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PLEASE help me build an HTPC that fits me...

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Mister Brandon

New Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2011
Location
SoCal
Honestly, will THIS work for me guys?

Is this a good deal?

I need a CHEAP rig that will play 1080p/blu ray rips, HULU, NETFLIX, YOUTUBE, VIMEO HD, and surf the web... Nothing else.

I just want a cheap HTPC and this looks like it might work. Of course, I am pretty computer-dumb.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.791268

If not, can you guys please help me build the best low-budget HTPC using amazon carts?

Thank you so much you guys.
 
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Hopefully an admit merges your two threads.. Please don't create multiple threads with the same issue. I replied to your other. Thanks.
 
:confused:

This thread is for the building of MY HTPC.

I merely Copy/Pasted the content from my other post in "NEWEGG DEALS" in order to show people what I was thinking of buying. It is very relevant to this thread.

So no offense there dude, but hopefully a mod does NOT merge these two as that would be stupid and I would have to repost here anyways.

Thanks for trying to keep the forums clean and uncluttered though. We need more thread police.

:clap:
 
Well, that would do it, though the case is absolutely horrible and looks like the airflow would be equally bad. Mind you, it's not a gaming rig so it should be sufficient to your needs.

Don't forget to include the cost of a copy of Windows onto that. I've found Windows and OS X can handle the overdraw that most TV's have however Linux does not so Windows would be the way to go.

Chuck XBMC on there to catalogue your music and videos, install the Ice Films plugin for media streaming and voila, a media pc.

Honestly though, that case and PSU are complete rubbish. I'd be more worried about the PSU dying and takinf the rest of the system with it. The problem with all those deals on there is they're in a Rosewill case with a PSU of unknown quality with the case itself.
 
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Well, that would do it, though the case is absolutely horrible and looks like the airflow would be equally bad. Mind you, it's not a gaming rig so it should be sufficient to your needs.

Don't forget to include the cost of a copy of Windows onto that. I've found Windows and OS X can handle the overdraw that most TV's have however Linux does not so Windows would be the way to go.

Chuck XBMC on there to catalogue your music and videos, install the Ice Films plugin for media streaming and voila, a media pc.

Honestly though, that case and PSU are complete rubbish. I'd be more worried about the PSU dying and takinf the rest of the system with it. The problem with all those deals on there is they're in a Rosewill case with a PSU of unknown quality with the case itself.

Sweet :ty: TY brother!

I will go ahead and replace the case/psu. Any suggestions off Amazon?

Also, I already have a 2TB HD and win7 64 bit.. Can I use a 64 bit Win7, silly question I know :-/

It already has XBMC on there haha I love it! And I will grab the IF plugin too, great advice.

I wonder now, about a NAS. My fiance picked up a drobo the other day because the Storage Solution "Expert" at the local electronic store assured her she could run it through the router. However, you can not. There is no cat6 on it. Which is a total shame because it had 4 bays, it was cheap, and it was very easy to set up. So now, I think I am back in square one for that.

My 2tb Barracuda Green drive is good enough for a while. I down load about 250gigs a month right now. But eventually I will want a NAS I think. I would LIKE to run it through the router. We do not record anything but we do download a ton of 1080p/blu-ray rips.

Man, I sure love OCF :comp:
 
Sure you can. All current processors (not sure about atom or AMD's equivalent) support 64 bit natively.

Not sure if this is what you're looking for though this case has excellent airflow and will keep everything nice and cool. Yes its another Rosewill though it has at least been designed with airflow in mind, plenty of room for additional hard drives should they be required. If you don't like LED fans you can either move that fan to the back or cut the wires that supply power to the LED's, which is what I tend to do:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147120

This little Corsair PSU will keep things chugging along ok: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

I know this increases your cost by a bit but the power supply is really the most important component as it supplies power to your components. A decent case is important as it helps keep your components cool and good layout is important to make it easier to work with.


P.s. Glad you like it on here. There are a few people take things a bit seriously but all in all a lot of good people. The mods and senior members here are all extremely knowledgeable and helpful.
I really wouldn't bother with a NAS or additional storage. Ever since installing the Ice Films XBMC plugin I never need to download anything, just stream it straight off the net.

Get XBMC here: http://xbmc.org/download/

To install the IceFilms plugin you first need to install the Archintosh Project plugin which you download from here: http://code.google.com/p/anarchintosh-projects/

Once downloaded, you go into XBMC, go into settings and say install plugin from ZIP file. Point it to the downloaded file and it installs. Then you simply need to add Ice Films as a source in XBMC and you're right to go.

Seriously, this stuff makes downloading movies and TV series pretty well obsolete.
 
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joey-lawrence-whoa.png

HaHa.

After watching some youtube videos and reading through some of this stuff I have to admit that I am rather impressed! It just makes so much more sense to stream vs downloading and saving EVERYTHING just so you can watch it once, then never to watch it again.

And I rather spend a little more on a case and PSU. What about the $75 range? thats only like an extra $150 which if you compare to MY build.. is rather inexpensive LOL. .

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7049748#post7049748
 
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That's the direction I took - 51+% of my media viewing now is streaming. I realized a while back that I usually only watched shows and movies once, and only a handful more than twice. Nothing says you can't stream a movie off Netflix more than once, but I definitely don't see buying a 'hard copy' of something I only watch once.
 
HaHa.

After watching some youtube videos and reading through some of this stuff I have to admit that I am rather impressed! It just makes so much more sense to stream vs downloading and saving EVERYTHING just so you can watch it once, then never to watch it again.

If it is just you using the HTPC, than archiving films is pretty outdated. But for a larger family an HTPC with adequate archival capabilities is great, especially with kids in the house. As they often like to watch the same movie multiple times. And Archiving TV shows. I have every episode of my favorite series and tend to watch them alot. So streaming would not work for me.

Also comcast has a 250GB traffic cap, so thats not a lot of Bandwidth for HD streaming for multiple users.

EDIT: I also delete stuff when I am sure no one else is interested. Currently running a 2TB and a 1TB for storage both full (Had to delete a lot when my one 2TB went bad and only had a 1TB to backup too :(
 
I am sorry about the crappy pics (taken with Samsung Galaxy S -8MP) but I am sort of in a rush. And I will let the pics speak for themselves...


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I have to admit, I am pretty stoked.
 
Let's check out the adjustment for tilt. .



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Why or how you would need anything BEYOND that is BEYOND me LOL.

Would I prefer a swivel? Yes. Does it matter to me? No. Not one iota.

Is the fit and finish clean as hell? Yes. Samsung FTW at this point.

But let's play with it for a while and see what we think of it hahaha.

My only complaint so far, ( I do not even care how much this thing costs its just looks so awesome ) is that the glasses are about as stylish as these outfits...



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Everything else looks really, really good. And I haven't even plugged it in yet LOL.




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I have some stuff to do but bet your butt I will be online tonight slaying kids on our server...

So make sure you add me if you are a HARDCORE guy like myself. Anything besides HC is just.. Girly LOL.

c4sauceBOSS is my name, dishing out maaaddd destruction is game ;)

Here are a few more pics . .

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I just downgraded from 1090t htpc to i3-2100 htpc. the i3-2100 is great for it.

I use xbmc also, and have used it on Linux. the overscan issue can be remedied with a touch of configuration, but xbmc on windows just works better in my experience.
 
That screen is sexy! Yes, that Antec PSU is a quality PSU also. Either will do the job for you.

Sorry about the delayed response. Between a few hours gaming and sleep it took a while to get back to the thread.
 
Oh I think I forgot to ask in this forum. .

Will I be able to run Win 7 64 Bit ??

Stupid question I know.
 
Yup, I believe I answered that one higher up....

oh ya haha sorry mate the flu really has me discombobulated these days. well not the flu but all the dang medicine LOL.

Thanks a bunch :thup:

the stuff arrives today (newegg is only a 100 miles away or so) but NOT feeling up to gettin out of bed but will take some pics later.

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