HTPC build - motherboard and CPU combo

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › HTPC build - motherboard and CPU combo

mattyb

254 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 19

#89146 26-Aug-2011 10:17

Hi All,

Just looking for some comments on my motherboard and CPU combo for a new HTPC build I'm working on.

Has anyone had any experience with the following:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128440

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103871

I have an opportunity to visit the US soon so hoping to take advantage of good prices from NewEgg.

Cheers

dale77

298 posts

Ultimate Geek

#512919 27-Aug-2011 17:48

The X4 840 gets my recommendation over the 640 at 95W.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103921

HTPC: Antec Fusion 430, Intel i3, Gigabyte 1050, Corsair 4x1Gb, Hauppauge WinTv, Logitech z-5500, Logitech Harmony 525, Yamaha Rx-v6a, Samsung KS8000 4k, Windows 10, Mediaportal 1.30, BLU-RAY: Panasonic UB820

kiwijunglist

2983 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 135

ID Verified

#512924 27-Aug-2011 17:53

Consider also the Intel G840

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

mattyb

254 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 19

#513478 29-Aug-2011 14:24

Have added a few more goodies to the mix now. Comments please!!

Qty.Product DescriptionSavingsTotal Price1

OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G 2.5" MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Item #:N82E16820227550
Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
$159.99
$97.991 GIGABYTE GA-880GM-USB3 AM3+/AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

GIGABYTE GA-880GM-USB3 AM3+/AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

GIGABYTE GA-880GM-USB3 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
Item #:N82E16813128440
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$94.99
$89.991

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
Item #:N82E16820231193
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
$32.991

Antec New Solution NSK2480 Black/Silver 0.8mm cold-rolled steel MicroATX Desktop Computer Case 380W Power Supply

Antec New Solution NSK2480 Black/Silver Computer Case
Item #:N82E16811129034
Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
$117.991

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 32-bit
Item #:N82E16832116983
Return Policy: Software Standard Return Policy
$99.99
$91.981

AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.2GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDX840WFGMBOX

AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.2GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
Item #:N82E16819103921
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
$104.99Grand Total:$535.93

dale77

298 posts

Ultimate Geek

#513592 29-Aug-2011 18:24

I have the Antec Fusion which is based off the nsk2480 design. It is a nice case. The fusion has a volume knob (unnecessary) and an LED display (unnecessary) and a IR receiver (nice to have). If I was buying again I would go for a case without the display/volume...

Also, can you find a case with a front USB3?

The Fusion case, and probably the nsk2480 is not overgenerous height wise. I was unable to put a passive graphic card in there because the heatsink was too tall for the case to be shut...

SSD is overkill for an HTPC, I get by with a single slow WD green. Building again I would go with a faster mechanical drive for the OS and a big secondary green.

Check that the 4250 graphics on-board allows HD-audio passthrough if you want to interface witha receiver, assuming you aren't putting a graphics card in this.

dale77

298 posts

Ultimate Geek

#513692 29-Aug-2011 21:47

dale77: Check that the 4250 graphics on-board allows HD-audio passthrough if you want to interface with a receiver, assuming you aren't putting a graphics card in this.

According to renethx at AVSForum, the 4250 supports only stereo, DD and DTS bitstreaming over HDMI. If HD-Audio is in your future you will need another solution.

You can of course just use your analog outs from the 8 channel on-board audio, this works for me well enough.

mattyb

254 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 19

#515000 1-Sep-2011 12:12

You're right about the HD Audio. I'm now looking at this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131631R

Do you know if this supports HD Audio?

New World

Shop on-line at New World now for your groceries (affiliate link).

elkano

160 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#515117 1-Sep-2011 15:14

SSD is overkill for an HTPC, I get by with a single slow WD green. Building again I would go with a faster mechanical drive for the OS and a big secondary green.

I think it depends on the usage of the HTPC. I shut down my PC overnight (unless I'm recording) and turn it on when I get home in the evening and the 60GB SSD I use is much better in terms of startup time.

If you're leaving the HTPC on then theres no point to a SSD. Also, once you've started your frontend there is also not much point as it behaves about the same as a mechanical drive.

I completely agree about a faster mechanical drive though. I have a 7200rpm 500GB drive I use for storing recorded TV (I hear some people have had issues recording multiple channels while on a 5400rpm green drive). For storing movies and music though a faster drive is generally unnecessary and just generates more heat.

HTPC: Silverstone SST-LC16MR, AMD Athlon II X4 640 AM3, Hauppauge HVR-4000 & HVR-3000, Gigabyte MA-870A-UD3, Sapphire Radeon 6670 Ultimate, Asus Xonar Slim, LG GGC-H20L, MediaPortal 1.2.0, Win 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
Remote: Logitech Harmony 785
TV: Samsung PS50C7000
AV Reciever: Pioneer VSX-1018
Speakers: Klipsch synergy range F-2 Floorstands, S-2 surrounds, B-2 rear surrounds, C-2 centre, Sub 10.

blur

384 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#515266 1-Sep-2011 19:01

elkano:

SSD is overkill for an HTPC, I get by with a single slow WD green. Building again I would go with a faster mechanical drive for the OS and a big secondary green.

I think it depends on the usage of the HTPC. I shut down my PC overnight (unless I'm recording) and turn it on when I get home in the evening and the 60GB SSD I use is much better in terms of startup time.

If you're leaving the HTPC on then theres no point to a SSD. Also, once you've started your frontend there is also not much point as it behaves about the same as a mechanical drive.

I completely agree about a faster mechanical drive though. I have a 7200rpm 500GB drive I use for storing recorded TV (I hear some people have had issues recording multiple channels while on a 5400rpm green drive). For storing movies and music though a faster drive is generally unnecessary and just generates more heat.

I also disagree that a SSD drive is over-kill for a HTPC. I've just installed a 120GB SSD for the OS, applications (MediaPortal) and database. I find that overall the whole system is snappier (including start-up and shut down), even inside MediaPortal where it is drawing on the DB and thumbnails in say My TV Series, My Music with fanart etc.

I made the mistake with a Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB drive when the were first released. I had a terrible time with stuttering video (standard definition) and have been put off "green" drives ever since.

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

dale77

298 posts

Ultimate Geek

#515376 1-Sep-2011 21:41

mattyb: You're right about the HD Audio. I'm now looking at this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131631R

Do you know if this supports HD Audio?

Both your original board and that one support HD Audio output via the ALC889 or ALC892 sound hardware. If you are happy decoding the HD audio in the HTPC and sending it out over 8 channel analog you are fine, although you need blu-ray software to decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-Master Audio.

If you want to send the digital HD-audio unmolested to a receiver to do the decoding (common in the HTPC world, but do YOU want to do it?) you need an HDMI port that can do that. In the AMD past, only the HDMI on discrete cards could do that. So you need to add a discrete 5xxx level card to a motherboard with HD 4290 graphics to achieve HD-audio over hdmi.

Or...

You could look at the new llano A series AMD chips and an FM1 mobo. These cpus have on-chip 6xxx level graphics capable of supporting bitstreaming.

dale77

298 posts

Ultimate Geek

#515385 1-Sep-2011 21:52

Dale77:
SSD is overkill for an HTPC, I get by with a single slow WD green. Building again I would go with a faster mechanical drive for the OS and a big secondary green.

elkano:
I think it depends on the usage of the HTPC. I shut down my PC overnight (unless I'm recording) and turn it on when I get home in the evening and the 60GB SSD I use is much better in terms of startup time.

blur:
I also disagree that a SSD drive is over-kill for a HTPC. I've just installed a 120GB SSD for the OS, applications (MediaPortal) and database. I find that overall the whole system is snappier (including start-up and shut down), even inside MediaPortal where it is drawing on the DB and thumbnails in say My TV Series, My Music with fanart etc.

Well yeah, agreed - SSD is much better performance wise. But SSDs have that cost factor. I guess if you are only paying an extra $100 for a 60Gb SSD os drive. It gets harder to justify for $300+ for a 120Gb

I run a WD Green 1Tb (and yes this is my third one, the other two were broken) and do not notice *performance* issues on the HTPC.

rhysee

44 posts

Geek

#517396 6-Sep-2011 11:23

My new HTPC rig ..

Using Windows 7 MC , which works a treat , Thoughts anyone ?

Antec Fusion Remote Black HTPC Enclosure (No Powersupply) Dispatched
3/6/2011$349.00 1 $349.00 CL Extreme Asus P8H67-I Deluxe + 2500 + Corsair Combo Dispatched
3/6/2011$599.00 1 $599.00 Seasonic X-Series Fanless 400W PSU 80PLUS Gold Dispatched
3/6/2011$199.00 1 $199.00 Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB WD20EARS 64MB Cache SATAII Dispatched
3/6/2011$129.00 1 $129.00 Total:$1,276.00 Hauppauge WinTV HVR900HD Digital/Analog Hybird USB TV Tuner Dispatched
17/6/2011$125.00 1 $125.00

Regards Rhysee

System Specs:

Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Impact
Processor: Intel Devil's Canyon Core i5 4690K @4.50GHz 6MB LGA1150
Memory: Corsair CML16GX3M2A1600C9 Vengeance LP 16GB (2x8GB
Graphics Card #1: ASUS MATRIX-GTX980-P-4GD5
Monitor: Acer XB270H Abprz Black 27" 1ms 144Hz G-Sync Monitor
Storage #1: Boot Drive Samsung SM951 256GB AHCI
Storage #2: 2X RAID 0 Samsung 850 EVO Series 500GB
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H100i GTX Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 380T Mini ITX Chassis - Yellow
Power Supply: Corsair AX Series AX760i Digital 760W Modular Power Supply 80Plus Platinum
Mouse: Logitech M705 Unifying Marathon Mouse
Headset/Speakers: Creative Gigaworks T40 Series II 2 Channel Speaker
OS: UEFI Windows 10 Professional x64
Accessory #1: Logitech C920 HD Pro Full HD 1080p Webcam

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reven

3748 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 874

Trusted

#517401 6-Sep-2011 11:29

rhysee: My new HTPC rig ..

Using Windows 7 MC , which works a treat , Thoughts anyone ?

Antec Fusion Remote Black HTPC Enclosure (No Powersupply) Dispatched
3/6/2011$349.00 1 $349.00 CL Extreme Asus P8H67-I Deluxe + 2500 + Corsair Combo Dispatched
3/6/2011$599.00 1 $599.00 Seasonic X-Series Fanless 400W PSU 80PLUS Gold Dispatched
3/6/2011$199.00 1 $199.00 Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB WD20EARS 64MB Cache SATAII Dispatched
3/6/2011$129.00 1 $129.00 Total:$1,276.00 Hauppauge WinTV HVR900HD Digital/Analog Hybird USB TV Tuner Dispatched
17/6/2011$125.00 1 $125.00

personally i would go for a mac mini and a hdhomerun, around same cost, mac mini is small, quiet, great machine. also you can sell them off and get a good price second hand in a few years if you decide to upgrade again (they seem to only lose around 30% of their cost) or a Dell Zino HD as mentioned by freitasm here (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=84&topicid=89592)

i have a old HTPC in a large HTPC case just lying on my office floor that i doubt ill get more than $200 for, whereas a old mac mini around same specs i should get around $650 for on trademe.

smac

338 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 40

#518373 8-Sep-2011 08:23

kiwijunglist: Consider also the Intel G840

Have just put my HTPC back together using this cpu (changed from E5300 on a board with nvidia 9300 igpu) - am getting some pixelation when using the Win7 30 second skip. Will trying overclocking it to see if helps at all....not happy though.