2012-05-15, 23:36
So I've been a long time user of XBMC and a long time lurker of the forums. For the last couple of years my media consumption has been streaming content from a Buffalo LinkStation to a couple of ATV2s in the lounge and bedroom with the occasional streamed footie match.
I've become increasingly frustrated with the limitations of the ATVs (especially when the LOF plugin stopped working!) and the lack of upgradability of my NAS. Also, I'm a huge PC geek at heart and not having a desktop to play with for the last 3 years has finally got to me. When i saw the current price ATV2s are fetching on eBay it was decision made - out with the NAS, external drives, and Apple TVs, and in with a HTPC/Fileserver in the lounge and mITX VESA mounted HTPC for the bedroom.
I've taken some inspiration from the A6-pack build, thanks to Beer40oz, and gone with Fusion for both systems:
HTPC/Fileserver
AMD A6-3500
Gigabyte A75-UD2H
4GB Corsair XMS3 Classic
Silverstone ML03 Case
Novatech 430w modular PSU
120GB WD 2.5" drive (lying around)
2TB Seagate 3.5" drive (harvested from external)
1TB WD 3.5" drive (as above)
DVD/CDRW (lying around)
All in this has cost around £200 which is roughly what I got for one of my ATVs, and provide daily backups for 2 laptops, and an Android tablet as well as media serving/recording duties
Vesa Mount
Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3
Corsair XMS3 2GB
M350 Mini ITX Case
90w PicoPSU
XBMC Live USB
Again this should come in at around £200.
N.B. The drives for these are what I've had lying around - the boot drives I will hopefully upgrade to SSD after selling my NAS.
The bits for the FS are on their way so I'll try to update this thread as I get building. I'm after a recommendation for a low profile Freeview HD tuner card with remote (preferably compatible with XBMC PVR as I've found many cards but have no idea what to buy!
Hopefully this thread will give some people ideas but mainly it's just so I can get all my geek out instead of peeing off my girlfriend!
Cheers
I've become increasingly frustrated with the limitations of the ATVs (especially when the LOF plugin stopped working!) and the lack of upgradability of my NAS. Also, I'm a huge PC geek at heart and not having a desktop to play with for the last 3 years has finally got to me. When i saw the current price ATV2s are fetching on eBay it was decision made - out with the NAS, external drives, and Apple TVs, and in with a HTPC/Fileserver in the lounge and mITX VESA mounted HTPC for the bedroom.
I've taken some inspiration from the A6-pack build, thanks to Beer40oz, and gone with Fusion for both systems:
HTPC/Fileserver
AMD A6-3500
Gigabyte A75-UD2H
4GB Corsair XMS3 Classic
Silverstone ML03 Case
Novatech 430w modular PSU
120GB WD 2.5" drive (lying around)
2TB Seagate 3.5" drive (harvested from external)
1TB WD 3.5" drive (as above)
DVD/CDRW (lying around)
All in this has cost around £200 which is roughly what I got for one of my ATVs, and provide daily backups for 2 laptops, and an Android tablet as well as media serving/recording duties
Vesa Mount
Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3
Corsair XMS3 2GB
M350 Mini ITX Case
90w PicoPSU
XBMC Live USB
Again this should come in at around £200.
N.B. The drives for these are what I've had lying around - the boot drives I will hopefully upgrade to SSD after selling my NAS.
The bits for the FS are on their way so I'll try to update this thread as I get building. I'm after a recommendation for a low profile Freeview HD tuner card with remote (preferably compatible with XBMC PVR as I've found many cards but have no idea what to buy!
Hopefully this thread will give some people ideas but mainly it's just so I can get all my geek out instead of peeing off my girlfriend!
Cheers