A good HTPC?

[Inception9269]

At some point in the next year I was wanting to do an overhaul of my media center pc.

 

Random backstory on things leading up to this point.

Spoiler

 

My media center uses a Pentium G3258, main reason for that is I had a z97 motherboard from an old pc build of mine, and I wanted the cheapest decent cpu to use in it. Pc uses 8gb ram, and just today I upgraded the gpu (used to be a 750ti I got back in 2014, but it died so I've been using Intel HD graphics for the past few months) it currently running a 1050 ti w/4gb vram, it surprisingly being a very capable 1080p gaming gpu. For storage I use a 120gb SSD and two 1tb WD HDDs (had one but it was nearly full, so got a second drive).

 

At some point next year I do want to do an overhaul, my media center pc showing its age too much. The motherboard is an MSI Z97 Gaming 7 motherboard that served me most well back in my old i7-4790k pc, but ever since I've repurposed it I've had one issue after another. I ran windows 8.1 on it for awhile until my pc was very screwed up for reasons unknown, having a wide array of issues. My 750 ti died, so I took it out and started using the integrated graphics, nothing working after that. I tried doing a clean install of windows, wouldn't even let me, I had an old 128gb SSD from 2014 in there that might have died, so I swapped it out with a 120gb SSD from my laptop. Still had issues, tried installing windows 10 a few times but wouldn't work, I took out my 8gb kit of ram and stuck in a random 4gb stick I had lying around, changed a setting in bios and things were finally resolved, it working perfectly fine since.

 

Fastforward to this past week. My main pc kept having issues with abruptly restarting whenever I played demanding games. It happening once in a day, then twice, then 4 times, and today while playing something not demanding in the least (Portal 2), it did so again but now won't turn on, mobo error code being 00, me being certain it was dead power supply, ordered a replacement yesterday in advance (Corsair AX860). Until that comes in I'm to use my media center pc...

 

And I realize how limited it is, the G3258 not good for triple AAA games that came out in the last few years. I only got the cpu cause I needed a cheap cpu for my motherboard and the pc's primary focus is a Plex server that can play some games. Before I tried playing any games I needed more than the 4gb ram I had in there, so I swapped it out for my old 8gb kit to see if maybe things would work, me populating slots 2&4 like I always do, things not working at all, pc would turn on then shut off after 2 seconds then repeat. That motherboard having many issues. I took the ram out and decided to try slots 1&3, it working perfectly fine after. Gaming on that cpu though is bleh. I didn't have it overclocked before (wanting to keep power draw low since it's a media center pc), there was very bad micro stutter and dropped frames in Overwatch (although the gpu did maintain 60fps in medium settings), I then OCed it to 4.2ghz which helped the micro stutter some, but still drops frames too often (am able to run settings at high and maintain 60fps).

 

So at some point in the upcoming year I want to do an overhaul of the system. I'd reuse my SSD and two HDDs, as well as my power supply (Corsair CXM 450 I think). Also my cpu cooler most likely which is a Cryorig C7, which I'm really fond of, it being a really good and silent cooler, able to handle the G3258 in my media center pc @ 4.2ghz staying within 80 degrees in Aida64. Would also reuse my 1050 ti in it.

 

Not sure what direction I should go really. There's Ryzen 3 1200, but I still have preference for Intel, i3's for the most part outperform r3's (I think). But not sure if I should go with Skylake, Kaby lake, or Coffee lake or whatever.

 

A big thing I'm also looking for is a nice case to use for the pc, something that would look good in a living room setting. I would like an ITX build, but since the pc needs atleast three 3.5 slots, which not a lot of ITX cases have I don't think, might have to go with Micro ATX.

[PerfectPlasma]

Here's what I've got, using Coffee Lake.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/p4QjPs
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/p4QjPs/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8350K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($189.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370N WIFI Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($160.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2800 Memory  ($91.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design - Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $522.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-26 00:22 EST-0500
(Changed case)

[Inception9269]

1 minute ago, PerfectPlasma said:

Here's what I've got, using Coffee Lake.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/C2GvzM
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/C2GvzM/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8350K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($189.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370N WIFI Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($160.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2800 Memory  ($91.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Phanteks - ENTHOO EVOLV SHIFT X Mini ITX Tower Case  ($159.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $602.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-26 00:19 EST-0500

A step in the right direction, although with cases I'd prefer it to not be over $80-100 at most.

Also the pc will still be a media center pc first that will be capable of playing triple AAA games in 1080p, so a $160 motherboard is a tad too much.

[PerfectPlasma]

3 minutes ago, Inception9269 said:

A step in the right direction, although with cases I'd prefer it to not be over $80-100 at most.

Also the pc will still be a media center pc first that will be capable of playing triple AAA games in 1080p, so a $160 motherboard is a tad too much.

Here's one with AMD. Most Coffee Lake Mobos are over $120 USD and I wanted to pick one with Wifi out of the box.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JxqYyf
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JxqYyf/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($201.98 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard  ($122.80 @ Newegg) 
Memory: ADATA - 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design - Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $504.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-26 00:25 EST-0500

[Inception9269]

10 hours ago, PerfectPlasma said:

Here's one with AMD. Most Coffee Lake Mobos are over $120 USD and I wanted to pick one with Wifi out of the box.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JxqYyf
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JxqYyf/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($201.98 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard  ($122.80 @ Newegg) 
Memory: ADATA - 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design - Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $504.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-26 00:25 EST-0500

I might end up going with Ryzen perhaps. It does have better price to performance. As for wifi though, I have the pc connected to ethernet since I use it as a Plex media server also.

 

Now having issues with my media center pc being unusable, but my main pc usable now. Although I won't try playing any games on it, cause it would most likely end in a repeat of events.