Building an HTPC

[iEmerald]

Well hello there, 

 

Lately I've been busy trying to figure out the proper way of setting up my home network and since I decided on most of the things I still haven't on the HTPC build, I have an idea and all of the parts to get except I don't know if it can power what I'm going to throw at it. I have 2 builds in mind and I have to go with one of them so your tips and ideas would be great!  

 

# The first HTPC (Entry Level HTPC):

• CPU: AMD Athlon 5350 APU
• RAM: Kingston HyperX FURY DDR3 4GB
• Motherboard: ASUS Mini AM1I-A
• Primary OS Drive: Kingston 60 GB SSD
• Secondary Storage Drive: Seagate 2TB HDD
• OS: Ubuntu

 

# The second HTPC (Performance HTPC):

• CPU: Intel Core i3-4130T Hasewell
• RAM: Kingston HyperX FURY DDR3 4GB
• Primary OS Drive: Samsung 120GB SSD
• Secondary Storage Drive: WD Caviar Green 3TB
• Power Supply: Seasonic 360W

I will take care of the rest of the parts like the case, Coolers and optical drives. 

 

The HTPC will have Ubuntu installed as an OS then I will have apps like CouchPotato, Plex Media Server and Sonarr installed. 

 

Which system to choose? Performance? Or Entry Level? I prefer Entry level but I don't think it'll cut it since it is really low end. 

Looking forward to hear back

 

Thanks in advance

[Stagea]

The Entry Level build should handle playback of content upto 1080p for formats supported by UVD 4.2. The Performance build will give you more flexibility though, as you have some extra processing muscle to play with.

[MrLewisMHarris]

The Raspberry Pi 2 can handle h.264 video up to 1080p @ 30mbps (max) and can retrieve video from your second HTPC server. (plus, it'll cost a lot less)

 

If you are used to using a command line environment then it's always a good idea to spend less.

 

Hope this gives you an idea at least

[iEmerald]

The Raspberry Pi 2 can handle h.264 video up to 1080p @ 30mbps (max) and can retrieve video from your second HTPC server. (plus, it'll cost a lot less)

If you are used to using a command line environment then it's always a good idea to spend less.

Hope this gives you an idea at least

The Raspberry Pi is really low powered, so it's not a viable option for me.

[othertomperson]

A Pentium G3258 can handle 4K playback. At 30fps obv, due to lack of HDMI 2.0.

 

Why are you putting the 3TB drive in it through? Use an SSD only and extra storage should be elsewhere on your network.

 

I recently built a Kubuntu HTPC for media and game streaming, with the option of adding a TV card at a later date. A NUC might make more sense, but I'm always more inclined to built it myself.

[Stagea]

A Pentium G3258 can handle 4K playback. At 30fps obv, due to lack of HDMI 2.0.

Agree. As long as the 4K video format is H.264 or any of the other hardware-supported formats. HEVC is far more difficult to handle at this point.

[ltguy]

Its a shame you have to buy new parts for a low end media center. Usually someone has a system that just doesn't cut it for gaming or whatever main system needs they have, and that can then be relegated to a media center.

[SLOWION]

I would stick to a CPU with strong single thread performance so i3 all the way

 

I personally have had a bad experience using lower end APUs in this scenario

[Kungr]

Why not an Intel NUCs' for both?

[iEmerald]

Why not an Intel NUCs' for both?

Well that's an idea!

Thank you

[MARSTG]

I would stick to a CPU with strong single thread performance 

Even a Celeron would do it.

[Kungr]

Well that's an idea!

Thank you

That sarcasm? or you serious. If you got to the Kodi forum you could probably find cheap low power box for your "Entry level HTPC." ATV2 is good there are alot of low power andriod (arm/tegra) boxes as well. I'm not familiar with android. But for a full ubuntu OS i would go with a nuc. I was using an i3 (Ivy) with like 3000 onboard intel graphics and it was a mint. plus updating the kernel to a low-latency desktop made the fan art and everything load faaassstt.