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Build Advice HTPC component advice.

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Kronos, 5 Sep 2011.

  1. Kronos

    Kronos Multimodder

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  2. mucgoo

    mucgoo Minimodder

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    Last edited: 5 Sep 2011
  3. Wicked_Sludge

    Wicked_Sludge My eyes! The goggles do nothing!

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    go for an atom/ion platform. cheaper than buying individual CPU and motherboard but still plenty of power to push 1080p.
     
  4. modd1uk

    modd1uk Multimodder

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    Atoms are crap imo.
     
  5. Wicked_Sludge

    Wicked_Sludge My eyes! The goggles do nothing!

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    care to elaborate?
     
  6. mucgoo

    mucgoo Minimodder

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    Atoms are very good for low power use. Personally I'd prefer to have somthing with a little more grunt for when we inevitably move onto HD+.
     
  7. fdbh96

    fdbh96 What's a Dremel?

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    What about one of the cheaper amd llanlo chips with a suitable motherboard. Might be a bit expensive though :S
     
  8. Fingers66

    Fingers66 Kiwi in London

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  9. Nealieboyee

    Nealieboyee Packaging Master!

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    Ah ninja'd, but here is a 2 minute build i threw together. You have most of the stuff already, so just subtract what you don't need.

    [​IMG]
     
  10. modd1uk

    modd1uk Multimodder

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    Without going into much detail, the point i was getting at is that you can have alot more power for a little more power consumption, there is a time and a place for atoms etc, car pc's :p
     
  11. Wicked_Sludge

    Wicked_Sludge My eyes! The goggles do nothing!

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    its an HTPC, why spend more money for components and the electricity to feed them then you have to?

    im currently running an ion platform with a dual-core atom for my server/HTPC. it easy pushes 1080p to my display with about 25% CPU usage (HT disabled) and 15% GPU usage. plenty of power left over for future resolutions and for running background apps. that and it idles under 40 watts with 4 full-size hard drives and it cost about $50 less than the cheapest LGA1155 combo.

    everyones entitled to an opinion, mine is that the ion/atom is perfect for HTPCs.
     
  12. modd1uk

    modd1uk Multimodder

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    Il give you that, this is what i love about the PC community, some people like low power consumption, others prefer a little more speed, some prefer low temps, some prefer uber high clock speeds aslong as they aint maxing temp on their CPU.
     
  13. Kronos

    Kronos Multimodder

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    As usual,useful help from the forum and I quite like the look at both 'Fingers66' and 'nealieboyee' suggestions with the latter just taking it on price which is about where I wanted to be.
    Thanks again all.
    Glenn.
     
  14. Jaybles

    Jaybles Minimodder

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    I would go Zacate.
    An AMD E350 can outperform an Atom Ion combo with lesser power consumption due to the Atom chipset being inefficient.
     
    Last edited: 6 Sep 2011
  15. chris66

    chris66 Minimodder

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    When we lived in Italy for three years, our house had a total of 3KW power, meaning that we couldn't have the washing machine and kettle on at the same time, otherwise the fuse would trip. In the UK, even a one bedroom flat usually has about 24KW!
    What we did learn when we checked our power consumption was the fact that stuff like 50" plasma TV's and other AV equipment use literally next to nothing in power terms. I also learned that my 'super PC (at the time - Intel Extreme quad core and Nvidia 7950 GPU) also used next to nothing in power, compared to most other household appliances.
    You could have a PC with four times the power under your TV and you still wouldn’t notice the difference with your electricity bill. I know this because we monitored our power usage for a month – if you want to save on your bill, get rid of your kettle, power shower and dishwasher – a PC does not even compare!

    I have come to despise the term ‘Green’ – it has been hijacked by the nutters of the religion of environmentalism. Our power bills are going up because of the new Climate Change Bill – David Cameron’s father-in-law receives £1000 PER DAY for allowing windmills on his land, subsidised by us! Even the BBC pension scheme depends on us swallowing this climate change rubbish – is it any wonder it is being indoctrinated into the young and impressionable!
    Bottom line – if you want a HTPC that hasn’t the power to do anything apart from play the odd HD movie, then why bother at all! Get a PS3 or Boxee instead.
     
    Last edited: 6 Sep 2011
  16. mucgoo

    mucgoo Minimodder

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    The main reason for wanting super low power in HTPC's is noise. With a 30W CPU you maybe need a single 120mm fan at low RPM.
     
  17. chris66

    chris66 Minimodder

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    So, you plan to play silent films, and silent music? Our HTPC emits a very low sound when it's on (2500K and GTX460, but case fans replaced with Sythe Gentle Typhoons). We can only hear it when there is complete silence. (One would assume that when you switch on your HTPC, you don't want complete silence, as you're about to watch or play something...)

    The other 99.9% of the time, we cannot hear it at all. My step son's X Box 360 is noticably noisier. In fact, I also have an Icy Box USB 3 Raid external HDD enclosure, and even that's noisier. But then again, when you're watching films or playing music, it doesn't really matter as you can't hear any of the equipment, even if sound is turned down low.
     
  18. Wicked_Sludge

    Wicked_Sludge My eyes! The goggles do nothing!

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    ever heard of the term "waste not, want not?"

    unlike many americans, i choose not to create enough waste to swallow a 3rd world country. why would i run a quad core desktop for a server when even a dual core atom is more than enough? i dont consider myself to be an environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination, but i firmly believe in the right tool for the job.

    i also firmly believe in not throwing my hard-earned cash down the drain. had i gone with a full-size desktop in place of my atom, i would be paying ~$5 a month more to run it. is $5 going to break the bank? no. but if i offered you $5 no strings attached you would accept it wouldnt you?
     
  19. Kronos

    Kronos Multimodder

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    I only wanted advice on a couple of components.

    But thanks for the extra content.LOL
     

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