is it worth building new pc?

[lordluvaduck]

im new to both forums, and building rigs, so please be patient and give a man a chance to learn....:'(

so ive been wanting to set up an htpc combined with a simple nas setup(torrents) for around the house use, so i can listen to music or watch movies on any device on the network, but id like the nas to also be the central media unit in the house to replace tv recievers,and possibly my 630watt stereo unit(if pc can handle same audio output) with tv,movies,netflix,etc.it must be power efficient, with sleeping when not used, and waking up when wanting to watch tv.(im not sure if i could use it as a nas if its in sleep mode, but a way to use it as just storage access without heavy power would be nice.) basically the central brain of a home.

main unit - easy to switch between programs(no mouse) and have good file structure(maybe torrents sort out themselves,haha)
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stereo -5.1 surround with 500watt sub
tv/pvr -has own hard drive for dvr/pvr(records)
media - has movies,music,pictures
network storage -can access files(within a givin directory,movies,media,dvr.no other system folders)
gaming -current games and at a good performance

i currently have my gaming pc which has an i5-2500k clocking 4.2ghz,asrock extreme 3 z77, 2X4gb corsair vengeance 1866,650watt toppower psu,h40 cooling, and radeon hd 7770(thinking of upgrading to asus 7870). my new build (for htpc) would be based off amd a8-6500 3.9ghz and have 1866 ram, no gpu unless i switch out my 7770 and see if i can crossfire it with the apu.

long story short, will this new build be more power efficient than my current build and support an htpc/basic gaming or should i just convert what i have now with minor upgrades?
how would i go about combining a stereo into it and sell off my 630watt reciever?i dont want to get new speakers as ive got 2 vs-80 cerwin vegas and 2 at-10 cerwin vegas. can u use my 300-500watt subwoofer? new power supply for pc?
maybe down the road it could end up being the brain of my house and manage all family files,tv in each room(eyefnity) with each user controlling it separately...

btw please tell me how my rig is by specs please, would like to know.

 

[Zap]

Hello lordluvaduck, and welcome to AnandTech Forums.

First thing I want to mention is that you will need to keep your receiver to power your speakers. A computer will have line outputs, not powered outputs. You cannot directly drive unpowered speakers from a computer.

You may want to consider just converting your existing rig, because an A8-6500 would not perform nearly as well as a Core i5-2500K and Radeon 7770. I'm thinking... not even close. Power efficiency? Yes, the APU with integrated graphics will be more power efficient. However, you can mitigate some of that with your current setup.

1) Remove all overclocks and enable (if disabled) all power savings features.

2) If adventurous, play around with negative voltage offsets.

3) Stick with the existing graphics card.

4) Get a lower wattage and more efficient PSU, unless your PSU is already really efficient.

5) Go back to air cooling (pump draws extra power, extra cooling not needed) and minimize the number of fans in the system.

If you want power efficiency, one system would be more efficient than two.

 

[pete6032]

If you're willing to NOT do any gaming on the system you can build an extremely power efficient ITX HTPC with a low voltage i3 for fairly cheap. Are you absolutely sure you will need to game on the HTPC? If not you could probably sell some gear or pick up some second hand parts very cheaply and build a much quieter power efficient system.