Media Centre Build Help

[mikereader]

Hey guys,

 

 

 

Im building a computer mainly as a media centre (for movies and pretty much Netflix). I need help picking a mini case and a motherboard. I have picked the following components for my computer.

 

 

 

Hard drive: Wd Blue 2 TB - $95

 

http://www.ncix.com/detail/western-digital-blue-2tb-sata-bb-118678.htm

 

 

 

Ram Kingston HyperX Fury Memory Black 8GB 2X4GB - $43

 

http://www.ncix.com/detail/kingston-hyperx-fury-memory-black-5e-95972.htm

 

 

 

Evga 400W Powersupply - $51

 

http://www.ncix.com/detail/evga-400w-active-pfc-12v-37-100604.htm

 

 

 

Processor AMD Dual Core APU - $50

 

http://www.ncix.com/detail/amd-a4-7300-dual-core-31-101405.htm

 

 

 

I’m quite new to building computers so all advice will be helpful.

 

 

 

Thanks

 

[Hero7750]

2 minutes ago, mikereader said:

Hey guys,

 

 

 

Im building a computer mainly as a media centre (for movies and pretty much Netflix). I need help picking a mini case and a motherboard. I have picked the following components for my computer.

 

 

 

Hard drive: Wd Blue 2 TB - $95

 

http://www.ncix.com/detail/western-digital-blue-2tb-sata-bb-118678.htm

 

 

 

Ram Kingston HyperX Fury Memory Black 8GB 2X4GB - $43

 

http://www.ncix.com/detail/kingston-hyperx-fury-memory-black-5e-95972.htm

 

 

 

Evga 400W Powersupply - $51

 

http://www.ncix.com/detail/evga-400w-active-pfc-12v-37-100604.htm

 

 

 

Processor AMD Dual Core APU - $50

 

http://www.ncix.com/detail/amd-a4-7300-dual-core-31-101405.htm

 

 

 

I’m quite new to building computers so all advice will be helpful.

 

 

 

Thanks

 

do you really need 8gb of ram for a media center pc?

[Jer45]

7 hours ago, Hero7750 said:

do you really need 8gb of ram for a media center pc?

4gb of ram in my mediacenter isnt enough so yes he really does

 

[Jer45]

7 hours ago, mikereader said:

Hey guys,

 

 

 

Im building a computer mainly as a media centre (for movies and pretty much Netflix). I need help picking a mini case and a motherboard. I have picked the following components for my computer.

 

 

 

Hard drive: Wd Blue 2 TB - $95

 

http://www.ncix.com/detail/western-digital-blue-2tb-sata-bb-118678.htm

 

 

 

Ram Kingston HyperX Fury Memory Black 8GB 2X4GB - $43

 

http://www.ncix.com/detail/kingston-hyperx-fury-memory-black-5e-95972.htm

 

 

 

Evga 400W Powersupply - $51

 

http://www.ncix.com/detail/evga-400w-active-pfc-12v-37-100604.htm

 

 

 

Processor AMD Dual Core APU - $50

 

http://www.ncix.com/detail/amd-a4-7300-dual-core-31-101405.htm

 

 

 

I’m quite new to building computers so all advice will be helpful.

 

 

 

Thanks

 

get a better power supply and consider adding a boot ssd to your 2tb drive, such as an ADATA SP550

[BringBackLCT]

Go with a cheaper stick of 8gb memory and upgrade the cpu man

[mikereader]

4 minutes ago, BringBackLCT said:

Go with a cheaper stick of 8gb memory and upgrade the cpu man

What CPU should i get?

[BringBackLCT]

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/kxxQ3C

here u go

[mikereader]

Thanks

48 minutes ago, BringBackLCT said:

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/kxxQ3C

here u go

 

[BringBackLCT]

14 minutes ago, mikereader said:

Thanks

 

Just beware the power supply isn't the greatest and a ssd boot drive would make life easier

[AshleyAshes]

Well, the first question would be: What OS are you going to be running?  If it's going to run Windows, 8GB is kinda overkill, but it's not the worst decision.  If it's going to be some *Nix based solution like OpenELEC or the such, then really you only need 4GB.

The biggest issue will be what kind of video do you want to run?  The A4-7300 has some serious limitations when it comes to video decoding.  It can only decode up to 2K H.264 on it's onboard GPU, 4K h.264 and any resolution of HEVC would have to run on the CPU and the CPU is not fast enough to get that to decode in real time.  So you are already building a machine that's limited to 2k H.264 video.

 

A better solution but more expensive would be Intel.  Haswell, Broadwell and Sky Lake have support for 4K HEVC 8bit on their GPUs.  Kaby Lake should offer 10bit support.  So the GPU on the intel CPUs would do all the video decoding work and you'd have a media center build that is future proofed for the next 5+ years when it comes to video decoding.

[mikereader]

1 hour ago, AshleyAshes said:

Well, the first question would be: What OS are you going to be running?  If it's going to run Windows, 8GB is kinda overkill, but it's not the worst decision.  If it's going to be some *Nix based solution like OpenELEC or the such, then really you only need 4GB.

The biggest issue will be what kind of video do you want to run?  The A4-7300 has some serious limitations when it comes to video decoding.  It can only decode up to 2K H.264 on it's onboard GPU, 4K h.264 and any resolution of HEVC would have to run on the CPU and the CPU is not fast enough to get that to decode in real time.  So you are already building a machine that's limited to 2k H.264 video.

 

A better solution but more expensive would be Intel.  Haswell, Broadwell and Sky Lake have support for 4K HEVC 8bit on their GPUs.  Kaby Lake should offer 10bit support.  So the GPU on the intel CPUs would do all the video decoding work and you'd have a media center build that is future proofed for the next 5+ years when it comes to video decoding.

That's some really good advice. I'm going to run winodws. What do you think about this PC? http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/3jMd8d

 

I decided to with 8Gb ram since the price difference wasn't that much for 4gb. Im not too sure about the motherboard.

[AshleyAshes]

2 minutes ago, mikereader said:

That's some really good advice. What do you think about this PC? http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/3jMd8d

 

Im not too sure about the motherboard.

This isn't a bad build and it'll have the hardware decoding support you want.  But I still am curious what software you'd be looking to run.

 

If you're interested in Kodi or Plex, I would actually suggest you consider the NVidia Shield Android TV:

http://www.ncix.com/detail/nvidia-shield-4k-streaming-9c-116985.htm

 

It's cheaper than you're build (But there's no big HDD, but it'll easily do a USB HDD or storage elsewhere on your network) and it's disgustingly overspeced.  HDMI 2.0, 1gbit Ethernet, 802.11ac, 3GB of RAM, and I've personally watched it's Maxwell powered Tegra GPU eat 4K 60fps HEVC video for breakfast.  It has full Google Play support, just go on and get the Android TV version of Plex or Kodi and you're in business.

 

You won't get the fun of building a system but it'll be a lot simpler to use, it's on sale right now -and- it comes with a remote free remote right now.

[mikereader]

15 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

This isn't a bad build and it'll have the hardware decoding support you want.  But I still am curious what software you'd be looking to run.

 

If you're interested in Kodi or Plex, I would actually suggest you consider the NVidia Shield Android TV:

http://www.ncix.com/detail/nvidia-shield-4k-streaming-9c-116985.htm

 

It's cheaper than you're build (But there's no big HDD, but it'll easily do a USB HDD or storage elsewhere on your network) and it's disgustingly overspeced.  HDMI 2.0, 1gbit Ethernet, 802.11ac, 3GB of RAM, and I've personally watched it's Maxwell powered Tegra GPU eat 4K 60fps HEVC video for breakfast.  It has full Google Play support, just go on and get the Android TV version of Plex or Kodi and you're in business.

 

You won't get the fun of building a system but it'll be a lot simpler to use, it's on sale right now -and- it comes with a remote free remote right now.

Im planning on running Kodi. The Navida shield seems like a good option; however, i prefer to build a PC for more funcantality.