Overclock.net › Forums › Specialty Builds › HTPC › windows 8 metro good for htpc?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

windows 8 metro good for htpc?

post #1 of 9
10/26/12 at 2:44pm
Thread Starter 
So I'm building an htpc and I know win 8 gets a lot of crap for its metro setup, but is it in actuality optimal for an htpc setup? I haven't used it personally, and I know xbmc is pretty boss minus the fact that it has a fail video renderer. Anyways, the question/discussion is the benefits and restrictions that would come from using win 8 vs win 7 on a new htpc.
Goodies~
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i7-2600k 3.4 ghz Asus P8P67 Deluxe Giga GTX 670 Windforce x3 2GB G.Skill 16gb 1600MHz 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
128GB Crucial C300/1TB Samsung T3 Sony Blu-ray RW Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit Acer 24'' 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
Logitech Wireless Corsair 750W Lancool Razer Orochi 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Goodies~
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i7-2600k 3.4 ghz Asus P8P67 Deluxe Giga GTX 670 Windforce x3 2GB G.Skill 16gb 1600MHz 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
128GB Crucial C300/1TB Samsung T3 Sony Blu-ray RW Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit Acer 24'' 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
Logitech Wireless Corsair 750W Lancool Razer Orochi 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #2 of 9
10/26/12 at 7:47pm
I have been using it for a couple of months with my HTPC and I really like it. Definitely worth a try.
Desktop
(15 items)
 
Richland HTPC/LAN
(13 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel i7 3770K ASUS P8Z77-V-LK EVGA GTX 480 with EK Waterblock Crucial 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingCooling
OCZ Vertex Plus LG DVD+/-RW XSPC Rasa 750 RS360 Kit 140mm  
OSMonitorMonitorKeyboard
Windows 7 Q-Nix 27" 1440p Matte Gateway 22" Logitech G15 
PowerCaseMouse
RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-630SS 630W NZXT Switch 810 White Logitech MX518 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD 6800K ASRock FM2A85X-ITX AMD HD 8670D G.Skil 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Corsair SSD Western Digital Raptor Western Digital Blue LG Blu-Ray 
CoolingOSMonitorKeyboard
Corsair H60 Windows 8 40" Dynex TV Silverstone 500W 
Case
Bitfenix Prodigy 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Desktop
(15 items)
 
Richland HTPC/LAN
(13 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel i7 3770K ASUS P8Z77-V-LK EVGA GTX 480 with EK Waterblock Crucial 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingCooling
OCZ Vertex Plus LG DVD+/-RW XSPC Rasa 750 RS360 Kit 140mm  
OSMonitorMonitorKeyboard
Windows 7 Q-Nix 27" 1440p Matte Gateway 22" Logitech G15 
PowerCaseMouse
RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-630SS 630W NZXT Switch 810 White Logitech MX518 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD 6800K ASRock FM2A85X-ITX AMD HD 8670D G.Skil 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Corsair SSD Western Digital Raptor Western Digital Blue LG Blu-Ray 
CoolingOSMonitorKeyboard
Corsair H60 Windows 8 40" Dynex TV Silverstone 500W 
Case
Bitfenix Prodigy 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #3 of 9
10/27/12 at 12:09am
I know you're asking for Windows 8 but I gotta say Openelec 2.0 is out and it's THE media center os everyone is looking for!

http://openelec.tv/news/item/253-openelec-20-released

If you have ever seen XBMC in action, this is a pretty much an easy install, working out of the box media center!
I have been using XBMC for the past 10 years and just can't go to any other, like most people...
I am running it in Windows 7 now but when I will build my htpc that's defenitely what I'll be going for!


Cheers
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 9
10/27/12 at 5:17am
  • Joined: Oct 2006
  • Location: Katy, Republic of Texas
  • Posts: 10,271
  • Rep: 824 (Unique: 650)
  • Reviews: 11
  • Trader Rating: 91
  • Folding Team Rank: 432
  •  
    Name Team Rank Points / Jun Work Units / Jun
    blupupher 432 6,419,043 / 11,622 8,810 / 3
       
  • Select All Posts By This User
For a pure HTPC (no gaming, surfing, working, just media) their is really no difference between 7 and 8, plus WMC is an add on in 8 (which costs money unless you get in on the free deal).
I have a copy of Windows 8 Pro and a key for the WMC add in I was going to try in my bedroom HTPC just to try it out.
'Pooter
(15 items)
 
For Sale: AM2 3600+ x2
$25 (USD)
 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Phenom II 830 x4 Gigabyte GA-880GM-D2H MSI GTX 460 Hawk 12 gigs (2x2 and 2x4) Corsair DDR3 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOptical DriveCooling
Samsung  Samsung DVD-RW  Samsung DVD-RW  Cooler Master Hyper 212+ 
OSMonitorKeyboardPower
Windows 7 Pro x64 ASUS VH242H 23.6" Logitech MX 3200 Wireless Antec Neo Eco 620 
CaseMouseOther
Antec P-180 Mini Logitech MX 3200 Wireless Crucial m4 128  
View all
  hide details  
Reply
'Pooter
(15 items)
 
For Sale: AM2 3600+ x2
$25 (USD)
 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Phenom II 830 x4 Gigabyte GA-880GM-D2H MSI GTX 460 Hawk 12 gigs (2x2 and 2x4) Corsair DDR3 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOptical DriveCooling
Samsung  Samsung DVD-RW  Samsung DVD-RW  Cooler Master Hyper 212+ 
OSMonitorKeyboardPower
Windows 7 Pro x64 ASUS VH242H 23.6" Logitech MX 3200 Wireless Antec Neo Eco 620 
CaseMouseOther
Antec P-180 Mini Logitech MX 3200 Wireless Crucial m4 128  
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #5 of 9
10/28/12 at 8:05pm
  • Joined: Feb 2012
  • Location: Halifax N.S. Canada
  • Posts: 3,403
  • Rep: 128 (Unique: 98)
  • Reviews: 3
  • Folding Team Rank: 3,106
  •  
    Name Team Rank Points / Jun Work Units / Jun
    JLloyd13 3,106 139,050 / 0 70 / 0
     
  • Select All Posts By This User
Quote:
Originally Posted by blupupher View Post

For a pure HTPC (no gaming, surfing, working, just media) their is really no difference between 7 and 8, plus WMC is an add on in 8 (which costs money unless you get in on the free deal).
I have a copy of Windows 8 Pro and a key for the WMC add in I was going to try in my bedroom HTPC just to try it out.

for a pure HTPC linux do the job just as well (unless you need like 3d blueray or something)
The Daily (K)Module
(14 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD Phenom II X4 B55 Biostar A880GZ  AMD Radeon HD 4250 iGPU 8GB (2x4GB) Patriot Sector 5 DDR3 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (ST1000DM003) Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB Seagate External 1TB LG DVD Burner 
OSOSOSPower
Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.6 'Squeeze' 64-bit Arch Linux 64-bit FreeBSD 9.0 64-bit LPS Ultra 550 watt 
Case
Thermaltake V4  
View all
  hide details  
Reply
The Daily (K)Module
(14 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD Phenom II X4 B55 Biostar A880GZ  AMD Radeon HD 4250 iGPU 8GB (2x4GB) Patriot Sector 5 DDR3 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (ST1000DM003) Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB Seagate External 1TB LG DVD Burner 
OSOSOSPower
Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.6 'Squeeze' 64-bit Arch Linux 64-bit FreeBSD 9.0 64-bit LPS Ultra 550 watt 
Case
Thermaltake V4  
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #6 of 9
10/29/12 at 4:31am
  • Joined: Oct 2006
  • Location: Katy, Republic of Texas
  • Posts: 10,271
  • Rep: 824 (Unique: 650)
  • Reviews: 11
  • Trader Rating: 91
  • Folding Team Rank: 432
  •  
    Name Team Rank Points / Jun Work Units / Jun
    blupupher 432 6,419,043 / 11,622 8,810 / 3
       
  • Select All Posts By This User
Quote:
Originally Posted by jrl1357 View Post

for a pure HTPC linux do the job just as well (unless you need like 3d blueray or something)
Not in my experience. Getting TV tuners set up and working correctly was a pain in the butt, never could get the WMC remote to work and it just did not flow as well as WMC does for me.

This was 2 years ago, but Windows is much easier to set up for me, and it all just works.
'Pooter
(15 items)
 
For Sale: AM2 3600+ x2
$25 (USD)
 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Phenom II 830 x4 Gigabyte GA-880GM-D2H MSI GTX 460 Hawk 12 gigs (2x2 and 2x4) Corsair DDR3 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOptical DriveCooling
Samsung  Samsung DVD-RW  Samsung DVD-RW  Cooler Master Hyper 212+ 
OSMonitorKeyboardPower
Windows 7 Pro x64 ASUS VH242H 23.6" Logitech MX 3200 Wireless Antec Neo Eco 620 
CaseMouseOther
Antec P-180 Mini Logitech MX 3200 Wireless Crucial m4 128  
View all
  hide details  
Reply
'Pooter
(15 items)
 
For Sale: AM2 3600+ x2
$25 (USD)
 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Phenom II 830 x4 Gigabyte GA-880GM-D2H MSI GTX 460 Hawk 12 gigs (2x2 and 2x4) Corsair DDR3 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOptical DriveCooling
Samsung  Samsung DVD-RW  Samsung DVD-RW  Cooler Master Hyper 212+ 
OSMonitorKeyboardPower
Windows 7 Pro x64 ASUS VH242H 23.6" Logitech MX 3200 Wireless Antec Neo Eco 620 
CaseMouseOther
Antec P-180 Mini Logitech MX 3200 Wireless Crucial m4 128  
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #7 of 9
10/29/12 at 4:34am
  • Joined: Nov 2011
  • Location: asdf-land
  • Posts: 1,946
  • Rep: 94 (Unique: 82)
  • Reviews: 3
  • Folding Team Rank: 1,704
  •  
    Name Team Rank Points / Jun Work Units / Jun
    funfortehfun 1,704 696,989 / 0 360 / 0
       
  • Select All Posts By This User

Windows just works. And it's cheap. Grabbed Windows 8 for 14.99 + tax a few days ago. 

Solitude R2.0
(16 items)
 
Klein
(12 items)
 
Lappy
(6 items)
 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T @ 4.0 GHz ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 DiRT 3 Edition Corsair 8GB Vengeance Blue @ 1600MHz 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Western Digital 1TB Caviar Blue Samsung 830 Series 128GB SSD LITE-ON iHAS 424-98 Corsair H80 + 2X Corsair 120MM Fans 
OSMonitorKeyboardPower
Windows 7 64-Bit Ultimate Samsung S27A350H 27" LED Backlit HDMI Monitor Lenovo SK-8815 Corsair 850W Professional Series Gold 
CaseMouseAudio
Cooler Master 690 II Advanced Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse Plantronics GameCom 367 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel i3-2125 Asus P8H77-I Intel HD 3000 Samsung Green 30nm 2x4GB MV-3V4G3D/US 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingOS
Crucial M4 128GB  Asus DRW-24B1ST Intel Stock Cooler Windows 8 Pro 
KeyboardPowerCaseOther
Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 800 Corsair Builder Series CX500V2 Lian Li PC-Q11B TrendNet TEW-684UB 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel i5-3210M Dell 04G65K Intel HD4000 Dell 2x4GB 1600MHz 
Hard DriveOS
Seagate/WD 1TB 5400RPM Windows 7 Home Premium 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Solitude R2.0
(16 items)
 
Klein
(12 items)
 
Lappy
(6 items)
 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T @ 4.0 GHz ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 DiRT 3 Edition Corsair 8GB Vengeance Blue @ 1600MHz 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Western Digital 1TB Caviar Blue Samsung 830 Series 128GB SSD LITE-ON iHAS 424-98 Corsair H80 + 2X Corsair 120MM Fans 
OSMonitorKeyboardPower
Windows 7 64-Bit Ultimate Samsung S27A350H 27" LED Backlit HDMI Monitor Lenovo SK-8815 Corsair 850W Professional Series Gold 
CaseMouseAudio
Cooler Master 690 II Advanced Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse Plantronics GameCom 367 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel i3-2125 Asus P8H77-I Intel HD 3000 Samsung Green 30nm 2x4GB MV-3V4G3D/US 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingOS
Crucial M4 128GB  Asus DRW-24B1ST Intel Stock Cooler Windows 8 Pro 
KeyboardPowerCaseOther
Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 800 Corsair Builder Series CX500V2 Lian Li PC-Q11B TrendNet TEW-684UB 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel i5-3210M Dell 04G65K Intel HD4000 Dell 2x4GB 1600MHz 
Hard DriveOS
Seagate/WD 1TB 5400RPM Windows 7 Home Premium 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #8 of 9
10/29/12 at 4:36am
Windows + MediaPortal... or I guess XBMC too. Should be no different to Windows 7 in set up.
And the new UI *would* look good (for the split 2 seconds you have it showing LOL) on a nice big canvas.
My System
(30 items)
 
"Zeus"
(13 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5 2500K (4.5ghz @ 1.320v) Gigabyte Z68X-UD3R-B3 MSI R7970 Lightning Corsair 16GB (4x4GB) 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveHard Drive
Plextor PX-256M5S 256GB Crucial M4 128GB Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 Hitachi HUA722010CLA330 WDC WD10EARS-00Z5B1 TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223B 
CoolingCoolingOSMonitor
Phanteks PH-TC14PE with TY-140's Lamptron FCv5 (x2) Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Dell U2412M 
MonitorMonitorMonitorKeyboard
Dell U2412M Dell U2212HM Dell U2212HM Ducky DK9087 G2 Pro 
PowerCaseMouseMouse Pad
Corsair AX-750 Corsair Obsidian 650D Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical  XTRAC Ripper XXL 
AudioAudioAudioAudio
Westone W3 IEMs RE-272 IEMs Shure SE-215 IEMs Schiit Bifrost DAC 
AudioAudio
Schiit Asgard 2 amp HiVi Swan M50W 2.1 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7 950 GA-X58-UD3R Radeon HD 5450  24GB Corsair @ 1333mhz 
Hard DriveOSPowerCase
4x WD Cavair Red 1TB in RAID 0 Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Corsair HX-520 LianLi LanCool 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
My System
(30 items)
 
"Zeus"
(13 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5 2500K (4.5ghz @ 1.320v) Gigabyte Z68X-UD3R-B3 MSI R7970 Lightning Corsair 16GB (4x4GB) 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveHard Drive
Plextor PX-256M5S 256GB Crucial M4 128GB Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 Hitachi HUA722010CLA330 WDC WD10EARS-00Z5B1 TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223B 
CoolingCoolingOSMonitor
Phanteks PH-TC14PE with TY-140's Lamptron FCv5 (x2) Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Dell U2412M 
MonitorMonitorMonitorKeyboard
Dell U2412M Dell U2212HM Dell U2212HM Ducky DK9087 G2 Pro 
PowerCaseMouseMouse Pad
Corsair AX-750 Corsair Obsidian 650D Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical  XTRAC Ripper XXL 
AudioAudioAudioAudio
Westone W3 IEMs RE-272 IEMs Shure SE-215 IEMs Schiit Bifrost DAC 
AudioAudio
Schiit Asgard 2 amp HiVi Swan M50W 2.1 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7 950 GA-X58-UD3R Radeon HD 5450  24GB Corsair @ 1333mhz 
Hard DriveOSPowerCase
4x WD Cavair Red 1TB in RAID 0 Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Corsair HX-520 LianLi LanCool 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #9 of 9
10/30/12 at 12:54pm
There are quite a few good options out there but so far XBMC on Windows 7 has been working out pretty well for me. I am also working on configuring the rom browser to play some old arcade MAME roms.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: HTPC
Overclock.net › Forums › Specialty Builds › HTPC › windows 8 metro good for htpc?