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@paddy-stone I went with the celeron over a pentium because kaby-lake has hardware HEVC and the celeron was cheaper. Not really worried about 4K for the near future. I'm definitely gonna pick apart the build you linked, one thing I noticed though is I'd have to step up to an M.2 ssd because there's only 6 sata ports like on the board I've currently selected.

The one I've selected currently is an intel celeron g3930, is this not strong enough for 1080p HEVC playback? What would a plex server require? For reference here's what I have so far, leaning to the more expensive case because of expandability. Cooler choice will depend on whether the passive one is sufficient. HTPC 4

On the case, the only way I could go cheaper is if I drop the option to add an ODD/even more HDDs in the future and it'd save me €15 (I avoid anything smaller than 120mm fans because of noise): Fractal case

Pangea2017: The CPU's TDP is 51W, this passive cooler is designed for a max of 47W, would the airflow in the case make up for those 4W? I went with the cheapest case I could find that fit µATX and 6x3.5", both on alternate and on amazon. I'm not sure how to judge whether something's a good PSU, go with popular brands? Where can I find at what power level the fan spins up, do I go by dB at % load? I'll add a bluetooth dongle when we get there, not expecting much gaming, just the odd party game or emulator. I'm actually ordering from belgium but I'll check out mindfactory.

Spent some time finding a suitable case first today, then a mobo and then the rest. The result is a €343 build: HTPC 3 I included an M.2 ssd so all 6 sata connectors are available for storage expansion. Some things I still wonder: Is everything compatible? Does this CPU need an aftermarket cooler? Can this CPU play 1080p HEVC smoothly? Will this PSU be enough for this system when I add 6 HDDs? Have I missed any components? (I know I'll need an HDMI cable, an ethernet cable and a couple sata cables when I get drives.) Will this build play some light games and if so what would I need to support controllers? I have no idea how to check these so any help would be appreciated. Will this build be sufficient for 1080p video playback and file serving? P.S.: manikyath, thanks for the site it turned out cheaper and easier to use than amazon.

Unfortunately this is the cheapest board I could find there that supports the number of sata connections I'd like and even though I searched in the onboard cpu category it doesn't come with a cpu. Passive cooling would be nice for noise but it's not a requirement as long as the fan(s) are quieter than a bunch of 3.5" drives.

paddy-stone: Don't really need upgradeability because I expect a motherboard and cpu for 4K to get plenty cheap by the time I get a 4K TV. Not sure what you mean by simple folder sharing, an NFS volume can be mounted as if it were a drive on all systems I might use, not sure about more convenient ways to access networked storage? Current computer as file server isn't an option, has only one drive and no expandability. manikyath: Not sure about the "saved a tenner over a pentium" line, did you mean the i3 was cheaper and better or the i3 was cheaper but the pentium would've been the better choice? I'm gonna look at those soldered on cpus and micro atx.

1. Budget & Location €300, not including drives for storage. Belgium, best supplier of parts has been amazon.de in my experience. 2. Aim (& 3. Monitors) This is my first build so I have no idea what I'm doing. I want to run Kodi for a 60" HDTV, so I'm looking for 1080p video over HDMI, sound is with a Bose setup so I'm assuming HDMI is fine for that. I'm disregarding 4K playback because I figure swapping out the CPU & mobo when the time comes will be cheap. Please disabuse me of this notion if it's retarded. Not sure if being able to play 4K sources at 1080p would come at quite the same premium? Priorities: Smooth 1080p playback Silence Small / low power Main purpose would be watching series and serving as a backup server with NFS, 4-6 storage drives. It would be great if I could run party games like Overcooked and Gang Beasts and some emulators but definitely just nice-to-have. 4. Peripherals I'm comfortable running linux. Wireless keyboard's a must and PS/WII controller support would be nice if emulators are an option at all. 5. Why are you upgrading? Currently sideload Kodi on an Apple TV but it's too involved for the rest of the family to do this so this hinges on me getting around to it and I don't until we decide to watch someting and it's inconvenient. Don't have a backup solution yet either so that would require a new machine anyway. 6. Current plan Followed this guide resulting in this €324 build: HTPC 1 However, the case is too small for the amount of drives I'd like, maybe 6+1 drives is an unrealistic expectation for small form factor though. Build supposedly supports 4K and the psu is seriously overrated so maybe I can go cheaper? This doesn't include any cooling whatsoever and I'm not sure about bluetooth (for keyboard), no idea if this is a problem though. Went with the cheapest item from the first brand I recognized for ram, drive and psu. Followed this other guide resulting in this €361 build: HTPC 2 This one includes a passive cooler but I'm not sure it's compatible with the cpu I picked (the one from the guide was €350) also not sure the mobo is suitable. The case fits 6 2.5" drives if I understood correctly so that gives me 4 storage drives (want to use Raid 10), ideally it'd be 3.5" drives but I'll take what I can get. Both these builds are over budget though so I'm looking for some recommendations, especially about cases that take 6x3.5" + 1(any size) system drive and psus that could take the full system load without roaring. I'm flexible when it comes to form factor, going up to atx if it's a way better deal size is very much a want but not a need. P.S. Please, no RGB whatsoever, light pollution is almost as bad as noise pollution ; )