HTPC on a budget

Status
Not open for further replies.
vortmax

vortmax

New Member
Now that processors of reasonable speed have started to drop in price, I decided it's time to start building up a HTPC. I want it to run dual tuners, so i can have PIP and record something while watching another channel.

Anyway, I'm not going to be stressing the system with HD TV or even using it as a DVD player. I do plan on having a burner in it, so I can archive various shows.

anyway, I'm trying to do this cheap. I've been looking at the openbox specials on newegg and think I can get a good deal on a mobo and processor. I'm however debating between going with a fast processor (around 3 GHz) or getting a slightly lower one (2.5ish) that supports 64bit and hyperthreading/transport.

So my question is... does anyone know if I would be better suited with a faster processor or one that supports higher bandwidth for the situation where I will be streaming and converting a lot of video. I know that in general that bandwidth and throughput is more important in video editing then actual speed (hence why dual core systems own), but wasn't sure how much of a difference there was when you are talking 1/2GHz in speed vs 64bit and hyperthreading/transport, especially on a system that is not going to run the 64bit version of windows.

Does anyone have any specific recomendations on a chip or brand?
 
ok lets get this clear, when you say streaming video are you sure that is what you will be doing. When you say video editing are you sure that is what you will be doing.
For example recording a show, and burning it to dvd are not video editing, converting the mp4 into dvd (as in actual dvd not just avi on a dvd) or avi is video editing.
For me a HTPC can be very very low budget, there is no proceesing power required. Video cards and tuners handle most of the mp4 converstion. My media pc is celeron D, cheap and cheerful.
 
well its sounds like you'll want a good dual core processor if you plan on doing a lot of things at once.
you don't need hyperthreading (pentium 4) or hypertransport (AMD).
also, 2gb of ram would do you much good for constant recording. 1gb is absolutely the minimum for building a system nowadays.
also, a large harddrive. definitely a large harddrive... sata or sata2 7200rpm.
maybe even two hard drives. you'll need all the space you can get for such operations.
whats your budget, and what tuners do you plan on buying?
a single core processor would be fine if you ask me, but dual core would be preferred.
but yea, whats your budget?
do you plan on gaming at all?
if you plan on gaming WHILE converting... dual core would be optimal..
if you only plan on converting and watching tv with this system then pretty much any processor will do, and hard drive size will be the best thing for it.
budget... also do you know where you'll buy parts from? newegg is normally recommended but there are others like zipzoomfly and ive heard monarch computers is a good place too
if i were you i'd get maybe a 250gb-500gb hard drive for videos and only videos and then a smaller (say 80gb - 250gb) for windows and programs... that way when it's putting the videos on the other hard drive, programs and such don't take super long to open and such.
 
Last edited:
well its sounds like you'll want a good dual core processor if you plan on doing a lot of things at once.
you don't need hyperthreading (pentium 4) or hypertransport (AMD).
also, 2gb of ram would do you much good for constant recording. 1gb is absolutely the minimum for building a system nowadays.
Click to expand...
WHAT!! For a pure media center you dont need any of that, a cheap celeron, or sempron, with 512mb ram are ALL that you need. You can build one for 100-150GBP


Ok you really need to tell us more what you want to do with this system
If it is a sole media center, doing this things i listed in #2 then you dont need anything like what fade2green said.
 
yea i do agree but if you plan on doing a lot of converting (yes, tell us more about what you'd like to do) then a dual core would be beneficial, even a cheap dual core... say PD 805?
and also, 512mb of ram is definitely walking on a line lol... do you plan on hooking it up to the internet? there goes 100mb of ram for anti-virus and w/e other stuff you put on there, say ad-watch maybe?
anyways... i do highly suggest two hard drives if you're going to be constantly recording to it...
also, who said hes building a "budget" media center? lol he wants a good deal.. if he just wants a celeron D and such, he can get a good deal on a cheap dell dimension for $300, put an extra 256mb of ram in there, and two tuners in, and maybe even get a free LCD...

but it looks like he wants to build something a little faster... thats why he came to us. :)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116001
is $123 that much of a stretch? lol
you can get a sempron that won't be that bad.. but dual core is just such an advance over single core comparing video editing...
if he wanted a budget gaming pc, sure sempron is great... but $123 for a budget dual core is an amazing deal lol
plus, i'll be its overclockable to around 3.2ghz without overvoltage.. lol but even besides the overclockability... dual core!
either way i'd still go with a smaller system hard drive and a larger video storage hard drive.
maybe:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106
for windows and programs...
and:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144417
for video storage and the like.
 
Last edited:
yea i do agree but if you plan on doing a lot of converting (yes, tell us more about what you'd like to do) then a dual core would be beneficial, even a cheap dual core... say PD 805?
Click to expand...
sure, but lets be clear on what video encoding is

and also, 512mb of ram is definitely walking on a line lol... do you plan on hooking it up to the internet?
there goes 100mb of ram for anti-virus and w/e other stuff you put on there, say ad-watch maybe?
Click to expand...
it doesn't work like that, the page file effect is in use here. no virus scanner uses 100mb ram. And a tight lock down firewall would be ok.

anyways... i do highly suggest two hard drives if you're going to be constantly recording to it...
Click to expand...
You'll never reach the write bandwidth level by recording tv. 2 drives are not needed

also, who said hes building a "budget" media center?
Click to expand...
no one, but media centers tend to be cut down because of there limited functionality

lol he wants a good deal.. if he just wants a celeron D and such, he can get a good deal on a cheap dell dimension for $300, put an extra 256mb of ram in there, and two tuners in, and maybe even get a free LCD...
Click to expand...
he could, personally noise is an issue for me, and one that leaves custom builds as your only choice.

But lets wait untill we hear more to find out which of us guessed right ;)
 
yea anyways...
i still think a budget dual core is worth the extra $50 bucks or so.
512mb vs. 1gb is like a $40 difference TOPS.
two hard drives would make the system a lot better... if not for speed, simply for pure organization. not to mention the ability to move all of his videos from one computer to another without breaking a sweat. (say, his computer DOES get a virus, or crashes somehow, stuff happens.. he still has that hard drive.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820161679
the lowest 512mb stick was $38, this, at only $30 more, offers upgradability and MORE RAM! lol
for $30 it seems like thats the best choice.

however he still hasnt given us a budget to work with.
 
Last edited:
okay,

I won't be doing a lot of rendering, but by nature it will be doing lots of encoding. The Tuner card I have speced will do mpeg3 harware encoding, so pulling tv signal into the computer won't be a problem. What I need the system to be able to do is digitally record two streams at once. So I can record one show and watch another, still with time lag (aka pause, rewind). The only other thing it needs to be able to do is burn DVD's, and not load the system down enough to affect the encoding going on while I'm watching TV.

I'd love to see how you guys are coming up with systems to do this for so cheap. This is what I've come up with so far. Now I am trying to do this inexpensivly, but that doesn't mean I'm going as low down as i can. I just don't need top of the line.

Barebones: ASUS Pundit-PH3 $159.99
CPU: Intel Celeron D 2.53GHz $47.99
Memory: Kingston ValueRAM 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR400 $78.99
Optical: SAMSUNG 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write and LightScribe $48
Tuner: Hauppauge Low Profile TV Receiver WinTV-PVR-150MCE l.p. (1086) $68.99

I haven't chosen a HD yet because the Mobo is listed to support SATA150. Now I want a uberfast HD, as I feel that will be the part most prone to bottle neck in the whole system, but the sata150's around 150 Gig are damn expensive. Could I use the older sata 3gps on this board? Would I be better off putting in two smaller drives either alone or in raid (that board has 2 Sata controllers)?
 
thats all fine and good.
1gb is definitely what i would suggest to be the most price effective.
i'd spend a bit more on the proc though... personally i'd prefer a sempron.. or a P4 over the Celeron D...
i'd still go with the cheap dual core...
with 2 streams and burning a dvd you may run out of cpu resources... especially for a celeron D.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116001
its got a slightly faster frequency, and its dual core. you can't go wrong with that! lol
Sata150 is older than sata3gbps... and yes theyre backwards and forwards compatible. mixing them makes it operate at sata150 speeds though.
it's not worth getting a 10,000rpm hdd, the money is just too much. you can get a real large drive for less than $100.
the hard drive will bottleneck less than you think...
especially if you allocate a larger hard drive to store the videos like i suggested..

the dual core proc not only has a faster frequency, two cores, but it also has about 4 times the cache per core, so 8 times the amount of cache. i highly suggest you get the dual core.

i mean really... say you want to do both streams... convert/encode a video, and burn a dvd all at once. celeron D just won't cut it lol
at the very least get a P4 with hyperthreading... its no dual core, but hyperthreading (plus an extra 400mhz) will definitely help alot in comparison with the celeron D... it too has 4 times the cache per core... but its single core.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116014
 
Last edited:
ok its pretty clear what you need now,
fade2green, stop suggesting stuff without thinking it through, he does not need all that crap. The requirement of this rig could easily be met be a p3 let alone a dual core. I'm sorry about this in advance:

1gb is definitely what i would suggest to be the most price effective.
Click to expand...
ram is cheap these days so this is the the least silly suggestion, but again 512mb will be ample for this setup up. video encoding is handled by the tuner and dvd burning is not that much of a memory hog to require 1gb. Media centers tend to run on smaller footprints overall as you have less running. This machine is NOT a desktop, stop suggestion desktop rationale. Why do i bother, i know you dont understand

personally i'd prefer a sempron
Click to expand...
that is a good suggestion, they can run cooler, and hence quieter

i'd still go with the cheap dual core...
Click to expand...
totally and utterly overkill.

with 2 streams and burning a dvd you may run out of cpu resources... especially for a celeron D.
Click to expand...
not in a million years, the 'strems' are not handled by the cpu. And dvd burning is hardly intense. A celeronD will run these as smooth as silk

its got a slightly faster frequency, and its dual core. you can't go wrong with that! lol
Click to expand...
but its 3 times the cost

but it also has about 4 times the cache per core, so 8 times the amount of cache
Click to expand...
so?


as I feel that [the hardrive] will be the part most prone to bottle neck in the whole system,
Click to expand...
the hdd will not be a bottleneck. Dont worry about the interface (ide, sata) to much, just go for sheer size at a cheap price. And dont go for raid unless its raid3 or similar in which case you will need 3 drives (i dont recommend raid anyway)

ways to cut the cost
1) Do you really need lightscribe?
2) You can seriously cut the cost of that mobo/case setup for which the psu is crap anyway. The question is... is the case going to be on display (eg for my media center it behind my tv cabinate)
3) Scrimp on RAM
 
Last edited:
ram is cheap these days so this is the the least silly suggestion, but again 512mb will be ample for this setup up. video encoding is handled by the tuner and dvd burning is not that much of a memory hog to require 1gb. Media centers tend to run on smaller footprints overall as you have less running. This machine is NOT a desktop, stop suggestion desktop rationale. Why do i bother, i know you dont understand
Click to expand...
uhh yea, i do understand... he actually suggested 1gb himself... ya see the posts he had with links?
why the hell does everything have to be a fight in this damned forum...
im sick of this, really you made that font white just to mock me.
why would you do that.
btw, whenever i convert a video, it uses 88% of my cpu. that would be more than one core :)
APJ, why do you keep telling him to build a worse system?
were not looking for the minimum requirements necessarily.
please dont mock me again... i dont appreciate it at all..why do i bother, he will anyways.
 
really you made that font white just to mock me.
Click to expand...
yep, i did it so you'd see it when quoting me (as did you ;) )

btw, whenever i convert a video, it uses 88% of my cpu. that would be more than one core
Click to expand...
sigh

why the hell does everything have to be a fight in this damned forum...
Click to expand...
by fight do you mean distroying stupidity?

APJ, why do you keep telling him to build a worse system?
Click to expand...
i'm trying to give him sound advice that meets his requirements, not just take to easy road of saying... spend more cash

Do you want to know why i'm picking on you.... because:
fade2green said:
were not looking for the minimum requirements necessarily.
Click to expand...

vortmax said:
I'd love to see how you guys are coming up with systems to do this for so cheap. This is what I've come up with so far. Now I am trying to do this inexpensivly, but that doesn't mean I'm going as low down as i can.
Click to expand...
 
I really like the form factor of that case. I would like something in a lay down box that would look good stacked under my reciever in the cabinet, but it isn't mandatory. If I can find a good looking tower that will bring me significantly under that price, then I'm open to it.

I haven't done much with video processing or MM pc's, so I have no idea what the demands on the various components are. I was looking at getting a SATA drive for the fact that I will have to be writing very large files to drive and if I'm streaming live TV, I'll be recording up to two feeds and playing one of them simultanously. In my mind, a fast drive capable of simultanous read/write would be ideal, especially when you throw burning into the mix.

So... to sum things up. That Celeron D chip is fine, but I might be better off going with a similar Semperon? RAM isn't super important, so I can get away with running only 512. Should I still try and run DDR2? Would faster ram make a noticable difference? Is onboard video enough, or should I be looking at a dedicated PCIe card for video playback? Any suggestions on a good budget mobo for the Celeron D or Sempron? Anyone know of a good looking case that would fit in to a home theater system?
 
yep, i did it so you'd see it when quoting me (as did you )
Click to expand...
actually i highlight things when i read them.
by fight do you mean distroying stupidity?
Click to expand...
you don't have to be mean, not everybody knows everything. yes, in case you didn't know, that means you don't know everything.
lol its ok though, you probably don't have many friends that you can depend on anyways.. no wonder you act like this.
I'd love to see how you guys are coming up with systems to do this for so cheap. This is what I've come up with so far. Now I am trying to do this inexpensivly, but that doesn't mean I'm going as low down as i can.
Click to expand...
$125 for a dual core processor is a VERY good deal.

next time you know something, and someone else doesn't... don't get so irritable about it. its called OCD lol
 
fade2green514 said:
lol its ok though, you probably don't have many friends that you can depend on anyways.. no wonder you act like this.
Click to expand...
Why must you resort to personal attacks to make yourself feel better about being wrong?

fade2green514 said:
next time you know something, and someone else doesn't... don't get so irritable about it. its called OCD lol
Click to expand...
Getting irritated at someones remarks is not a symptom of OCD. OCD is characterized by "a subject's obsessive (repetitive, distressing, intrusive) thoughts and related compulsions (tasks or rituals) which attempt to neutralize the obsessions.". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCD).
 
yea, he CONSTANTLY thinks hes the best.
OCD
i took psychology last year, i would know.
anyways... this forum definitely needs a better system
overclock.net uses rep points and nobody ever argues like this lol
computerforum just uses post count which we all know isn't very effective.
 
I as well would recommend a Pentium D 805, 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 RAM, and a video card along the lines of an x1300 or 7300.
 
OCD or not, we all know that that behavior is ridiculous.. btw everyone else i talked to thought the dual core was a good idea as well.
media pc = videos, music, pictures, correct? well what if he wants to convert music or video? dual core = win
not to mention its still extremely cheap for any processor... dual core or not. its only $20 more than the athlon 64 3000+ (S939)
hard drive size will definitely matter.. 200gb at least. as i said, preferably two drives.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top