[jaydash]

I've decided to build a box on my own -FIRST TIME to build a whole system! I've been lurking around this forum for a little while now... and I think I've pieced together a pretty good HTPC based on recommendations I've seen here.

Everyone on this forum is tremendously helpful! Thank you all. And Poofy... seems to live and breath this stuff!!!

I have my media (DVD and Blu-ray MKVs, Music, Photos, Etc.) stored on a MediaSmart server, CAT 6 lines run to the TV room, I want to be able to bit-stream HD audio to my receiver and experience all the XBMC goodness on a fast, responsive system... plus maybe a little light gaming/emulating. I'm going to be running Windows 7. I would like to expand to include DVR capabilities at a later date. I have a soft budget of $1,000 (which is to say I think the wife would overlook an extra couple hundred if I went a little over). So if you see room for improvement please let me know!

Intel Core i3-540 Clarkdale 3.06GHz LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819115221

ASUS P7H55-M PRO LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813131623

Athena Power AP-MP4ATX47FE 470W MicroATX / SFX12V / EPS12V / ATX V2.2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6817338019

Scythe Big Shuriken SCBSK-1000 120mm CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6835185129

OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820227551

ZOTAC ZT-40603-10L GeForce GT 430 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814500177

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231193

LIAN LI Black Aluminum PC-C37B Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811112186 **just noticed this is on back order... can anyone recommend a comparable case??

I already have a Harmony remote and an HP IR receiver thing-a-ma-jig, hopefully that'll work -been reading those posts too!

But as for the real hardware, this system comes out to about $900, as is. Any suggestions that would improve overall performance would be welcome! If the general consensus is go with this, I might throw a little into some extra storage for my server!

-I've installed video cards, hard drives and memory before... do you guys think I can handle piecing all this stuff together? It's a little daunting!

[dan1son]

Looks good...

You could probably make your wife very happy and still have a rockin HTPC by getting a GT210 instead of the 430 for $35... that'll mean you can get a nice 350 watt psu for about $30 which would save about $100 or so there (also electricity savings since the 210 will draw a lot less). Also if you're only loading XBMC and Windows 7 on that SSD drive, just get the 40gig SSD for a savings of about $120 more. No need to get a big drive for an HTPC if you have your storage somewhere else.

Due to the upper requirements for HTPCs I don't see a reason to overdue it. 1080p, bitstream hdmi audio, quick access for fanart, and you're good to go.

Other than a slight delay when I click from the main menu to movies on my single core atom revo, there's no reason I'd even need beyond that. If I did some more web browsing it'd be nice to have something like what you're building, but for XBMC it wouldn't change my use at all.


And as far as building it physically goes... it's quite easy. The only real issues come from inexperience and the fact that there will be no documentation. Mounting a MB can be interesting if you've never done it... but if you search around online I'm sure you can find help. Just have to line up the holes and put in the metal mounts in the right place. And always make sure your cables are secure to something, you don't want them running into a fan.

[Mallet21]

My only issue might be with that power supply... I'm guessing you have size limitations with that case and need a smaller PSU. Other than that everything looks good.

[aaronb]

The harddrive is overkill, you'll be fine with 40GB. Otherwise looks good.

[actionfreak]

This is a lot even if you used a 60 gig SSD you are still looking at around 800. Any way to trim more off of this and still keep the I3 and the GT 430?

[htpc guy]

-I've installed video cards, hard drives and memory before... do you guys think I can handle piecing all this stuff together? It's a little daunting!

Shouldn't be a problem for you. Just pay close attention to the motherboards manual. It will have all of the wiring diagrams that you need (I'm assuming your not color blind ). Also, watch a few youtube videos on system building.

[jaydash]

Thanks for all the advice! I know y'all more knowledgeable users must get tired of new guys asking the same questions! I really appreciate the input!

[poofyhairguy]

You could probably make your wife very happy and still have a rockin HTPC by getting a GT210 instead of the 430 for $35... that'll mean you can get a nice 350 watt psu for about $30 which would save about $100 or so there (also electricity savings since the 210 will draw a lot less).

Um actually a GT210 and a GT430 have a VERY similar power draw. Both can easily be run on a sub-300 Watt PSU. Plus a GT430 has guaranteed 3D support and HD audio support.

Also if you're only loading XBMC and Windows 7 on that SSD drive, just get the 40gig SSD for a savings of about $120 more.

Windows 7 fills a 40GB easy if you install games.

[poofyhairguy]

Looks like a great build jaydash, just three comments:

1. Try to get a Gigabyte board instead of an Asus board. Asus mobo quality has REALLY gone downhill in recent years.

2. You are right that case is out of stock, so here is a cool Silverstone:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811163174

3. WAY too big of PSU. It will waste power. Honestly for this build a 380w Earthwatts would be perfect:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

Great build otherwise! Asks more questions if you need to!

[dan1son]

Um actually a GT210 and a GT430 have a VERY similar power draw. Both can easily be run on a sub-300 Watt PSU. Plus a GT430 has guaranteed 3D support and HD audio support.

Ah yeah I hadn't seen that card before. Looks like their non-gaming 4xx series card designed for lovely HTPC use. They really need to make a new model series for those things now that they're building them specifically for that purpose.

I have a 240 (DDR5) in my gaming box, the 430 looks very similar but with better HDMI and cuda support. Sweet really.

Windows 7 fills a 40GB easy if you install games.

That's true, but he didn't mention gaming. 40gigs should be plenty for a "dumb terminal" HTPC. My Revo and ATV are using 18gigs win7 (17gigs on ubuntu) and 9gigs (ubuntu 10.4) respectively. I could lower the use on the Revo if I wanted, but those are fairly full installs since I use it for other things occasionally.

[jaydash]

Awesome! Thanks again guys. REALLY.

Poofy, would you recommend a specific Gigabyte board? Or just some MicroATX board with similar specs? I'm changing my Newegg wishlist to conform to your PSU and case recommendations... I'll probably order it all this weekend sometime. I'm getting excited!

As for the size of the SSD drives, I would like to probably store some games on there for a little light gaming (time for games... probably wishful thinking!)... PLUS, I've read somewhere (Tom's Hardware maybe?) that generally the larger the SSD the better the performance. Does this still hold true? Is it a noticeable improvement?

[poofyhairguy]

Here is the comparable Gigabyte board:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813128429

I think that the SSD you picked out is excellent being a Sandforce model.

[htpc guy]

Check my sig for a great Gigabyte Mobi (AMD). I get full 1080p and dual sound output via HDMI and Optical. I know there is a similar board that supports the i3. I even run all of the US console emulators up to the PS1.

[Mach13]

1. Try to get a Gigabyte board instead of an Asus board. Asus mobo quality has REALLY gone downhill in recent years.

Hello poofyhairguy, my first post here at XMBC but long time reader. I see you are up to snuff on stuff hardware. I just built 4 new quadcores for my office all using ASUS MB's M4A78T-E / Athlon II X4 630. Three went smooth, one had the dreaded open case error. I reset the RAM and changed the SATA cables and all is well on the forth.

In the past (three years ago) I had three gigabyte builds on the home network, two of the three died so I am leery of Gigabyte, have things changed? Seems all lines have lemons - no?

I am looking to build a new HTPC to replace my AMD Athlon 2200 / GeForce Ti 4200 HTPC so I have been reading your posts intently.

I will start a new thread as to not hijack this one when I get my specs in order so perhaps you can advise me on it.....

Thanks and thanks for your help on this forum!

[poofyhairguy]

In the past (three years ago) I had three gigabyte builds on the home network, two of the three died so I am leery of Gigabyte, have things changed? Seems all lines have lemons - no?

Gigabyte is a little more picky with memory sometimes, but their offerings have been very stable to me once going. Their bios is the most solid out there (part of the reason it is the only BIOS that is fully hackintoshed), and I personally believe they have great quality control.

With my last Asus boards they worked technically, but they had little problems the Asus of old would never have- having something plugged in the wrong USB port preventing boot, needless case errors, superficial heatsinks, tricky SATA ports. And they have SO many worthless Windows software buzzwords. Just bad business to me, a decline of a champion!

Gigabyte has come a long way, and now I can't stand other brands. Recently replaced my last mobo that wasn't Gigabyte with a Gigabyte one. Their Micro ATX offerings are awesome.