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Help with $400 HTPC

peter3933
By peter3933
in New Builds and Planning
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Hello,

 

I'm planning to build a HTPC for around the price of 400~450 USD. I want this HTPC to last for 5~10 years, and so I've listed a set of requirements (not all are mandatory/must-be-met).

I figured that I didn't know what to choose in terms of specs for HTPCs, so I decided to ask for your help (and by "your", I'm referring to any LTT forum member :D )

 

Some requirements I have are:

 

- Good Power Supply (for I want it to last long; good as in.. at least 80+ certified. Possibly something like a Corsair VS series power supply)

- 8GB of RAM. I know it seems weird, and for many people 4GB will be enough, but the "user" (for I'm not using it) will be expecting it to use it for around 5~10 years. - Room for RAM, CPU and Graphics Card upgrade down the line. I don't mind if it is not the latest Skylake lineup, Haswell will work fine.

- Decent CPU. I'm requesting for at least a Core i3 CPU if possible (with the option to upgrade later to Core i5 or a Core i7).

- Storage aspect, I'm looking at a WD Blue 1TB. I've had bad experiences with Seagate and Toshiba, so I'm trying to avoid them. Any other recommendations are weclome though.

- Case. This is where I struggled a lot, and need your help. Can anyone help me find a SLIM M-ATX, or ITX is fine though I find it hard to build in it (for a reasonable price that can fit within the budget). Also can the case be made by a very famous manufacturer (as the hardware store nearby only sells cases produced by very well known manufacturers like Corsair, Silverstone and Thermaltake.). Please give me a couple of options I can choose from? :P 

 

Thanks for all replies, your help is very much appreciated :)

 

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Posted
17 minutes ago, peter3933 said:

Hello,

 

I'm planning to build a HTPC for around the price of 400~450 USD. I want this HTPC to last for 5~10 years, and so I've listed a set of requirements (not all are mandatory/must-be-met).

I figured that I didn't know what to choose in terms of specs for HTPCs, so I decided to ask for your help (and by "your", I'm referring to any LTT forum member :D )

 

Some requirements I have are:

 

- Good Power Supply (for I want it to last long; good as in.. at least 80+ certified. Possibly something like a Corsair VS series power supply)

- 8GB of RAM. I know it seems weird, and for many people 4GB will be enough, but the "user" (for I'm not using it) will be expecting it to use it for around 5~10 years. - Room for RAM, CPU and Graphics Card upgrade down the line. I don't mind if it is not the latest Skylake lineup, Haswell will work fine.

- Decent CPU. I'm requesting for at least a Core i3 CPU if possible (with the option to upgrade later to Core i5 or a Core i7).

- Storage aspect, I'm looking at a WD Blue 1TB. I've had bad experiences with Seagate and Toshiba, so I'm trying to avoid them. Any other recommendations are weclome though.

- Case. This is where I struggled a lot, and need your help. Can anyone help me find a SLIM M-ATX, or ITX is fine though I find it hard to build in it (for a reasonable price that can fit within the budget). Also can the case be made by a very famous manufacturer (as the hardware store nearby only sells cases produced by very well known manufacturers like Corsair, Silverstone and Thermaltake.). Please give me a couple of options I can choose from? :P 

 

Thanks for all replies, your help is very much appreciated :)

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($112.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($69.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.49 @ OutletPC) 
Case: Silverstone Sugo SG13B Mini ITX Tower Case  ($47.14 @ B&H) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 360W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $367.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-20 10:33 EDT-0400

 

If you want this PC to last 5 years or longer you really shouldn't consider a Corsair VS power supply.

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1 minute ago, tataklee said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($112.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($69.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.49 @ OutletPC) 
Case: Silverstone Sugo SG13B Mini ITX Tower Case  ($47.14 @ B&H) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 360W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $367.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-20 10:33 EDT-0400

 

If you want this PC to last 5 years or longer you really shouldn't consider a Corsair VS power supply.

Right, thanks for the advice. Not to be picky or anything, but do you have any recommendations for a Slim Form Factor case? (as thats what I'm trying to aim for :D )

 

Regardeless, thanks for the help! :)

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3 minutes ago, peter3933 said:

Right, thanks for the advice. Not to be picky or anything, but do you have any recommendations for a Slim Form Factor case? (as thats what I'm trying to aim for :D )

 

Regardeless, thanks for the help! :)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($112.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($69.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.49 @ OutletPC) 
Case: Silverstone RVZ02B HTPC Case  ($64.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Gold 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply  ($88.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $416.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-20 10:39 EDT-0400

 

The RVZ02 is the best slim ITX case in my opinion. Better than the Node 202.

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3 hours ago, peter3933 said:

 

What are you going to use it for?

I edit my posts a lot, Twitter is @LordStreetguru just don't ask PC questions there mostly...
 

Spoiler

 

What is your budget/country for your new PC?

 

what monitor resolution/refresh rate?

 

What games or other software do you need to run?

 

 

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5 hours ago, Streetguru said:

What are you going to use it for?

Simple office work (i.e. Microsoft Word), watching movies etc.

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8 minutes ago, peter3933 said:

Simple office work (i.e. Microsoft Word), watching movies etc.

You can quiet easily just use like an AM1 PC for that job if you don't plan to run games on it

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qRk7cf
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qRk7cf/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD 5350 2.05Ghz Quad-Core Processor  ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI AM1I Mini ITX AM1 Motherboard  ($31.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($64.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 110 Mini ITX Tower Case  ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply  ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $221.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-20 19:03 EDT-0400

I edit my posts a lot, Twitter is @LordStreetguru just don't ask PC questions there mostly...
 

Spoiler

 

What is your budget/country for your new PC?

 

what monitor resolution/refresh rate?

 

What games or other software do you need to run?

 

 

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