Computers & Electronics

My first HTPC

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  • Jun 5th, 2011 9:48 am
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Newbie
Apr 17, 2011
29 posts
1 upvote
Ottawa

My first HTPC

I would like a rig that can handle all sorts of Internet streaming (Icefilms, Youtube, xine, and etc) and serve as a desktop from time to time.
I've come up with this so far, ready to pull the trigger, just wanted to make sure everything looks compatible and is value for money.
I'd probably stick with the Ubuntu 10.10 as the OS and would like to keep it below $300.

Price Match at ME
AMD Athlon II X2 250 $57.35
ASUS M4A78LT-M LE $50.75
Patriot Sector 5 4GB DDR3 2X2GB DDR3-1333 $34.99

Price Match at Tiger Direct (local pick-up)
ASUS EN210 SILENT/DI/512MD3(LP) $26.99
Apex DM-387 mATX HTPC Case $41.17
OCZ Onyx OCZSSD2-1ONX32G 2.5" 32GB SATA II $69.99

+ $5.99 ME shipping fee

$287.23 + tax

So, how does it look?
14 replies
Banned
User avatar
Feb 15, 2008
26318 posts
3242 upvotes
Calgary
Looks good, but are you sure the AMD 790GX chipset supports TRIM commands? I know there was an issue with MS-Windows and TRIM on the 790GX. Don't know if the Linux drivers get around that or not. I ran a M4A78T-E for a year on Linux and it worked quite well.

Other than that...the fglrx driver is perfectly fine on Linux now (its improved definitely over the past couple years!) and there's definitely enough performance in that graphics chip to play back 1080p.

edit: only other thing I can say is that 32gb looks a little skimpy on the SSD, especially since 1080p .mkv files can run 14gb a piece. And of course, those older boards don't have UEFI support, so >2Tb drives will be more of an issue in the future. But I certainly understand that you have a price point in mind...
TodayHello wrote: ...The Banks are smarter than you - they have floors full of people whose job it is to read Mark77 posts...
Deal Addict
Dec 14, 2008
1397 posts
436 upvotes
Toronto
I have the Athlon 2 and it's awesome when used for an HTPC. Everything is looking good, even from a Windows point of view as I don't use Linux.
Deal Addict
Nov 1, 2009
2646 posts
81 upvotes
Have you considered going the AMD Fusion route? The AMD fusion Ontario might not be the best for a HTPC but a Llano based mobo might be very very nice. Much better than the "ATI Radeon 3000" graphics. Not sure if they are out yet. Even if not, I think they will be out soon given the schedule on here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Fusion
Sr. Member
May 18, 2005
694 posts
32 upvotes
Nowhere.
alienvirus wrote: I would like a rig that can handle all sorts of Internet streaming (Icefilms, Youtube, xine, and etc) and serve as a desktop from time to time.
I've come up with this so far, ready to pull the trigger, just wanted to make sure everything looks compatible and is value for money.
I'd probably stick with the Ubuntu 10.10 as the OS and would like to keep it below $300.

Price Match at ME
AMD Athlon II X2 250 $57.35
ASUS M4A78LT-M LE $50.75
Patriot Sector 5 4GB DDR3 2X2GB DDR3-1333 $34.99

Price Match at Tiger Direct (local pick-up)
ASUS EN210 SILENT/DI/512MD3(LP) $26.99
Apex DM-387 mATX HTPC Case $41.17
OCZ Onyx OCZSSD2-1ONX32G 2.5" 32GB SATA II $69.99

+ $5.99 ME shipping fee

$287.23 + tax

So, how does it look?

Hmmm I would ditch the SSD. IMHO the SSD will only have a BIG effect on the boot times. I don't think you will "notice" an gains from the SSD. I would just through in a bigger drive. After you load an OS and some software you wont have much space left. Other than that it will be fine. I have a 3 year old PC with 2GB of RAM and a 1tB hdd that runns all my media like a dream.

Cheers,


PS. If you want to really get into HTPC and how to build them etc go here - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=940972 - Great place to post and ask questions.

Opps he just changed it to a donation format. The thread is still good and he will answer your questions
Deal Expert
Feb 29, 2008
30106 posts
5547 upvotes
Montreal
Mark77 wrote: Looks good, but are you sure the AMD 790GX chipset supports TRIM commands?


Yes. You need to use the default MS AHCI drivers, not the AMD ones. In Linux, TRIM works with ext4 filesytem and and kernels above 2.6.33. You need to enable it manually in teh fstab file with the discard mount option.
Deal Addict
Aug 16, 2005
2756 posts
867 upvotes
North York
+1 ditch the SSD and get a WD Black 500-640gb instead for the same money which will give you way more bang for buck

Also why get a separate video card when for a bit more (in this case same since there is a mail in rebate) you can get a motherboard with on-board video and HDMI like this:
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=59607&vpn ... FMicroStar

I just built two HTPCs for friends this week using this board and works great paired with an AMD Athlon II X2 260 Dual Core Processor AM3 3.2GHZ works great.

For the case I recommend you choose another case that uses a standard power supply versus these small form factor ones. Should it die one day you will find the cost to replace the power supply is not worth it. I use to build HTPCs with the Antec Minuet and the replacement PS was hard to find and in the end replacing the entire case.

I don't know if this is on special anymore for $71.99 but very well designed and I was surprised since I was expecting it to be $89.99 based on the website. I had to double check and email the sales rep to make sure I got the exact same one as the web. Also comes with a built in card reader too and blends in nice with your other AV equipment.

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=35509&vpn ... a%20System

I know this will probably add quite a bit more to your budget since you will have to invest another $35-40 in an entry level brand name power such as Corsair or Cooler Master but I think in the long run it will be better for you. Also with this case you aren't limited to low profile cards should you decide you want to add a TV tuner card or anything else.

If you are on a serious budget for the case and limited to around $40 for case and power supply then I would get a cheap generic tower which can take a standard power supply.
Deal Addict
Apr 14, 2007
2959 posts
463 upvotes
Montreal
Even that seems overkill for an HTPC. I purchase a barebones Zotac box which has nVidia ION1 based on a dual core ATOM processor and installed a 250gb and 4GB of DDR2 ram and the thing works quite fast. I'm also running Ubuntu on it with XBMC.

BDRips work very well and no stuttering.
Newbie
Apr 17, 2011
29 posts
1 upvote
Ottawa
Mark77 wrote: Other than that...the fglrx driver is perfectly fine on Linux now (its improved definitely over the past couple years!) and there's definitely enough performance in that graphics chip to play back 1080p.
I just did a brief search on the driver support for ATI and it seems that I won't need the additional graphic card.
Saves me a couple of dollars now so I can buy a better GPU in the future.
Phoenix3434 wrote: Have you considered going the AMD Fusion route? The AMD fusion Ontario might not be the best for a HTPC but a Llano based mobo might be very very nice. Much better than the "ATI Radeon 3000" graphics. Not sure if they are out yet. Even if not, I think they will be out soon given the schedule on here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Fusion
I've looked over the Fusion route but I think the Athlon II X2 is a better buy.
mwong168 wrote: Also why get a separate video card when for a bit more (in this case same since there is a mail in rebate) you can get a motherboard with on-board video and HDMI like this:
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=59607&vpn ... FMicroStar

I just built two HTPCs for friends this week using this board and works great paired with an AMD Athlon II X2 260 Dual Core Processor AM3 3.2GHZ works great.

For the case I recommend you choose another case that uses a standard power supply versus these small form factor ones. Should it die one day you will find the cost to replace the power supply is not worth it. I use to build HTPCs with the Antec Minuet and the replacement PS was hard to find and in the end replacing the entire case.

I don't know if this is on special anymore for $71.99 but very well designed and I was surprised since I was expecting it to be $89.99 based on the website. I had to double check and email the sales rep to make sure I got the exact same one as the web. Also comes with a built in card reader too and blends in nice with your other AV equipment.

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=35509&vpn ... a%20System

I know this will probably add quite a bit more to your budget since you will have to invest another $35-40 in an entry level brand name power such as Corsair or Cooler Master but I think in the long run it will be better for you. Also with this case you aren't limited to low profile cards should you decide you want to add a TV tuner card or anything else.

If you are on a serious budget for the case and limited to around $40 for case and power supply then I would get a cheap generic tower which can take a standard power supply.
I'll keep looking at different cases and find one that meets my price requirement with the versatility of a standard psu.
The motherboard you've listed is indeed a better buy, thanks.
Banned
User avatar
Feb 15, 2008
26318 posts
3242 upvotes
Calgary
alienvirus wrote: I just did a brief search on the driver support for ATI and it seems that I won't need the additional graphic card.
Saves me a couple of dollars now so I can buy a better GPU in the future.
Yes, its pretty darn good that embedded ATI video with the fglrx. I regret ditching mine for Sandy Bridge embedded video, that's for sure (although, in every other aspect, the Intel Sandy Bridge platform kills ATI/AMD).

ATI Linux video support has come a long ways.

If you avoid having to buy a discrete GPU, you can save 20-30W of idle power consumption fairly easily. At $1/watt/year -- adds up on a machine run 24/7.
TodayHello wrote: ...The Banks are smarter than you - they have floors full of people whose job it is to read Mark77 posts...
Deal Expert
User avatar
Feb 24, 2003
22155 posts
10320 upvotes
Toronto
I'm a big fan of bistreaming so, it you have sources with HD audio (DTS-HD and True HD), get an Ati 5xxx series card. The Ati5450 is a bargain card that supports 1080p and HD bitstreaming.
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Jul 26, 2006
7742 posts
399 upvotes
Scarborough
I have both the Mobo and the CPU, and they work well together. The HSF that comes with the newer cpus is 10x easier to install then the old ones... I used to have to fight with them, but this one was easy as 1-2-3.
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Dec 25, 2010
1319 posts
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Mississauga
_Allan_ wrote: I have both the Mobo and the CPU, and they work well together. The HSF that comes with the newer cpus is 10x easier to install then the old ones... I used to have to fight with them, but this one was easy as 1-2-3.

The AMD Phenom II 555 is now $85. Would that be a worth wile upgrade ?
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Jul 26, 2006
7742 posts
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Scarborough
oldpro wrote: The AMD Phenom II 555 is now $85. Would that be a worth wile upgrade ?

I don't know, as I don't have a 555 ... check the numbers, and decide if ~$30 is worth it to you. For me the 3Ghz is more then enough for running Media Centre and a Hauppauge 1250 card.
Deal Expert
Feb 29, 2008
30106 posts
5547 upvotes
Montreal
oldpro wrote: The AMD Phenom II 555 is now $85. Would that be a worth wile upgrade ?

Yes. In Linux at least, GPU acceleration of HD video is hit and miss on ATI cards. Having a beefier CPU will help in these cases.

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