Critique my HTPC options please - im a total noob!

[Hitt0r]

I was using my laptop as a HTPC for Skygo app, and Youtube @ 1080p. The motherboard has died and i need a new HTPC.

I'd love your honest feedback on the options i have.

Option A

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD 5350 2.05Ghz Quad-Core Processor (£34.98 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock AM1B-M Micro ATX AM1 Motherboard (£22.02 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£15.70 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£34.98 @ Dabs)
Other: DVD/RW Driver (Purchased)
Other: AVP HTPC Micro Atx Media Case Black with Blue LED 450W PSU AvP Gladius CA36 (£39.99)
Total: £147.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-17 20:41 GMT+0000


I think this PC has enough horsepower to stream and decode HD video as it has a built in APU ?

Option B)

This is on offer for £30 - i'd need to add GeForce GT 610 1GB it for £25 im told - Sorry for poor description - it is what is posted in the advert.

INTEL E6600 , CORE 2 DUO (4 MEG L2 CACHE) 2.4 GIG CPU
QUALITY INTEL MOBO
3 GIG DDR2 RAM
250 GIG SATA HD
DVD WRITER
QUALITY SEASONIC 80+ PSU


Can you guys please evaluate both options please and tell me any pitt falls ? as i said its literally just to watch legit TV/youtube and playback of my own backups of blurays,

Thank you!

 

[Eddie Current]

I run a Plex server on a lots less (Laptop). It doesn't take much to transcode media.

 

[Suppressor1137]

http://mymediaexperience.com/htpc-builds/raspberry-pi/

could be plenty?

http://mymediaexperience.com/htpc-builds/entry-htpc/

bit more, but still really cheap.

 

[mjw21a]

Don't bother, just run an Intel Compute Stick with Windows 10 on it. Install Netflix, Plex or whatever you want on it. Run something stored somewhere as a NAS and oyu have everything you'll ever need.

 

[BugFreak]

Don't bother, just run an Intel Compute Stick with Windows 10 on it. Install Netflix, Plex or whatever you want on it. Run something stored somewhere as a NAS and oyu have everything you'll ever need.

Interesting. I did not even know these existed. Does anyone have any experience with one of these?

 

[mjw21a]

Yeah, one of my mates runs one. Once the HTPC craps out it'll be replaced by one too.

 

[wagex]

i dropped the whole pc htpc thing a couple years back and bought an amazon firetv with kodi sideloaded, will never look back. couldnt use the firetv stick as wifi couldnt handle many of my br rips streaming over the network from my server. if you have a newer nvidia card and a controller you can even stream games to it in 1080p just fine. i have a pretty good write up in a thread in the htpc section somewhere.
here it is. http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/755949-Replacing-my-htpc-with-a-Fire-TV

 

[BugFreak]

I have a fire tv and think it is one of the worst purchases I've ever done. The sound is awful and decent games seem to not exist. My kids use it for minecraft but otherwise it sits doing nothing but taunting me.

 

[wagex]

I have a fire tv and think it is one of the worst purchases I've ever done. The sound is awful and decent games seem to not exist. My kids use it for minecraft but otherwise it sits doing nothing but taunting me.

"the sound is aweful and decent games seem to not exist"
im curious as to what you were using for audio? i use dolby output to my receiver, and it sounds spectacular. it only puts out digital signals so either your source or receiver/tv would seem to be the problem. unless you received a defective unit perhaps.
as for the games, i just stream games from my pc using nvidia shield software and a 360 controller, as the firetv fully supports it with a wireless dongle.

the post right before your's has a link to another thread i made that shows all of the benifits of a firetv and my experiences with them. i get nothing but crisp awesome sound from it.

 

[Janus67]

Interesting. I did not even know these existed. Does anyone have any experience with one of these?

I looked into one briefly but the issues that limited to either having Bluetooth or wifi and blocking ports on the side of the unit nixed it for me. I went with an HP Stream Mini for about $200 and just added a bit more ram for better multitasking. Runs windows 8 but can upgrade to 10 whenever

 

[rescuetoaster]

I assume OP is not coming back, but I went from a logitech revue to just building an HTPC. I was tired of not having the right codecs for movies, or having to deal with a limited browser. Got an A6-7400k + motherboard with optical audio from microcenter for like 80 bucks plus a cheap case that fits behind the tv (ssd and ram from newegg).
It's far and away superior to having a set top box. I chose to do this over the compute sticks because 1. they are slow as hell, and 2. I get optical audio with an HTPC.

I'm using my revue's keyboard remote with the new HTPC and couldn't be happier.

 

[wagex]

I assume OP is not coming back, but I went from a logitech revue to just building an HTPC. I was tired of not having the right codecs for movies, or having to deal with a limited browser. Got an A6-7400k + motherboard with optical audio from microcenter for like 80 bucks plus a cheap case that fits behind the tv (ssd and ram from newegg).
It's far and away superior to having a set top box. I chose to do this over the compute sticks because 1. they are slow as hell, and 2. I get optical audio with an HTPC.

I'm using my revue's keyboard remote with the new HTPC and couldn't be happier.

what codecs were you having issues with?
just curious as the firetv has no issues with h264 or divx video only issues ive had one one really weird like vd1 codec or something i had from a rip on the hp movies.
it also has optical out
biggest reason why i love the firetv so much is it uses like 1w idle and 6w max while under load and does everything my htpc did and then some. its already paid for itself or power usage, then again the cost of power where i live is pretty high.
after switching to a firetv il never go back to a htpc again. simple for the fam to use and does everything a htpc does and then some using a fraction of the power.

 

[BugFreak]

"the sound is aweful and decent games seem to not exist"
im curious as to what you were using for audio? i use dolby output to my receiver, and it sounds spectacular. it only puts out digital signals so either your source or receiver/tv would seem to be the problem. unless you received a defective unit perhaps.
as for the games, i just stream games from my pc using nvidia shield software and a 360 controller, as the firetv fully supports it with a wireless dongle.

the post right before your's has a link to another thread i made that shows all of the benifits of a firetv and my experiences with them. i get nothing but crisp awesome sound from it.

I'm using the hdmi for sound. The bad sound is only on prime movies and wihout them there is no point to the machine imo. It seems to be a common problem according to net searches but none of the ideas worked on mine. I can't say it is hardware related since it works fine on other apps.

I read your other thread when you were posting to it. We must have different needs because I just don't see it.

 

[wagex]

I'm using the hdmi for sound. The bad sound is only on prime movies and wihout them there is no point to the machine imo. It seems to be a common problem according to net searches but none of the ideas worked on mine. I can't say it is hardware related since it works fine on other apps.

I read your other thread when you were posting to it. We must have different needs because I just don't see it.

weird i dont play prime movies very often so i dont recall offhand what the audio was like i thought they streamed a dolby audio stream high bit in 5.1 but i cant say for sure :\
about all i do on it is kodi (xbmc) to stream media(br rips and tv shows) from my server and netflix/hulu/slingtv and the occasional game streaming using the nvidia shield software, its the only device i have on my tv as we dont have satellite or cable.
amazon does have a few shows coming out that im gonna watch i guess il see how the audio is on those, thanks for the heads up!

 

[machausta]

OSMC with Raspberry Pi 2 works well for me, its inexpensive and the audio is still pretty good.