small form factor Small Form Factor HTPC

[Etone]

Hello there everyone,

 

i am in a bit of a problem. I try to build a new Home Theatre PC for usage as a Stream machine for Netflix, Amazon Prime, Steam Inhome Streaming ans such applications. My Idea is to build in a very small "console killer" like case with enough hardware to not run into problems with Video streaming tasks.

To give you some idea of my problems and why im posting this to the LTT forums:

1. I want a pc, which can easily handle Streaming over Network with no intention to game on it (except Steam Inhome streaming)

2. The Space i can use for this build is extremly limited with just 50cm (width) * 15 cm (height) * 35 cm (depth)

3. In this small space should not only fit the HTPC but if possible one with an optical Drive for my blue rays and DVDs.

4. The PC cant run hot since i dont think i can fit a big sized cooler or such things and the space is inside a cabinet which is open to the front but in all other directions closed.

 

My Idea was a Mini Itx build (obviously), but not only dont i have any idea of mitx hardware or cases, i dont even know anything about cheap value Hardware. And for this task i dont want to build an overkill Gaming rig.

Which CPU would be the best to give the needed power? Do i need a graphics card for this task? Which case does get me all the things i need but doesnt cost a fortune?

 

I hope you can answer this questions. Thanks for the reading and have a nice Day

 

Greetings

Etone

 

P.S. The Budget isnt limited at this point, but cheaper is better, since i dont want to spend another 1000€ for just an little streaming device.

[dave01978]

For mine i went with a intel nuc and quite happy with it i got the i3 skylake version.  It however does not have the blue ray player however you could get an external one.  

 

Now that I'm thinking with the blue Ray it May not be the prettiest

[Narnash]

I build up an own case for mine (I sould have the same formfactor than the old DVD-Player before)

Parts:

PSU: Seasonic SS-350TGM  moded TFX Powersupply, [55 euro (40 euro for a bulk version wich I modded)]

CPU: G3258 2 Core Pentium Haswell based 1150 (overclockable but on stock, with stock cooler works flawlessly with speedfan) [used 35 euro]

RAM: 2x4GB GSkill Lagara 2400Mhz DDR3 [used 45 Euro]

Mobo: Gigabyte Z87N-WIFI mini ITX [used 70 euro]

Storage: 120 GB Sandisk Ultra II SSD [40 euro]

optical Drive: LG BH16NS55 Blue-Ray drive [72 euro]

Material cost for the case: about 35 Euro

it's 42,5 cm long, 9,5-10 cm in hight and 27 cm in depth

 

 

In total: 337 euro

 

PS: for streaming only nearly every desktop CPU will work, iGPU is fine if the CPU is not to old. go for a cheap i3 like CPU than you will be on the safe side.

[Herman Mcpootis]

Here's a pc with a slight bit of gaming power, just in case you wanted to skip out on the steam streaming and play some light titles.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A10-7860k 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($105.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: MSI A68HI AC Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard  ($81.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Klevv Neo 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory  ($32.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate  1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive  ($66.03 @ Amazon) 
Case: Inwin BP655.FH200B Mini ITX Desktop Case w/200W Power Supply  ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDC-207DBK Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer  ($35.00 @ Other World Computing) 
Total: $368.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-04 07:59 EDT-0400

[othertomperson]

Don't bother with anything more expensive than a Pentium. There is no reason for your motherboard and CPU/GPU together to come to more than $130.

[byalexandr]

This will do fine. Should drive a 4K TV or something no problem, just don't expect any gaming like you said. I put a large HDD in case you want to store media on the PC.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: ASRock B85M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($61.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($24.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($84.10 @ Amazon) 
Case: Inwin BP671.FH200B Mini ITX Tower Case w/200W Power Supply  ($49.99 @ Directron) 
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer  ($46.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $317.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-04 08:14 EDT-0400

[Etone]

Hello and thanks for the answers. The Inwin BP 671 is the case i will go with. But since i have a 240GB SSD lying aroung i will not put in an HDD. I think for my purpose the small SSD is more then enough storage and when the time comes i still can upgrade. For the Processor i decided to go with the Intel Pentium G3240 since it is cheaper in Germany then the G3220 and as i can see a bit better. Thanks for the help from everyone

[Jourg]

If all you need is a PC for streaming, I'd go with a nuc or buy a set top box like he one from razer or nvidia. These will even allow you to stream games, much smaller and the nvidia one runs android. However, if you want a PC with a lot more power, I personally use the EVGA Hadron Air as its a good case win good airflow and won't require liquid cooling. 

 

I'm currently using this case with an i5 3570k, 8 GB GSkill ddr3, Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe/WD (chose this because it has optical out with DTS Connect. ), EVGA gtx 970 ssc and a Samsung 250 GB SSD and a Seagate 4 tb SSHD.

 

Yea it's a little older hardware but I don't have any problems running games at 1080p on max settings.The case is small and I found doesn't need to be water cooled as long as you pick the right fans and a vertically aligned heatsink. I use the noctua dual tower CPu cooler. 

 

I'll put up pictures of my rig when I get home to give an idea of how this looks under a TV