HTPC Adventure

[exceluk1]

Intoduction

Let me start by saying hello, while I know my way around a pc I've never built one from scratch. It come to the point where I need to upgrade my setup, having looked in the usual placed for pre builds (Scan, Aria...) I'm very tempted to give a self build a try. While I'm confident in putting everything together (this might change when its all in front of me

, I really don't have a clue which parts would best suit my needs.

So

Requirement

The main roll will be as a HTPC so the case must be based around the lines of a Antec Fusion Remote Silver MediaCentre MicroATX.

1. It must support 3d blu ray playback (1.4 hmdi)

2. Must support HD audio passthrough via hdmi. (will be connecting to a Onkyo amp via hdmi).

3. The ability record 2 sat channels min.

4. Remote control or control via a Smartphone (xbmc).

The only addition to this is the ability to play Diablo 3. (the requirements for this are not high so no real issues here).

Budget £1400.

UPDATE (Here is what I like the look of)

Zalman HD503 Home Theatre PC Case

Intel Core i7 2600K Unlocked S1155,3.4GHz, HD3000

Asus P8Z68-V LX, Intel Z68, S1155

1GB Asus GTX 560 Ti

16GB (4x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance LP Jet Black, PC3-12800

120GB Corsair Force Series GT, SATA III SSD, SandForce SF2200

600W PSU, Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold RS600-80GAD3-UK

Seagate ST31000524AS 1TB Hard Drive - HDD

Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 CPU Cooler

2 x 120mm Zalman ZM-F3 Silent Case Fan

Any questions, ideas or builds will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Exceluk1

 

[jonnyfgm]

a £1400 HTPC?!

Think you could easily get everything you need for 1/3 of that

edit: on a more useful note, what do you want to record, satelite, cable or over the air?

 

[exceluk1]

a £1400 HTPC?!

Think you could easily get everything you need for 1/3 of that

edit: on a more useful note, what do you want to record, satelite, cable or over the air?

Sorry Satelite so s2

 

[jonnyfgm]

so I had a quick look into systems, tbh i think you should be looking at an AMD fusion system, with one of the top end A range processers you get a quad core processor and a 6550D GPU which should be plenty for what you need.

Only other thing I might suggest is you go with a discreet sound card and connect to the amp via SPDIF, i know its a few more clicks on the remote but i've had issues trying to get surround sound working properly off integrated sound

 

[sheroo]

You don't need a discrete sound card for this setup, as the Onkyo receiver will be decoding the digital signal sent via hdmi.

 

[exceluk1]

Only other thing I might suggest is you go with a discreet sound card and connect to the amp via SPDIF, i know its a few more clicks on the remote but i've had issues trying to get surround sound working properly off integrated sound

I'm happy with the HD audio via hdmi, works a treat with my current setup. My only confusion is do i need a dedicated soundcard if the audio is being decrypted by the GFX card???

 

[jonnyfgm]

yeah I know this is possible, just saying i've had issues with digital sound and motherboards before. For films or anything where the surround sound is pre encoded usually it's fine, but if you want surround sound in games etc it sometimes isn't able of encoding surround sound itself

 

[sheroo]

As mentioned I think AMD Fusion or SB i3 2100, should be more than enough. Don't know what requirements Diablo has but you can always add a low end GPU if you need to.

Which Antec case is it, the 350 or standard Fusion?

 

[exceluk1]

As mentioned I think AMD Fusion or SB i3 2100, should be more than enough. Don't know what requirements Diablo has but you can always add a low end GPU if you need to.

Which Antec case is it, the 350 or standard Fusion?

The recommended specs are :-

Intel® Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 5600+ 2.8 GHz

2 GB RAM

NVIDIA® GeForce® 260 or ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 or better

The fusion has the look im after, something to sit along side my amp without standing out of place...

 

[sheroo]

The recommended specs are :-

Intel® Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 5600+ 2.8 GHz

2 GB RAM

NVIDIA® GeForce® 260 or ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 or better

The fusion has the look im after, something to sit along side my amp without standing out of place...

Then either the HD3000 of the i3 2100 or the 6550D of the AMD Fusion would be fine. The only thing that the HD3000 can't do is play 23.976 fps properly.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/7