HTPC?

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rsd

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I'm looking to set up a home theatre pc some time soon. I typically build my own machines from bits off take2 and prophecy, but I don't really know much about what's out there for micro atx.

I'm also considering just buying a 2nd hand mac mini and putting ubuntu onto it.

Anyone have any thoughts about other options? A small form factor pc that I can buy off the shelf would probably be first prize, just because it will be a lot more compact.

I don't really want a media player as I want to use the PC to steam pandora and stuff which requires an SSH tunnel since it's only accessible in the US. PC is just more flexible.
 
rsd said:
I'm looking to set up a home theatre pc some time soon. I typically build my own machines from bits off take2 and prophecy, but I don't really know much about what's out there for micro atx.

I'm also considering just buying a 2nd hand mac mini and putting ubuntu onto it.

Anyone have any thoughts about other options? A small form factor pc that I can buy off the shelf would probably be first prize, just because it will be a lot more compact.

I don't really want a media player as I want to use the PC to steam pandora and stuff which requires an SSH tunnel since it's only accessible in the US. PC is just more flexible.
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Are you going to be using it as a 'true' HTPC, with a TV Capture card, or just as a media-player HTPC? uATX form factor with middle of the range components should do you fine. You should even be able to run of something like eeePC if you get one that has the ION chipset. But they aren't great value for money, the only real advantage is that they're very small.

You might also want to future-proof yourself and make sure that everything you get is HDCP enabled in order to play blu-ray and other protected content.
 
alt146 said:
Are you going to be using it as a 'true' HTPC, with a TV Capture card, or just as a media-player HTPC? uATX form factor with middle of the range components should do you fine. You should even be able to run of something like eeePC if you get one that has the ION chipset. But they aren't great value for money, the only real advantage is that they're very small.

You might also want to future-proof yourself and make sure that everything you get is HDCP enabled in order to play blu-ray and other protected content.
Click to expand...

I don't have DSTV so no use for a capture card. It'll be more media player. I think most micro-atx motherboards with hdmi and decent ati/nvidia gfx onboard support HDCP, but good point - I must make sure. I'll probably add a blu ray drive when the price drops a bit further, so that's something to keep in mind. Unless I go with the mac mini or something else.

eeePC seems underpowered for the price. Paying for the form factor, which is nice to have, but not critical. Thanks for the suggestions though, forgot about HDCP.
 
rsd said:
I don't have DSTV so no use for a capture card. It'll be more media player. I think most micro-atx motherboards with hdmi and decent ati/nvidia gfx onboard support HDCP, but good point - I must make sure. I'll probably add a blu ray drive when the price drops a bit further, so that's something to keep in mind. Unless I go with the mac mini or something else.

eeePC seems underpowered for the price. Paying for the form factor, which is nice to have, but not critical. Thanks for the suggestions though, forgot about HDCP.
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Also look at getting some sort of remote. It's much more convenient than using a wireless keyboard and mouse, especially if you're running dedicated HTPC software like XBMC or MediaPortal. The basic WMC generics were pretty cheap last time I checked, although you can get some with pretty fancy features if you're willing to pay a little more.

I agree with eeePC thing, I've never seen one that was really worth the money. But they can handle 1080p output nowdays and they are an option is you're seriously short on space.

If you have a bit of cash to spend, you can look at proper HTPC cases. They look really good, but they can be pretty expensive.
 
Yeah I've seen some nice options, but if I'm spending R2000 on a case + R1200ish on a motherboard, then add in ram and a cpu I might as well look at a 2nd hand intel mac mini.

Argh :)
 
I picked up an ASUS M3A-H/HDMI mobo in a Coolermaster RC360 box with 2 gig of ram running an AMD X2 7750BE (2.7ghz dual core) second hand for about R1700. The onboard graphics performs perfectly for HD (720p & 1080p). Tried it with Windows Media Center first, but switched over to XBMC (http://xbmc.org) which I prefer. The box is relatively quiet, makes about the same amount of noise as my HD-PVR and mVix PVR. Must say that an HTPC beats any media player hands down!

The only extra things I had to buy was a 1tb HDD, a MCE Remote and a wireless Keybord/mouse set. So in total it all cost less than my mVix PVR did. Extremely chuffed with the setup.

Clean up your library, download Yammm, setup and go!
 
If I were you, I'd find a motherboard with an onboard nVidia 9300 GFX like the asus P5N7A-VM and a cheap dual core, like a E5300 or even E3300. Add 2GB ram and a HDD and XBMC and youre set.

EDIT: and a bluetooth dongle and a PS3 remote (I don't like stupid IR remotes)
 
The trade-off here is price vs noise. It isn't a huge noise issue, but the difference between a micro-atx actively cooled system and a passive mini-itx and ION or 5450 is noticeable, depending of course on what else is going on in the room.

This is my rec for noiseless:

ZOTAC ION ITX A Series MOTHERBOARD with INTEL Atom N330 Dual Core CPU & 90W AC/DC ADAPTOR (it's handy because it has a brick and a DC connection on the IO panel, like a notebook, so includes PSU, can run on active or passive cooling and also has wifi) - R2274.30
Coolermaster Elite 100 (It's also a micro-atx case so it can take a single 3.5" + 2.5" hdds or multiple 2.5" hdds with mini-itx, and you can take out the PSU that comes with it for more space, plus it can accept a slim odd if you do decide to go Blueray in the future) - R648.50

Just add ram (ddr2 800) and hdds and you're good to go.

You could also get the Zotac B board for a lot less, but that only has a single core Atom, no wi-fi and requires a separate PSU (which isn't really an issue with that case).

At the very least, the case is something to consider, since it is really well priced for micro-atx/mini-itx.
 
Rudimental said:
The trade-off here is price vs noise. It isn't a huge noise issue, but the difference between a micro-atx actively cooled system and a passive mini-itx and ION or 5450 is noticeable, depending of course on what else is going on in the room.

This is my rec for noiseless:

ZOTAC ION ITX A Series MOTHERBOARD with INTEL Atom N330 Dual Core CPU & 90W AC/DC ADAPTOR (it's handy because it has a brick and a DC connection on the IO panel, like a notebook, so includes PSU, can run on active or passive cooling and also has wifi) - R2274.30
Coolermaster Elite 100 (It's also a micro-atx case so it can take a single 3.5" + 2.5" hdds or multiple 2.5" hdds with mini-itx, and you can take out the PSU that comes with it for more space, plus it can accept a slim odd if you do decide to go Blueray in the future) - R648.50

Just add ram (ddr2 800) and hdds and you're good to go.

You could also get the Zotac B board for a lot less, but that only has a single core Atom, no wi-fi and requires a separate PSU (which isn't really an issue with that case).

At the very least, the case is something to consider, since it is really well priced for micro-atx/mini-itx.
Click to expand...

That sounds promising. Any suggestions as to where the motherboard can be bought?
 
rsd said:
That sounds promising. Any suggestions as to where the motherboard can be bought?
Click to expand...

Ahh, sorry:

motherboard

case

Oh, and here is a review of the motherboard, where you can see all the features, since they aren't listed on Prophecy, and you can probably find it elsewhere, just used Prophecy as a first stop.
 
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The only possible issue I can see with that motherboard is that you have to use the supplied brick PSU, since there is no onboard ATX power connector, which means that like a notebook, you'll have to wait for a replacement brick if it dies, and wouldn't be able to use the PSU with that case. This shouldn't be an issue, though.
 
Next question: optical drive?

Will have to be a slim drive, DVD writer, preferably slot load?
 
Bought my ZOTAC ION ITX A Series MOTHERBOARD with INTEL Atom N330 last week from cafe viva. Very happy with the performance. (running XP and XMBC on it).
 
HBee said:
Bought my ZOTAC ION ITX A Series MOTHERBOARD with INTEL Atom N330 last week from cafe viva. Very happy with the performance. (running XP and XMBC on it).
Click to expand...

Aha

What case and optical drive?
 
I took the coolermaster elite 100. Did not install an optical drive (only has space for a slimline drive and they wanted R900 bucks for that).

Just use in a normal sata optical drive (open case) to install XP. The little board has 10 USB ports and built in wireless, so installing anything else does not require a DVD. Also the whole case is passivly cooled and keeping heat sources down was important to me.
 
HBee said:
I took the coolermaster elite 100. Did not install an optical drive (only has space for a slimline drive and they wanted R900 bucks for that).

Just use in a normal sata optical drive (open case) to install XP. The little board has 10 USB ports and built in wireless, so installing anything else does not require a DVD. Also the whole case is passivly cooled and keeping heat sources down was important to me.
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Cool, thanks. I can't believe what good value that motherboard is.

Do you think the Zotac-B would handle high def video & windows 7? Should if making use of CUDA... hmmm...
 
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rsd said:
Cool, thanks. I can't believe what good value that motherboard is.

Do you think the Zotac-B would handle high def video & windows 7? Should if making use of CUDA... hmmm...
Click to expand...


I't probably could, but I would not buy it. The reason you need dual core is for applications like XBMC. They have databases etc, and the bigger your library gets, the more grunt your cpu wil need.
 
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