I'm very seriously considering building a new HTPC from scratch. I've been slowly upgraded an old desktop pc I bought almost a decade ago, but I'm thinking it may be time to build a dedicated HTPC, and use the desktop as more of a workstation.
but as I'm searching through parts, and trying to price things out, there's a few things I'm unsure about.
the first is on-board audio. my plan is to get a mobo with good enough on-board graphics and hdmi output so I don't need to use a video card anymore. the only other things I'm looking at when it comes to mobo selection is the number of sata connections, as I'm hoping to stuff the case to the tits with HDD's so I don't need to have a rack of 8 externals anymore. seems like 6 sata connections is about the most I can get before jumping way up in price. but the other thing I've noticed is the difference in audio. most have realtek 892, a couple, slightly more expensive(ok, roughly double the price, but still only a 70-80dollar premium) have realtek 1150. so my question is, does this matter? does the onboard audio even come into play if I'm sending it over hdmi (hopefully untouched) to my receiver?
for what's it's worth, here's what I'm thinking for the rest of the build:
CPU- intel i3. was looking at the 4130T for it's lower power demand, but still pretty unsure about this as my local supplier doesn't carry it
mobo- Z97(if audio matters) http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX52123 or maybe an H87(if audio doesn't matter) http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX46154
ram- I'm going to reuse the 3gb I removed when I upgraded the current PC
HDD- I may swap in the ssd from the current pc, or pick up another small/cheap one for the OS. either way i'll load it up with the HDD's I have now for media storage
power supply- I'm considering the corsair RM650. it's way overkill, but it's the smallest one of that series, and I'm intrigued by the 'zero noise' aspect to it. http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX48186 plus, I don't really know if I'm eventually going to have like 6-8 HDD's in the case, maybe I will need a larger power supply?
case- is likely going to be the Silverstone GD08 or similar(I like the look of this one better: http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX47999)
this should give me enough to put together a dedicated HTPC and maintain my current desktop to use for everything else. basically I want to remove my daily tasks from the htpc, as I believe this will make it more stable, and reliable for playing my media. there's nothing wrong with the current performance of my desktop, but the form factor, and general execution is a bit clumsy.
I would like to keep things generally cheap, quiet, and efficient as much as possible. but I'm not super concerned about it being tiny. I'd rather it provided me room to grow. I'm the kind of person that would normally rather buy parts and do upgrades than buy a whole new system. as evidenced by my current desktop that I bought in 2006, and have replaced or added ram, hdd's, video card, dvd drive, and power supply.
I've been looking for about a week trying to find advice on my own, but it appears most builds are either tiny, super efficient concepts with little to no onboard storage, or super high end gaming/media rigs. I'm looking more for something is simple and efficient, but trades off being small for having huge amounts of storage space. I'm currently running 1SSD and 9HDD's, 7 of which are external, so I'd really like to either clean that up, or at the very least give myself room to add internal HDD's in the future instead of more external drives. I'm running out of plugs, and already using 2 usb hubs. also, I'm not too interested in the whole server/media box route. I primarily only watch in one room, and I'm current unable to get anything 1080p to 'stream' to anything else in my house(other pcs, smart TV's, bluray player, or appletv running xbmc). I haven't been able to isolate any issues, it just doesn't work reliably and I don't want run cat cable all over the house to make it work.
thanks in advance for any help, or reality checks you can provide
but as I'm searching through parts, and trying to price things out, there's a few things I'm unsure about.
the first is on-board audio. my plan is to get a mobo with good enough on-board graphics and hdmi output so I don't need to use a video card anymore. the only other things I'm looking at when it comes to mobo selection is the number of sata connections, as I'm hoping to stuff the case to the tits with HDD's so I don't need to have a rack of 8 externals anymore. seems like 6 sata connections is about the most I can get before jumping way up in price. but the other thing I've noticed is the difference in audio. most have realtek 892, a couple, slightly more expensive(ok, roughly double the price, but still only a 70-80dollar premium) have realtek 1150. so my question is, does this matter? does the onboard audio even come into play if I'm sending it over hdmi (hopefully untouched) to my receiver?
for what's it's worth, here's what I'm thinking for the rest of the build:
CPU- intel i3. was looking at the 4130T for it's lower power demand, but still pretty unsure about this as my local supplier doesn't carry it
mobo- Z97(if audio matters) http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX52123 or maybe an H87(if audio doesn't matter) http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX46154
ram- I'm going to reuse the 3gb I removed when I upgraded the current PC
HDD- I may swap in the ssd from the current pc, or pick up another small/cheap one for the OS. either way i'll load it up with the HDD's I have now for media storage
power supply- I'm considering the corsair RM650. it's way overkill, but it's the smallest one of that series, and I'm intrigued by the 'zero noise' aspect to it. http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX48186 plus, I don't really know if I'm eventually going to have like 6-8 HDD's in the case, maybe I will need a larger power supply?
case- is likely going to be the Silverstone GD08 or similar(I like the look of this one better: http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX47999)
this should give me enough to put together a dedicated HTPC and maintain my current desktop to use for everything else. basically I want to remove my daily tasks from the htpc, as I believe this will make it more stable, and reliable for playing my media. there's nothing wrong with the current performance of my desktop, but the form factor, and general execution is a bit clumsy.
I would like to keep things generally cheap, quiet, and efficient as much as possible. but I'm not super concerned about it being tiny. I'd rather it provided me room to grow. I'm the kind of person that would normally rather buy parts and do upgrades than buy a whole new system. as evidenced by my current desktop that I bought in 2006, and have replaced or added ram, hdd's, video card, dvd drive, and power supply.
I've been looking for about a week trying to find advice on my own, but it appears most builds are either tiny, super efficient concepts with little to no onboard storage, or super high end gaming/media rigs. I'm looking more for something is simple and efficient, but trades off being small for having huge amounts of storage space. I'm currently running 1SSD and 9HDD's, 7 of which are external, so I'd really like to either clean that up, or at the very least give myself room to add internal HDD's in the future instead of more external drives. I'm running out of plugs, and already using 2 usb hubs. also, I'm not too interested in the whole server/media box route. I primarily only watch in one room, and I'm current unable to get anything 1080p to 'stream' to anything else in my house(other pcs, smart TV's, bluray player, or appletv running xbmc). I haven't been able to isolate any issues, it just doesn't work reliably and I don't want run cat cable all over the house to make it work.
thanks in advance for any help, or reality checks you can provide