Thoughts on this (sub $200) HTPC?

[mvbighead]

Thinking of buying the following for an HTPC:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883250296

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131338

$140 for Win7 HP, Core 2 Duo, and a Radeon 5450.

I'd eventually clone the OS drive to a new multi-TB disk for storage of recordings.

Plan is to use Windows Media Center straight from the OS.

 

[crashtech]

It's sure cheap, and my HTPC was Core2 until not very long ago. I probably would not do that, but it's hard to fault it for the price! 2.33GHz might turn out to be a bit on the pokey side, but if so you could find a faster CPU for real cheap.

 

[LoveMachine]

One recommendation, if you can wait for a 6450 to go on sale AR (doesn't happen as often) it will give you a few extra features that *may* be worth it, depending on what you want to do. I don't recall if the 5xxx series can send the latest audio streams (DTS-HD MA and TrueHD) but it will certainly do DTS and DDplus which is certain fine for most users. The 6series handles all that natively, and will do 3D content better. It probably not a deal breaker for most, and at $9, the 5450 will do a nice job.

 

[mvbighead]

I assume CPU and RAM should be fine?

I don't want to have much more money in other than a disk drive, and DDR2 is pricey anyway. I may be able to add another GB via 2 x 512MB dimms.

All in all, 2.33 C2D, 3GB DDR2, and either a 5450 or 6450 to drive HD content.

Crashtech mention of it being pokey surprises me, as I would figure an HTPC shouldn't require too much CPU, and this level of CPU has driven my wife and former work computers HD streaming content with no problems. I assume it's fine, but want to double check.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I had a core 2 duo (e4300 1.8 ghz oc to 2.0) and it wouldn't play back ota hd tv without stuttering. Tbh I wouldn't even bother with that pc you have pointed out. The thing is a complete turd by today's standards. I don't even know what I'm going to do with the old parts. They aren't worth anything and they've been replaced with a fx 6300 which is pretty fast and a great deal for the money.

 

[mvbighead]

I had a core 2 duo (e4300 1.8 ghz oc to 2.0) and it wouldn't play back ota hd tv without stuttering. Tbh I wouldn't even bother with that pc you have pointed out. The thing is a complete turd by today's standards. I don't even know what I'm going to do with the old parts. They aren't worth anything and they've been replaced with a fx 6300 which is pretty fast and a great deal for the money.

What GPU were you using?

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Gtx 260

 

[mvbighead]

Hmmm, this guy is from a review from a guy using the same tuner:

We're using an HP Slimline with a 2.2 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4GB ram and an ATI HD4350 graphics card. The picture on our 42 inch Aquos is better and the channels switch faster than the Scientific Atlanta HD8300 DVR we returned. Now that live TV and recordings are in the WM7 interface the family is happy to stay in it which is the key to acceptance. At the two week mark everyone agrees that using WM7 is an all around improvement. The guide is better, the commercial skip function for recorded TV is adjustable so it only takes one or two clicks. The recording library is organized by season and original air date.

I'm tempted to try it, and if it flops, just give the PC to my FIL to replace a 2.8GHz Pentium system he has.

 

[crashtech]

Well most PCs less than 10 years old will be more powerful than a Cisco Explorer 8300, with its blistering fast twin 250MHz CPUs...

 

[mvbighead]

Well most PCs less than 10 years old will be more powerful than a Cisco Explorer 8300, with its blistering fast twin 250MHz CPUs...

That's kind of the point of an HTPC though, right? To replace a very underpowered DVR.

I would think that even thought specs are weak by most standards, they'd be suitable for presenting the WMC interface and playing back recorded HD content.

I understand some people do more with them. I'd simply be using it for OTA recording and playback.

 

[crashtech]

I'm sure you'll be fine as long as that is your expectation.

 

[Charlie98]

Just can't do it with HP.... but that's personal preference.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Just a note, these older PCs, their fan bearings are a bit worn out, and they are not "silent", if you know what I mean. The one out of two DX7400 HP units I recently got from Newegg that I set up, it makes quite a noise when it powers up, and then it gets quieter as the fans spin up to speed. But there is still some noise.

 

[Automaticman]

I don't recall if the 5xxx series can send the latest audio streams (DTS-HD MA and TrueHD) but it will certainly do DTS and DDplus which is certain fine for most users.

The 5xxx series handles DTS-HD and TrueHD just fine, as well as 7.1 LPCM. The 4xxx could only do 2.0 LPCM and regular DTS/DD.

 

[mvbighead]

So I'll go ahead and guess that my money would be better spent on something like this:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3lMEZ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3lMEZ/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3lMEZ/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD A4-4000 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($43.67 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI A55M-E33 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($39.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.10 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($104.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Apex DM-318 HTPC Case w/275W Power Supply ($39.99 @ Mwave)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $351.73
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-04 07:21 EDT-0400)

 

[crashtech]

It is marginally better, and will have components that are more likely to be reused again, but it's hard to say if those improvements are worth nearly tripling the price. The A4 is not actually all that much better than the 2.33GHz C2D in the HP.

A third route might be to get the first PC you listed, and add a used CPU like an E8400 (if it will accept it), and something like a low profile R9-240. A setup like that would be less money than the A4 build, yet exceed its performance.

There's not really a wrong way to do this, since you aren't expecting a lot out of it.

 

[mvbighead]

Eh, there seems to be too many wrongs with it. Worn bearings, older PSU, louder, etc. etc.

I may just wait until my DirecTV expires and build a real HTPC:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3lPZp
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3lPZp/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3lPZp/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($65.97 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.10 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($104.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone ML05B HTPC Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 350W 80+ Certified SFX Power Supply ($48.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $508.00
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-04 10:30 EDT-0400)

Potentially throw in an I3 instead. I may still consider the AMD route also, but looking for power efficiency as this will be on 24/7.

I guess I'll just wait.

 

[crashtech]

That build is right in the comfort zone, though most of the HTPC builds I have done have been micro-ATX, since most low profile cases have room for that, and they are a better deal than mini-ITX.

 

[mvbighead]

That build is right in the comfort zone, though most of the HTPC builds I have done have been micro-ATX, since most low profile cases have room for that, and they are a better deal than mini-ITX.

One thing I liked about this one is the cases uses standard power supplies. Many use an odd form factor, and I'd prefer standard one where I can acquire a quality PSU for the case.

As for the ITX cost, this one seemed to be mostly neglible. The case is $40, the board is $60. Micro atx might find me a case for 30 and a board for 50, but for the reasons mentioned above, I like the other case.

 

[crashtech]

It is nice that it uses an ATX PSU. That probably makes it worth it just for the ease of servicing, should it be required.

 

[sm625]

You can find HP DCX800 machines on ebay for the same price or cheaper, and better yet you can find them with E8xxx series chips which are a good deal faster. I have one, it is a great LoL machine. It would not be nearly as good if it didnt have that 6MB of cache and 3 GHz clock speed though.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Using an Atom NetTop for my "HTPC".

Works fine. I don't have anything higher-res than 720p video though.