[Odrax]

Hello all,

I've been researching this forum and i've learned so much and now i'm very close to having the HTPC of my dreams but I would like some input from the community since I am still very new to this

Here is what i will be using it for:

watching blurays (on HDD mostly), netflix, playing old school games (mario bros, metal slug etc) on emulators, browsing the web, making use of the tv tuner. Also, it'll be connected to a surround system and a 50 inch tv.

Here is the equipment i plan on using (havent purchase anything, yet)

CPU: Intel Core i3-3225 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($132.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4-M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($107.03 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($128.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($128.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone ML03B HTPC Case ($60.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Masscool FD08025S1M4 31.7 CFM 80mm Fan
Case Fan: Masscool FD08025S1M4 31.7 CFM 80mm Fan
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On ihes112-04 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($90.91 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Lenovo N5902 Wireless Mini Keyboard w/Optical Mouse
Other: Hynix 1RX8 2GB DDR3
Other: Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 Media Center Kit Dual TV Tuner w/ IR Remote PCI-E x 1
Total: $784.88
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-01 16:46 EDT-0400)

I'd appreciate any advice on the following:

1. I have 2 case fans included in the list, but i see some people adding a CPU fan as well. Should i be adding one?

2. Is the Haswell i3 worth waiting for or should i just stick with this ivy bridge processor?

3. Is there anything that you guys would change/modify/add or remove?

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you all in advance


UPDATE: I would love to run Civilization V on this but i'm more of a console gamer so this and maybe 1 or 2 other games i would install but gaming will not be the priority.

[Stildawn]

For what you are wanting to do it looks to me to be well overpowered. You could cut down on alot of the hardware specs and still be in the clear.

[Odrax]

For what you are wanting to do it looks to me to be well overpowered. You could cut down on alot of the hardware specs and still be in the clear.

yea i understand it's a little overkill for what i'm using it for but the considering it is not a huge price difference between certain hardware, i chose the better but more expensive one. I went way over budget. I might go with a pentium, 64gb SSD and no blu-ray reader it would save me around $150

[Kib]

Moved to hardware forum.

[WebSheriff]

I would say get a smaller SSD to save some money, enough space to store Windows and probably XBMC. All your other media/games can just go on the HDDs.

[joelbaby]

Put the hard drives into a NAS (and don't use the green ones).

[Dougie Fresh]

It looks like you only have 2GB of RAM? For Windows, I would recommend 4GB.

Samsung 840 is also a good SSD and usually $10-20 cheaper than the M4. The Sandisk Ultra has also treated me well.

If you want a quieter fan, look at the Gelid 80mm PWM fan. It's all I use in my mini-ITX builds.

[Odrax]

Moved to hardware forum.

as requested, thank you.

I would say get a smaller SSD to save some money, enough space to store Windows and probably XBMC. All your other media/games can just go on the HDDs.

that was my initial plan but the price difference is not much for twice the storage! just seems smarter

Put the hard drives into a NAS (and don't use the green ones).

i already went over budget as it is. i would like to, but i cannot afford it at the moment.

It looks like you only have 2GB of RAM? For Windows, I would recommend 4GB.

Samsung 840 is also a good SSD and usually $10-20 cheaper than the M4. The Sandisk Ultra has also treated me well.

If you want a quieter fan, look at the Gelid 80mm PWM fan. It's all I use in my mini-ITX builds.

i have 2 x 2GB ram that i took out of my MBP when i upgraded the ram on it so i have 4GB actually. and ill look into the 840 and the sandisks as well, thanks!

[Odrax]

this thread just changed my perspective on things, time to start over

[apeg]

no question about it, go with a nice big nas (redundancy will also make you life easier down the line) drobo's are great for that but a little high priced for my liking. There are alternatives to drobo but i haven't found one that does it sooo slickly

after that just get yourself a nice nvida based HTPC, nice and small... don't build your own, there is no way to make your own truly silent unless you go water and by then its not worth the cost.

Acer used to have some killer unites designed for exactly this, about $300 and they were built for xbmcbuntu. but it looks like they may be getting a little greedy as the only one on their site right now is $500 Im hearing OK things about the zotoc boxes (get bare bones if you can and save yourself $100 on windows)

good luck

[cwide]

I built my own nas with a Celeron G1610 and a Fractal Design Node 304 case. It's great.

Hide that thing somewhere and then just have a small Openelec client.

Should spend about the same amount of money.

[Odrax]

no question about it, go with a nice big nas (redundancy will also make you life easier down the line) drobo's are great for that but a little high priced for my liking. There are alternatives to drobo but i haven't found one that does it sooo slickly

after that just get yourself a nice nvida based HTPC, nice and small... don't build your own, there is no way to make your own truly silent unless you go water and by then its not worth the cost.

Acer used to have some killer unites designed for exactly this, about $300 and they were built for xbmcbuntu. but it looks like they may be getting a little greedy as the only one on their site right now is $500 Im hearing OK things about the zotoc boxes (get bare bones if you can and save yourself $100 on windows)

good luck

thanks for the advice but there's is nothing like something that you create and put together yourself. I'll look into the drobos but i'll most likely be building both a NAS box and HTPC

---

I built my own nas with a Celeron G1610 and a Fractal Design Node 304 case. It's great.

Hide that thing somewhere and then just have a small Openelec client.

Should spend about the same amount of money.

this is actually the case i am considering. I'll update the thread once i do some more research on what kind of hardware i'll be putting into my NAS