building a sexy HTPC on a reasonable budget

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

current parts list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ztbxRB

I chose the Pentium K because it sounds interesting and is inexpensive

the motherboard because I already have one in the kitchen PC and it works well and sips power like fine wine. 18 watts idle with a i3-4130 on a corsair CX430

ram because corsair and low profile, but that could change. I'll just be getting whatever is corsair that is inexpensive at the moment I buy.

GT610 because it's inexpensive, low profile, apparently near silent and will handle any video processing that will be required. I would run integrated but with my tv tuner getting good picture quality without stuttering was a PITA on intel integrated but a walk in the park on my 660 TI

tthe case because it's compact, fits what I need, and is sexy while doing it.

if anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated. short of telling me to go with an AMD CPU I'm open to ideas

[brob]

current parts list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ztbxRB

I chose the Pentium K because it sounds interesting and is inexpensive

the motherboard because I already have one in the kitchen PC and it works well and sips power like fine wine. 18 watts idle with a i3-4130 on a corsair CX430

ram because corsair and low profile, but that could change. I'll just be getting whatever is corsair that is inexpensive at the moment I buy.

GT610 because it's inexpensive, low profile, apparently near silent and will handle any video processing that will be required. I would run integrated but with my tv tuner getting good picture quality without stuttering was a PITA on intel integrated but a walk in the park on my 660 TI

tthe case because it's compact, fits what I need, and is sexy while doing it.

if anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated. short of telling me to go with an AMD CPU I'm open to ideas

 

The build looks good. My only comment is that you could bring the cost under $400 without affecting performance or quality going with a different memory kit (A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory) and ssd (Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive).

 

Presumably you are aware that you may have to install a different, compatible cpu, to flash the BIOS before the G3258 will work with that motherboard. Check with the merchant before buying to see which BIOS version is installed if you want to avoid the hassle.

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

No hassle. I already have a running system with that motherboard and a 4130 that can be used to flash it. The memory will be whatever is a good deal at the time but probably corsair. As for the SSD it's coming out of my laptop and my laptop is getting a 240gb Samsung drive. I get Samsung drives because they draw basically no power at idle. Something like 20 mw.

[brob]

No hassle. I already have a running system with that motherboard and a 4130 that can be used to flash it. The memory will be whatever is a good deal at the time but probably corsair. As for the SSD it's coming out of my laptop and my laptop is getting a 240gb Samsung drive. I get Samsung drives because they draw basically no power at idle. Something like 20 mw.

 

If you click the down arrow to the right of an entry in a pcpartpicker list you can indicate that a part has already been "bought".

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

If you click the down arrow to the right of an entry in a pcpartpicker list you can indicate that a part has already been "bought".

Good to know