HTPC - Check my plans?

[VirtualJunky]

Hey guys! It's been a really long time since I've built any computers or anything, and my first time building an HTPC. I've put a ton of time into finding parts that I like, either for quality, performance or price.

 

I was wondering if some of you experts here on LTT could take a look at this partpicker and let me know how it looks.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/F3tFcf

 

It will not be used for any level of gaming, even app-type games. Purely just for movies and shows. I'm trying to keep this build under $500 and so far I've saved a fair bit. If you guys have any other tips or ideas, or maybe some nice upgrades for a tiny cost bump, or maybe I've overlooked a compatibility issue. Honestly anything would be a big help here!

 

Sidenote: PartPicker shows an error with the case front USB ports. As far as the site knows the front ports aren't USB 3.0, but if you go to any of the shop pages it does say USB 3.0. After some looking into there is a newer and older version of the case, the only difference being the front USB ports. The one I will be getting is verified to have USB 3.0.

 

Thanks a ton in advanced!

[Mycrafter5]

2 minutes ago, VirtualJunky said:

Hey guys! It's been a really long time since I've built any computers or anything, and my first time building an HTPC. I've put a ton of time into finding parts that I like, either for quality, performance or price.

 

I was wondering if some of you experts here on LTT could take a look at this partpicker and let me know how it looks.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/F3tFcf

 

It will not be used for any level of gaming, even app-type games. Purely just for movies and shows. I'm trying to keep this build under $500 and so far I've saved a fair bit. If you guys have any other tips or ideas, or maybe some nice upgrades for a tiny cost bump, or maybe I've overlooked a compatibility issue. Honestly anything would be a big help here!

 

Sidenote: PartPicker shows an error with the case front USB ports. As far as the site knows the front ports aren't USB 3.0, but if you go to any of the shop pages it does say USB 3.0. After some looking into there is a newer and older version of the case, the only difference being the front USB ports. The one I will be getting is verified to have USB 3.0.

 

Thanks a ton in advanced!

just to inform you, 80mm fans tend to be on the noisy side.

[desertcomputer]

I would get SDD if you have your Movies/TV shows located in local NAS as it would be faster caching/boot up. 

[VirtualJunky]

6 minutes ago, Mycrafter5 said:

just to inform you, 80mm fans tend to be on the noisy side.

The fans have 24.0 CFM and run at 14dbA, which from what I was reading online is somewhere between breathing and whispering, closer to the breathing side. So it's really quiet and moves a pretty good amount of air. I got it to replace the stock fans which took some digging but apparently run at 35dbA which seemed pretty loud.

 

5 minutes ago, MrUnknownEMC said:

I would get SDD if you have your Movies/TV shows located in local NAS as it would be faster caching/boot up. 

Everything will be stored on the machine itself, it's actually not for me it's for a family member. They said they wont keep much stuff just favorites and such, so 1TB felt like it was more then enough, and figured SSD wouldn't show much improvement for just watching movies for the price points.

 

I was thinking about putting Windows 10 on a bootable flash device though, would that be faster for boot times and basic windows functions? I see a lot of HTPC builds do it this way, what are the benefits to doing it this way? Most noticeably I saw Linus do it in his HTPC setup, even though he has like 4 HDDs or something.

 

 

Thanks for the replies guys.

[desertcomputer]

Just now, VirtualJunky said:

The fans have 24.0 CFM and run at 14dbA, which from what I was reading online is somewhere between breathing and whispering, closer to the breathing side. So it's really quiet and moves a pretty good amount of air. I got it to replace the stock fans which took some digging but apparently run at 35dbA which seemed pretty loud.

 

Everything will be stored on the machine itself, it's actually not for me it's for a family member. They said they wont keep much stuff just favorites and such, so 1TB felt like it was more then enough, and figured SSD wouldn't show much improvement for just watching movies for the price points.

 

I was thinking about putting Windows 10 on a bootable flash device though, would that be faster for boot times and basic windows functions? I see a lot of HTPC builds do it this way, what are the benefits to doing it this way? Most noticeably I saw Linus do it in his HTPC setup, even though he has like 4 HDDs or something.

 

 

Thanks for the replies guys.

If you for a family which is just watching TV/Movies i would just get ChromeCast ... cheaper and allow streaming from existing PC.

[VirtualJunky]

47 minutes ago, MrUnknownEMC said:

If you for a family which is just watching TV/Movies i would just get ChromeCast ... cheaper and allow streaming from existing PC.

I looked into that actually, but it tieing to a phone and all that, they aren't very tech savvy, seemed like more headache then useful. Windows is something they are familiar with, so made more sense this way.

[brob]

I think you will need a more powerful cpu, especially if you want to allow for an upgrade from 1080.

 

I would also suggest an inexpensive ssd. Will greatly improve boot times and overall performance.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($123.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($70.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Avexir V1 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($35.06 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Hitachi Travelstar 1TB 2.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.74 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone ML05B HTPC Case  ($40.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Silverstone 300W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply  ($48.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case Fan: Enermax UC-8EB 24.0 CFM 80mm  Fan  ($4.99 @ Directron)
Case Fan: Enermax UC-8EB 24.0 CFM 80mm  Fan  ($4.99 @ Directron)
Keyboard: Logitech K400 Wireless Slim Keyboard w/Touchpad  ($29.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $437.61
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-18 22:17 EST-0500