[demosophy]

After nearly a year in Asia with access to absolute crap TV via cable I've decided to take the plunge and invest in an HTPC. I've read these forums and a few others and decided I want to run XBMC, but that's about it.

This is what I'd like the set up to do:

- DL/Manage my Movies, TV, and Music libraries (Sickbeard/couch potato)
- Play some games (Starcraft 2, ect.)
- Playback music and movies (5.1 surround and 1 40" Sony HD LCD)
- Surf the net (Gmail, News, Youtube, Flash games and videos, ect.)
- Act as remote file storage for my laptops/ipad
- Be reliable, snappy, and easy to use (my wife isn't the best with tech)
- Look nice and be quiet in my small 1 room studio apartment since I need to sleep near it.
- Come in at a price tag of under US$1,000 all inclusive

Here's what I need to know:

- Should I do this as an all-in-one box or set up a HTPC+NAS?
- What OS should I use? XBMC Live, Linux, Windows 7, Mac OS?
- Should I go custom, buy a nettop, or go apple TV2?

Thanks in advance everyone, really appreciate the help!

-Demosophy

[eskro]

Ok since you wanna run PC games with your HTPC, i suggest the CORE i3 530 CPU...

Also, since you have a Latop + soon HTPC,
i suggest you build youself a seperate NAS to store your movies/pictures/music on
and feed your PC's with it...

Nettops aren't strong enough for Gaming,,,
of course depends on the games you wanna run,,,
but if you know your a gamer, forget the nettops completely...

Being you, i would build my own custom HTPC + my own custom NAS...

Regarding the operating system to use, its really up to you here...
im used to windows and would never use anything else...
but thats me so, just use the system your comfortable with..
note that gaming is probably better on windows so...

hope this helps

[demosophy]

thanks for the quick reply eskro!

sounds good about the custom build, I was actually hoping someone would recommend a custom rig - it's been too long since I last built a PC.

do you have any case suggestions? I'd like a case that's pretty nice looking with some bays for drives in case I don't set up a NAS server and newegg doesn't seem to have anything that great.

speaking of NAS - could you explain why a dedicated NAS server is better? is it only capacity (which is a big plus) or is there another benefit?

[eskro]

well depends on the case look you want
my 2 best ones for HTPC are these:

-Antec MicroFusion 350w MicroATX ($100) http://ow.ly/1s0hd0
-Sentey SS1-2422 MicroATX 450W ($52) http://fwd4.me/u0Y

now i can try to build you a custom HTPC, just give me some time

[bmcclure937]

The benefit of NAS + HTPC combo is having a dedicated front-end and back-end

This comes with many positives. First of all, all of the heat and noise from the storage drives will be taken out of the HTPC (which is good since it will be in your living room with your TV). The heat is the big part. It is nice to have all of your storage in a NAS so you can keep the drives properly cooled and prolong their life. It is also beneficial to keep your HTPC quiet and cool...

Second, with a dedicated media server and HTPC you can make each component focus on one thing and do that one thing extremely well... rather than having a combined HTPC/NAS. The media server can handle running services such as SABnzbd+, Couch Potato, Sick Beard... while the HTPC can handle the presentation of the media.

To each his own though! Some would prefer a combined HTPC/NAS for "simplicity". I do not recommend this, but I understand why it is appealing to some people and it is quite possible to pull this off (if needed).

[eskro]

true about the "simplicity" of combining HTPC+NAS under the same roof...

You can save abit of $$$ by going that route...

but just like bmcclure937 said, I do not recommend this either...

[eskro]

Have a look at these parts to start...

[CPU] Intel Core i3-540 2x3.06GHz LGA-1156 73W ($120)
[MOBO] ASRock H55M-LE LGA-1156 Micro-ATX ($65)
[RAM] G.SKILL Ripjaws 4GB (2x2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600Mhz CL7 ($65)
[GPU] ZOTAC GeForce GT430 1GB 128-bit DDR3 Low Profile ($80) ($65 after mail-in rebate)
[SSD] Kingston SSDNow 2.5" 30GB SATA-II ($75) ($55 after mail-in rebate)

then we can add the CASE once you know which one u like

Also, you should really tell us exactly how much gaming your gonna do with this HTPC...
Is it a crucial thing?
Like you'll run the latest graphics intensive video games and stuff?

Do you need USB 3.0 ports ?
Do you also need WiFi ?

[retro11]

Hello,

Just a quick note about the cases. You might find both of those a bit small if you are going to be putting in a full size graphics card.

I use A remote Antec fusion remote:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...on%20antec

and even this needed to be cut in too to fit in a GTX260.

I was after a similar sort of setup as you and am fairly happy with what I ended up with but making it quiet was the biggest problem.

Case Fans
I can thoroughly recommend the noctua ULN fans:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product
I even went as far as too replace the fan in the power supply although obviously not recommended for safety reasons (also you would probably want at least a 500w power supply to run medium/high end grpahics).

Grpahics Card
I ended up having to mod the bios in the graphics card so that the fans are quiet in 2d mode (1%) but start to kick in when in 3d mode.

CPU Cooler
got a scythe mini ninja http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scythe-Ninja-min...B000T71BIY which can run passively but I have got a fan on it hooked up to a zalman fan mate which gets turned up and down depending on if im in game or media mode. This only just fits in the case.

Hard Drives
If you go for a nas this won't be too much of a problem but if you don't many hard drives have accoustic management software that you can use to hush them up a bit at the loss of a bit of performance. Although reading back seeing as you are in a studio you will still hear the nas drive and having a seperate nas and PC running will probably make more overall noise than just a PC with internal HD's.

I also put a load of soundproofing all over the case wherever I could.

I think whatever you decide if you want to be gaming it is always a compromise between heat, sound and cost.

[eskro]

very good case there retro11,
but its pricier then the -Antec MicroFusion 350w MicroATX ($100) http://ow.ly/1s0hd0 ...
and he would still need to buy a power supply ...

[demosophy]

Hmm, that's a good argument for NAS, but if I use the set up that eskro suggested would the extra demand from running the storage/torrents be noticeable?

From a price perspective - it seems like doing a HTPC + NAS would be cheaper, plus from a sound side it seems like a combo system would be better as well (since its all in the same room anyway). Does that logic make sense?

Eskro - thanks for the build suggestion! Is this enough? I'd like to future proof the pc a bit - so assume latest games on high settings.

Won't need Wifi (Ethernet is fine)
Don't think I'll need USB 3.0

Two more questions for ya Eskro
Do I need a sound card? What HD's should I get if I go for the Combos option?

[eskro]

no you dont need a sound card demosophy, its built-in the motherboard...
and the GT430 video card is capable of handling HD audio...

now it all depends on how much money your willing to spend...
thats why every build is different...
but its pretty stong as is already...
you'll run games in pretty high settings here!

you can always swap the video card for this one
Palit GeForce GTS450 1 GB LowProFile 128-bit GDDR5 ($130 + $0)
that card will run any games in highest settings flawlessly....

you could also swap the i3 540 CPU for an AMD Quad Core!
AMD Athlon II X4 3.0GHz AM3 95W ($100 + $5)
like that your PC would be more futur proof with that AMD Quad Core...
But the i3 540 CPU is slightly performing better regarding video games...
but very slightly...
but thats till games starts to use the full potential of Quad Core computing,,,

if u do change the CPU, we'll need to find you a new mobo too of course..
ASRock 880GMH USB3 AM3 AMD MicroATX ($83 + $3)

so what do u say?