[scotty476]

Hello All,


I am brand new to this and would like to build a HTPC. I am a Mac guy but want something to store my media and use Windows Media center to stream to my 2 xbox 360 consoles.


Here is what i am thinking but not sure if everything is compatible.


-Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA Model AD-7240S-0B


-Western Digital Caviar Green WD15EADS 1.5TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5


-GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard


-Rosewill RCR-IC001 40-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5


-G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBHK


-AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor Model HDZ550WFGIBOX


-Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders

360

-APEVIA Black / Silver SECC Steel / Aluminum X-MASTER-AL/500 ATX Media Center / HTPC Case


Subtotal: $630.91


Thanks for your input and comments

 

[bighick]

Looks good. You planning on trying to unlock that cpu into a quad core?

That card reader is ugly.

I have the all black version of that case and it is roomy, Fans and psu are pretty quiet (its in a closet so i cant hear it).

 

[ArtosDracon]

The CPU is a bit of overkill unless you're looking to run something like playOn or tversity, but nothing actually wrong with it in any way.


You will want to look for a WD green drive ending in EARS instead of EADS, twice as much cache, updated controller and 4K sectors make for a notably better drive for similar cost.


You'll also want to consider how you're going to partition the drive. and how much media you're going to store. 1.5TB of storage is on the slim side, especially after you carve out 50GB for your OS partition. Also make sure you consider a back-up solution, it may seem excessive and unnecessary now, but when you're having to re-rip all of your music and DVDs, you'll wish you had, trust me.


Good luck!

 

[kciaccio]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ArtosDracon /forum/post/18149244


The CPU is a bit of overkill unless you're looking to run something like playOn or tversity, but nothing actually wrong with it in any way.


You will want to look for a WD green drive ending in EARS instead of EADS, twice as much cache, updated controller and 4K sectors make for a notably better drive for similar cost.


You'll also want to consider how you're going to partition the drive. and how much media you're going to store. 1.5TB of storage is on the slim side, especially after you carve out 50GB for your OS partition. Also make sure you consider a back-up solution, it may seem excessive and unnecessary now, but when you're having to re-rip all of your music and DVDs, you'll wish you had, trust me.


Good luck!

The back up part is so true. I had a 1TB external HD that bit the dust after six months.

It was replaced under warranty minus the 900gigs of video I had on it.


I was so pissed thinking how many hours I wasted puting that much video on a single disk that was not backed up.


After that I vowed not to let that happen again. I just finished my unraid server that I started with 3-1TB drives and 1-500gig drive to start. That gives me a little less than 2.5TB of storage because of the usual HDD over head and 1TB parity drive.


Long story short don't throw your time away amassing a video library without a backup system to protect them. And 1.5TB won't even come close to covering it.

 

[scotty476]

Thank you all for your help.


I have an HP Mediasmart EX 495 that i was thinking of returning in order to build this. The xbox interface with the mediasmart alone leaves a lot to be desired.


Should i keep this and go with a lower end PC build so that i can use the media center features with the xbox?