Given the combination of sale prices, free shipping, 10% Bing CB, and Rebates, it seems like a good time to build a low-power consumption HTPC. I build my HTPC a couple of months ago, but I have still been following pricing. I spend about $420 for a similar setup. (and I thought that was a good deal!)
Disclaimers:
The deal is for HARDWARE ONLY. Adding Win7 and PowerDVD9 can cost somewhere in the range of $160, or less if you're a true FW'er. Myth is free alternative.
To keep costs down, I did not include a keyboard or mouse. I am assuming you have a keyboard and mouse that you can use to get everything working. Once up and running, you can use the included remote. A keyboard/mouse option is listed below.
To keep costs down, I went with the cheapest case. Some people may want something prettier. My HTPC is behind a wall, so I didn't care. An alternative is listed below.
Some of the rebates expire around Sept 7.
Apparently the state of California has the nerve to charge a sales tax to its residents. If you live in CA, you have been warned.
This is not a gaming rig. If you want to game, you will need something more powerful.
These are just components that I pieced together. I am sure there are other combinations that are equal or better.
HTPCs can be difficult to get working properly. If you don't have the patience to spend several hours getting things 'just right', I recommend a standalone Blu-ray player w/ integrated Netflix.
GOAL: Build a low-power consumption HTPC that can output 1080p/24 and 7.1 sound. It should also support Blu-ray playback and other online content services, such as HULU and Netflix.
EDIT 1: It looks like you now get a free HDMI cable when you add the motherboard to your card. /EDIT 1
EDIT 2: FYI to all, I do not intend to advocate for and defend all of the specific items in my post. I am trying to show that for the budget conscience person, current sales, rebates, and CB make now a good time to buy. (IMHO) People will need to use their brains to determine the configuration that best suits their individual needs. (including a prettier case ) But that's part of the fun in building yourself, right? If you're in the market to build an HTPC, you should be sure to check out some of the other deals/links that are posted later in this thread... /EDIT 2
EDIT 3: ranchopedro is right that this thread should not be used as a guide for building. AVS Forum caters to the technical, and FW caters to the hot deals. Please try to keep that in mind when posting to this thread. FW is not a place to ask for technical support, but it is a place to find great deals on HTPC components. Anyone is welcome to post their suggested configs... Also, Newegg changed some of the pricing around. I updated the numbers. /EDIT 3
EDIT 4: Bing 10% CB appears to be dead at this time. I have changed the pricing to reflect 3% CB; IMO that decreases the hotness of this deal. I changed out some if the items in the configuration to keep the costs down. Also Newegg keeps messing with some of the prices, so my totals may not be perfect. I have also added some different combos in the alternatives section that can help lower the price.
Pricing:
Subtotal: $474.92
- 3% Bing CB: $14.25 (10% appears to be dead?) - Rebates: $90.00
Is the 10% Bing CB for Newegg still alive? I haven't been able to get it lately.
Edit: OK, found the link on SD. Search for "Newegg." on bing Select 10% off link which comes up. Problem is that when I do this, I get a page not found error. FW effect? Other people having this issue?
Edit2: Now working. Sorry.
ktbst
Member
posted: Sep. 1, 2009 @ 10:37a
Another alternate midrange ($70) case which blends in with your other components...
single core seems like a pretty bad idea especially for an HTPC should you ever encounter HD stuff that can't get hardware accelerated, or want to rip BDs.
domokune
Member
posted: Sep. 1, 2009 @ 11:20a
you can put a HTPC together for cheaper and better parts and why would you use a ATX motherboard on a htpc? also why use a 450 watt PSU on a 50 watt unit?
Gambit3 said: Would this motherboard support an X3 AMD if we decided to go that route? I'm interested in this..
Yes, it supports am2+/am3 and in the specifications says "Note: This board supports CPU up to 95W TDP only" which would enable you to use one like this or lower.
infiniti029 said: single core seems like a pretty bad idea especially for an HTPC should you ever encounter HD stuff that can't get hardware accelerated, or want to rip BDs.
There is a balance between CPU power and power consumption. I wanted a PC that I could leave on 24/365 and know it would be ligher on my electricity bill than a typical PC. At the moment, Newegg does not sell a dual core 45W processor for this motherboard.
You have no support for digital audio out to a surround sound system with that motherboard unless you buy another sound card... you want SPDIF optical or coax out built into the MB.
You could use the audio that comes with the motherboard, but you would need 7 special cables that convert the mini-pin to RCA, and your surround sound system would need indivual RCA inputs for each channel. In other words its a huge PITA.
domokune said: you can put a HTPC together for cheaper and better parts and why would you use a ATX motherboard on a htpc? also why use a 450 watt PSU on a 50 watt unit?
That is a good price on that combo. It doesn't provide 7.1 audio over HDMI however. Granted you could add a Radeon 4x50.
Also, regarding your question on the PSU. (I didn't see it on my first post...) I wanted to provide an 80+ certified PSU. This was the cheapest option meeting that criteria, and it has excellent reviews. There was also a 400W PSU for the same price. The system will only draw what it needs, so 450W will not be counterproductive to the goals of low power consumption.
vladgur
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Sep. 1, 2009 @ 11:32a
HTPC this aint unless you are actually considering this ugly case has a place in a living room
Burchoid said: You have no support for digital audio out to a surround sound system with that motherboard unless you buy another sound card... you want SPDIF optical or coax out built into the MB.
You could use the audio that comes with the motherboard, but you would need 7 special cables that convert the mini-pin to RCA, and your surround sound system would need indivual RCA inputs for each channel. In other words its a huge PITA.
Or you could use an HDMI cable to your Receiver...
Since you mention Myth, which is what I use, have you checked to make sure this tuner is supported by it? Or is this a blind recommendation along those lines?
Hork said: Since you mention Myth, which is what I use, have you checked to make sure this tuner is supported by it? Or is this a blind recommendation along those lines?
Blind. I don't use myth. It's too complicated for me. Can you recommend a site to check for Myth compatibility?
That is an awesome thread! Renethx is the bomb. I'm not trying to rebuild, just share with FW. People should do their own research before buying, and the thread you posted is a great resource to that end.
infiniti029 said: single core seems like a pretty bad idea especially for an HTPC should you ever encounter HD stuff that can't get hardware accelerated, or want to rip BDs. Personally, I would never waste my money on single-core. I'd rather have 2GB of ram and a dual-core than 4GB ram and a single-core... if anyone was trying to FIT this budget. You could later get another 2 sticks of RAM, but seriously I recommend paying the extra few bucks to get a dual-core. For another $23.01 you can get 2.8ghz dual-core instead of OP's 2.7ghz single-core: AMD Athlon II 240 Regor
If you factor in the 10% CashBack, the difference becomes closer to only $20. After CashBack, the Sempron is $33.29 and the 240 Regor is $54.00 --> difference becomes only $20.71
The only downside is that it's 65W as opposed to the Sempron's 45W. If that bothers you, you can undervolt your chip through the BIOS if you know how to test stability.
g0dMAn said: infiniti029 said: single core seems like a pretty bad idea especially for an HTPC should you ever encounter HD stuff that can't get hardware accelerated, or want to rip BDs. Personally, I would never waste my money on single-core. I'd rather have 2GB of ram and a dual-core than 4GB ram and a single-core... if anyone was trying to FIT this budget. You could later get another 2 sticks of RAM, but seriously I recommend paying the extra few bucks to get a dual-core. For another $23.01 you can get 2.8ghz dual-core instead of OP's 2.7ghz single-core: AMD Athlon II 240 Regor
If you factor in the 10% CashBack, the difference becomes closer to only $20. After CashBack, the Sempron is $33.29 and the 240 Regor is $54.00 --> difference becomes only $20.71
The only downside is that it's 65W as opposed to the Sempron's 45W. If that bothers you, you can undervolt your chip through the BIOS if you know how to test stability.
Thanks for the edits and additional info. I have added your processor as an alternative on the main post. I agree that the 2.8ghz Athlon II 240 would be a substantial performance upgrade. Thanks for recommending it. And the undervolting is a good idea too if you possess the know-how...
The Sempron 140 is capable of Blu-ray playback. It really comes down to your goals. If you just want to record live TV and play BDs and DVDs, the Sempron will do fine. If you want to do post processing or other processor intensive activities, dual core will provide a dramatic difference. Thanks for the helpful info!!!
Are you sure this single core CPU is efficient to play blu-ray movies? Last time I tried to build my HTPC with dual core cpu 4000 from AMD and good graphics card. The movie can not be played smoothly. After upgrading to the higher dual core processor, it can be played flawlessly.
sixsevenco said: g0dMAn said: infiniti029 said: single core seems like a pretty bad idea especially for an HTPC should you ever encounter HD stuff that can't get hardware accelerated, or want to rip BDs. Personally, I would never waste my money on single-core. I'd rather have 2GB of ram and a dual-core than 4GB ram and a single-core... if anyone was trying to FIT this budget. You could later get another 2 sticks of RAM, but seriously I recommend paying the extra few bucks to get a dual-core. For another $23.01 you can get 2.8ghz dual-core instead of OP's 2.7ghz single-core: AMD Athlon II 240 Regor
If you factor in the 10% CashBack, the difference becomes closer to only $20. After CashBack, the Sempron is $33.29 and the 240 Regor is $54.00 --> difference becomes only $20.71
The only downside is that it's 65W as opposed to the Sempron's 45W. If that bothers you, you can undervolt your chip through the BIOS if you know how to test stability.
Thanks for the edits and additional info. I have added your processor as an alternative on the main post. I agree that the 2.8ghz Athlon II 240 would be a substantial performance upgrade. Thanks for recommending it. And the undervolting is a good idea too if you possess the know-how...
The Sempron 140 is capable of Blu-ray playback. It really comes down to your goals. If you just want to record live TV and play BDs and DVDs, the Sempron will do fine. If you want to do post processing or other processor intensive activities, dual core will provide a dramatic difference. Thanks for the helpful info!!!No problem, my friend. You put a lot of effort in your original post and I respect that.
Nicely done thizzle and logicstep!! The 780G and 785G are great platforms for integrated HDMI video/audio.
FYI to all, I do not intend to advocate for and defend all of the specific items in my initial post. I was trying to show that for the budget conscience, sales, rebates, and CB make now a good time to buy. (IMHO) People will need to use their brains to determine the configuration that best suits their individual needs. (including a prettier case ) But that's part of the fun in building yourself, right?
And as I and others have stated, AVS Forum is an invaluable tool!
Remember folks, whether the hardware can do mpeg4/blu-ray/h.264 or other HD acceleration is irrelevant if your player software doesnt support it. ATI, Nvidia and Intel all offer an API for the player to tell the GPU to do the work, but many players dont support them. Nothing you run in a browser is going to be hardware accelerated. Netflix player isnt. Boxee doesnt.
A lot of software only players recommend ~3GHz single core or 2GHz dual cores, and thats for what they're playing now. Two or three years from now I'll bet those requirements tick up.
And if you ever want to do any transcoding, you're going to wish you had a nice dual core of decent speed, maybe even a quad core.
Power usage is important for a 24x7, but most decent systems have low power standby and good power saving modes.
You can get pretty well equipped Dell hybrid studios with bluray for not a lot more than this with no rebates or Cash Back to mess with. Low power, dual core, plenty of disk and ram. Small footprint.
Wow, that AVS forum post is way too much to follow (especially since its a bit dated). Anyway, here are my .02. I don't want to trash MythTV as I use it myself, but I would definately recommend going with Vista if you are new to using mythv/linux. MythTV can be difficult to setup and Blu-ray is also not officially supported yet. But if you do want to use Myth, avoid AMD chipsets. I had a very difficult time working with the 780G chipset on the motherboard I used for mythtv and ended up just getting an NVidia 8400 GS card. I would also recommend a dual-core processor or better, multi-tasking with a htpc really helps for running jobs like transcoding and commercial skipping.
Yeah, I use MythTV and love it, but it does require the willingness to get in and tweak and even minor recoding to fix bugs until they fix them on the main branch. From experience, I'd definitely say go with as much processor as you can to deal with HD, as well as wireless N if you're streaming any HD to other front ends. Avoid ATI and go with NVidia for Myth boxes. I recommend a BTC 901Surf wireless rf keyboard with a built-in joystick mouse if you plan on doing any surfing or filesharing through the same box. Otherwise, just go with a StreamZap remote. Oh, and if you have an HD cable box, make sure you also get firewire on your mobo so you can control the box in addition to using your QAM tuner. I'm rambling... but I do love my Myth Box!
superbiiz .com (eWiz.com) has the Asus AT3N7A-I Intel Atom 330 1.6GHz Dual-Core Processor w/ Asus AT3N7A-I NVIDIA ION Mini-ITX Motherboard for a low $155.99 Free Shipping. Tax in CA.
ganjagadget said: blueiedgod said: Speaking of tuner cards. Has anyone seen cable card tuners for sale? They seem to have disappeared from the retail market and only available to OEM integrators. Ever since we switched to Fios, I have not been able to use the DVR function, since FIOS is all encrypted. They rent out the cards, but I have not been able to find a PCI Tuner with card reader.
The reason you don't see them anymore is because they where never intended for retail sale to begin with, unless they where being added to a OCUR compliant OEM system. Now that Ben over at EngadgetHD Let the cat out of the bag that you could spoof the OCUR tables in the BIOS, and in turn make a DIY CableCard HTPC they are in high demand. eBay is your best bet.
Disclaimer: By providing links to other sites, FatWallet.com does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to FatWallet.com.
Members of our community may attach files to a post in accordance with the User Agreement. FatWallet is not responsible for the content, accuracy, completeness or validity of any information contained in any attached file. Files have *not* been scanned for viruses. Be especially wary of Excel files which may contain malicious content.
