Thoughts on this Trinity HTPC build

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neel

Junior Member
Jun 11, 2007
11
0
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This is pretty much based on the Assassin guide, so I don't expect any huge surprises. Here are my thoughts for my htpc.

Goals
- Act as a file server within my network and potentially outside of my network (if I want to grab items while out of the house
- Connect directly to my tv to view content streamed on websites as well as downloaded content
- Torrent and seed files (probably 24/7)
- Backup files from my 5 year old macbook (and potentially replace it as my main machine)
- Light gaming (through Steam)
- Web browsing (still will probably do this mostly on my laptop)

I wouldn't consider myself that much of a power user. I'm not doing any sort of video/photo editing or anything like that.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A10-5700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($135.57 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75 Pro4-M Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($81.97 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($95.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Silverstone GD05B HTPC Case ($88.44 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($41.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($91.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $588.94
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

- Based on the parts selected, do you think that savings will be very substantial if I wait until cyber monday?

Aside from accessories like keyboards/mice, is there anything that I am missing? I don't think I will need a tv tuner card or a cd drive. I currently watch DTV by splitting my modem line and plugging it into the tv, and I watch blu rays on my ps3.
 
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LoveMachine

Senior member
May 8, 2012
491
3
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Any chance you could bump the budget up by ~$80 and throw in a 64GB SSD? The overall experience would be far better, just having the OS and a few apps on that, then let the 2TB HDD handle all the media/games/downloads. The Green drives are very quiet and power efficient, perfect for HTPC, but load times and task switching, especially if something is transferring in the background will really bog down the 5400rpm drives. I have a 64GB Crucial in my HTPC and had to spend a week on an older spinner, and I nearly bashed the machine with a baseball bat. Systems without SSDs feel so much slower now. Even with that puny thing, I'm still only ~70% full with a few bigger apps and two older games. Sometimes 128GB drives can be found for not much more these days.
 
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neel

Junior Member
Jun 11, 2007
11
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Budget is not really an issue. I am only trying not to get out of hand and use components that are overkill. The argument for an ssd makes sense, though. Thanks!
 
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Auric

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
9,596
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71
More like $70 for a good 128GB SSD now or if it will never be used other than HTPC then a lower model for $40.
 
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Insert_Nickname

Diamond Member
May 6, 2012
4,971
1,691
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Looks good... :thumbsup:

But as others have pointed out, it would be a good idea with a smallish SSD for the system drive...
 
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neel

Junior Member
Jun 11, 2007
11
0
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Thanks for the feedback. My earlier statement about avoiding overkill was really just reiterating a common sentiment I have seen about high speed drives being unnecessary for media centers. As a whole, the statement was meant to reflect that budget is not really an issue, and the only reason I have not chosen to max absolutely everything out and build a mega pc was that it is not necessary. I'll add an SSD. I recently added one to my macbook, and it is worlds better. That machine is 5 years old and I can see it being a casual web surfing computer for several more years.


Auric said:
More like $70 for a good 128GB SSD now or if it will never be used other than HTPC then a lower model for $40.
Click to expand...


Do you have any advice on a good SSD? I have a cruicial ssd in my latop and have not had any problems. I was under the impression that most drives are around $1 per GB, so your number of $70 for a 128GB SSD sounds really appealing. When looking at PC parts picker, it seems as though Samsung offers a popular drive that is in that price range.

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/internal-hard-drive/#t=0&sort=a5&qq=1&s=33000,65000


I have also found out that the case I chose is backordered, so I'll be picking another one. There are plenty to choose form, however.
 
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neel

Junior Member
Jun 11, 2007
11
0
0
Do you guys have any thoughts on the following cases?

This one seems to be the updated version of my originally chosen case. It now includes usb 3.0 and costs more than the other. The extra space is probably worth it though, and I imagine that it is still comparable in size to my AV receiver. This is probably what I'm going with.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811163205

This one seems very popular, but it is significantly more expensive than most. It is also huge.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112228

This one seems very small, and several reviewers with the mobo I am thinking about using have mentioned that there are some space concerns (although they were able to force it to work, sometimes by hacking off plastic).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811163174


Overall, this computer has definitely gone up a bit in price. It is definitely a lot to spend on a htpc. I'm going to continue to give it some thought, and I may end up nixing the light gaming aspect of it in order to go for something a little more streamlined.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A10-5700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($135.57 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75 Pro4-M Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($81.97 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($95.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($104.95 @ B&H)
Case: Silverstone SST-GD05B-USB3.0 (Black) HTPC Case ($132.56 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($41.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($91.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $738.01
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)


Based on these specs, do you guys have any idea how much noise I should expect? That's the one sort of thing that I can't really get a sense of yet. Would adding a CPU cooler reduce the noise overall? I can always do that after the fact, if I find that there is too much noise coming from the machine.
 
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neel

Junior Member
Jun 11, 2007
11
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