HTPC Build, ready to go, need your help?

Stinicker · 06-06-2012 2:51am #1

Stinicker · 06-06-2012 2:51am

I just spent the last while speccing out a HTPC Build for myself and my Credit Card is tempting me to press buy . However I just want the opinions of the board? I have a few concerns with my selection in that I am not sure if my choice of Graphics card is any good? It is a HTPC and its main role will be the playback of 1080p videos, so I want a graphics card that can handle this and allow me to flick through the video with ease without it struggling with the content. I picked this card as a low profile card as the Case I have chosen for this HTPC is small and I am wondering if there is a good quality graphics card which is also low profile to fit the case. I don’t intent to use the machine for gaming so no worries there.

Also I haven’t included a cooling fan as Hardwareversand’s “PC Configurator” says “The selected boxed CPU does already come with a fan included.” So I am unsure?

Basically I am almost ready to pull the trigger and order everything I just want peoples opinions and my main concern is the graphic card and also Hardwareversand, two of the items says they have a delivery time of more than 7 days, how long would I be waiting for? These are the case and bluray drive and I can source these both separately but it will cost me around €40 - €50 more so I’d like to bundle everything in.

It is my first PC build of anytype and I have been building up to this since last summer and spend a lot of time reading up and watching youtube videos also.

Thanks for the help on this,
Much appreciated.

Monotype · 06-06-2012 9:36am

You don't need a graphics card. On-CPU graphics is plenty for 1080p videos.

Better SSD:
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/Solid-State-Disk/46110/Crucial+M4+128GB+SSD+6%2C4cm+(2%2C5).article

You could get a H77 motherboard for not much more. Not a whole lot of extra features apart from it being newer. You get a couple of extra sound ports and I presume it includes things like SSD caching. This takes full size RAM so you'd have to change accordingly.
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/59313/ASRock+H77M-ITX%2C+Sockel+1155%2C+ITX.article

The superflower amazon would be a bit more efficient and is 20c cheaper - although the LED might get annoying, I'm not sure how much you'd see in a case like that.
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/400+-+500+Watts/30074/Super-Flower+Amazon+80Plus+450W.article

You could always get a smaller case and go with an SFX PSU.
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/300+-+400+Watts/32199/be+quiet!+SFX+Power+BQT+SFX+350W.article
When I was looking at HTPCs, I found that a lot of the cases were bigger than you'd think they are so make sure you read the measurements carefully and look at videos, if they're available.

Tea_Bag · 06-06-2012 12:46pm

HD2000 graphics are usually fine (aside from the 23.967fps bug) but the control center thing is rubbish. it wouldn't require much tinkering after initial set up though.

if you're set on getting a GPU, I use a passive 6450 in my HTPC. its a wonderful card and I've never had problems with it. it has a number of small advantages over the 5450, and is the same price, so its a no brainer anyway.

this is my one:
www1.hardwareversand.de/512+MB/46853/Sapphire+HD6450+HM+PCI-E+HDMI+++DVI-D+++VGA+W++512M+DDR3+VRAM.article

there also is no need to spend so much on a CPU. I've got a Pentium G630 and its a very snappy little chip. its almost identical to the i3 but it doesn't have HT (useless to you) and lower clocked, but uses next to no power. it trades blows with athlon quad cores.

www1.hardwareversand.de/Socket+1155/50376/Intel+Pentium+G630+Box%2C+LGA1155.article

PogMoThoin · 06-06-2012 3:21pm

8GB ram in a HTPC?

Stinicker · 17-06-2012 6:20pm

Hey guys, thanks for the help and advise, I just ordered it as above, I decided not to go with the graphics card and to use the onboard graphics instead.

I ordered from hardwareversand and paid with Paypal as their entire wiring the money via bank transfer system seemed a little messy for my liking. Shipping cost €18.99 and to pay by Paypal cost €20.92, I ordered a second SSD drive and just shelled out €737 to Hardwareversand. :rolleyes:

Still I was putting this project off for ages so now at least I have it took forward to, and by putting it through paypal and my credit card I have another 50 days before the payment is taken from me. I didn't order a cooling fan as some review sites say there is one supplied with the CPU so I have taken a gamble that there will be one supplied, hopefully!

Monotype · 17-06-2012 8:18pm

There's one supplied and it's low profile alright but not particularly quiet. Alright for desktop use but could get a bit annoying if you were watching films. Still, it's something you can always change later.

ComputerKing · 17-06-2012 10:10pm

I was thinking of building a HTPC like this but as I am new to pc building I was wondering do I need 2 hard drives

Stinicker · 18-06-2012 12:13am

ComputerKing wrote: »

I was thinking of building a HTPC like this but as I am new to pc building I was wondering do I need 2 hard drives

No, I added the SSD as it will allow for faster booting times and I will install Windows 8 onto it and use the 2TB for the media. A single hard-drive system will work just aswell. This is the beauty of the self-build, you can modify it to your own choosing.

Stinicker · 11-07-2012 8:01pm

I had a bit of a nightmare with this crowd Hardwareversand but I eventually got my parts today but they caused me alot of pain.

I ordered on 17th of June and got an email one week later on June 24th to say that they did not have the case;

The manufacturer did not communicate an expected date for the delivery of the ordered article (HV203SVUDE) SilverStone MILO ML03 - Desktop. We will deliver the article immediately after arrival.

Ok, I figured Hardwareversand are waiting to get the goods in, no problem.

I then waited another week until July 3rd when I emailed them to ask when did they plan to get in the Case?

I got this reply the following day.

Dear customer,

two parts are missing:

Intel Core i3-2120 Box, LGA1155 delivery date unknown
Silverstone SST-ML03B Milo delivery date unknown

I replied,

Thank you for your email, please refund me the €162.96 for these two parts and kindly dispatch the rest of my order. I will purchase the case and processor from a different retailer.

Yours Sincerely,

In the meantime I ordered the case and CPU from amazon.co.uk at a higher price costing me more. The following day I had another email from hardwareversand contradicting themselves saying that

Dear customer,

we changed your order, but only one item was missing. We canceld only the one , the Silverstone SST-ML03B Milo - black. The difference amount will be transfered to your bank account.

Best regards,

Luckily Amazon were a little bit slow and had not dispatched the goods so I was able to cancel the processor I ordered from them.

I ordered on Amazon on last Wednesday night and had to cancel the processor the following day, luckily Amazon cancelled it and only shipped the case.

Hardwareversand shipped the parts to me last Thursday with DHL and they arrived this morning by An Post who delivers for DHL here now. So a week for delivery.

Amazon shipped on Saturday and I got the parts on Tuesday so Three days.

However the case I got from Amazon is damaged and I may have to send it it back as it is warped and the front plastic is also marked. However I had discovered a design flaw also that the power supply and bluray drive will be an awful tight fit as the bluray is in front and the PSU to the rear so I may have to get a different case or else a smaller power supply.

After this experience I would advise against ordering items from hardwareversand that are not in stock and the power supply has a German euro plug on it also rather than the UK/IRL three pin type, but thats a minor thing as I have lots of power supply leads anyway.

I plan to try and assemble it tonight and see how it goes.

HTPC Build, ready to go, need your help?

Comments