New to the forums but have been lurking for a while. Thanks to everyone for their input on previous builds and would like criticism on what I'm thinking of putting together. My goal is to have 2 HTPC's, detailed below, where one has the Ceton card and the other just has 1 tuner dedicated and can use MediaBrowser for MKV's/ISO's. I have a FreeNAS server running with about 5TB in it currently in JBOD with physical backups (updated weekly) held in my safe at home. Everything will be wired.
Living Room:
CPU: AMD A6-3500 ($80)
MB: Gigabyte GA-A75MD2H FM1 ($80)
Ram: G.Skill Ripjaw (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 ($47)
SSD: Patriot Torx 32GB Sata II ($65)
PSU: SeaSonic SS-300ET 300W ($40)
Case: Silverstone MILO ML03B mATX ($60)
Casefans: Vantec Stealth 80mm x4 ($36)
TVtuner: Ceton InfiniTV 4 (purchased)
OD: Samsung BluRay SH-B123L ($60)
Remote/IR: Logitech Harmony 650 ($55) / HP IR receiver (purchased)
OS: Win7 64 ($100)
-----------------------------Total from the Egg $622.87
Bedroom
CPU: Celeron G530 Sandy Bridge 2.4GHz Intel HD Graphics BX80623G530 ($52)
MB/Case/PSU: Shuttle XH61 ($180)
Ram: G.Skill Value (2x4GB) DDR3 1333 ($37)
SSD: Patriot Torx 32GB Sata II ($65)
Remote/IR: HP bundle (purchased)
OS: Win7 64 ($100)
-----------------------------Total from the Egg $432.96
I want to try and be sure that in the event all 4 tuners being used and I was watching a BR on the living room, it would still run flawlessly. If you see anywhere I can cut costs, please call it out or if you think my system would fall short, let me know as well. I'm looking to start the build in the next 1-2 months so nothing is set in stone.
Criticize my builds
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Elmattarino
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2012 2:24 am
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HTPC Specs:
Criticize my builds
Last edited by Elmattarino on Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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adam1991
- Posts: 2893
- Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2011 2:31 pm
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HTPC Specs:
surely, you meant "critique my builds". Nuthin' to criticize up there.
What's the spinning drive on the living room unit? I see only the OS SSD.
Can you save money? Well...me, I wouldn't cut a thing on the LR unit.
What's the purpose of the bedroom unit? Can you do an XBox extender instead and still serve your purposes? That would save you a little over $200 right there (which, were it me, I would immediately put right back into a second Ceton for the LR unit, now that the price has dropped).
What's the spinning drive on the living room unit? I see only the OS SSD.
Can you save money? Well...me, I wouldn't cut a thing on the LR unit.
What's the purpose of the bedroom unit? Can you do an XBox extender instead and still serve your purposes? That would save you a little over $200 right there (which, were it me, I would immediately put right back into a second Ceton for the LR unit, now that the price has dropped).
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Kustom Kid
- Posts: 32
- Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 5:45 am
- Location: Michigan
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HTPC Specs:
If you live near a Microcenter brick and mortar store you can save a few bucks on your processors. The AMD A6 is going for $70, and the store near me doesn't have the Celeron, but they do have the dual core Pentium G620 for $50 which is a better proc. for less.
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Elmattarino
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HTPC Specs:
I like criticize better than critique personally so I went with it.
I had an XBOX, tried it as an extender and it felt like it was lacking to me so I'm going with a custom build for it.
Spinning drive will be a 500GB I have laying around until HD prices go back down to where they were. I remember paying $60 for a 2TB not too long ago so I can't justify $140 for the same drive. I also have x2 120GB's that will provide backup in the event they're needed.
I do have a Microcenter BM (brick/mortar.... not the other thing) near and saw the G530 for $35 and the A6 for $65 so that saves me $32... good news already!
I had an XBOX, tried it as an extender and it felt like it was lacking to me so I'm going with a custom build for it.
Spinning drive will be a 500GB I have laying around until HD prices go back down to where they were. I remember paying $60 for a 2TB not too long ago so I can't justify $140 for the same drive. I also have x2 120GB's that will provide backup in the event they're needed.
I do have a Microcenter BM (brick/mortar.... not the other thing) near and saw the G530 for $35 and the A6 for $65 so that saves me $32... good news already!
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adam1991
- Posts: 2893
- Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2011 2:31 pm
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HTPC Specs:
What was lacking on the XBox? On the other hand, what will be lacking--if anything--NOT using an extender but using a full-blown PC instead?
Choices, choices.
Yeah, MC is your friend if you have one nearby.
What I learned by accident during my build was to buy one part of a build your own system from MC--in my case, the processor--and then sit back and wait.
A week or so later, my email was flooded with deals and coupons from MC, all clearly designed to get me to buy the rest of it from them. I saved a ton of money that way. Last March, my build was $450 plus Windows doing it that way. (It was the $800 or so for the Ceton plus two XBoxen that rankled me...)
Choices, choices.
Yeah, MC is your friend if you have one nearby.
What I learned by accident during my build was to buy one part of a build your own system from MC--in my case, the processor--and then sit back and wait.
A week or so later, my email was flooded with deals and coupons from MC, all clearly designed to get me to buy the rest of it from them. I saved a ton of money that way. Last March, my build was $450 plus Windows doing it that way. (It was the $800 or so for the Ceton plus two XBoxen that rankled me...)
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Kustom Kid
- Posts: 32
- Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 5:45 am
- Location: Michigan
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HTPC Specs:
I'm not sure about the OP, but my only major complaint about using the Xbox360 as an extender is having to shell out an additional $60/year for Netflix functionality. Getting the occasional "Network Issue" popup and, even more rare, getting kicked out of my WMC extender session are a small trade off for the money saved versus building an additional box.