1st Time HTPC
#1
Good day all,

I have been a long time fan of XBMC but I have never really had the opportunity to have a dedicated HTPC. Recently my original boxee box recently died and I thought this would be the prefect opportunity to create a HTPC that could fully run XBMC in all of its glory. I have done a fair amount of research on the hardware that would be needed to run XBMC however I want to be absolutely correct before I purchase anything. I can't think of a better place to ask what hardware would work well with XBMC than the forums. My budget is around $300 to $500 range, I'd like to keep on the low side if possible. So with that in mind I give you a part listing of what I have come up with:

CPU AMD A6-5400K 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor[4] $61.99 @ NCIX US
Motherboard MSI FM2-A75IA-E53 Mini ITX FM2 Motherboard[5] $82.99 @ Microcenter
Memory Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory[6] $33.60 @ NCIX US
Storage Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk[7] $79.99 @ Newegg
Case Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case[8] $39.99 @ Microcenter
Power Supply Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply[9] $24.99 @ Newegg

Total Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. $323.55

A couple of notes on the parts. I realize the SSD is a little big but I'm actually going to swap it for a smaller ssd I already own. I also own a Synology NAS that has been running for the better part of 2 years so I don't need a lot of on board storage. I'm a little iffy on the motherboard but everything else seems to highly recommended. In and all advice, suggestions is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading and helping.
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#2
I don't know your requirements, but I have this combo on two HTPCs and it works great for everything up to SBS 3D:

http://www.amazon.com/ECS-Elitegroup-Mot...s+itx+1155

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Celeron-2-60...eron+g1610

Total of $93 for CPU and motherboard. All the rest of your stuff looks fine.
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#3
This will be OK if you want to run Windows. If you want to run Linux, you're better off with Intel since it has better GPU driver support.

For mini-ITX builds, I much prefer Intel. There's just a lot of heat coming out of an AMD processor. Look at the Haswell Pentium G3320 + ASUS H81I-PLUS.

(2013-09-11, 18:30)cwide Wrote: I don't know your requirements, but I have this combo on two HTPCs and it works great for everything up to SBS 3D:

http://www.amazon.com/ECS-Elitegroup-Mot...s+itx+1155

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Celeron-2-60...eron+g1610

Total of $93 for CPU and motherboard. All the rest of your stuff looks fine.

I've used that motherboard in several builds too and it's a good one. I built a whole bunch of office PCs last Christmastime (with G530) and everyone still loves them.

These days though I'd go Haswell unless budget necessitates something cheaper.
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#4
The only real requirements that I have is that it can play pretty much any video format I can think of. I'd prefer it run Windows as I have little to no experience with Linux. You all have had good experience with a the Celeron? Is the i3 worth the cost?
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#5
The A6 will have no problems,..and I'd suggest Windows 7.
Linux is great,..but this is not the time to learn a new OS. Wink
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#6
The G1610 is more powerful than the A6, but both will be fine since you have an SSD. For HTPC use in Windows you can't go wrong with either. A6 probably has an advantage for light-medium gaming.
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#7
In my experience the A6-5400K has a distinct disadvantage when cooling in a mini-ITX case. I don't even make AMD mini-ITX systems anymore because of it. With 2 x 120mm you'll probably be ok though. Just food for thought.
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