CPU, MB, & tuner for first HTPC build

[bobjones687]

I've been playing with the idea of building a HTPC for a while now, and I think I can finally do it. I've built plenty of PCs before, but never a HTPC, or even anything small form-factor. I think I've got most of the parts picked out, but could use a little confirmation, as well as help picking a couple things.

I'm not looking to do any gaming, really. I've got HD movies that I'd like to play from the hard drive, I want to be able to watch & record live TV (at least 2 shows at once, but 4 would be preferable). I'm thinking 1 extender right now, possibly a second one in the future. I'll also probably be streaming some internet video.

I've got:
8GB RAM
1TB HD
an extra license of Win 7 Pro

I think I know which of the following I want to use:
remote: probably a Harmony? I hear there can be some lag involved, though. I welcome any thoughts on the matter.
BD drive: Unless some work better than others, I'll probably just grab one of the $50 LGs or Lite-Ons.

I need some help choosing:
CPU: This lifehacker article mentions the A4-3400 & A8-3850, but it's a couple months old. Are there new components I should be looking at instead? I've seen the i3-3225 recommended around here, but it's 3x the price of the 3400. If I'm not doing any gaming, is there any point in going for the i3? I'm looking for maximum compatibility, with some future-proofing, not incredible gaming speeds.
http://lifehacker.com/5936546/how-i-bui ... -under-500
motherboard & CPU fan: as appropriate for the CPU & case
tuner: no clue. 4x tuner, if possible. It'll be using a comcast cablecard.
case: I just re-measured, and the case I had picked out is a little too big to fit in the space I have available. My opening is 20" W x 12" D x 12"H, although I don't care if it hangs out the front a little. I guess that means I'm once again open to suggestions on power supply & fans, as well.

Preferred budget: ~$300. Probably more realistic budget: ~$500.

Thanks in advance for any help or insight you can provide. I'm looking forward to getting this thing going.

EDIT: I apparently mis-measured my space by a fraction of an inch, but enough to matter. Looks like I need some advice on a case, as well. Edited to include correct dimensions.

[lithium630]

I'll save most of that for the gurus, but I would suggest planning on 2 hard drives. One for the OS (preferably an SSD) and the other for recorded tv. It will help performance and save you problems later if you need to need to reinstall the OS.

[kc10boom]

I'd suggest a 80GB SSD as your OS drive and a secondary drive to hold all your recordings. Concerning age of the hardware, my CPU is a 4.5 year old AMD Athlon X2 6000+ and my motherboard is the same age. The only upgrade I did was put in a SSD and new GT430 video card. I haven't had any issues with recording or blu-ray rips.

[newfiend]

CPU Selection should be based on a few things..
Will you be encoding any video with the HTPC? Or scanning to remove commercials? Will you be adding any Extenders? Do a little forward thinking as far as the whole system goes.
Once you have a nice HTPC set up (most likely in the living room) will you want to extend that experience to other rooms of your house? I did.. I initially didn't think I would be doing this but as time went on I wanted Media Center in my Bedroom and my Kids rooms as well..

If you have any XBOX's they can be used as extenders as well as the soon to be released Ceton Echo. If you add or plan to add extenders they recommend 1GB of RAM and 1 CPU Core per Extender.
The Core i3 is a good CPU as well as the Core i5. It will depend on your needs in a HTPC, It ends up bascially being a "Media Server" for the whole home eventually.. So I would plan in that direction in your CPU considerations. I like to have a little spare CPU power so I don't get Lag no matter what my HTPC may be doing or how many extenders it may be serving. I just use the Intel Provided CPU Fan for my HTPC.. No need to get fancy with an aftermarket CPU cooler for a HTPC IMO.

As far as Tuners go I use 2 Ceton InfiniTV 4's on Comcast. They have been nothing short of excellent. The HD HomeRun Prime is a good tuner as well from what I have read on here. If you want an internal solution with 4 Tuners the Ceton InfiniTV would be my suggestion.

Case's are more of a preference and space thing.. There are many options. nMedia, Origen ae, etc.. I would go to Newegg and browse to find one you like and will fit in your desired space that has the look and features you need. I have an Older Antec Fusion Remote Black case.. looks like Stereo Equip. and is well built and has excellent air flow. (unfortunately no longer made.. ebay may be an option if you like that case).
Whatever case you get make sure it has good air flow. The Ceton can generate a bit of heat when all 4 tuners are recording at once so you want the air to flow and remove the excess heat. I would stay away from smaller cases as the heat displacement can become an issue.

Power supply doesn't have to be huge, wattage will be determined by how many HDD's you add etc. .. Get a good quality one that is quiet. I use Corsair PSU's they have large fans and they only really turn on under load or if the temprature gets warm.. I never hear my PSU fan.

I will also add that a SSD is a GREAT addition for the OS & App Drive I would HIGHLY recommend one in addition to a 1 or 2TB HDD for Media and TV Recording Storage.

HTH,
newfiend~

[kc10boom]

I would wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday before you buy anything

[adam1991]

Do we still have Cyber Monday?

I mean, is this internet thingy still so newfangled that only BIG BIZNESS has it and people actually wait until they go back to work Monday so they can ignore their jobs and instead poke around on the screen and shop?

[STC]

Do we still have Cyber Monday?

Yeah it still exists. There are some decent deals to be had on that day mixed in with loads of dodgy, misleading 'deals'.

[bobjones687]

Thanks for all the insights. Definitely some stuff to look over here.

A question about the SSDs - how much of a performance boost are they really on a media center PC? Besides boot time (I plan to leave mine on pretty much 24/7), does it really make that much of a difference when you're just navigating through menus, playing back videos from other drives, etc? The only reason I ask is because I was planning on getting an SSD - for my primary workhorse desktop. The 1 TB HD I have is actually my primary OS drive in that machine - I was going to pull it, format, install Windows, and use it in the HTPC, and replace it in my desktop with an SSD. I'm not sure I can get away with two SSDs at this point. Eh, I was going to go for a 128 GB for my desktop; maybe I can get away with getting a pair of 64 GBs for about the same price.

Other things that have been mentioned:
CPU - No encoding at all. This is a storage & playback machine only. As mentioned, I'm looking at 1 extender now, probably 1 more in the future.
Tuner - Thanks for the recommendation. The Ceton looks like exactly what I'm looking for, and I like knowing that I've got the option to add a second one later.
Case - I probably wouldn't even have mentioned it, had I not (thought) I already had one picked out. Same with power supply - the case had some pretty specific PSU requirements, but I'll sort those out with whatever case I choose.

Who knows, maybe I'll strip down my desktop (i5-2500K, 8GB RAM) and put it in a HTPC case that'll take that MB. That would give me an excuse to build a new desktop - and how would that not be a great idea?

[bobjones687]

Do we still have Cyber Monday?

I mean, is this internet thingy still so newfangled that only BIG BIZNESS has it and people actually wait until they go back to work Monday so they can ignore their jobs and instead poke around on the screen and shop?

Yeah, I've never liked the designation. But, as was pointed out, it's a great day for websites to put out deals that aren't deals, and make a lot of money, so it does, unfortunately, seem to be growing. Combine that with the fact that the media seems to have just caught on to its existence in the past couple of years, and think it's "this cool new online thing that must be covered," and I think we're gonna be stuck with it for a while.

[STC]

You wouldn't regret using an SSD for the OS of the HTPC.
Everything becomes measurably quicker in MC, including a knock-on effect of speeding up extenders.

[newfiend]

^ agreed.. SSD is definitely the way to go for the OS drive.. Boot time.. Faster, TV guide loads faster, extenders connect...faster.. In this day and age it just makes sense to go that route.. It costs more yes but money well spent!

Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express

[adam1991]

I don't think SSD for a boot drive is worth spending more money on, but what you describe is a system where you don't need much of a boot drive at all--and that's where the prices work.

Yes, you can get a "refurbished" 80GB drive for $20, but realistically you'll spend $60 to $80 for a spinning boot drive. An Intel 60GB SSD is $70. When the prices equate like that for your needs, and you can get a *quality* SSD out of it (tread lightly, there are lots of potholes in the SSD world), then just do it.

(All Newegg prices, btw.)

[newfiend]

I guess I may be a bit spoiled as I have has ssd's for quite some time now in all my pc's.. I wouldn't even think of using a standard hdd for a boot drive now. Once you experience the difference a ssd can make it makes it hard to go backwards. It's definitely not a necessity but it does make a large performance improvement. And the cost isn't that much more.

Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express

[Mike88]

I guess I may be a bit spoiled as I have has ssd's for quite some time now in all my pc's..

What size SSD would you recommend for a non-HTPC desktop PC? Besides the Windows 7 OS, do you also put some of the most used programs on it?

[adam1991]

The problem is, you want the SSD for the OS and a spinning disc for data--but Windows doesn't make it easy to keep user data off the SSD and onto a spinning disc.

An HTPC doesn't use much user data, but using it for regular daily use does.

When Windows can have the functionality of the new Apple Fusion disc, that'll be nice.

[foxwood]

For a HTPC, the "data" is just your recordings, and it's a couple of easily accessed settings in Media Center to send all the recording (includingthe TV buffer) to the "D:" drive. Leave everything else on the SSD - you're not going to be installing tons of applications on a HTPC, so running out of space shouldn't be an issue, and if you install everything as normal to the SSD drive, you can just image it on a regular basis, and have an easy way to roll back to a fully working system if you mess something up.

[Jonny561201]

Just a note if you are thinking of using an AMD APU. The ones you showed were based off their older Llano line and their newer Trinity CPUs are out and show sizeable graphics gains over the prior generation. I picked one up and just finished my new media center and I have been very happy with the results. To be honest it is way more then necessary for 3D blu-ray playback.

Their prices are fairly reasonable and depending on the number of extenders you use and thus the number of cores recommended you can go for a solid dual or quad core option.

[WarrenH]

From my experience I'd recommend intel board as they update drivers at least every second month and its all done through an auto detecting webpage, i3 or i5 as even if you're not doing lots of encoding etc, you can't beat the performance, boot times, program start times etc of a decently powered cpu (ask anyone whose ever switched from a low powered to better cpu), a small SSD you only need 40gb and a separate hdd for media and recorded tv, 8gb ram, and most importantly the quietest case you can find as a whining computer in the lounge is the biggest let down ever. Then when its all working just leave it alone and don't be tempted to fiddle.

[newfiend]

I guess I may be a bit spoiled as I have has ssd's for quite some time now in all my pc's..

What size SSD would you recommend for a non-HTPC desktop PC? Besides the Windows 7 OS, do you also put some of the most used programs on it?

Well.. That's a bit of a loaded question.. It will depend on your own Personal Computing needs.
I like to Game a bit once in awhile. I bought 2x Force GT 120GB SSD's and ran them in RAID 0. But I wanted performance on my Desktop PC.. I install my OS and Programs I use on the SSD and move all the folders that get frequent writes to the 2TB HDD. The performance is still really quick.. I will eventually change out the MB to a Z77 series though as I would like to have TRIM enabled on my SSD's in RAID.

The size you will need will depend on how many programs or apps you want installed along with Windows.. For instance I have my OS and Apps installed along with a few games and I have 151GB available out of 223GB right now.

newfiend~

[WarrenH]

For a basic Win7 install with a few programs supporting media centre; media browser, TMT, etc the install should be around 20GB. Add some space for sleep / hibernation.
Games will consume plenty space.