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Opinions wanted on tight budget HTPC build for parents

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Assix

Part list clicky

Hey all,

I would like some opinions on the part list i created for my budget HTPC build. Please keep in mind i'm from the netherlands (europe) which means prices are completely different than the US.

Please also note that the PSU is a placeholder, i needed to check if a full ATX PSU would fit the case, i actually still have an PSU laying around that i will use to keep the cost down.

The monitor will be the TV my parents have in the living room, the PC will be for downloading movies and series and playing them on the TV. The 1TB is definetly enough for now, my parents don't tend to keep all the movies and don't watch that many series.

Thanks in advance all!

10 years ago*

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31 Comments
zelghadis

Erm - why the hell wpuld you invest $57.09 into a cooling system for a budget system designated to just play movies? boxed cooler added to CPU should be enough. You can easily save this money or idk - if it's about to be a guest room multimedia device - maybe get a Blu-Ray optical drive instead? ;)

10 years ago
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Assix

No need for optical drive, we have a media player. the point is we don;t have to burn stuff anymore because we have this HTPC then.

The cooler is optional and a lot cheaper in the netherlands, it's just that the stock might be really loud so that's why i'm consdering the aftermarket cooler.

10 years ago
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RanchMeAmadeus

Hey, I have the same CPU and the stock cooler doesn't make any noise at all. Also, do you have Micro Center in Netherlands ? If you buy and AMD CPU there, you get $40 off for any compatible mobo for it.

10 years ago
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Assix

sadly... we don't. I need to buy everything online which kind of sucks, but thanks for the info! i'll stick with the stock at first then :)

10 years ago
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Azuranski

Buy nothing, save money for booze and women.

10 years ago
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Azuranski

Buy nothing, save money for booze and women.

10 years ago
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Azuranski

Buy nothing, save money for booze and women.

10 years ago
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XDraylin

If you dont want to upgrade you PC later, you should use 2x2GB RAM because the Mainboard can write to both at the same time

10 years ago
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Assix

I was thinking about that. but 1x 4gb is actually cheaper now and seems better for upgrading later on so i think it's better to go with that :)

10 years ago
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Detruire

My experience is that two sticks is much safer than four: I've seen far too many motherboards reject 4 sticks of matching RAM, but never seen one reject two matching sticks.

10 years ago
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smog0

its just 1 stick

10 years ago
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Detruire

Seems like I need to get some sleep... I read that as 4x1GB.

10 years ago
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Assix

Well it might apply to the upgrading though, 4x 2gb might not be that great instead of 2x 4gb ;)

10 years ago
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SupahMcLovin

You could go with a cheaper network adapter. I bought this and it works great

10 years ago
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Assix

I already have this network adapter at home!

10 years ago
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SupahMcLovin

Well get another, its cheaper lel
Or if the other one isn't in use then use that.

10 years ago
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Desidiosus

If you have technical know-how or can follow a guide, get Raspberry Pi or one of the alternatives (e.g. HummingBoard). Those are very cheap and excellent HTPCs. They just take some time to set up.

10 years ago
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Assix

I really love the idea of that but i'm afraid my technical knowledge isn't that great + it's for my parents, i think this will be a lot easier for them.

10 years ago
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Desidiosus

Setting it up is the hard part. Looks pretty easy to use, if you install XBMC on it. At least based on this video.

10 years ago
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shockR

This is a better HDD. http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd1003fzex

10 years ago
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EViLiSLuRKiNG

WD is not that good these days i have not had much luck with them and i know others who have not

the green ones are the worse i have had 2 and both have had bad sectors within 6 months to a year granted they have warranty but that is not the point

i would suggest
Hitachi hard drives i have not had any issues with the ones i have and i have one in my laptop and my pc
but that is imo

though you could always go SSD if they do not need a lot of space

10 years ago
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Assix

My WD green has been working perfectly fine for over 2 years now. + SSD is really useless for an HTPC, thanks for the advice though...

10 years ago
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Assix

Why the hell would i need a WD black for movies...?

10 years ago
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EViLiSLuRKiNG

you ever think of mini itx with an AM1 platform you can get both the cpu and mother board for under 100

Asrock AM1 Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157490&cm_re=AMD_AM1-_-13-157-490-_-Product

AM1 Sempron Quad Core 1.3ghz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113366&cm_re=AMD_AM1-_-19-113-366-_-Product

just my thoughts as they have the Athlon or Sempron either would work as a media center and it would be quiet and would run just fine on a stock fan and the extra you was going to dump into a after market cooler you could use to get a

CM Elite 130 Mini ITX case
http://www.coolermaster.com/case/mini-itx-elite-series/elite130/ it supports standard PSU

i left out prices so you could look them up yourself as that would be easier

this is just thoughts it would keep things small,simple and quiet and no need for after market cooler and would be plenty of power to do HTPC imo

10 years ago
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Assix

thanks for your opinion and advice. I;m afraid in the netherlands that AM1 is more expensive, i guess because they are really hard to get today... so that doesn't really work for me.

good idea though!

10 years ago
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EViLiSLuRKiNG

damn that sucks that would have been perfect as it would have used little power and been super quiet

if it is going to be just for media center use and no gaming you could try an Intel Pentium G

one like this
Intel Pentium G3220
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116950

only other option you would have is either AMD APU if you want one with a APU

10 years ago
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Yatogami

buy a console.

10 years ago
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buttocks

lol no

10 years ago
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Assix

thanks for your extemely useless advice.

10 years ago
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Enverex

My recommendation for a budget, cool running, light gaming capable box.

10 years ago
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Assix

Looks like a decent build, sadly it's about 200 euros above my budget ;)

10 years ago
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