HTPC Build. What do you think?

latuman · July 14, 2014

Hi, this is my first post. I've been followin Linus Techtips since NCIX days.

So anyhoo, I've been struggling to accept a WD TV media streamer into my life. However it is horrible. Extremely slow, extremely buggy, extremely difficult to use and I want to burn it with fire. So I thought a HTPC might solve all my problems.

What I'm using a HTPC for: First off, movies and home videos. Full HD all the way from my 42" Plasma. The HTPC has to be able to keep up with bitstreams of up to 50Mbps or even more. So yeah, Blu-Ray quality (though I will not have an optical drive). Any PC powerful enough for that I assume can also handle Steam In-Home Streaming, which I'm also going to use it for, although maybe not that much. I'm also happy to have performance equal that of a modern gaming console, in case I need to use the HTPC itself to run these games, whatever they may be (probably something controller friendly). I'm also very sensitive about noise, so as little heat produced as possible, as big of fans as possible, running as slowly and quietly as possible.

Here's what I've come up with:

SilverStone Raven Z Mini-ITX Case 97€

LC Power LC300SFX PSU 39€

AMD Athlon 5350 59€

2x2GB G.Skill DDR3-1600 memory 49€

Asus AM1M-A Motherboard 39€

Samsung 120GB 840 Evo SSD 79€

WD Caviar Green 1TB 59€

Gainward GeForce GTX 750 Ti 149€

And this totals 570€, which I think is _not that much_.

So, do you see any problems with these parts considering my goal with the system? I don't like the PSU, but it's the only SFX I can find from my favourite online stores I usually buy from. The case seems nice, but if a better PSU requires it, I could switch it to another HTPC case (that is MAXIMUM 150mm high, because it's gonna be in a HiFi cabinet). The 5350 seems very obvious choice. Low heat, plenty of non-gaming, non-production performance. Memory is just 4GB, but I can't see how I'd go over that, if not for the occasional game. I'm also not afraid to use the SSD for swapping if it is required. I chose the Gainward 750Ti for it's larger than usual heatsink real-estate, which MIGHT or MIGHT NOT give me lower temps.

I dont know about the fans that come with the case, but I'm perfectly happy to replace them with better ones if need be. The air flow in the HiFi cabinet will be limited also, so I'm going to have to work miracles with the cooling and heat dissipation, thats why I want non-power hungry parts.

If you want a better idea what components are possible, then PC Part Picker with "Deutchland" selected as your country would give the most relevant products.

Thanks in advance, I hope I didnt break too many rules.

kuddlesworth9419 · July 14, 2014

Looks good I am not sure about the PSU but I also want to get another psu like that.

latuman · July 14, 2014

I'm just hyperventilating about the heat and noise... If I build it and it isn't as quiet as a console, I'm going to be very upset.

EDIT: Obviously, I have to use Afterburner and Asus software to control the fans to let the temps rise to high but safe limits. The defaults in drivers are always paranoid about heat...