So I've been lurking around here on the forums for the last few weeks trying to piece together exactly what I want when it comes to building my very first HTPC. I am a complete newb when it comes to building computers, but I thought this would be a fun way to start to learn. After lots of research and many changes of opinion about which hardware to go with, I was hoping that you guys could take a look at my progress so far and help point me in the right direction.
First off, here is what I am hoping to do with my build:
I hope to run as much as possible out of XBMC. My goal is to have as simple of a setup as possible since I have many people in my family who have very little patience for technology at times.
My (Very tentative and partial) Build:
Obviously, I am still missing some key pieces (Power Supply, Case, Hard Drives) and was hoping you could help shed some light on which would work best for the current build I have picked.
First question: Is this too much? Not enough? I am hoping to keep the price as low as possible, but decent performance is the key for me. I would rather pay a little bit more for adequate performance rather than paying less and ending up with performance issues.
Second Question: How will this build work with XBMC, specifically. Because of the Netflix support, I think the best option is for me to run Windows on the machine, is there any issues I should be aware of?
Third Question: Internal hard drives vs. Networked drives. Right now since I am trying to keep the cost down, I was hoping to hold off on building a networked server for a few years. If I add a few hard drives (including an SSD for the OS, XBMC, etc) should I be worried about heat/sound? How about power consumption? I was hoping to have about 4-6TB of storage space
Thank you so much in advance for all of your help. Let me know if I missed any information. Any and all input is greatly welcomed. Super excited to get this thing up and running!
First off, here is what I am hoping to do with my build:
- TV Tuning- I hope to record and watch. I hear this is possible through XBMC? What do I need to make this possible?
- Video Playback from Hard Drive-I have a substantial amount of movies (2+TB) ripped to my hard drives as of right now. Lots of storage would be preferable.
- Mild Gaming- Not a huge PC gamer, but I would love to have the opportunity to play games like Starcraft 2 and Civ V if I so choose
- Blu-Ray- Playback mostly, maybe some burning
- Netflix Playback- I hear this is possible through XBMC? What would I need?
I hope to run as much as possible out of XBMC. My goal is to have as simple of a setup as possible since I have many people in my family who have very little patience for technology at times.
My (Very tentative and partial) Build:
- CPU- AMD A63650 Llano 2.6GHz Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU)
- Motherboard- ASUS F1A55-M/CSM FM1 AMD A55
- Memory- (I admittedly pretty much just picked the first set I thought were compatible) Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866
- Optical Drive- ASUS 8MB Cache SATA Blu-ray Burner
- TV Tuner- Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 Media Center Kit Dual TV Tuner w/Remote
Obviously, I am still missing some key pieces (Power Supply, Case, Hard Drives) and was hoping you could help shed some light on which would work best for the current build I have picked.
First question: Is this too much? Not enough? I am hoping to keep the price as low as possible, but decent performance is the key for me. I would rather pay a little bit more for adequate performance rather than paying less and ending up with performance issues.
Second Question: How will this build work with XBMC, specifically. Because of the Netflix support, I think the best option is for me to run Windows on the machine, is there any issues I should be aware of?
Third Question: Internal hard drives vs. Networked drives. Right now since I am trying to keep the cost down, I was hoping to hold off on building a networked server for a few years. If I add a few hard drives (including an SSD for the OS, XBMC, etc) should I be worried about heat/sound? How about power consumption? I was hoping to have about 4-6TB of storage space
Thank you so much in advance for all of your help. Let me know if I missed any information. Any and all input is greatly welcomed. Super excited to get this thing up and running!