[123slam]

Hello kodi users,

I'm a new user here and I would like to say hello to everyone.

I'm looking to build an htpc and I need your help/suggestions because it is the first htpc I build and on top on that, it is also the first system I am looking to build totally from scratch. From scratch, I mean I want to custom buy the part I want to assemble together. It is something I was looking to do for a while, but since I do not build system every week I choose this occasion to do it.

Why I am looking to build an htpc?

I tried the smart tvs....and I regret it. I bought a samsung smart tv and I am really disappointed by the general user experience it has to offer. I encountered more than enough problems to make me to not want to use the "smart" features again. I plan to build this htpc, return the smart tv to the store and buy a regular hd tv in replacement.


What am I looking for?

I decided to go with an htpc to maximize flexibility. By flexibility I mean to have the chance to fall back on a pc if for any reason the media server is not able to achieve what I want to do. For example, on the smart tv there was an application that I used called 'tou.tv' that is always crashing. If the smart tv was a htpc, I could always fall back on a browser, browse to tou.tv and listen to my shows directly from their web site. Not with a smart tv. One could argue that samsung smart tv have a browser that I could use to browse and watch my show. Haha, what a joke. Their browser does not render well, crash and is terribly slow. Not to mention I have never been able to scroll properly on web pages!? I'm looking for something that works.

I installed on my computer different media server: Kodi, Plex and Serviio. They are all doing the job correctly but I decided to go with Kodi because it seems to me to be the most feature rich and mature system of the three. Remember I am looking for flexibility. Also, the fact that it is open source helps. I have been able to find multiple add on that were doing what I want that originates from personal projects from other developers.

Other things that I am looking for by building an htpc:
- A silent machine
- Performance, but at a reasonable price.
- Something that will be proof for the future (Ultra HD).
- Watch shows and movies that are stored on my local NAS. They are stored using h264, 1080, ...
- Play games. (Steam and some roms)
- Listen to my music library on the NAS
- browse easily.

Some clarification on the game thing: I am not an hardcore gamer. I am not looking for a machine that can run the latest fps at maximum details. Most of the games I play are turn base and are not heavy on the specs.

I am not looking to add a tv tuner because I do not watch tv. I do not even have the cable at home.

So, in a nutshell, I am looking to connect a computer via hdmi to my tv and enjoy the features of a media server while being able to fall back on the computer in case the media server limits me in some way.

The hardware so far:

I shop on newegg.ca for the parts, but open to buy parts elsewhere.

AMD A8-7600 Kaveri Quad-Core - 65w
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6819113371
Intel is too pricey. The AMD A10-7800 performance does not justify the price jump in comparison to the A8-7600

ASRock FM2A78M-HD+ Micro ATX
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6813157482
The price is good, but it lack ddr3 2100 ram speed. The other motherboard I was looking is over 50$ additional. I decided to stick with this model. Is it a good decision? Is the speed difference bet ween 2100 and 1866 notifiable? Is it worth the investment?

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) ddr3 1866
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6820231455
Good review, good price + heat spreader

Intel 530 ssd - 120g.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6820167180
I had good experiences with Intel in the past. I choose the 120g because most of the data is on my NAS anyway.

Silverstone GD05B-USB3.0 micro atx
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6811163205
I have no experience with cases. Seems good. Great ventilation. Good review. Open to suggestions.

SeaSonic SSR-360GP 360W 80+ gold
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6817151117
Read good review on it. Does it have sufficient power?


Noctua NH-L9a 92mm SSO2 CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6835608030
I am afraid to take a bigger CPU cooler and it won't fit in the case. How can I know?

Keyboard Logitech K830 920-006081
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6823126361

remote Rosewill RHRC-11002
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6880101008

I own a copy of windows 8 at home. Since I want to have a flexible and compatible htpc, I will use this copy as my OS.

Couple of additional questions for you:

- Is everything compatible?
- Do you think the system will be noisy?
- Do you think it is powerful enough for what I want?

I would like to have your comments and suggestions.

Also, please tell me if I am making a big mistake.

Thank you,
JF

[Ned Scott]

Off hand, maybe a different remote. The Rosewill one seems kinda "meh". Not sure about the rest, since you're balancing this for being a good living room game machine, and I don't know a lot about that area. Nothing jumps out as "bad", though :)

[LazerBlue]

I have the GD06 case which is the identical case just a different front cover and I love it. I have an AMD A10 and from experience would say to junk the stock AMD cooler. They are loud. I used the one that Silverstone recommends and I like it, but you gotta find your own fans. Your power supply should be me than enough, I don't think my set up with 4 drives gets above 250Watt.
Any reason for that particular keyboard? I use the K400r and love it. Had it almost two years now and still the original batteries. I'm always forgetting to turn it off too.

[123slam]

Thanks for the reviews.

It is funny that the part where I did not psend much time investigating are the 2 first comment I receive:the remote and the keyboard!

So to answers your comments:

@ned
remote: I really do not know remotes and which are good/bad. I will spend some time reading reviews I guess. Any suggestions?

@LazerBlue
keyboard: black lite keys! This is why I choose that one over the k400. But again, the price is double so I am not so sure. Although, your positive comment on the K400 makes me confident that either of those is good.

I am glad I took the A8 over the A10 cpu if it is so loud. It reinforce my decision.

Thanks for the comments on the fan. It made me do some research. The case comes with 3 120mm fans but the case has 2 additional 80 mm fan that are not included. I will order one to see how it goes and adjust if I need to add another one.

Thank you.

[LazerBlue]

@LazerBlue
keyboard: black lite keys! This is why I choose that one over the k400. But again, the price is double so I am not so sure. Although, your positive comment on the K400 makes me confident that either of those is good.

I don't miss the backlight. I have both the white and black version and have no problem when I need to use it when the lights are all off. The light of the TV is usually enough.

Also it's not really the A10 that's the noise maker, it's the stock AMD fans. After replacing the heatsink with the Silverstone one made for that case and using a couple arctic f8 pwm fans and a custom shroud to direct the air out the back vents the only noise coming from my case is the single fan on the left side because I screwed up and didn't use a MB connector for that one and it runs on high all the time which normally wouldn't be bad, but because of the duel hot swap bays in mine, the flow is restricted so it's noisy (thinking about swapping out that 120mm for an 80mm next time I open it up). You should be fine with your case.

[123slam]

Thank you for your help.

I ended buying the K400 keyboard. Mainly because of the battery life. Also it was cheaper. This helps.

I also changed the motherboard to get the memory running at 2100.

And last thing, instead of getting 8G, I got 16G. Yeah..never too much of this.

See you around. As soon as the build is complete, I will come for questions about kodi itself.