the eternal "what hardware for HTPC" post

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floydie

474 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#240895 1-Oct-2018 17:08

hi guys... looking to upgrade my 7 year old HTPC over the summer ..

whats the latest "go to" mobo/cpu/ram combo for an HTPC...

itll be replacing a e4300/9600gt combo.

MUST have HDMI, optical audio out

i already have an ssd but maybe go for a new storage HDD...whats the bang for buck out there (currently running samsung spinpoint drives)

cheers in advance

PANiCnz

999 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 161

#2099560 1-Oct-2018 17:42

What operating system are you planning to run?

floydie

474 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 49

#2099588 1-Oct-2018 18:48

ill be running windows seven pro 64bit.

might add a tv tuner card for kodi recording.

space isnt an issue. currently got a big silverstone case so any of the usual size mobos will be an option

gbwelly

1263 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 776

#2099590 1-Oct-2018 18:53

I finally gave up on htpc last year and switched to nvidia shield. Best move ever. I am team plex but the same should apply for kodi. Plex server + hdhomerun + shield = everything with one remote.

JimmyH

2898 posts

Uber Geek
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#2099594 1-Oct-2018 19:18

Depends on budget and use case. I keep toying with this as well and have accumulated a few parts, but haven't had the time or the budget to pull the trigger and complete it.

For recording, terrestrial or satellite, you can get single, dual and quad tuner cards. Personally, I would install at least a dual terrestrial tuner, and probably at least a single satellite one as well since I already have a dish. I would also install something that can record HD over HDMI and a HDCP stripper (since I already have both lying around).

Hard drive - something suited and rated for continuous use, so not a WD Green etc.

As for processor etc, depends on use. If you are going to play off the HTPC then a low-rated CPU (i3 or better) would be fine, as the graphics card would do most of the heavy lifting. But if you are going to use it as a Plex server you will need something beefier to deal with transcodes to your clients. For the graphics card, it depends on whether or not you want 4K. If not there are any number of cheap cards that will be fine, but if you do want this then you will need to do careful research.

For storage, I would just have enough drive space to record stuff and process the recordings. For longer-term media storage I would look at a NAS for a big storage pool, lower power consumption and fault tolerance.