Sanity check on new HTPC build (1 Viewer)

[crazy_gadgets]

Hi all

I am in the process of building a new htpc. Have had one for the last 5-6 years and its beginning to fall over which is massively decreasing the WAF. Plus I want to take advantage of my new hd 3d tv and av receiver. It will be solely an htpc but does need to play full hd content and 3d etc maybe the odd game.

I've been using GBPVR for the last few years but Mediaportal and the potential of using XBMC as a frontend has me switching.

So I need to do the usual PVR stuff.
Record freeview hd (dvb-t2) multiple channels and watch previously recorded etc and timeshift etc
Watch 3d bluray
Pass audio to my av reciever
Play the odd game
Get 4-6 years out of this system!

After reading what feels like the whole Internet I have come up with the below list of bits and I'd appreciate a sanity check from you guys. Any comments welcome.

Thanks

Rich

1. SilverStone LC20B-M Desktop/HTPC Case, Black with VFD+IR+Remote w/o PSU
2. Scythe Shuriken Rev.B Quiet Low Profile Cooler 3 Heat Pipe - HTPC Ready ALL AMD/Intel CPU
3. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit SP1, Operating System, Single, - *OEM
4. AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition, S AM3, 3.4GHz, 8MB Cache, 125W, Retail
5. 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-10666 (1333), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 8-8-8-24, * 1.65V
6. 500W Silverstone ST50F-P, Strider Silent, 100% modular, 80 Plus Bronze PSU
7. BlackGold BGT3620 High Definition PCI-e Card, Dual DVB-T and DVB-T2, Dual Digital DVB-C
8. Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BD-ROM & DVDRW Combo Player OEM
9. 1GB Zotac GT 430 Zone, 40nm, 1600MHz GDDR3, GPU 700MHz, Shader 1400MHz, 96 Cores, DL DVI/ HDMI/ DP
10. 60GB OCZ Agility 3 SSD, 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s, SandForce 2281, Read 525MB/s, Write 475MB/s, 50K IOPS
11. Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3, AMD 970, AM3+, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 1866/2000, SATA 6Gb/s, RAID, ATX

 

[nfox]

At first glance your CPU is massively power hungry for an htpc, and therefore potentially very hot - something like an Intel i3 2100T would be absolutley fine and use 35W not 125W when running flat out (and be much more efficient when not being used to its full potential). It's also not a lot less powerful.

I don't yet have HD myself, but I have seen a lot of people having problems with onboard graphics and 1080i (which is used for Freeview HD). I would recommend a seperate GPU, and a decent one at that. Other people with Freeview HD experience should be able to give you more info, but something along the lines of an AMD 66xx would seem to work.

Edit: Just spotted the nvidia 430 in your list - dunno if this will be powerful enough for 1080i - need input from someone with experience

 

[crazy_gadgets]

Thanks nfox

My concern was not wanting to go too low performance wise but maybe I over cooked it a bit.

 

[miroslav22]

TBH any cpu/graphics card you buy these days will probably be powerful enough

Ive just built a brand new htpc for the bedroom for about £200 and it plays all HDTV content and ripped blu-rays perfectly

I used:

Asus M4A88T-M (the onboard graphics chip can do full dxva acceleration)
Athlon X2 250

 

[Owlsroost]

A GT430 is fine for 1080i (I use one myself) and has full hardware decode for MPEG-2 and H.264.

I agree with the overkill comments re. the CPU - almost anything dual-core and modern will do if you have decent a GPU to offload the hard stuff onto....(and for power efficiency the i3/i5 family are in a class of their own at present).

Tony

 

[mbuzina]

I am right now waiting for the AMD Llano A8-3800 (65 Watt Version). It massivly trumps the Sandy Bridges on GPU performance and has enough CPU oomph for an htpc. As the A8-3805 (100 W TDP) is now around 110€, I expect the 3800 to be in a similar range (give or take some).

Has anyone heard when it will be available? My last info was "now"