Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, JustAnEngineer
bostonhokie wrote:Welcome to the Tech Report!Hey guys.
bostonhokie wrote:For an HTPC-style case, I'd definitely choose the Silverstone GD04 or GD05.Case -- Silverstone Tek GD05b http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-GD05B ... f=pd_ybh_8
bostonhokie wrote:The Core i5-3570K is overkill for an HTPC, but it is the best choice for gaming. Having it in your HTPC and not needing its quad-core performance won't hurt anything but your pocketbook. It's power usage isn't much if it is lightly loaded. The Core i3 would still be more than sufficient for the HTPC application.CPU -- Intel i5-3570k, or if that is overkill for my needs, then the i3-3225.
bostonhokie wrote:That one won't work for your dual gaming/DVR application because a tiny Mini-ITX motherboard has only one PCIe slot. To allow installation of both a graphics card and a Cablecard tuner, you'll need Mini-DTX or DTX (which are rare and have two slots) or Micro-ATX (which is very common and has four slots). Look at a micro-ATX motherboard like the Asus P8Z77-M Pro, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M or Asus P8H77-M/CSM.Motherboard -- I'm a little overwhelmed here as far as knowing what will fulfill my needs, but I've been looking at the ASUS P8H77-I LGA 1155 H77 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... _-13131841
bostonhokie wrote:A 90 to 256 GB SSD is a good size for your operating system and most-used programs. However, since you're going to use this as a DVR, that 1.0 TB hard-drive has got to go. Even if you put nothing but recorded TV on it, the bigger the better. The four tuners in your Cablecard device can easily fill up a 2.0 TB hard-drive in less than a week. Depending on your living room environment, you may want to avoid the big Seagate 7200 rpm drives. The head seek/park screech can be annoying enough in a quiet room in my gaming PC.- 1TB HDD
- SSD (what's a good size for an HTPC?)
- BD burner optical drive
DPete27 wrote:Intel HD4000 graphics are outclassed by AMD Trinity IGP. If you go Intel, a discrete GPU like the Radeon HD7770 for $90 after MIR would be recommended. Microcenter also offers $40 off FM2 mobos with purchase of an A10-5800K. IMO, that's the way to go. No need for a graphics card. If you go with an AMD APU, make sure you get PC3-14900 (DDR3-1866) RAM.
For a motherboard, unless you plan to use a separate sound card, be sure your MoBo has an optical out if you need that connection for your home theater.
Unless you plan on burning lots of Blu-Rays, just skip the BD drive. I have one in my build because I wanted to use it for watching movies and its a pain, and more expensive since you need a program to watch the Blu-rays with. Most of those programs cost between $50-$100. Your PS3 will play blu-rays much better.
I really don't see a need for an SSD unless you plan on doing more than watching TV, web browsing and some occasional light gaming.
Look at a micro-ATX motherboard like the Asus P8Z77-M Pro, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M or Asus P8H77-M/CSM.
bostonhokie wrote:First of all, thanks for all the feedback so quickly! It was nice to come home from work and see so many detailed responses No problem, glad to help!For a motherboard, unless you plan to use a separate sound card, be sure your MoBo has an optical out if you need that connection for your home theater.
I just use HDMI to connect to my surround sound and then from my surround sound to my tv, so this isn't a requirement. Nice. My home theater doesn't have HDMI.Unless you plan on burning lots of Blu-Rays, just skip the BD drive. I have one in my build because I wanted to use it for watching movies and its a pain, and more expensive since you need a program to watch the Blu-rays with. Most of those programs cost between $50-$100. Your PS3 will play blu-rays much better.
Unfortunately, my PS3 won't play blu-rays anymore yet it will read a game on a Blu-ray disc....that's another problem though haha. So I will need the Blu-ray player. As far as burning blu-rays, I've always wondered if it keeps the same high quality? Budget $100 for a good bluray playback program. PowerDVD gets some recommendations around here, just be sure to get the one with BD support. FYI Newegg has an Asus BD burner for $56 after rebate as a daily deal. See here
I like the Silverstone GDO5B case a lot bc it will fit nicely in my entertainment center (especially when I ditch the Comcast box!). I like the Fractal Define Mini case bc it is supposed to be really quiet and looks very easy to manage cables and maybe upgrade later. That's honestly my toughest decision haha. Cable Management was a pain in the silverstone . A modular power supply will help a lot.I really don't see a need for an SSD unless you plan on doing more than watching TV, web browsing and some occasional light gaming.
Most articles I've read rave about the SSD being a must-have, is that primarily for more gaming-centered builds or for an added boost overall? I would certainly consider reallocating that cost somewhere else (bigger HDD probably) but I don't want to sacrifice performance if it makes a difference. I've never felt that an ssd would help my htpc enough to be worth it. My htpc boots fast and runs very well with old school mechanical drives. I would recommend making a 150gb or so partition on the drive that will have your OS on it since that will help response time a lot. The technique is called `` short stroking'' (insert juvenile comment here) if you want to read up on it. If it were me, I'd spend that ssd money on something else, you definitely won't miss it for DVR work, email and video watching.
As for gaming, the amount I would use it for this does not justify much additional spending. And the gaming I would do would certainly not be classified as demanding.Look at a micro-ATX motherboard like the Asus P8Z77-M Pro, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M or Asus P8H77-M/CSM.
I was looking at the ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, any expanded thoughts on that board? Also, I've read mixed reviews on Asus motherboards, some people have said they've run into problems with them. Any similar experiences in here?
I realize I probably don't need the i5 3570k, but its just so tempting at that price. Will the i3 3225 run into any issues streaming in high quality without the discrete GPU? And I don't really know much about AMD, so I've just never really considered going that route. I guess I'm just used to the Intel brand, illogical bias there haha. No issues with my 3225 doing anything short of high end gaming since I don't have a discrete GPU. I record 4 shows at a time while watching a 5th without a hitch. I've also done video encoding/decoding, streamed netflix and played minesweeper all at once without issues. Save the cash bro... And put it towards a gaming PC ;p
I'm off to read the other threads linked in your responses, and thanks again for the continued help!
DPete27 wrote:I see no need to buy a blu ray burner for the HTPC. With an HTPC, evertying is going to be recorded/stored on the hdd, how often do you see yourself needing to burn your recorded shows on disc media anyway. You can easily use an external hdd or flash drive for that. Just get a stand-alone blu ray player and bypass all the software playback headaches. The only reason to need a blu ray drive would be to rip your blu ray movie collection to your HTPC for use in a program like XBMC. Otherwise, if you want an optical drive, just get a DVD burner for $20.
[edit] I suggested a stand-alone blu ray player because of the many complaints I've heard about trying to get blu ray playback to work on HTPCs. I personally already had a stand-alone player before I updated my HTPC for 1080p content. (just some background to my recommendations)
bostonhokie wrote:DPete27 wrote:I see no need to buy a blu ray burner for the HTPC. With an HTPC, evertying is going to be recorded/stored on the hdd, how often do you see yourself needing to burn your recorded shows on disc media anyway. You can easily use an external hdd or flash drive for that. Just get a stand-alone blu ray player and bypass all the software playback headaches. The only reason to need a blu ray drive would be to rip your blu ray movie collection to your HTPC for use in a program like XBMC. Otherwise, if you want an optical drive, just get a DVD burner for $20.
[edit] I suggested a stand-alone blu ray player because of the many complaints I've heard about trying to get blu ray playback to work on HTPCs. I personally already had a stand-alone player before I updated my HTPC for 1080p content. (just some background to my recommendations)
Well my problem is that I own a considerable amount of blu-rays and my PS3 won't play them, and I don't have another player. I could buy a stand-alone Blu-ray player but I like the idea of consolidating that into the htpc. I would very rarely have the need to burn to a disc, but I would like a way to play them. As a side thought, if I bought a Blu-ray drive but not a program to play them properly, I could still rip them and play them through WMC correct? About how much space does an average Blu-ray movie take when ripped?
Arvald wrote:Complete rip would average about 28-35 GB each disk.
ludi wrote:Arvald wrote:Complete rip would average about 28-35 GB each disk.
...at native quality.
I think one of my friends settled on about 5-8GB per full-disc encode with mild compression losses, and I've seen a couple BR compressions down to about double the size of native DVD that still looked noticably better. Obviously that's not archival quality, but since you can then put your source disc into storage and not worry about yanking it in and out of a player drawer several times, it's going to last longer anyway.
bostonhokie wrote:I've got a couple of those in my gaming PC. Other than the somewhat noisy head seek/park every so often, they work very well.As for HDD, this one may be the winner: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200 RPM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148844
bostonhokie wrote:Update: I bought the 3TB Seagate Barracuda and found a restocked Fractal Define Mini on ebay for $50 including shipping that I couldn't pass up. Total spent so far = $190. I'm gonna go with the i3-3225 and ASRock Z77 for another $190 once I get a chance to visit MicroCenter. As for Ram, is there any difference between a single 8gb stick and 2x4gb sticks? Then its just PSU, Ceton cablecard tuner, and maybe bluray drive..I'm budgeting around $65 for RAM and i have no idea what a decent PSU costs, and around $65 for a BD if I go that route. So should come in around $600 before the Ceton.
Concerning the PSU, how much power do I need for a build like this?
bostonhokie wrote:Just a side thought -- if i want to get a SSD later is it difficult to transfer the OS from the HDD without screwing anything up?
bostonhokie wrote:Just a side thought -- if i want to get a SSD later is it difficult to transfer the OS from the HDD without screwing anything up?
bostonhokie wrote:Just a side thought -- if i want to get a SSD later is it difficult to transfer the OS from the HDD without screwing anything up?
bostonhokie wrote:This Samsung 120GB SSD is a daily deal for $100 from $130. Good enough deal to jump on it? I was considering getting a cheaper smaller SSD to just use for that caching SRT type trick but I may go this route and just go over my budget..here's to hoping march madness brings me some extra spending money!
southrncomfortjm wrote:I've found that the SSD makes a difference in areas where in an ideal world you wouldn't worry about it: Rebooting. Sure, I'd love to have a nice stable HTPC that never needs to reboot, but between the age of my HTPC, the years worth of Win7 updates and the poor implementation of hibernation... I find that I invariably need to reboot right before SWMBO comes downstairs to watch something. The Wife Acceptance Factor takes a huge hit if she ends up twiddling her thumbs for a couple minutes whilst your spiffy cool custom built HTPC restarts. The pressure to ditch it in favor of your cable company's DVR will eventually get to the annoyance level - regardless of any argument about monthly fees and lack of Netflix.I will note though, as I have before, that an SSD on an HTPC that you won't be doing much gaming on is a bit of overkill. Yeah, it will make things faster, but how important is the faster when its just doing HTPC stuff?