HTPC build

[iain187]

Reckon I might build myself a wee HTPC and I think I've got it ok but I'll post a spec up later and check.

The only bit I'm not sure about is a motherboard - is there any particularly special ones I should be on the look out for?

Also, what is the best way to keep it quiet and cool - 2 case fans and just a heatsink on the CPU? anyone got any suggestions.


I want it to do is play videos and music from a nas, plus maybe do some downloading/torrents for me - I'd quite like it to run a proper OS so I can make it do things as I think of them

The other thing I was thinking of was maybe a TV card and using it as a recording box too. Is there anything to look out for when buying TV cards - never owned one before.


gotta go out for a bit but will post a set of bits I shopped around for later... but any ideas welcome.

 

[Adam]

Well you need uATX/Micro ATX motherboard for starters.

 

[Gareth]

I'm thinking of doing a watercooled workbench (Dimastech) for my next project, it was that or a HTPC.

 

[Danny133]

Buy a mac mini

 

[iain187]

I was thinking of something like this

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus...gb-s-pcie-20-(x16)-graphics-on-board-mini-itx

 

[iain187]

looking into this apparently if i go this route, the amd chip can do gfx better... the mobo in this selection has cpu/gfx bolted onto the mobo, which seems to work out cheaper

debating if I should add another £60 to upgrade to a SSD- dont need masses of storage as i'll be streaming everything over lan but not sure how noisy it will be?

 

[Dink]

the only thing i will say is you might want to check the space for the psu

i have a HTPC in a silverstone case and although the case takes a atx psu, atx only covers the width and height and the first psu i ordered was too deep fouled on the blu-ray drive

 

[iain187]

Yea I spotted that, was searching for some laptop ram in work and it brought up results for Zotac mini pc's which I think is exactly what I want, certainly not bad for £170 coz I've got the required RAM and HDD handy already.

I've also got a USB remote already and ordered a USB TV card, this is a little bit of an experiment really into HTPC, so doing it cheap is ideal


I've got all my shizzle on a NAS because I stream all over the place but I'm slightly concerned that if it dies I'm going to lose a lot of stuff. So after this experiement I'll probably venture into a 'proper' file server with RAID or something and I may also try water cooling for the first time to keep it quiet.

 

[Martin_172]

ebuyer were doing £250 off a shuttle core 2 system meaning you were paying £105 or there abouts for a case, motherboard and psu, i snapped one up, just won a core 2 quad processor for £50 on ebay so now i just need to get some ram and a graphics card, swap my current htpc's blueray and ssd over and its a cheap build with plenty power

 

[iain187]

ahhhhhh dabs had put my order back another day so i cancelled it before work this morning.
decided to go on scan and pick in stock parts and it's already been picked about to be despatched!!
got a mobo/processor combo with no fan so i think it's basically a netbook in a small case lol.
still going to go with a SSD so silence will be golden for me.


if i remember to take pics tomorrow i will post...

 

[Gareth]

Scan are by far the best at their game, they also use DPD for courier services which again are the best of them out there.

 

[oska]

Is it possible to build something that will record and playback tv plus play downloaded media from an old PC? I have an old P4 desktop that I used to use for music production. What would I need apart from a TV tuner? Software etc?

 

[iain187]

Yup Scan seem a lot more efficient although I did specifically order parts in stock.
I very nearly emailed my work dabs account manager who is the best account manager in the world but it would have beena personal query and I knew the answer would be you'll have to wait so f**k em lol!


Oska, windows media center can record tv and the tuner card should come with software. If you are going to build a PC to play music pull your old HDD out the old PC and have it as a secondary drive in the new'en?

 

[bmit]

Looks like you've fit the hw sorted. Now software... W7 mc and media browser for me.. although if not doing live tv you might want to look at xbmc.

In terms of tv cards check out reviews about waking from sleep as some have issues with this. I have a nova hd s2 sat card and has been great

 

[iain187]

This is ace. I've got xbmc running. Added the liveonlinefooty add on to watch sky sports news, whilst downloading the latest episode of house to my nas which im now watching

next step get my netflix trial started...