First HTPC

[hyg71886]

I was running xmbc off ny main rig, but due to repeat crashes I want a pc just for watching movies, tv shows. This is the parts list I have compiled so far, this will be connected to a samsung 62in dlp tv via hdmi. Some light gaming will be done on it like racing games.

GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H

SAPPHIRE 100293L Radeon HD 5570

CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W

AMD Athlon II X2 240

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) ddr3

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB

Silverstone LC20-B

Im open to recommendations for this build to lower cost as it is $618.03 as of now.

[Doom]

I just got the parts for a basic HTPC the other day. My costs look like they were a little lower than you. Probabaly because:

- I went w/ a 400W power supply.
- I only did 2GB of memory at DDR2. My intent is not to game on this system other than facebook or those games that come on all windows systems.

You can see my list (as a reference) at...

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...umber=10942574

If that doesn't work...it's a publich Wish List under the name "Economy HTPC". Everything shipped last night, so delivery will be early next week. Depending on what your time frame is, I can post results about the build once I've got it up and running.

Cheers and good luck.

[pally01]

I've got a silver Silverstone LC-20 case. Lots of room and pretty sharp looking. I don't think you'll be dissapointed by it. I have an LC-16 too and it's also a great case. Got both off local buy-and-sell's for crazy cheap too.

[hyg71886]

Originally Posted by Doom I just got the parts for a basic HTPC the other day. My costs look like they were a little lower than you. Probabaly because: - I went w/ a 400W power supply. - I only did 2GB of memory at DDR2. My intent is not to game on this system other than facebook or those games that come on all windows systems. You can see my list (as a reference) at... http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...umber=10942574 If that doesn't work...it's a publich Wish List under the name "Economy HTPC". Everything shipped last night, so delivery will be early next week. Depending on what your time frame is, I can post results about the build once I've got it up and running. Cheers and good luck.

Please post on how it works for you, this build is strictly for movie veiwing with veeery light gaming. I might get 2gb instead of 4 and maybe dowgrade the vid crd

[Force Flow]

You could probably easily get away with a 46xx video card.

[Doom]

Originally Posted by hyg71886 Please post on how it works for you, this build is strictly for movie veiwing with veeery light gaming. I might get 2gb instead of 4 and maybe dowgrade the vid crd

Will do. All parts get here by Tuesday (not bad given that I ordered very late on Wednesday night and live in Omaha). I've got a long weekend coming up, so Friday is build and experiment day. I should be posting by Saturday to let you know how things look initially.

[Tin]

I bought a couple of Acer Aspire Revo's for HTPC use. They dont game, but the nVidia Ion chipset does full 1080p, and theyre very low power. Im running XBMC with a MythTV front end, so I can watch all of my favorite shows and whatnot as well. The Revo's run about $200 each. A standard install of XBMC runs much better than when its installed within Windows.

[hyg71886]

Originally Posted by Tin I bought a couple of Acer Aspire Revo's for HTPC use. They dont game, but the nVidia Ion chipset does full 1080p, and theyre very low power. Im running XBMC with a MythTV front end, so I can watch all of my favorite shows and whatnot as well. The Revo's run about $200 each. A standard install of XBMC runs much better than when its installed within Windows.

What do you mean by standard install? So what do you have connected to it to serve up your files? Which one do you have the ar1600 or the 3600? Which would you recommend? Again this will be mainly for xmbc

[Tin]

I have the 1600...single core Atom. XBMC is a native Linux distro, there is a LiveCD image that can be written to USB, and burned to a thumb drive with a program called Unetbootin. All of my shares are on my server, and on my server I run NFS (network file system), but its just as at home with Samba (Windows shares) as it is with NFS. The 3600 is nice too because of its wifi and SPDIF capabilities, but most of my network is hard wired, so the 1600 worked out well.

EDIT: Here is where I got my idea from.

http://lifehacker.com/5391308/build-...r-on-the-cheap

EDIT 2: Heres the complete how-to on the XBMC forums

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=53888

[hyg71886]

doesnt the sound run over hdmi as well? I'm just a little worried hooking this to my tv and it lagging. It will connect to a Pioneer SC-07 via hdmi then to my 62in sammy dlp. I just don't want it to skip or lag playing 1080p, which it seems for everyone I read it does not. Would you recommend linux with xmbc or win 7? Also, should I go with buying a server like the Acer easystore h340 or build one?

[Tin]

It passes audio and video through HDMI, so your receiver will be fine. XBMC is natively a Linux distro and application, so its best suited to a Linux environment. Running it under Windows 7 will only cause you to need more powerful hardware. 1080p is fine, it doesnt get jumpy at all for me. Under Windows or a full fledged Ubuntu install, it will probably get a little jumpy due to the amount of resources needed to run a full-fledged OS. As far as a server is concerned, the Acer is pretty plug and play, as is anything you build that would run Windows Home Server. If you want to try Linux, its far superior to Windows in a server environment, but you will have to get your hands dirty, very dirty. The best thing about running a Linux server is all of your configuration files can be backed up, so if your boot drive crashed, you could have it back up and running in as little as 1/2 hour.

[hyg71886]

Originally Posted by Tin It passes audio and video through HDMI, so your receiver will be fine. XBMC is natively a Linux distro and application, so its best suited to a Linux environment. Running it under Windows 7 will only cause you to need more powerful hardware. 1080p is fine, it doesnt get jumpy at all for me. Under Windows or a full fledged Ubuntu install, it will probably get a little jumpy due to the amount of resources needed to run a full-fledged OS. As far as a server is concerned, the Acer is pretty plug and play, as is anything you build that would run Windows Home Server. If you want to try Linux, its far superior to Windows in a server environment, but you will have to get your hands dirty, very dirty. The best thing about running a Linux server is all of your configuration files can be backed up, so if your boot drive crashed, you could have it back up and running in as little as 1/2 hour.

Wait so I'm confused, do I have to install ubuntu and then xmbc or is there one already configured as such? Do you have the link if so? I am going to purchase the 3610 and try to make a cheap server for 3-400. And I think I will try linux if it ill run better

[Tin]

Originally Posted by hyg71886 Wait so I'm confused, do I have to install ubuntu and then xmbc or is there one already configured as such? Do you have the link if so? I am going to purchase the 3610 and try to make a cheap server for 3-400. And I think I will try linux if it ill run better

I posted a link to the how-to a few posts above . XBMC is based off of Ubuntu, the LiveCD I linked to is a direct install of XBMC, no preinstall of any other OS needed. Just install and go.

[hyg71886]

wow thats great I will try it and let you know how it goes, I will also post the parts for my server later

[Doom]

In case you're still interested, I put my rig together tonight (parts list: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...umber=10942574) and already got it hooked up to my home network. Everything appears to work so far with great HD video and sound. I haven't used Netflix yet, but I streamed audio and watched an episode at hulu. Everything looked great. Let me know if you have questions on parts or anything. I already had a wireless PCI card, so don't forget that on yours. Cheers.