So I am assembling my own system to build my HTPC, and I have gotten the following parts (although all still boxed)
Gigabyte B75M-D3H (Microcenter deal with Intel chip)
Intel i3 3225 (Microcenter deal with motherboard)
Silverstone GD04B case
Corsair CX430 PSU
8 GB Kingston Blue Hyper X Genesis DDR3 1600 (12800)
So I am missing a few parts, and have a few questions so any advice would be appreciated.
1) Being new, I did not know much about spec'ing the memory, and apparently it is 1.65v. From what I have read, it will void my Intel warranty to run the memory at 1.65v. Instead, I can run it at 1333 at 1.5v. The memory was a good ($29.99) price through Amazon, but not a great price. I have been following the prices (after Black Friday) and have not seen 8GB of DDR3 1600 cheaper (although I have seen 1333 for about the same) . I won't be doing gaming (as far as I know), this unit will be my DVR, and hopefully I will be able to move some of my movie collection onto a large hard drive and store the actual discs somewhere else. If I run this memory at 1333 will it make any difference? Or should I return it and get 1600 speed that runs at 1.5v?
2) I'm not sure what to do about an internal BD-Rom (or burner) drive. Are there any that come with playback software that people recommend? Is it possible to rip the blu-rays to the HDD and not have to worry about direct playback by the internal drive, so that any internal BR player will work? I have a couple of 3D blu-rays as well, so it would be nice to get those to work.
3) This question is semi-related to #2 in that I am still torn about an operating system. I have little experience with Linux, and it seems that not all hardware will work with all linux iterations, or at least there sometimes seem to be issues (from what I read, and I have been reading a lot recently). Office Depot has a great price for Windows 8 Pro ($69.99) and Microsoft is offering the Media Center for Windows 8 Pro fro free until Jan 31. So I am looking for advice as to the operating system that will be the easiest to set up and use for a novice.
4) Recommended TV tuner card (internal)? I do not need a cable card, and currently have no need to distribute the signal to any other TVs. I will probably use a rabbit ears antenna (which works great with my Sony DHG-HDD250 that Sony and Rovi are bricking come April)
Thanks in advance for any and all advice.
Darren
Gigabyte B75M-D3H (Microcenter deal with Intel chip)
Intel i3 3225 (Microcenter deal with motherboard)
Silverstone GD04B case
Corsair CX430 PSU
8 GB Kingston Blue Hyper X Genesis DDR3 1600 (12800)
So I am missing a few parts, and have a few questions so any advice would be appreciated.
1) Being new, I did not know much about spec'ing the memory, and apparently it is 1.65v. From what I have read, it will void my Intel warranty to run the memory at 1.65v. Instead, I can run it at 1333 at 1.5v. The memory was a good ($29.99) price through Amazon, but not a great price. I have been following the prices (after Black Friday) and have not seen 8GB of DDR3 1600 cheaper (although I have seen 1333 for about the same) . I won't be doing gaming (as far as I know), this unit will be my DVR, and hopefully I will be able to move some of my movie collection onto a large hard drive and store the actual discs somewhere else. If I run this memory at 1333 will it make any difference? Or should I return it and get 1600 speed that runs at 1.5v?
2) I'm not sure what to do about an internal BD-Rom (or burner) drive. Are there any that come with playback software that people recommend? Is it possible to rip the blu-rays to the HDD and not have to worry about direct playback by the internal drive, so that any internal BR player will work? I have a couple of 3D blu-rays as well, so it would be nice to get those to work.
3) This question is semi-related to #2 in that I am still torn about an operating system. I have little experience with Linux, and it seems that not all hardware will work with all linux iterations, or at least there sometimes seem to be issues (from what I read, and I have been reading a lot recently). Office Depot has a great price for Windows 8 Pro ($69.99) and Microsoft is offering the Media Center for Windows 8 Pro fro free until Jan 31. So I am looking for advice as to the operating system that will be the easiest to set up and use for a novice.
4) Recommended TV tuner card (internal)? I do not need a cable card, and currently have no need to distribute the signal to any other TVs. I will probably use a rabbit ears antenna (which works great with my Sony DHG-HDD250 that Sony and Rovi are bricking come April)
Thanks in advance for any and all advice.
Darren
