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HTPC Build...And i know NOTHING about them.

post #1 of 12
5/18/12 at 12:25pm
Thread Starter 
A friend of my mine is looking for a HTPC setup and seeing as i know nothing about then i thought i would ask here smile.gif

He is looking for a Solid HTPC, will mainly be using it for Media stuff but also wants something that is able to play the latest games, he doesnt mind having to lower the settings but doesnt want to have to play at the lowest settings. I will have to check but think hes got the same Monitor as me but he cant get a normal desktop due to size. It will be playing/recording Blu-ray drives and needs to have a TV Tuner as well.

He has about £800-900 to spend, wants it too be as quiet as possible, i mentioned Those H70 (or what ever the newest ones are) but they require 120mm Fan(s) in the case so im not too sure if thats possible.

So i pretty much have NO idea what to suggest to him, Any tips?
Also, got any good links for where i can read up myself about them and see what other people do with them smile.gif

EDIT: He told me he wants to use Ubutu if that makes any difference
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post #2 of 12
5/18/12 at 3:13pm
Well i would clarify some things with your mate before proceeding i.e

1. What is the resolution of the TV to be connected to the HTPC?
2. What are the main functions of the HTPC i.e streaming movies/music, light gaming, PVR/live tv?
3. What sort of audio set up would hook up to the HTPC? AVR, digital/analog, 2.0/2.1/5.1 etc?
4. How would the HTPC be controlled? Many options as per needs.budget here

That said in the UK for DIY PC hardware, ebuyer uk is a decent place to start and for PVR/Live TV your mate has to know what sort of TV he is getting to get the correct TV card (DVB-T, DVB-S, cable, etc)

With gaming and Blu Ray discs on the table choice of OS would be Windows wink.gif

IMO a balance of small and still having room for expansion/added functions would be an mATX build tongue.gif
Edited by trog - 5/18/12 at 3:18pm
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post #3 of 12
5/18/12 at 3:27pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by trog View Post

Well i would clarify some things with your mate before proceeding i.e
1. What is the resolution of the TV to be connected to the HTPC?
2. What are the main functions of the HTPC i.e streaming movies/music, light gaming, PVR/live tv?
3. What sort of audio set up would hook up to the HTPC? AVR, digital/analog, 2.0/2.1/5.1 etc?
4. How would the HTPC be controlled? Many options as per needs.budget here
That said in the UK for DIY PC hardware, ebuyer uk is a decent place to start and for PVR/Live TV your mate has to know what sort of TV he is getting to get the correct TV card (DVB-T, DVB-S, cable, etc)
With gaming and Blu Ray discs on the table choice of OS would be Windows wink.gif
IMO a balance of small and still having room for expansion/added functions would be an mATX build tongue.gif

1. I am 90% sure he has the same monitor as me as i got mine coz i liked his and im sure he hasnt got rid of his yet. So 2048x1152 max resolution

2. Movies, TV viewing with TV Tuner, Blu-Ray playback either from disc or ISO as well as gaming - on the gaming part he said he would like to play the latest games but doesnt mind having to reduce the settings a bit as long as they dont have to be on the lowest settings.

3. He has a 5-1 surround system at the moment, not the most amazing system but still pretty good and believe he does plan to upgrade it at some point

4.Not quite sure what you mean by this question.

Yeah Ebuyer would likely be the place to get as much of the stuff as possible.
So Ubutu wouldnt be an option if he wanted to game some and use BluRay. Software he mentioned he wanted to use was XBMC or something lol

By size i meant height, he is quite limited with his current setup, that it needs to be quite low, i did mention to him about Mountain Mods Plateau but due to cost i think its not really an option unless we manage to find one on ebay or something
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post #4 of 12
5/18/12 at 4:20pm
Thread Starter 
Been having a look at cases. The Zalman HD503 and the Antec Fusion both seem solid. They both have 120mm fans which would mean a WC CPU cooler could be useable but the Antec uses mATX motherboards and not too sure what graphics cards could fit inside it. The Zalman though uses normal ATX motherboards and is meant to be able to fit Graphics card upto 270mm long so should mean that could fit a highend-ish graphics card hes looking at the 4XX GTX series or higher though dont think that will be possible.

Anyone know anything about these cases, i have tried to look online and had a few look at videos but cant really tell if they are good or not, saw a video where someone said they were using a Palit NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 in the Antec case, not sure how good that card is or how much space was left but not sure about the amount of space for Hard drives, the Zalman has space for 4 hard drives which is great. My mate said he would like 1 drive space for SSD and as much space for more drives as possible, likely going with Samsung 1TB drives Which would be great having 3 drives for Games (likely only Steam - maybe wow as well) and then having separate drives for Movies/Tv shows and then the 3rd for Tuner content recorded

Again, im not too sure since i know very little about HTPCs
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post #5 of 12
5/19/12 at 2:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ArmageddonAsh View Post

1. I am 90% sure he has the same monitor as me as i got mine coz i liked his and im sure he hasnt got rid of his yet. So 2048x1152 max resolution
2. Movies, TV viewing with TV Tuner, Blu-Ray playback either from disc or ISO as well as gaming - on the gaming part he said he would like to play the latest games but doesnt mind having to reduce the settings a bit as long as they dont have to be on the lowest settings.
3. He has a 5-1 surround system at the moment, not the most amazing system but still pretty good and believe he does plan to upgrade it at some point
4.Not quite sure what you mean by this question.
Yeah Ebuyer would likely be the place to get as much of the stuff as possible.
So Ubutu wouldnt be an option if he wanted to game some and use BluRay. Software he mentioned he wanted to use was XBMC or something lol
By size i meant height, he is quite limited with his current setup, that it needs to be quite low, i did mention to him about Mountain Mods Plateau but due to cost i think its not really an option unless we manage to find one on ebay or something

3. If his 5.1 set up is feeding a digital signal into a receiver (optical/coaxial/HDMI) then a soundcard could be unnecessary

4. By this i meant remotes, wireless kb/mouse, etc

Yes one could use XBMC and for Blu Ray perhaps Total Media Theater 5?
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post #6 of 12
5/19/12 at 3:27am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by trog View Post

3. If his 5.1 set up is feeding a digital signal into a receiver (optical/coaxial/HDMI) then a soundcard could be unnecessary
4. By this i meant remotes, wireless kb/mouse, etc
Yes one could use XBMC and for Blu Ray perhaps Total Media Theater 5?

3. It is going to be done using HDMI i believe, i will ask him. I know he has to get a new setup as the one he got he managed to somehow blow all the speakers. So currently using an average setup while he waits to see if they are still under warrenty, hes had them a while.

4. Keyboard & mouse/360 controller likely for when using it for games and hoping to find a case or a way of using a remote for all media uses

Okay, will get him to have a look at TMT5 smile.gif


what do you think of the cases i listed above?
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post #7 of 12
5/19/12 at 5:45am
I use a Thermaltake Bach, usually on ebay quite cheap, has a VFD for info and comes with a remote too !
3 x 5.25 bays and 6 x 3.5 bays - room for oversized PSU's too ! Had a pair of GTX 460's in it or my GTX 480.!

Worth a look ?

dunx
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post #8 of 12
5/19/12 at 5:46am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2002dunx View Post

I use a Thermaltake Bach, usually on ebay quite cheap, has a VFD for info and comes with a remote too !
3 x 5.25 bays and 6 x 3.5 bays - room for oversized PSU's too ! Had a pair of GTX 460's in it or my GTX 480.!
Worth a look ?
dunx

Thanks i will give it a look and see what my mate thinks smile.gif
Looks okay, but no 120mm fan possible, guess i could have a look at air CPU coolers if he likes the look of the case
Edited by ArmageddonAsh - 5/19/12 at 5:49am
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post #9 of 12
5/26/12 at 1:12pm
If you get an htpc case i would not put a 480 or 470 in there. Too hot!
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post #10 of 12
5/26/12 at 2:58pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Carlitos714 View Post

If you get an htpc case i would not put a 480 or 470 in there. Too hot!

Not so sure about that, maybe under heavy load but he wouldnt be running games on ultra or anything.
he has his eye on Zalman HD503, H100, Sabertooth Z77 and possibly 3770k so far
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