder HD 650 (moving to HTPC)
ASUS XONAR_DG 5.1
PNY XLR8 GEFORCE GTX 560TI
6 - 120mm fans
2 - 80mm fans
ASUS 24X DVD Burner
2 - Seagate 1tb hdd (moving to HTPC)
1 - WD Green 1.5 hdd (moving to HTPC)
1 - WD 250gb hdd


New HTPC:

NZXT Source 210 Elite (This case has room for 8 hdd)
ASRock Z77 Pro4 LGA 1155 (This board has room for 8 sata connections)
Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge
16Gb (4 x 4Gb) of some 1333 no name memory
Rosewill HIVE Series HIVE-650
Gigabyte Nvidia GT 520
ATI TV Wonder HD 650
4 - 120mm fans
2 - Seagate 1tb hdd
1 - WD Green 1.5 hdd
4 - Seagate 750GB hdd (1 will be the system drive untill I can get a SSD)
ASUS Black 12X BD-R

What do you all think about the HTPC?
Whats your opinions?
Do you guys think I should use DriveBender DrivePool or go Raid? or what?
 

monkey333

Senior member
Apr 20, 2007
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Going to be loud with 4 120 fans. One of my solutions for an htpc was to have it contain no media, and stream the movies - which lessens the need for all that fancy hardware. Relegate the old htpc to a media server and don't bother with an i7. That's all assuming you have the infrastructure to stream. Ethernet over power works well for me.
 
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Kendray

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Mar 27, 2013
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Going to be loud with 4 120 fans.

Thats what i thought but really i already have the case and powersupply and fans so i tested it, it really isnt. plus my current pc isnt loud with the 8 fans it has in it anyways. The tower sits behind my 60" so there is somewhat of a barrier from the tower to anyones ears.
 

Kendray

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Mar 27, 2013
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Also i use the lenovo n5902 and a lenovo n5901

I use the n5901 downstairs with the 60" ( only because the kids are always walking around with it and its the older one

I use the n5902 upstairs with my Hp dv6 17" hooked up to a ViewSonic PJD6251 pushing 1080p (hopefully i can get the 3d glasses soon and try that out)

I prefer the N5902 over the first gen, you canactually feel the quality on it. and it is a awsome Media Keypad

Ive wired my two upstairs room with some Cat5 hooked to a switch, and have all my drives mapped from the downstairs computer. the other room has some older dell which i put a better graphics card in ASUS EAH4350 on some 37" tv
 
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monkey333

Senior member
Apr 20, 2007
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Depending on what media player you use, you could probably get away with an ipad or android devices your remote, they both work well with xbmc.
 

Kendray

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Mar 27, 2013
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I prefer windows media center over xmbc just for the ease of us. It found my Tv tuner right away and ive added the Recorded TV HD Which lets you use all codecs for my Tv Series I have. Also i use the Shark 007 codec pack.

Anyone use toher media programs that combines everything niceley like xmbc or boxee
 

Kendray

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Mar 27, 2013
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Depending on what media player you use, you could probably get away with an ipad or android devices your remote, they both work well with xbmc.

Yea i use my sons galaxy tab 7 2.0 when hes not using it as a remote, but the Lenovo n5902 just feels right
I also have a Harmony 700 remote that ive had forever which ima ble to switch channels and turn the volume up and down in windows media center
 
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thestrangebrew1

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2011
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Going to be loud with 4 120 fans. One of my solutions for an htpc was to have it contain no media, and stream the movies - which lessens the need for all that fancy hardware. Relegate the old htpc to a media server and don't bother with an i7. That's all assuming you have the infrastructure to stream. Ethernet over power works well for me.

This. I personally think your rig is overkill for it's intended purpose. Unless you're doing all the video encoding on this machine, you won't notice much of a difference between an i7 and, say an i3. I have an i5 and an ssd on my main htpc, and it streams just fine from my media server. If you've got the network capabilities, I'd look into this option first before pulling the trigger on the parts.
 

Kendray

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Mar 27, 2013
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This. I personally think your rig is overkill for it's intended purpose. Unless you're doing all the video encoding on this machine, you won't notice much of a difference between an i7 and, say an i3. I have an i5 and an ssd on my main htpc, and it streams just fine from my media server. If you've got the network capabilities, I'd look into this option first before pulling the trigger on the parts.

The only thing i had to buy was the motherboard the case and psu i had a i7 2600 laying around that i got as a payment for some work i did along with the memory and all the hdd's
 

Binky

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Damn, find a friend that needs that 2600 and drop a nice i3 into it. That's serious overkill. The memory is unecessary. If you haven't bought it yet, 8GB will do just fine.

Your video card choice may not be the best. I recall that card testing pretty poorly in quality for htpc use. If you want a minimal card, try a 6450 or whatever is the current version of the GT430 (it may be the 630...dunno). If you want top quality and post prossesing ability, look at a 6570 or better in the AMD camp, and a GT640 in NV.
 
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Kendray

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Mar 27, 2013
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Damn, find a friend that needs that 2600 and drop a nice i3 into it. That's serious overkill. The memory is unecessary. If you haven't bought it yet, 8GB will do just fine.

Your video card choice may not be the best. I recall that card testing pretty poorly in quality for htpc use. If you want a minimal card, try a 6450 or whatever is the current version of the GT430 (it may be the 630...dunno). If you want top quality and post prossesing ability, look at a 6570 or better in the AMD camp, and a GT640 in NV.

the card seemed fine for me when i was using it on the current one i have right now, i took out the 560ti so i didnt have to put use on it and used the gt520. i have all the memory so why not use it right? as far as the i7 id rather just keep it in becuase i might use the computer for something else later down the road or add a better card to it and use it to play some games later on not sure yet, but dont know what the future has in store for me
 

monkey333

Senior member
Apr 20, 2007
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One of my htpc's is a Athlon 2 regor with a 4200 HD onboard and it does 1080p streamed just fine and that system is at least 3 years old, FYI. Oh with 4 gigs of ram. But xbmc is all it does and I leave it on.
 

Kendray

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Mar 27, 2013
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One of my htpc's is a Athlon 2 regor with a 4200 HD onboard and it does 1080p streamed just fine and that system is at least 3 years old, FYI. Oh with 4 gigs of ram. But xbmc is all it does and I leave it on.

Yea the computer will get used for more than just watching videos tv and music.
 

Kendray

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Mar 27, 2013
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scored two 120gb ssd kingston v+200 off craiglist for dirt cheap. Will be installing one. now i wont mind turning on and off my HTPC. before i dreaded it, but was always worried about power.
Trying to score a better card so i can put my 560 ti in this one and start doing soem light gaming on this rig as well
 

Kendray

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Mar 27, 2013
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Well Been a week in a half since ive fully got it up and running and im happy to see its working really well. no hiccups as of yet. I took out all the 750gb drives and got a 2tb and a 1 tb and a 1.5 tb installed hopefully i an get rid of all the drives and run all 3tb soon
 

Fallen Kell

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Good luck with the 3TB drives. I have had nothing but problems with them (especially the WD Green line, which is one of the reasons they changed their warranty on the Green's).
 

ilmmaf

Junior Member
Apr 15, 2013
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Well Been a week in a half since ive fully got it up and running and im happy to see its working really well. no hiccups as of yet. I took out all the 750gb drives and got a 2tb and a 1 tb and a 1.5 tb installed hopefully i an get rid of all the drives and run all 3tb soon

Grats man! I love the feeling of sitting back in my favorite chair in the house, turning on my htpc, and sitting back and relaxing to whatever I have going on.
 

thestrangebrew1

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2011
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Grats man! I love the feeling of sitting back in my favorite chair in the house, turning on my htpc, and sitting back and relaxing to whatever I have going on.

It's especially gratifying after convincing the wife you need to build one and she finally caves in lol. Once you get it working, your family loves you, granted it's configured for easy use the whole family can operate!
 

Kendray

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Mar 27, 2013
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Grats man! I love the feeling of sitting back in my favorite chair in the house, turning on my htpc, and sitting back and relaxing to whatever I have going on.

Well when I get my favorite chair lol but yes. ill be upgradeing the card to my 560 ti since im upgrading cards on my rig. then ill add two xbox pc controllers.