Very Budget HTPC

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steadysteve

107 posts

Master Geek

#509405 20-Aug-2011 18:00

michaelt:
Here's a slightly more expensive alternative that does have HDMI: http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=14416&ref=pricespy

Personally, I still chose the Sandy Bridge Pentium G620 option though.

i do like the look of that as well - seems to have a cpu fan. do you prefer sandy bridge because it is a bit gruntier?

michaelt

425 posts

Ultimate Geek

#509406 20-Aug-2011 18:08

Yes, that case works as both a tower and desktop.

EDIT: There are a few caveats with that case though. First, the power LED is excessively bright (although you can always disconnect it or tape over it). Second, as mentioned, the internal airflow guide only really works with Core 2 Duo's (I just removed it entirely). Third, the 4th expansion slot is very close to the PSU intake, so it's best not to use it. Fourth, long optical drives overhang the CPU fan a bit, so you'll need to pay attention to the drive length if you want to install one. Finally, the case gets quite cramped once everything's installed. Cut my fingers a few times when setting it up. Still, not a bad option overall.

The main reason I prefer Sandy Bridge is CPU performance. The cheapest Sandy Bridge (Pentium G620) is still much faster than the E-350.

The second reason is that I needed more expansion slots than mini-ITX provides, and E-350 m-ATX motherboards are fairly expensive.

Both are probably a good choice though. AMD Llano's another option to consider, but it costs more.

EDIT: Also, if anyone's interested, I might be willing to sell my system (Inwin BK-623, MSI H61M-E33, Pentium G620, 4GB RAM + maybe a HDD or some TV tuners) for the price of parts if anyone's interested. It's already assembled and working. It works well (except for one of the TV tuners), but I wouldn't mind the chance to build something a bit different.

steadysteve

107 posts

Master Geek

#510257 23-Aug-2011 08:01

tempting, michael, but for reasons that i can't fully remember now, i have always gone with AMD. it would be hard to change now. and then there's the thrill of a new build - wouldn't want to pass that by :-)

kiwijunglist

2981 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#512925 27-Aug-2011 17:56

I also did research and am gonna pop in the Intel G840 (similar to G620) into my next htpc.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

smac

333 posts

Ultimate Geek

#513061 28-Aug-2011 12:55

michaelt: Yes, It's a Sandy Bridge motherboard and CPU, the GPU is integrated onto the CPU.

The integrated GPU is just fine for video playback and has onboard H.264 decoding, etc. It's not really powerful enough for most games though.

Also, you should note that Sandy Bridge graphics can't output 23.976Hz precisely, if that's important for you. It handles 24Hz fine, and I think there's a patch to allow it to do 23.98Hz.

Finally, I can't seem to access the BIOS over HDMI (works fine over VGA) but I think that's just because my TV won't accept the BIOS resolution over HDMI.

Can someone please clarify the impact of this for me? For an HTPC that is doing HD freeview, DVD and one day blu-ray, when is 23.976Hz used?

I'm thinking of upgrading my E5300 HTPC to a socket 1155 board but just wondering what is needed in the way of CPU to not need a separate GPU card?

Here's me thinking my TV is connected at 60Hz....

michaelt

425 posts

Ultimate Geek

#513112 28-Aug-2011 17:08

smac:
michaelt: Yes, It's a Sandy Bridge motherboard and CPU, the GPU is integrated onto the CPU.

The integrated GPU is just fine for video playback and has onboard H.264 decoding, etc. It's not really powerful enough for most games though.

Also, you should note that Sandy Bridge graphics can't output 23.976Hz precisely, if that's important for you. It handles 24Hz fine, and I think there's a patch to allow it to do 23.98Hz.

Finally, I can't seem to access the BIOS over HDMI (works fine over VGA) but I think that's just because my TV won't accept the BIOS resolution over HDMI.

Can someone please clarify the impact of this for me? For an HTPC that is doing HD freeview, DVD and one day blu-ray, when is 23.976Hz used?

I'm thinking of upgrading my E5300 HTPC to a socket 1155 board but just wondering what is needed in the way of CPU to not need a separate GPU card?

Here's me thinking my TV is connected at 60Hz....

You can run everything at 60Hz without problems.

23.976Hz is the frame rate usually used for film. Quite a few blu-ray's are encoded at that rate. Your PC can interpolate that to 60Hz easily enough, but some people prefer to output a 23.976Hz signal to keep as true to the original source as possible. You need 23.976Hz source material, a PC capable of handling it and a TV capable of accepting it.

It's not critical, and it's quite possible your TV doesn't support it anyway.

smac

333 posts

Ultimate Geek

#513284 29-Aug-2011 08:19

Righto thanks for that. SO I'll worry about it about the same time I start thinking I can hear tonal differences between coax digital audio cables......

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blur

384 posts

Ultimate Geek

#513285 29-Aug-2011 08:21

And can you?

My HTPC - Case Antec Fusion Remote, MOBO Intel DH67BLB3, CPU Intel Core i5-2400S 2.5 GHz, RAM 8GB DDR3 1333, HDD 120Gig Corsair Force Series 3 SSD system | WD Caviar Black 2TB data, Tuners Black Gold BGT3595 dual DVB-S/S2, dual DVB-T, Video nVIDIA GeForce GT 520, 1024MB, Sound Intel® High Definition Audio (onboard), OS Windows 7 x64

smac

333 posts

Ultimate Geek

#513298 29-Aug-2011 09:10

errrm...no.

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