new HTPC built for Xmas 2011

[Hybris2000]

Hi guys,
after loads of research in Anandtech, tomshardware etc. Here's my final thoughts to get a new HTPC for Xmas.
Aim is to have as much silence as possible and future-proof configuration:
What i will do with this is mainly play 1080 blue-ray rips and play MP3s. I am not thinking about the TV card + recording as i have the ISP box for it at the moment.
- Case Luxa2 LM200 $349.99 / Antec Fusion Remote max EUR 194,12 amazon.fr
- CPU Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz EUR 187,20 amazon.fr
- Motherboard ASUS P8P67-M PRO LGA 1155 Micro ATX EUR 113,90 amazon.fr
- Graphics Card Evga GeForce GT 430 1 GB DDR3 PCI-Express 59,99 € materiel.net / Asus NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 Graphics Card 1GB, PCI-Express, DDR3 £88.63 amazon.co.uk
- Hard Drive Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA $69.99 / Western Digital Caviar green 3TB 204€ materiel.net
- Hard Drive (SSD) Crucial M4 64GB EUR 93,79 amazon.fr
- Memory G.Skill Kit Extreme3 2 x 2 Go PC12800 Ripjaws X CAS9 25,49 € materiel.net
- Optical Drive LG - BH10LS30 Super Multi Blue - Graveur Blu-ray - Noir EUR 75,49 amazon.fr
- Power Supply Seasonic X-460FL 460W Fanless Power EUR 134,99 amazon.fr
- Logitech diNovo Mini EUR 92,99 amazon.fr

Total is around 1270€ which is within my budget.
What do you think ? 🙂

 

[Ken g6]

*Sigh.* Future-proofing. The best way to future-proof is to save money and spend it on future products.

Let's assume "future-proof" means functional for now, and upgradeable later. You don't need a 2500k to play movies! (You said play, not re-encode, right?) And it will put out lots of heat and be loud. I would go with:

- A Celeron G530 or Pentium G620. (Maybe a G620T if you really want it cool and quiet.)

- A cheap H61, H67 or Z68 motherboard that has an onboard graphics port, and preferably says it's compatible with 22nm CPUs.

- A Radeon HD 6670, only if you find that the onboard graphics causes jumpiness. You're in Europe, so video is probably 25FPS, not the weird fractions we have in the USA, so you're less likely to see jumpiness.

- Do you really need an SSD? It would make booting faster; it would not make video or audio playback smoother.

Edit: Make sure that RAM is 1.5v or less. Preferably less to keep things cool.

 

[Zap]

The best way to future-proof is to save money and spend it on future products.

OMFG I love that! I'm totally stealing it for my sig, unless you don't want me to.

What you say is pretty spot on. Here are a few comments I will add for the OP.

If you really want to spend the money, get a Core i3-2120T. It is the fastest 35W CPU for socket 1155 at this time. Lower wattage = less cooling needed = less noise. It is still plenty powerful to play back BD rips of your movies.

For the best "futureproofing" get a Z68 chipset motherboard advertised as "Gen 3." There is no guarantee of it taking any CPUs that are not already out (currently maxing out at Core i7-2700K), but that's about the best you can do right now.

Use onboard video, because it is sufficient and uses less power = less cooling needed = less noise than an add-in card. Just shop for a motherboard with HDMI (assuming you are hooking it up to an HDTV).

Faster RAM won't help videos play any better. With videos, either it plays properly or not, unlike gaming or benchmarking where you can always crank up higher quality or get higher framerates. Thus, get cheap stuff that is 1.5v or lower. Some companies offer RAM that goes as low as 1.25v. Lower voltage = less heat = less cooling needed = less noise. <-- Are we getting through to you yet with that mantra? 😛

That case is overkill and ginormous! I would recommend something like the Silverstone Milo ML03 or Silverstone Grandia series (GD04/GD05/GD06?). Those are a bit smaller and more appliance-like instead of "OMG there's a huge PC under the flat screen!"

 

[PhoenixEnigma]

My $0.02:

Agreed, very much overkill.

The SSD makes sense to me, the snappier performance with 5900RPM drives and the slightly quieter operation make me want one for my HTPC.

I'd agree with Zap on the case, as well, and personally am happy with the Grandia GD05. Regardless, I'd plan to replace the stock case fans with something like low-RPM Sythe SlipStreams - the ones it comes with are quiet, but you can still hear them from across the room. Make sure the mobo has fan headers for all the fans in the case, too, so you can drop the speeds if needed.

 

[mfenn]

OP, you've gotten solid advice so far. Ken's quote perfectly encapsulates what many people (including myself) feel about "future-proofing". Simply put, Moore's law works against monster rigs. Looking at the spectrum of possible choices, performance over time increases exponentially whereas performance at a given time will increase linearly at best.

 

[Hybris2000]

ok guys, thanks loads for the input !
final rig built just to make sure im fine :
- Case : Silverstone Grandia GD 05
- Motherboard : Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 (rev 1.0)
- CPU : Intel Core I3 Core i3-2120T
- SSD Crucial M4 64 GB
- Storage : hitche deskstar 4 Tb if i can find it, or any other big brand like WD green caviar or Samsung F4 2 TB + ( 1 x 4 TB or 2 x 2TB)
- DDR : G Skill eco series low voltage 2x2GB
- Blue ray player : Optical Drive LG - BH10LS30
- Power Supply Seasonic X-460FL 460W Fanless Power
- Logitech diNovo Mini
I guess that's pretty good now 🙂
By the way, do i need a certified Windows media center remote if i use the di novo mini or it would be useless ?

Thanks again for all you input, really appreciate crucial advice at the time of buying 🙂

 

[lehtv]

It's not like RAM itself makes noise... 1.5V would be just fine. 4GB is probably enough but RAM is cheap at the moment. 8GB now would be a way to "future proof" your RAM needs. Here's Corsair Vengeance for 38eur.

You don't really need an X460, the slightly cheaper X400 would already be more than twice as powerful as needed for this build.

 

[jacktesterson]

A4-3400

Hell, even my E-350 plays everything I want including 1080p blu rays.

Netflix HD won't play though on a E-350, Silverlight issue. only SD netflix. That'd be the only thing I've run into.

 

[mfenn]

It's not like RAM itself makes noise... 1.5V would be just fine. 4GB is probably enough but RAM is cheap at the moment. 8GB now would be a way to "future proof" your RAM needs. Here's Corsair Vengeance for 38eur.

You don't really need an X460, the slightly cheaper X400 would already be more than twice as powerful as needed for this build.

Agree. Also, the 2100 is a better deal than the 2120T. Don't be fooled by the TDP numbers, their idle power draw is identical.

 

[coolpurplefan]

.fr? Are you in France? 🙂 Hey man, if I want to move to Europe, where do you think would be OK? France, Belgium or Switzerland? I live in Quebec.

Anyway, if I remember correctly, there is a passively-cooled GTS 450 by Asus. And I read WD blue is superior to green. Good luck with your build. Or I should say: "Bonne chance".

 

[Hybris2000]

Thanks all for feedback, nice HTPC incoming then, for less money than what i thought, which is great 🙂
@cool : yes im FR, bu i live in Dublin, Ireland. Avoid France, except for week-ends, taxes are insane and its society in very degraded nowadays... Switzerland would be best i think, taxes are high, but salaries as well, and life quality very good, Zurich is an amazing city.

 

[coolpurplefan]

Thanks all for feedback, nice HTPC incoming then, for less money than what i thought, which is great 🙂
@cool : yes im FR, bu i live in Dublin, Ireland. Avoid France, except for week-ends, taxes are insane and its society in very degraded nowadays... Switzerland would be best i think, taxes are high, but salaries as well, and life quality very good, Zurich is an amazing city.

French society is degraded nowadays? In what way?

Thanks for answering though. I think Switzerland might be cool too. And visiting France on the weekends. 🙂