so my acer revo just died (it whines when not powered up, fan wont spin up, won't post). it's been powered on for the last 4 or 5 years so i'm not too cut up, but i need a new htpc for my living room. i've priced up the following on scan: comes to 372.58. anyone care to share any opinions? if i'm going discrete gpu, am i better just going with a 3220 and saving the 15-20 quid difference? also i'm not sure on that case and psu, i was considering a bitfenix prodigy and a corsair cx430 or 500 psu. i read somewhere a discrete amd gpu was good for bit-streaming audio over hdmi, which i'm kind interested in. other than that i'd like it to give me a smooth xbmc experience while remaining pretty quiet and i suspect the spec is a bit overkill for that anyway. it'll be connected to a sony strdh820 av receiver via hdmi. i considered a 60/64gb ssd, but they seem to be out of stock in a lot of places right now, and that one was only ~15 quid more and has better write speeds for what it's worth.
If it's for media-playback and some webbrowsing only, then you won't need a dedicated GPU. The case and the PSU are just fine. I have the same case with the 450W PSU and used to run an i5-750 and a GTX460 inthere. So your hardware should have no troubles. However, if you wanna get this thingy smaller, then I'd go for an Antec ISK 310-150. This case has a built-in 150 PSU with an 80mm cooler, which is plenty enough for the i3-3225 (and I'd recommend this CPU, because of the beefier HD4000), but the AMD-setup will do just as nice and has an even beefier iGPU. You can even get a Prolimatech Samuel 17 inthere to cool the CPU, if the stockcooler is too noisy for your taste.
The only reason I see for a dedicated GPU is the bitstream audio passthrough you get, which is particularly relevant when playing Blurays. I'm not 100% sure whether the iGPUs in the Trinity chips do this (I'm pretty sure they do - can someone back me up here?) If not - then a dedicated GPU is, IMHO, a must. If they do, then go for it!
I like the look of that antec case a lot, and it'd be a far easier fit beneath the tv. I considered the amd route but figured it uses more power and would therefore be hotter/noisier. I can't see me gaming on it with any frequency as my main desktop is also hooked up to the av receiver. I use a ps3 for bluray playback, though I have a heap of HD stuff that I will be playing back through it. Is bit streaming necesary/available/worthwhile for those? I figured the intel would be lower power if I went with a 3220T, but the discrete gpu probably puts it around the same as the amd build, the 3225 is higher TDP but probably lower overall if I drop the 5450. Can anyone confirm if my assumptions are correct or wide of the mark?
Why not go for a G860 or similar chip. You don't need the hyperthreading, so you're saving £40 on the cpu which you can use for a discrete card. Or the G645T!
The G645T or Ivy Bridge G2100T are only £49 and £57 respectively. Get a cheap mobo, cheap ivy bridge cpu and cheap ram. Its an HTPC, not a gaming rig.
Actually i would recommend Celeron G1610 (38-40€ in my country) : http://ark.intel.com/products/71072/Intel-Celeron-Processor-G1610-2M-Cache-2_60-GHz http://www.ebuyer.com/443395-cs-cpu-coreg1610-2-60ghz-2m-lga1155-tray-cm8063701444901-rm
Bitstreaming not really necessary if you're not using Blurays EDIT: Also +1 on the SSD point - I'd probably get a 128Gb M4 - have got three of varying sizes, plus a C300, and I've had no problems FURTHER EDIT: On the CPU and GPU point, I'd totally agree that Pentium + 5450 is the way forward - cheap, quick, cool and importantly, future proof for bitstreaming if necessary for the sake of £20
Yeah they are usually more expensive, but cool is the priority here as its an HTPC. The chip I linked is only £50 anyway, so its not bad compared to the Sandy Bridge ones which are £90.
"Cool"... Well, technically the T's are no different in this case. All Intel SB/IB CPU idle at 1.6GHz and voltage around 0.7-0.9V, so there is not much to gain. Even if it has a idle voltage at lower end of the spectrum, we still talk about 1-2W difference at values around 30W for a complete system power usage. What sets the "T" CPUs appart from the rest is the lower maximum clock and the corresponding lower maximum voltage and maximum power consumption, but you can do that yourself too by limiting the maximum CPU multiplier to 22 instead of 26 or 30 and by setting lower CPU voltage. And finally, this all is irrelevant because in most scenarios, CPU will do next to nothing while playing video. My XBMC box with G530/4GB RAM/SSD and OpenELEC was idling at 36W, played SD video at 37W, HD video at 39W and Samsung Oceanic at 40W. I would be really surprised if a "T" CPU would manage to squeeze out more than 1W power consumption difference, if any at all.
Thanks for the replies guys, I wasn't sure about the T series cpus but you've cleared that up. The ssd I picked based on it being the cheapest in stock 128, because all the 64gb ones seem to be out of stock. That antec case is nice but having read some review it might be a bit awkward, I saw one where the retaining clip for the pci slot blocked the hdmi port. The cm elite 120 and a modest psu comes up at the same cost and has a bit more space especially as I'm planning on not having an optical drive. Betty, that CPU looks like my best bet along with the 5450, I might need to look at a better or smaller cooler. Dom, I've an acer revo spare. It's not got a hd or ram so it'd be sold as untested
Looking at the crucial m4s (out of stock) is there a reason they appear to have slower write access than most of the other ssds I'm seeing? Not hugely important for a htpc, just curious. How are PNY for ssd's? Also where can I get a thing to measure power consumption from the wall socket, and are they expensive? Not so much for this but the various other machines I have running at home.
Power meter from Amazon You might want to look on Amazon for SSD's too. The prices seem to have gone up quite a bit in the last week, not just on Amazon, but everywhere else too. The cooler that comes with the T series cpu's is very low in height, but not bad at all. I've got a spare one here.
Yeah, they've gone up a bit and there are loads out of stock, as opposed to December when I couldn't make my mind up on one for the revo and spent the money on vinyl instead.
