First build. Want a good HTPC

Flaring Afro

Flaring Afro

New Member
Number 1: Where are you located?
Virginia,USA​
Number 2: How much are you willing to spend?
A couple hundred or so​
Number 3: What will you primarly use the computer for?
HTPC​
Number 4: Which online stores/reatil shops do you prefer to buy from?
Anyone well known.​
Number 5: If you have doubts about anything, ask us! :) We are here to help.
How will it compare to my G71gx-rx05 laptop? (2.9ght processor, 260m gtx). I know this wont do Crysis like it but i'm just concerned about video playback.​
Number 6: What Programs/Tasks/Games will you run on the computer?
Mediaportal, want to max out Project64, good SD playback on a 47" 1080p LCD TV as well as 1080p playback without having to change settings (turning off filters)​
Number 7: Are you willing to go over budget? If so by how much?
probably not over 300, but trying to stay close to 200 if not a huge difference​
Number 8: Do you need anything besides the computer itself? (monitor, keyboard, operating system etc.)
already have a remote & wireless keyboard/mouse. i get free OS since im a comp sci major so I can put in whatever works best.​
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I already did some shopping on newegg and found what I thought might be a good setup but not 100% nor know if everything will be compatible with each other. If anyone thinks something's too weak or has better suggestions I'm open to them. I didnt see anything about links so sorry if its against rules here but I figured it would be easier to evaluate this way.

AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz

ZOTAC GF8200-D-E AM2+/AM3 MOBO

MSI R4550-MD1GH Radeon HD 4550 1GB

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 1066

That's $188 total. I'm using HDMI for audio so dont need a sound card and i already ordered a 7200 1tb hdd from newegg for $65 on black friday (and i have more drives i'll put in). Also, i'll probably just use an eMachines case I have lying around and paint it or something. Thanks for any help.
 
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If surfing the web and media playback is the computer's only job, I would consider getting one of those all in one Ion ITX boards. It basically has an onboard processor, onboard video, on board sound and onboard wireless card and even comes with a power brick. Throw the board into a mini itx case and you're basically good to go.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/zotac-ion-atom,2300.html
 
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hmm thanks for the link but it didnt mention 1080p just 720. i felt that if anything my graphics card might be a little weak for upconverting the sd video. i watch tv shows i ripped more than blurays so i feel it might be better to go the other way. i have room behind the stand to place the desktop and it will still have plenty of air so size isnt an issue either.

EDIT: also, i dont pay for electricity at my apartment so i dont care about power comsumption, besides that i dont want a super loud fan always on.
 
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If you want to upscale SD video then you'll need a more powerful system. My parents have an HTPC at home that runs perfectly fine with an 8400GS graphics card, so the 4550 should do fine.
 
The little ION boxes are pretty slick. They can have some trouble with full 1080p content, but the GPU takes care of most of the decoding. Your mileage may vary.

Upscaling SD video is not extremely processor heavy unless you are also talking about re-processing the video (sharpening, deblocking, re-interpolation and so forth). At the base level, you are just scaling video. That card you have listed (HD4550) will easily handle that job.
 
i was talking about filtering and such yes. i think i'm actually going to go with a powercolor 4650 with 128-bit because its the same price with shipping. i would link but newegg went down. :(
 
The 4650 will also suit you well. May as well get that one since the price is the same. :good:

Newegg is up now.
 
Alright thanks. Just one more thing. I have an internal ide 320gb drive and a 500gb external (i assume ide). I was hoping on putting both in without the help of a pci card. The board says 1x ata with 2 dev max but i have yet to find some kind of y cable to actually put 2 drives on there. Is it possible?
 
You would be better off upgrading to Serial ATA. You can get motherboards with eSATA ports on them. Also, an external USB or Firewire drive would make more sense then running an IDE cable out of the computer case.

Most IDE cables come with three connectors. One for the motherboard and two for the drives themselves. You don't need a y-adapter.
 
^ oh ok. and i was planning on taking the external out of its case and mounting it in the htpc or yeah that would be too much work lol. thanks
 
No problem Flaring Afro! :):good:

Technically you could do that if you want, but hard drives are so cheap now. You may as well pop some new ones in the machine. Keep the external for additional storage.
 
The main problem is usb can be slow. Its a 500gb with less than 3 gigs of space on it - I dont want to plug it in and have it transferring for that long lol. They are cheap though. I got a sata 7200rpm terabyte for $65 shipped on newegg. Also, my laptop has a 500gb drive and an empty second bay so if that needs any more space i want something thats always on it (second internal).
 
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Completely understandable. Is that 500GB USB drive a 2.5" IDE or SATA drive?

Great price on the 1TB drive too. Was that over this past weekend?
 
Yup. It's an Hitachi. Only 16mb cache but for the price, who cares. It went up to $80 shipped again though.

As for my drive, its a morespace drive by hammer storage and they don't tell you. I just assumed it was ide because I assume its cheaper (especially a year ago) and usb is the bottleneck anyways. Hopefully it's sata though.

EDIT: Just looked at it again for price curiosity and it now says 32mb cache and if I click my cart's link on it i'm sent to the 32mb cache. They might have made a mistake and when they realized it was 32mb cache newegg raised its price? Very weird.
 
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Flaring Afro said:
As for my drive, its a morespace drive by hammer storage and they don't tell you. I just assumed it was ide because I assume its cheaper (especially a year ago) and usb is the bottleneck anyways. Hopefully it's sata though.
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Most likely it is an SATA drive if it was manufactured in the last couple of years. Very few, if any external drives (2.5" or 3.5") are IDE drives these days.
 
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