[bob129]

Hey Guys,

I'm looking at building my first HTPC. I've built a couple of desktop PC's over the past couple of years, but this is my first HTPC.

I'm pretty confused as to what CPU to use and if I actually need a Graphics Card or not (I've never used one in any of the desktops I've built)

I'm looking at building this HTPC to basically rule the lounge room. It's going to be connected to my 55" Samsung TV and AVR (Yamaha RX-673) via HDMI, so needs to run at 1080p. It's going to be used as a PVR, Blu-Ray Player, Xbox replacement and Emulator. I plan to install Steam and play all current gen and future games on the big screen, such as Battlefield 4, and I want to be able to use Emulators such as Project64 and Dolphin.

My current build plans are:

CPU: Intel Core i5 3470 3.2GHz (3.6GHz Turbo) Quad Core CPU (Ivy Bridge), LGA1155, 6MB

M/B: Gigabyte GA-H77M-D3H Motherboard (mATX)

RAM: Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) 1600MHz DDR3

HDD: Western Digital Green 7200rpm 3TB (For Media and HDTV Recordings)

SSD: Sandisk 120GB SSD, Extreme, SATAIII, Read up to 550MB/s, Write up to 510MB/s (For Windows 7 and Game Files)

HDTV - Hauppage Dual Tuner

PSU: Possibly the Corsair 500W 80+ Bronze (Any brand name 450-550W PSU I'm happy with)

CASE: Undecided, probably Silverstone or Thermaltake.

I really have no idea on the Graphics Card, Pretty sure to run BF4 at a decent rate I'll need one, but any help in matching one to my system/needs would be greatly appreciated.

Also, if anyone has any other suggestions or thinks I should change something, I'm open to it, as nothing has been locked in as yet.

Cheers,
Rob

[pettson3816]

If you will be playing BF4 you need a beefy gfx-card to go with that.

[Loganator]

One suggestion for you is to double check that your motherboard will have the necessary audio connections that you will need for your setup. Optical audio?

[ConfusedTA]

To run games like Battlefield at 1920x1080 at a reasonable framerate with even medium detail levels (which is still going to look better than any current console), you will need a pretty good graphics card, something like a 7850 or better.

At current performance for money ratios, something like the 7950 will be ideal.

What you'll have to be careful about, though, is heat and noise, when running a decent graphics card and a fast processor.

I run a Q6600 and a 6970 in my HTPC, and to keep it cool and quiet I've fitted watercooling with a 360 radiator fitted externally. This is now almost silent, but still gives me enough cooling capacity to run these hot components (an i5/7950 will be faster and cooler than my parts!)

All modern cards will have HDMI output, so that shouldn't be an issue to get the full 5.1 sound output to your Yamaha AV receiver.

[bob129]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, HDMI out is all I need to connect to my AVR, so I'm good there. The cooling is a good point as the case is going into a tv unit too, so it won't be breathing as well as a normal desktop pc. I might have to look at going down the water cooled path for silent cooling...or would a couple of extra quiet fans suffice?

still a little confused in regards to GFX...what brands should I be looking at to get a decent 7950 from? I want the graphics to be atleast on par with the Xbox 360, if not better, being better than the Xbox one would be nice too...

I'll definitely keep the cooling in mind while shopping for a case. Any suggestions for one?

Thanks for the replies so far!

[teeedubb]

My gaming htpc

Case Silverstone LC20
CPU Intel i5-3570
GPU Gigabyte GTX660ti
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H
8GB ram, Noctua CPU cooler + fans
PSU Corsair VX-500
Storage 128GB SSD + 2TB 5900rpm HDD
Ipazzport wireless keyboard + HP IR receiver + Logitech harmony 700 + wireless xbox360 and other controllers

Built it about 3 months ago and am very happy with it. Played arkham city, farcry 3, bioshock infinite, syndicate, dark souls, the withcher 2, tomb raider and others all at either ultra or high detail at 1080p with smooth framerates (with detailed graphics that really make my ps3 look dated). Emulating systems like ps2, wii, dreamcast, gamecube is no problem, with ps2 games very playable. Theres 3 noctua case fans (all speed controlled from the mother board) along with the psu fan and gpu + cpu coolers. It isnt silent but it runs quieter than my phat ps3. Ive been thinking of disabling one extra case fan because it runs really cool, right now watching live tv in openelec the cpu is 30 degrees, gpu 32 degrees. I need to do some testing while playing games. Its kept in a tv cabinet with no back and I havent had any overheating problems after long gaming sessions.

One thing bout your build is the 7200rpm hdd. I had one in my old build and it was the loudest part. The 5900 rpm one I have now is barley audible. The 7200rpm drive was a few years older and they may be silent nowdays, but its something to consider if youre going after a silent build.

[bob129]

Thanks for the tips teeedubb, good point on the hard drive, I could lower the rpm which I assume would lower purchase cost and power usage. Your build is very similar to what I'm thinking of doing except I don't think I need the Z77 chip in the motherboard. Good to know the games are playable in ultra and high detail, my biggest fear is selling the Xbox to build this thing and then having worse graphics than the Xbox!
Am I right in assuming the PS2 emulation would be more taxing on the cpu than Nintendo 64 emulation?

[teeedubb]

From what I've read bf4 isn't even going to be 1080p on next gen consoles so my build should do it better than consoles, if not I can sli the gpu's
Correct about ps2 emulation, its probably the most taxing out there at the moment.

[bob129]

Would the 5900rpm HDD still be ok for HDTV recordings?

Case wise I'm thinking of getting the Silverstone GD05, but I'm still confused with graphics card.

I'm thinking of either HIS Radeon HD7850 IceQ X Turbo 2GB, or MSI GeForce GTX 660 Twin Frozr III OC 2GB, or should I spend the extra $$ and get a MSI Radeon HD7950 3GB Twin Frozr III Boost Edition or Gigabyte Radeon HD7950 3GB Overclocked?
Would I gain much benefit from buying the 7950's over 7850's?

Thanks,
Rob

[teeedubb]

I haven't had any problems recording 10+ channels onto a 5900rpm drive, but since putting in a third tuner I have a second drive for recordings - don't know if its necessary but the drive was barely used so I used it for this purpose.

Not sure on the GPUs, I never buy amd GPUs, best to read up on benchmarks on hardware sites.

[therocket18]

Excellent, this is similar to what I am hoping to do, but I have few questions!!!

I'm looking at being fully ready for BF4 on the PC, and I'm hoping to be able to run a NAS for the media storage, and I guess have BF4 loaded from a SSD and then have a backup on the NAS as well, all being Fed into my HP 60" 1080 plasma via HDMI, and also having optical audio going from my pc to the home stereo amp.

So I've looked into system options and probably going to target something with an I7 3770k+ on the P9X79 type motherboards....
Which can handle some awesome GPU's for he BF4 requirement.

I'm kinda figuring stuff out as I type here so bear with me...

My first idea was to just get a super powered pc that could run BF4 and also have xbmc for the entire household on say 4 TV's...

But now I'm thinking that's dumb cause what if someone downstairs wants to change the channel.... say when im playing BF4 - id have to pause the game, then open up one of the 4 running xbmc programs for the downstairs tv and then change the show...

So that leads me to think that I should have 1 HTPC per TV in my home.
1 - that's super powered so I can play the high end games.... and watch my sports on the 60".
1 - that's mid powered enough for the wife to do her emails and stuff.
2 - for the kids....


Are multiple HTPC's the way to go all connected to a super powerful router and NAS?

OR

I power it all from the BF4 super pc as it has multi gpu capability and be able to send video to each tv all from 1 box.
Dumb question... say the P9X79 MB has 3 gpus, does that ,mean I have video out to 3 different displays?

[teeedubb]

3 GPUs in one case would generate a lot of heat + noise, plus need a lot of power.. I guess its possible to feed 4 TVs with one PC (maybe even with one graphics card - think multi monitor setup) if each TV had cec capability, but 3 cec adapters is going to add to costs, also driving 3 instances of xbmc could impact on gaming performance. I'd use a PC instead of a nas and use that to record/steam live TV and your media and have it in the garage/cupboard etc. A gaming htpc, a Intel nuc for the wife and raspberry pi's or android boxes for the kids - probably a android box (ouya?)for the kids so they can play angry birds etc ...

Also I could never get surround sound from games via optical, only via hdmi., but it was a good excuse to buy a new receiver + speakers.

[Djfalconer]

Ebuyer has a deal on on the HIS 7950 if you're UK based
http://email.ebuyer.com/a/hBR4MKyB8dmtiB.../product15

Also comes with the Never Settle voucher for 3 free games