Checking new Media Center Build

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TrevorIvory

26 posts

Geek

#136294 22-Nov-2013 08:53

It’s been a while since I refreshed my htpc and I’m now dispensing with Sky/DVB Viewer etc. and running with Freeview HD, using W7 Media Center.

Any issues with this build? The PC will be in the garage which is directly under the TV so noise etc. not an issue. HVR 4000 (PCI) and HVR 2200 (PCI-e) are the only cards I’m proposing. I think it should be fine, although not 100% sure on the motherboard (and perhaps the brand of SSD). Doesn’t need to be mATX, but it does need PCI.

HTPC duties only – no gaming.

Cheers

ASRock B85M HDS Socket 1150, Intel B85 Chipset, mATX Form, 2 X DDR3 DIMM, DVI/VGA/HDMI, 4 X SATA3, USB3
Intel Haswell Core i3 4130 3.4Ghz LGA1150 3MB (For H81, B85,H87, Z87 based Motherboard)
Intel 80GB 335 Series SATA3 NAND Flash 2.5" Solid-State Drives ( SSD )
STRONTIUM Hynix 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 Single Module PC12800 w/ Lifetime Warranty
WD Green 2TB SATA3 3.5" 64M Hard Drives ( WD20EZRX )

Mattv

242 posts

Master Geek

#939293 22-Nov-2013 21:30

I must admit I haven't built anything for a couple of years but looks pretty good to me - the sort of thing I might build myself soon.

My only thought is are the Green drives the best for TV - ie constant live TV buffer and regular recording and deleting. They are great for longer term archiving or ripped movies etc but maybe you want one WD Red or Seagate/Samsung 7200rpm drive for TV as well as the greens? I may be too far behind the play now though so take this with a grain of salt as they say!

My 2 cents anyway.

RickW

298 posts

Ultimate Geek

#939742 24-Nov-2013 08:11

I have a similar build to you, haswell i5. I would not recommend the wd green drives from personal experience for recording tv. go for a faster drive as the tv drive if you plan on having many shows recording and using comskip to mark the adds. we use a 2tb wd black for tv and 3tb wd red drives for "backed up" movies and tv series and it works really well for us. Also have you given any thought to mediaportal instead of WMC we switched about 18 months ago and haven't looked back

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#939817 24-Nov-2013 12:04

I have had two low-use green drives fail in the last six months (an older 1.5 TB and a newish 2TB). Unfortunatley, one was the backup copy of the other. As a consequence I now have to restore a large collection of backup files from optical disks (which fortunately I burned as files accumulated).

I'm now off the green drives, and won't be buying any more.