[rossdret]

Honestly it's my first HTPC build since my first HTPC was my PC connected to via HDMI to my AV receiver. After wife approved of XBMC (easy sell btw) I got the go ahead to get a dream HTPC setup. She just wants it to look nice and be a little quieter.

This is what I am going to use my HTPC for:

- XBMC (of course)
*HD Streaming
*DVR (video capture)
*3D Movies
- Home Computing word processing etc
- Moderate Gaming
- Light video editing

I want to use the netgear wireless router (mentioned below) as a makeshift NAS and connect my 2 TB hard drive to the internal slot and my 3 TB hard drive to the USB 3.0. slot. and then point all my XBMC installations to it.


Here is what I want to purchase:

{case} - SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum / Steel Lascala Series SST-LC10B-E-USB3.0 ATX Media Center

{cpu} - AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor

{mobo} - ASRock 990FX Extreme4 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

{Graphics card} - ASUS GTX650TI-DC2O-1GD5 GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

{psu} - COOLER MASTER Silent Pro Gold Series RS800-80GAD3-US 800W ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.92 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS

{hard drive} - OCZ Vertex 4 VTX4-25SAT3-128G 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive

{ram} - G.SKILL Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory

{Wireless router} - NETGEAR Centria WNDR4700-100NAS All-in-One Back-up, Media Server, N900 Dual Band Gigabit Wi-Fi

{Wireless adapter} - Asus PCE-AC66 802.11ac Dual-band Wireless-AC1750 PCI-E Adapter

{TV Tuner} - Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1850

{os} - Windows 8


It might be overkill....but I want it to stand the test of time and be a powerhouse....any thoughts? I am very open to criticism!!

Also I was going to use the stock cpu fan unless anyone had any recommendations?

Thanks in advance for anyone's input!

[rossdret]

Any chance anyone has any input before I pull the trigger? I don't know if I should get windows 8 or windows 7 as well.

[Djfalconer]

Windows 8 seems to be a bit of a marmite situation, lots of the people who use it seem to like. Personally I only run it in a VM on my macbook to run visual studio and matlab occasionally but i do prefer windows 7.

[bluesky2006]

I prefer Windows 8 simply cos you can boot really easily into XBMC without noticing any Explorer/Metro action going on... but either is fine I'd expect. Depends if you think Windows 8 will hold out as an OSt I suppose!

Doubt I'm qualified to comment on the rest!

[Dougie Fresh]

Something to know about Windows 8 is the only WMC extender that will work is an XBox 360 (if you're ever considering this kind of setup). Yes, I know this is the XBMC forum but sometimes people run both or switch in the future, etc.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2796618

[DavidT99]

I reckon you could heat the room with that build and save on fuel costs :-)

The build will not be quiet by HTPC standards.

David

[Djfalconer]

I reckon you could heat the room with that build and save on fuel costs :-)

The build will not be quiet by HTPC standards.

David

Agreed, and correct me if I'm wrong, but an 800W power supply is waaay to much for a gtx650 - a gtx 670 can run on a 550-600W psu afterall

[rossdret]

I reckon you could heat the room with that build and save on fuel costs :-)

The build will not be quiet by HTPC standards.

David

Agreed, and correct me if I'm wrong, but an 800W power supply is waaay to much for a gtx650 - a gtx 670 can run on a 550-600W psu afterall

I obviously got carried away...didn't think about making it quiet. Here is a much better second hack I think.

{CASE}
-----($215) - SilverStone Grandia Series GD01B-MXR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811163215

{CPU}
-----($84) - AMD A8-3850 Llano 2.9GHz Socket FM1 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819103942

{MOBO}
-----($99) - ASUS F1A75-M PRO R2.0 FM1 AMD A75 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813131871

{PSU}
-----($134) - Seasonic SS-460FL Active PFC F3, 460W Fanless ATX12V Fanless 80Plus http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6817151099

{CPU Cooler}
-----($40) - Scythe BIG SHURIKEN 2 Rev B. 5-Heatpipe Universal Low Profile CPU Cooler http://www.amazon.com/Scythe-SCBSK-2100-...871&sr=1-1

{SSD}
-----($139) - SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD128BW 2.5" 128GB SATA III http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820147192

{Memory}
-----($51) - Crucial Ballistix 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820148501


Total $ 734

I already purchased the netgear router and cable box but that is not really part of the HTPC anyways. Does this setup look a little more reasonable and quieter? I could not find out if the CPU fan would be compatible with the FM1 socket.

*Edit- Disregard i found out this Scythe cooler is compatible with the FM1 socket

But new question..Does the IR receiver in this case work with harmony remotes....anyone know?