[daikamar]

So My Frankenstein HTPC has finally died to the point where I feel I need to pretty much build from scratch. I was hoping to have someone critique what I have here. I want to stay around the same price point if possible.
I run XBMCbuntu mostly for watching HD movies/TV shows, watch DVDs and with some Hulu and Amazon Instant streaming mixed in. I also use the box for various server activities.

I pretty much took eskro's build here and tweaked where parts weren't available, etc.
I have a 1TB hard drive and an external DVD drive I'll be using with this.

If anyone sees any glaring problems with it (like I used a really crappy part when a better part is available for similar price) I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Athlon II X3 450 3.2GHz Triple-Core Processor ($63.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($50.38 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Corsair Nova Series 2 30GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 6450 1GB Video Card ($42.24 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($34.90 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Diablotek 380W Micro ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $301.47
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-10 19:17 EST-0500)

[Rick P.]

For XBMCbuntu I'd take nVidia over ATI. A GT-620 card would provide a bit better performance with better support for about the same price.

Also, for an HTPC I'd recommend an 80+ power supply to keep noise down. Otherwise looks good.

[daikamar]

Good point on the Nvidia bit. I'll swap that out.
The pc will actually live in the ceiling of my basement (have a wall panel in living room with cables that run down to the basement) so noise really shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for the help!

[Dougie Fresh]

The Athlon II and that motherboard are a couple of generation old. There have been two subsequent releases of AMD CPUs (now call APUs) since. Is there a reason you decided to go with and older setup like this?

I'd also compare this to something like an Intel G860 + H61 motherboard. You would not need the discrete GPU for what you want to do and the Intel integrated GPU is well support in Linux.

[DavidT99]

The Athlon II and that motherboard are a couple of generation old. There have been two subsequent releases of AMD CPUs (now call APUs) since. Is there a reason you decided to go with and older setup like this?

I'd also compare this to something like an Intel G860 + H61 motherboard. You would not need the discrete GPU for what you want to do and the Intel integrated GPU is well support in Linux.

I agree with this, the build you linked too is 2 years old which in HTPC terms is ancient. There is very few items on that build I would use.

David

[daikamar]

Was more just going for a target price range (which isn't overly firm) and that was a skeleton build I found around it.
So in the interest of going for some stuff a little more modern, I ended up with this update to the build. It had the Intel HD 3000 in the CPU so that should be pretty sufficient from what I've read and allows me to drop the discrete GPU. I can find cheaper motherboards but this was the cheapest I found that had both HDMI (which is a must) and USB 3.0 (which is a major preference).

So look better?:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-2105 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Biostar H77MU3 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Corsair Nova Series 2 30GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($34.90 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Diablotek 380W Micro ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $334.85
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-11 22:55 EST-0500)


Thanks for the help!!

[Vampirebat]

i bought that same PSU for a system i built for a friend thru newegg and it was DoA and after RAing it and getting a replacement that one ran for 2 days and was fried so i ended up getting a different PSU that was like 5 bucks more.

[daikamar]

You happen to remember which one you ended up getting?

[lagledavid]

how about this combo

ASRock FM2A75M-DGS FM2 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813157331

AMD A6-5400K Trinity 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) Socket FM2 65W Dual-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 7540D $75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819113282

G.SKILL Value Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory $22
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231421

Corsair Nova Series 2 30GB (3Gb/s) SATA 2 $50
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007ANF6HW/?tag=pcpapi-20

SilverStone Aluminum/Steel Micro ATX Media Center/HTPC Case ML03B $62
http://http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/...04_s00_i00

Seasonic SS-400ET 400W 80 Plus bronze ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply $56
http://www.amazon.com/Seasonic-SS-400ET-...B004GWZRRO

total $320

[Beer40oz]

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-power...neoeco400c

Antec Neo Eco 400W....

It's a way better quality PSU..... don't skimp on the power supply.

Also XFX has a line of PSU's that look promising. Because they are also made by Seasonic internals just like the Antec Neo Eco's

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6817207018

[eskro]

+1 for --> ANTEC NEO ECO / XFX PRO SERIES / SEASONIC

[parikramatic]

Thanks for the excellent build advice guys. I have been on this forum for the last 3 hours, just absorbing information. Good times. I have a potential build, very similar to lagledavid's A6-based setup. I'm more of a group 5-6er myself. Here goes:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A6-5400K 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($68.79 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($41.26 @ NCIX US)
Case: Silverstone ML03B HTPC Case ($64.40 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 400W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($39.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $214.43
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-14 01:52 EST-0500)

I don't have an SSD yet, because I don't see any current deals. I will likely jump on the next 40-50GB that comes along. As for a cooler, I don't know how important it is to this setup. And I'm not sold on the ASRock mobo--some nasty reviews on Newegg. I'm this close to pulling the trigger

[DavidT99]

Thanks for the excellent build advice guys. I have been on this forum for the last 3 hours, just absorbing information. Good times. I have a potential build, very similar to lagledavid's A6-based setup. I'm more of a group 5-6er myself. Here goes:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A6-5400K 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($68.79 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($41.26 @ NCIX US)
Case: Silverstone ML03B HTPC Case ($64.40 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 400W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($39.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $214.43
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-14 01:52 EST-0500)

I don't have an SSD yet, because I don't see any current deals. I will likely jump on the next 40-50GB that comes along. As for a cooler, I don't know how important it is to this setup. And I'm not sold on the ASRock mobo--some nasty reviews on Newegg. I'm this close to pulling the trigger

Forget the DGS motherboards from ASrock, they don't have HDMI on them.

David