[jmag1k]

Hey Guys,

I just ditched Comcast and am in the process of building a Kodi box. I just upgraded my desktop PC so I have some parts lying around such as an i5 2500k w/ an Asrock p67 Extreme 4 Gen 3 and a EVGA 570 OC. I'd have to buy ram and a hard drive for it, but thats not too crazy of an expense. The reason why I dont want to go this option is simply space. I dont know if I have room for a full ATX case near my entertainment center. I mean, I could make it work, but i kind of dont want to.

I also have an Acer R 1600 thats a few years old loaded with XP. (just need the power cord for it) http://www.amazon.com/Acer-AspireRevo-AR...B002O3W44Q

Intel Atom 230 Processor 1.6GHz
1GB DDR2 RAM
160GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
Integrated NVIDIA ION Graphics
Windows XP Home Service Pack 3

My question is this: Based on these specs and my space limitation, which would most of you rather go with? Is the Acer strong enough to play high res 3D files? And if so, would you run something like Buntu? My buddies are all buying the Raspberry Pi kits... which I"m also wondering how it would stack up to the Acer R 1600.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Excited to be here.

[DJ_Izumi]

I have a full ATX i7 3770K machine for my living room HTPC. I like it because it can tackle any task. It runs Windows for Steam, in Kodi it can do 4K HEVC with just software decoding. It's graphics can be upgraded as I desire. It's big, sure, but it offers a LOT of flexibility and futureproofing.

[omontero]

If I were you Ill definitely would build a PC machine. That processor + video card would make an excellent media PC. Just try to get a good Micro ATX Case + Motherboard with support for a full size video card and you'll be set. The only drawback may be the power consumption and even that can be managed with some underclocking.

The advantage of having a Kodi Machine + ability to play multiple emulators + PC games in the living room is priceless.

There are many options in amazon or Ebay. Just check for reviews to verify. Sell that motherboard in Ebay to help you in the cost of the new board.

Cases:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...gnorebbr=1

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813128555

[jmag1k]

If I were you Ill definitely would build a PC machine. That processor + video card would make an excellent media PC. Just try to get a good Micro ATX Case + Motherboard with support for a full size video card and you'll be set. The only drawback may be the power consumption and even that can be managed with some underclocking.

The advantage of having a Kodi Machine + ability to play multiple emulators + PC games in the living room is priceless.

There are many options in amazon or Ebay. Just check for reviews to verify. Sell that motherboard in Ebay to help you in the cost of the new board.

Cases:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...gnorebbr=1

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813128555

Dude... you''re awesome! Upon your suggestion, I put my mobo up on Ebay for $60, and in an hour it sold! First time selling something on Ebay, too! I'm now looking around my house wondering what else I can make some cash on... =)

I also think both your suggestions on case and m-atx mobo are great. Today is Prime day on amazon, so I think i'll take advantage! Thanks so much.

[jmag1k]

Based on my space limitations I have to go with a Mini-ITX case. I put together the mock build on PC part picker with everything that will be in it. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mw3qMp

As I already have the CPU and Video card, and adjusting the pricing from buying everything off Newgg and Amazon, it comes out to exactly $350. I was paying comcast about $200 a month, so I think it's a good investment. I dropped Comcast as my building now has Gigabit internet for $80 a month flat, no contracts or cancellation fees. I'm so stoked.....

I did a lot of thinking and my tv is a Curved 55-Inch 4K 3D Ultra HD Smart LED TV so I think going bigger and having enough juice for the 3D files is def the way to go.... Thanks fort he input, it helped me make my decision.

[Soli]

You don't have to reuse old components just because you can. You still have a noisy psu, cpu cooler and gfx card. If you're only going to use Kodi, a Haswell CPU will be a better choice. Why dont't you sell everything then go with a thin mini itx motherboard, a haswell pentium g3220/g3220t/g3258, and a streacom fc8s alpha fanless case. Then just get a HP or Dell laptop PSU to power the motherboard. It should cost you less if you sell your existing stuff and it will be absolutely quiet. This is like a fanless NUC on steroids..highly recommended.

[jmag1k]

well, without a GPU will it perform well streaming 4K 3D movies? It is a media box, but will it be able to play the files I need without hiccups. I was also going to use this as a possible steam box.

[DJ_Izumi]

I'm not sure if there is any such hardware or even a real format as 3D 4K. There is no commercial 4K 3D format, not till Bluray 4K in Q4 this year. Assuming it uses MVC, such sources won't work in Kodi. 4K 3D sources converted to Full-SBS would be 7680x2160 which I dunno WHAT can play that if it's HEVC.

I think overall, 4K 3D is too much of an unknown.

[Soli]

You can pretty much forget about 4K 3D for the time being. The haswell cpus will happily do 4k60+fps, but are limited to H264. (And UHD will be based on HEVC main10, which only the Nvidia Gtx 960 can decode in hardware as of today)

Anyways, for video Haswell is pretty much identical to your old nvidia card in features, but it's actually faster too. In the future you could always upgrade to a budget/fanless nvidia card that would decode HEVC/4K/3D/Whatever. No doubt all these things will be supported in the next family of Nvidia cards out in 2016.

I'd recommend a seperate Steambox as you'll never be able to get that totally silent. Couldn't you just Steam-stream from your new/upgraded PC anyways?

[DJ_Izumi]

I never got the obsession some of you guys have with making an HTPC that's 'totally silent'. It's really hard to hear the machine, even a loud one, once there's sound coming out of the speakers.

[Zpectre87]

I never got the obsession some of you guys have with making an HTPC that's 'totally silent'. It's really hard to hear the machine, even a loud one, once there's sound coming out of the speakers.

I agree... If you want power, you'll have some noise, no question about that.

[DJ_Izumi]

I agree... If you want power, you'll have some noise, no question about that.

My 3770K box is fairly quiet when idle, and while it can roar up a bit when gaming, but, well, games are loud but it's still barely audible over any audio coming out of the speakers.

Now, that air conditioner in my living room window, THERE'S a source of noise. I have to turn up the sound bar a couple notches above normal just to compensate for the AC.

[MediaPi]

Human perception isn't a fixed thing. If you listen to something loud for ten minutes and then listened to the hum of a fan you won't notice.

If your used to complete silence and then listen to a fan, this can irritate you. Loudness is a relative term.

I once stabbed a really small and low rpm mini fan on my pi and I don't think it was that noticeable but the iteration it produced in me was considerable.

Itll affect you more when your listening to a very quiet scene, and you'll always get those scenes in movies. But yeah you could train yourself to ignore the slight noise, but I'll sick to my pi

[Soli]

Look, I don't really mind a fan as long as it's almost silent. (My chromebox has a fan, but it's almost inaudible as the chromebox is hidden behind a cover). But the OP is planning a HTPC with fans in the PSU, CPU cooler and GFX card, that is going to be very audible. My suggestion was to get rid of the fans and have more money to spare.

Of course you can't game of this (except Steam-stream), so you'll have to make that choice yourself. As I read it, the OP already upgraded his gaming rig; I totally get it that one wants to reuse the GFX card and build a nice and cheap Steambox in the living room. But I'd rather have a kickass silent Kodibox but YMMV.

[omontero]

Dude... you''re awesome! Upon your suggestion, I put my mobo up on Ebay for $60, and in an hour it sold! First time selling something on Ebay, too! I'm now looking around my house wondering what else I can make some cash on... =)

I also think both your suggestions on case and m-atx mobo are great. Today is Prime day on amazon, so I think i'll take advantage! Thanks so much.

Glad to help.

I agree that for a 24/7 computer in your room a silent pc is a must but for a living room PCs little sound is not that bad. Still if you have the money you can get a silent cooler form the PC ( Scythe Zipang is great) and a silent psu if you have money. Then again if you dont have a lot of cash I sugest you go slow, buying as you can. Good luck and enjoy your machine.