HTPC Build- CPU & Keyboard Help? (1 Viewer)

[Lupismaximus]

Hello all. Newbie here.

I have been avoiding jumping into the HTPC realm, since I use Playon, Xbox 360, PS3, Popcorn hour.

The problem with all these is that I have MKVs for all my movie content, and the only device that plays this container is the Popcorn hour. Since I have this in my bed room, I need to build a HTPC for my main media room.

What I plan to do with the HTPC:
- Make it easy for the wife to be able to use
- Watch Movies, play music, and view pictures
- Record and watch TV programs via software PVR
- TV Stream Timeshifting
- Stream content to my Popcorn hour
- Stream content to it from my NAS
- Steam music via Shoutcast, LastFM or hopefully Pandora
- Stream all network IPTV (Netflix, Hulu, CBS.com, ABC.com, Youtube, etc.)
- Encode/ Back-up my BlueRay discs via AnyDVD and Ripbot264
- Get rid of my Cable operator as much as possible
- Surf the web, play an occasional Video Game (Battlefield)

Following is the gear I plan to use to build out my HTPC:
- Case: Antec Fusion 430 Black w/IMEDIAN HD & Antec earthwatts EA430 430W PSU
- OS: Vista Ultimate SP1 64 bit
- MB/GPU/SC: GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9400 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
- CPU: Either Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 95W or Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 65W ????
- Memory: 4x1GB Corsair Ballistix 8500 1066 Mhz
- Optical Drive: LG GGC-H20L 16X Blu-ray/HD DVD drive
- HD: WD Caviar Green WD15EADS 1.5TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
- Tuner: Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1800 MCE (I wish I got the 2250, for the dual tunner)
- Remote: Logitech Harmony One (currently used for all other components and will train with MCE remote to be able to work well with I MEDIAN HD IR)
- Keyboard: PS3 Logitech Cordless Mediaboard Pro ????
- Mouse: Mircorsoft BT Notebook Mouse 5000
- Antenna- Trek HDTVa ???

I want to run this buy you folks because I most likely will be using the Media Portal front end, because it provides more features than the traditional XBMC. Boxee looks interesting, but it seems Media Portal has a huge lead in the Windows Support front. SageTV looks the best, but I would have to invest another $250 to get client end support. I plan to use my Popcorn Hour for now and mount the Media Portal, via UPNP plugin.

Please comment on your thoughts surrounding this build, and especially what you think about the CPU I should go with.

Thank you,

Fellow A/V geek!

 

[dcwp]

The setup looks fine. As for CPU, I'd personally go with the duo. I don't do any gaming and I haven't tried ripping BD, it may take more power than ripping DVDs, but I'm using a C2D at only 2.2GHz and never find it lacking. IF I'm ripping, transcoding, transferring, and streaming HD all at once, it definitely gets taxed, but it has never led to a problem. With lower wattage on the dual core, you'll make far less heat and therefore far less noise.

The keyboard you recommend is the newer version of the KB I use and I love it. It's really the perfect small wireless KB if you're on a budget.

Just my $0.02