HTPC build. what do u think?

[Justpeter6]

Hey everyone I was just wondering what you guys thought about this htpc I plan on building. If anyone knows of any conflicts or whatnot that would be great. Also I plan on making this a home media server/nas so I wasent sure if i needed to get a dedicated raid card or not for that. I would probably run either raid 1 or raid 5. I am also trying to spend as little as possible for it to watch blu rays and windows media center for watching and recording live tv. Ive done some research and I think XBMC is the software I want to use but Im not sure if it has the same live tv features that windows media center has. If it does then I would probably go with XBMCbuntu (linux distro) to save money on not buying windows.

heres the build if you know of any cheaper versions of hardware that i can replace that would be amazing. Thought the whole AMD apu would be a good idea eliminating the need for a dedicated gpu.

Case:Fractal Design Black Aluminum / Steel Node 605 FD-CA-NODE-605-BL ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
MOBO:ASRock A75 PRO4-M FM1 AMD A75 seemed to be the best bang for your buck. would prefer more features but seemed to only find them on intel based boards
apu:AMD A6-3500 Llano 2.1GHz (2.4GHz Max Turbo) Socket FM1 65W Triple-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 6530D
PSU: SeaSonic SS-300ET Bronze 300W ATX12V V2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE
RAM: CORSAIR XMS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 was thinking that 4 gigs would be enough.

im going to be putting 4 noctua nf-r8 fans in the case aswell as it says there is support for 4 80mm fans. I also plan on using the COOLER MASTER GeminII M4 RR-GMM4-16PK-R2 120mm Slim Fan for the apu cooling.

im not specifically sure about my hard drive situation yet as that is the server/nas aspect of it and its the area that i know the least in.

I havent really thought about how I would be controlling this from my couch yet so any ideas would be amazing.

 

[Josh Weston]

Be sure to include the name of your components in your original post, dude. It gets a little tiresome when you have to click a link each time to see what you're wanting.

 

[Justpeter6]

Thanks for the constructive criticism. This is my first post so I wasn't sure.
If I need to I will make another post without links, or at least less.

 

[Justpeter6]

Is my original post that bad or do people just not know about HTPCs?

 

[Feronix]

Thanks for the constructive criticism. This is my first post so I wasn't sure.
If I need to I will make another post without links, or at least less.

Is my original post that bad or do people just not know about HTPCs?

Well, tbf I was on my phone when I saw it and I couldn't bother opening each link at a time so yes, I just let it be :lol:


As for the build: Seems okay to me but I would personally go with an i3 3220. I'm not sure it would be necessary, and yes it would be twice as expensive, but they do use a little less power and they're quicker. They should also run a bit cooler. For browsing/movies the Intel HD 2500 graphics will do fine. If you want the HD 4000 graphics, you can go for a 3225.

As said before, it's just my 2 cents, but I *personally* don't like buying any CPU that's under €80,-

 

[Justpeter6]

I only picked the amd solution because it has a Radeon HD 6530D and im assuming thats much better than the HD4000 graphics and it seems to be cheaper.

this is pretty much the biggest question I need to answer before I make the purchase.

also, are 4gigs of ram and a 300w psu going to cut it for this build?

 

[Feronix]

As you can see here;
http://ubergadget.blogspot.nl/2012/05/integrated-gpu-intel-hd-4000-vs-radeon_14.html

The HD 4000 is actually slightly better than the HD 6530D. HD 2500 would be a tad slower though. 4 Gigs should be fine and even a 300w PSU should do the work just fine, as you're basically not powering anything else than the CPU/mobo.

Edit; For solutions of controlling your HTPC from the couch:
There exist a few wireless keyboards out there with an integrated touch pad. Granted it's not the most ideal solution, it will work and you can everything as normal.

 

[Feronix]

Something went wrong here, can a mod please remove this post?

 

[Justpeter6]

Thanks for finding those numbers for me. I think that they are close enough for me to feel confident with the AMD solution. not worth the extra money for something I almost definitely wont notice at all.

 

[Feronix]

Too right, mate. As long as you don't need the extra CPU power, there's no reason to spend twice the money on it.

 

[sheroo]

Is there any reason you're not going down the FM2 route?

I built a mini itx rig based around the A8-3870K with the 6550D - it runs on a 150w pico psu. It plays low end games fine and will blow any ivy igpu out of the water. The FM2 stuff is even better...