Kodi Community Forum

Well I have had enough of using my WD Live box and its time for an upgrade.
Figured why not build an HTPC for xmas...

Noise is not a concern as it will be mounted in my AV rack thats in the storage room.
Projector shoots thru the wall

Want the full size case with the rack handles as it will match my other amplifiers in the rack.

Right now I need this box to be able to play all 1080p content, also play a few games here and there.
Internet access etc. basically be a media hub for all AV in the basement.

** At this point I didnt include a seperate video card, but would add if needed down the road. Any issues
with this setup ?

Real quick this is what I have sourced. My budget is between $750 - $1000
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


RAM - Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) - $71.99

Corsair Force Series GT 120 GB SATA 2.5-Inch SATA III Solid State Drive - $117.98

IOGEAR Multimedia Keyboard with Laser Trackball and Scroll Wheel - $33

Western Digital Caviar Green 3 TB SATA III 64 MB - $135.99

Antec EarthWatts EA-380D Green 380 Watt - $39.99

Case - Silverstone Tek GD07B Aluminum Extended ATX - $135

Silverstone Tek Rackmount Ear Kit - $15.99

Motherboard - ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel - $169.99

CPU - Intel Core i7-3820 Quad-Core Processor 3.6 GHz 10 MB Cache - $279.99

Cheers

SK

overkill ram, motherboard and cpu.
ram: 4gb for htpc 8 for gaming
motherboard: any for your socket (just needs the inputs/outputs wanted)
cpu: i3 3225 will be overkill enough

Whats a great MB for the i3 3225 ? Need HDMi out (Video + Audio) USB3 etc

Cheers

SK

(2012-11-14, 20:50)RaggSokk3n Wrote: [ -> ]overkill ram, motherboard and cpu.
ram: 4gb for htpc 8 for gaming
motherboard: any for your socket (just needs the inputs/outputs wanted)
cpu: i3 3225 will be overkill enough

take a look at my HTPC builds(link in my signature) they're booth i3225 and I'm very happy with them

If it were me, I would want a heftier power supply for the setup you have listed above. Of course, what you have listed above is overkill for all but extreem gamers etc. "A few games here and there" does not sound like extreeme gaming fanatic to me.
What you describe does not seem to indicate a need for strong multi-tasking so a dual core should be plenty.
If you are going to start putting drives in there you might still want to up your power supply.

(2012-11-14, 20:39)Smurfkilla Wrote: [ -> ]Motherboard - ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel - $169.99
CPU - Intel Core i7-3820 Quad-Core Processor 3.6 GHz 10 MB Cache - $279.99

An LGA2011 CPU won't work in an LGA1155 motherboard.

As for the power supply, 380W will be more than sufficient for any i7 LGA1155 build that is using the integrated graphics. Half of that would be too.

Okay, people are spending way to much money on machines that will only be used for XBMC and light gaming. Here is a correct build:

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Public...r=28947348

8GB of ram is only like $5 more than 4GB nowadays, no reason not to buy it. And if your going for something not high end, please go AMD. Yes, this processor won't compare with the 200$+ intels, but its $90 for a quad core at 3.4GHZ.

And this video card should be able to do your basic games, but of course you can throw in a more expensive one if you like, however I have one of these and it actually plays the majority of games at a respectable level of detail and frame rate. Just please try this one out first, you could save yourself a ton of money.

And don't worry about the PSU that comes with the case, this system should use very little power and it won't really matter. I would just wait to buy a better PSU if this fails (I use to always replace case PSU's until I saw that my friend with a 5870 has been running off a 280watt no name china supply for 2 years)

Hope this helps you save $400, go buy 2

(2012-11-17, 23:28)Xeno43 Wrote: [ -> ]Okay, people are spending way to much money on machines that will only be used for XBMC and light gaming. Here is a correct build:

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Public...r=28947348

8GB of ram is only like $5 more than 4GB nowadays, no reason not to buy it. And if your going for something not high end, please go AMD. Yes, this processor won't compare with the 200$+ intels, but its $90 for a quad core at 3.4GHZ.

And this video card should be able to do your basic games, but of course you can throw in a more expensive one if you like, however I have one of these and it actually plays the majority of games at a respectable level of detail and frame rate. Just please try this one out first, you could save yourself a ton of money.

And don't worry about the PSU that comes with the case, this system should use very little power and it won't really matter. I would just wait to buy a better PSU if this fails (I use to always replace case PSU's until I saw that my friend with a 5870 has been running off a 280watt no name china supply for 2 years)

Hope this helps you save $400, go buy 2

Thanks! This is awesome and I don't understand why XBMC doesn't do this once a year for the benefit of the community. Providing annually updated reference hardware would also ease their testing and development somewhat, I would think.

My only quibble is that this is a great system for light gaming, but if you're not going to game and you want to run Linux, I would question whether AMD is the right choice given their poor Linux support historically. I wish I could find a list like this using the i3-3225.

The processor only really becomes a bottleneck when you try to run games on like high or ultra, until then its the video card that does almost all the heavy lifting.

Oh, and I always assume Windows as soon as I hear gaming. However thanks to steam, I'm pretty sure AMD has been stepping up their game recently. Cross your fingers for Steam Linux becoming a real thing! Can finally say goodbye to windows for good!

And here's an intel version, was curious about the price difference.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Public...r=25897627

There's $30 in rebates too...

Anyone who said a console is a better deal then a PC is crazy :/ tack on another $100 to the video card and you have a system that can run Crysis 2 on Ultra.

(2012-11-19, 03:32)Xeno43 Wrote: [ -> ]And here's an intel version, was curious about the price difference.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Public...r=25897627

Can I play 3D ISO's with the above?

Probably? I've never given a damn about 3d, but a quick Google says yes.