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Your Very First HTPC? But Where do You Start?
ive just bought the prometheus intel 17 box - waiting on it arriving
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(2014-10-27, 14:32)John_AFC Wrote: Has anyone bought a prometheus htpc? Need to find a box that won't buffer on live HD footage with a crappy Internet connection, looking for a powerful box under £200

No box is going to improve your internet speed. I am on 3Mb and struggle with HD live streams. Prometheus is a $100 PC from AliExpress with Openelec on it that they sell for £250.
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I would like to have you opinion on a motherboard.

I want to have a media center (using Kodi) running on windows so I can also use it to go on internet or play some games (I do not want a high end gaming pc).
My idea is to have a bluray player (zone free), large hard drive for storing my collection, with wifi (as I do not easy access by wire) and with Optical S/PDIF out (I want to be able to plug it to a amplifier and maybe use the pc as a pre-amp for my phono using a usb pre-amp).

I guess it's overkill, but I love this motherboard : ASUS Maximus VI IMPACT
That mobo is sick! I would use red ddr and red sata cable for it.

So I have a couple of questions

What kind of CPU would you use with it ?
Is the quality of a Optical S/PDIF out worth it ?
This motherboard accept mSata SSD, would you use it or not? (less cable, less power consumption.?)
What case would you propose (I am looking for a 435 mm wide case to stack it over a standard amp) ? The board on the side make it harder as it would most likely block the pipes of a case like the streacom cases.. And is fanless a possibility ?

Would you suggest a different mobo to do the same thing ?
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very newbie.....

Please point me in the right direction....I am dying to get rid of my DISH bill.

Trying to use A88X-PRO MB with a AMD A10-7580k chip with integrated graphics.
no other cards installed, no additional Video card besides integrated video.

I cannot get KODI or XBMC to launch.

Get a pop-up "unable to create GUI". I have read the threads about that with no luck
.
This is a new win-7 / 64 bit build (w/all updates) with nothing hooked up but a monitor / mouse / KB.
Have tried several builds, all the same result.

Thank you..

I GOT IT......SOLUTION......

Downloaded AMD Catalysts software.....and got the DIRECT3D enabled.....then KODI fired up....
Now, just have to figure out how to use it.

Thanks
John Casey
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Hello all,

A couple of years ago I built a small htpc using this guide. A few months back lightning came in through the phone line and fried something on the mobo. The networking component? (I don't know what I'm talking about) Movies would still stream from my server, but they were choppy. I questioned the problem in an online forum looking for a solution. An awesome member helped me to see that the htpc was streaming at 10Mbs whereas it had been at 100Mbs. My options were to install a network card or a usb/ethernet adaptor. I purchased a fast usb/ethernet adaptor since my case is tiny and there was no room for another card...now that I think about it I don't even think there is an available slot if I had gone that route. But that didn't work and the choppiness remained.

Anyhow, I've been using my laptop in place of the htpc and I'm ready to get the problem fixed. I'm going to replace the mobo, but I noticed the one I used isn't available anymore. I can find it around the web for 2-3x what I originally paid for it, but I figure an upgrade will be cheaper. Can anyone suggest a replacement? The original mobo and parts I used are listed below. I don't think it would matter, but I mostly use the machine to run kodi.

Here are the components I used:

ASRock H67M-ITX Socket 1155/ Intel H67/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&V&GbE/ Mini-ITX Motherboard

XFX Radeon HD 6450 625M 1GB DDR3 HDMI DVI VGA PCI-E Video Card HD645XZQH2

Intel Core i3-2100 Dual-Core Processor 3.1 GHz 3 MB Cache LGA 1155 - BX80623I32100

Kingston Technology HyperX Blu 4 GB Kit (2x2GB Modules) 1333 (PC3 10666) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM KHX1333C9D3B1K2/4G

MI-008 Tower Black P4 Chassis with 250W Itx Psu+sata Power Supply

Thank you either way!
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(2014-11-24, 23:14)hi_its_me_scott Wrote: Hello all,

A couple of years ago I built a small htpc using this guide. A few months back lightning came in through the phone line and fried something on the mobo. The networking component? (I don't know what I'm talking about) Movies would still stream from my server, but they were choppy. I questioned the problem in an online forum looking for a solution. An awesome member helped me to see that the htpc was streaming at 10Mbs whereas it had been at 100Mbs. My options were to install a network card or a usb/ethernet adaptor. I purchased a fast usb/ethernet adaptor since my case is tiny and there was no room for another card...now that I think about it I don't even think there is an available slot if I had gone that route. But that didn't work and the choppiness remained.

Anyhow, I've been using my laptop in place of the htpc and I'm ready to get the problem fixed. I'm going to replace the mobo, but I noticed the one I used isn't available anymore. I can find it around the web for 2-3x what I originally paid for it, but I figure an upgrade will be cheaper. Can anyone suggest a replacement? The original mobo and parts I used are listed below. I don't think it would matter, but I mostly use the machine to run kodi.

Here are the components I used:

ASRock H67M-ITX Socket 1155/ Intel H67/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&V&GbE/ Mini-ITX Motherboard

XFX Radeon HD 6450 625M 1GB DDR3 HDMI DVI VGA PCI-E Video Card HD645XZQH2

Intel Core i3-2100 Dual-Core Processor 3.1 GHz 3 MB Cache LGA 1155 - BX80623I32100

Kingston Technology HyperX Blu 4 GB Kit (2x2GB Modules) 1333 (PC3 10666) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM KHX1333C9D3B1K2/4G

MI-008 Tower Black P4 Chassis with 250W Itx Psu+sata Power Supply

Thank you either way!

You can use a website like this one to select possible mobo, https://pcpartpicker.com/

There is not much choice for 1155 sockets, but still a couple choices between 35 and 200 $ depending on the model and store. Like for 83$ you can get one with the same chipset and wifi! Zotac H67ITX-C-E

You might want to read reviews, but I think it look similar to what you had.
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Thanks aliceingame

I appreciate the link.

I believe I'm going to go with this one - Intel DH67CFB3 Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard.

Really thought I would be able to upgrade for cheaper, but looks like I'm going to pay more for equal.
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I have a Zotac Ion PC which I have a 120MB SSD hard drive.
It stopped booting the other day and I have decided its time to think about an upgrade.

Currently I use Wins7 as use WMC to record random TV things and like Windows.
I am looking for something that would be able to take a PCI Sat card (which I have) and three USB Freeview dongles. So I can record up to four HD channels at once.
I would like to leave this machine on full time and it will be located in a unit so a very quite fan would not be an issue.
I will connect this to a Denon AVR-2000 amp with a full set of 7.1 spearkers.
Would like 4k but not as important as good sound.

Also looking for a cheap fix till I get the cash to upgrade. I assume it would be a Rasp Pi or such like

What should I go for.
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Is this any reason the "Windows" builds cannot be used for Linux? Specifically OpenELEC? I believe the drivers should be fine but could someone check my build and let me know because it seems every month there is a patch that will fix some specific issue.

Requirements:
1. 1080p with hd audio, typically watch dvd rips.. my average movie download is 5-6GB for a 1.5 hour movie.
2. Additionally will be connected to MythTV backend for live TV. MythTV backend is a VM running in ESXI 5.5 on a dedicated server
3. Silent

BUILD:
1. Streacom ST-FC8B - http://www.amazon.com/Streacom-ST-FC8B-E...VCSO4PYH3S
2. ADATA PRO SP 600 32GB SSD http://www.amazon.com/Streacom-ST-FC8B-E...VCSO4PYH3S
3. AMD A6-6400k - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CPLG...UFUQOQTCYS
4. Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FYKN...PDKIKX0DER
5. Already have 2 * 4GB DDR3 for 8GB total
7. Already have 150W pico PSU w/ 144Watt brick

This is very similar to one of the windows builds, I am just wondering if this will be powerful enough as I mostly use intel CPUs in my builds and if I will have any driver issues with linux.

Thank you
Reply
(2014-11-24, 23:14)hi_its_me_scott Wrote: Hello all,

A couple of years ago I built a small htpc using this guide. A few months back lightning came in through the phone line and fried something on the mobo. The networking component? (I don't know what I'm talking about) Movies would still stream from my server, but they were choppy. I questioned the problem in an online forum looking for a solution. An awesome member helped me to see that the htpc was streaming at 10Mbs whereas it had been at 100Mbs. My options were to install a network card or a usb/ethernet adaptor. I purchased a fast usb/ethernet adaptor since my case is tiny and there was no room for another card...now that I think about it I don't even think there is an available slot if I had gone that route. But that didn't work and the choppiness remained.

Anyhow, I've been using my laptop in place of the htpc and I'm ready to get the problem fixed. I'm going to replace the mobo, but I noticed the one I used isn't available anymore. I can find it around the web for 2-3x what I originally paid for it, but I figure an upgrade will be cheaper. Can anyone suggest a replacement? The original mobo and parts I used are listed below. I don't think it would matter, but I mostly use the machine to run kodi.

Here are the components I used:

ASRock H67M-ITX Socket 1155/ Intel H67/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&V&GbE/ Mini-ITX Motherboard

XFX Radeon HD 6450 625M 1GB DDR3 HDMI DVI VGA PCI-E Video Card HD645XZQH2

Intel Core i3-2100 Dual-Core Processor 3.1 GHz 3 MB Cache LGA 1155 - BX80623I32100

Kingston Technology HyperX Blu 4 GB Kit (2x2GB Modules) 1333 (PC3 10666) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM KHX1333C9D3B1K2/4G

MI-008 Tower Black P4 Chassis with 250W Itx Psu+sata Power Supply

Thank you either way!

You could try looking on the used sites(Craigslist), and see if someone is getting rid of one when upgrading
Reply
(2015-01-03, 01:05)imanz Wrote: Is this any reason the "Windows" builds cannot be used for Linux? Specifically OpenELEC? I believe the drivers should be fine but could someone check my build and let me know because it seems every month there is a patch that will fix some specific issue.

Requirements:
1. 1080p with hd audio, typically watch dvd rips.. my average movie download is 5-6GB for a 1.5 hour movie.
2. Additionally will be connected to MythTV backend for live TV. MythTV backend is a VM running in ESXI 5.5 on a dedicated server
3. Silent

BUILD:
1. Streacom ST-FC8B - http://www.amazon.com/Streacom-ST-FC8B-E...VCSO4PYH3S
2. ADATA PRO SP 600 32GB SSD http://www.amazon.com/Streacom-ST-FC8B-E...VCSO4PYH3S
3. AMD A6-6400k - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CPLG...UFUQOQTCYS
4. Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FYKN...PDKIKX0DER
5. Already have 2 * 4GB DDR3 for 8GB total
7. Already have 150W pico PSU w/ 144Watt brick

This is very similar to one of the windows builds, I am just wondering if this will be powerful enough as I mostly use intel CPUs in my builds and if I will have any driver issues with linux.

Thank you

Hi, I shall start of by saying i am no expert Smile I have just made a HTPC using the same Board. If you change the APU AMD A6 6400K and replace it with a AMD A6-7400K you will have better specs and more future proofing.
1, price change is about €10 euros difference
2. Your chosen processor is FM2 maximum resolution supported is 1920x1200 when using an FM2 APU. with this board.
3 with the AMD A6-7400K The resolution of 4096x2160 can be supported when using an FM2+ APU; future proofed up to 4K
4. The M/board will run better with a FM2+ APU.
I have set this system up with openelec and windows 7 and runs fantastic on both. I have it setup on SSD drive for bootup and all data saved to external storage. it boots into openelec in seconds. windows is pretty fast also.
if you have any questions on setting this up, more than glad to help.
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Does anyone know or has the ITX case of Realan? They would know tells me that the components are good?
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I have the Prometheus box and I'm not sure what happened to it. My settings changed and the whole system is working weird. I am not able to stream movies or download anything. How can I reset the Prometheus box back to when I first Got it out of the box with the factory settings so I can easily get everything working? Is there a contact number for customer service because it's been 3 days and I have not gotten a response. I'm here panicking because I haven't been able to use the box and I'm scared there's no way I can get it to work. I need help and I'm becoming a little nervous that I lost my money on this. Please can anyone give me info or a contact number to the customer service because no one is responding to my emails. Can I send it back so they can reset it? Or can I simply do it at home with some basic instructions? Please help me I miss my Prometheus box ?
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You have to go to their forums for support, this forum does not support boxes with pirated material.
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Your Very First HTPC? But Where do You Start?36