My First HTPC

[Fury05]

There are 382 pages of happiness here:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/333460-HP-ProLiant-MicroServer

A lot of people use OPENELEC on a USB stick, there is a port for it inside the machine but if you want to run general PC duties XBMC will run on just about anything

http://www.pricecheck.co.za/offers/44361185/HP+ProLiant+G7+N54L+1P+2GB-U+SATA+250GB+150W+PS+MicroServer/

one of those with one of these:

http://www.pricecheck.co.za/offers/18394288/EVGA+NVIDIA+GeForce+GT210/

and off you go

Will have a look at that. Thank you very much :thumbup:

 

[AVSupply]

There are 382 pages of happiness here:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/333460-HP-ProLiant-MicroServer

That was my next suggestion

 

[Meteor]

Do not use the GT210, although it works fine, its does not support HD audio, HD-DTS or HD Dolby.

 

[Doodler]

I have that CFI case 60w running an amd e350, and I seriously question whether you would be able to run an intel chip with stock cooler in it as the low power amd is running at 70 degrees idle. I suggest you rethink the case maybe just to be safe.

 

[Crowley]

Before my graphics card in my micro server died I was running two profiles in Windows 7 at the same time. One profile running XBMC (watching only 720 and 1080 movies and series) and the other one running Couchpotato, Sickbeard, SABNZB and the occasional torrent. The only thing I did was up the memory to 4gb from two.

 

[Chingha]

Wootware have the Microservers at R2400:

http://www.wootware.co.za/hp-proliant-n54l-micro-g7-amd-turion-ii-neo-4gb-ddr3-microserver-no-hdd-included.html

 

[Chingha]

Before my graphics card in my micro server died I was running two profiles in Windows 7 at the same time. One profile running XBMC (watching only 720 and 1080 movies and series) and the other one running Couchpotato, Sickbeard, SABNZB and the occasional torrent. The only thing I did was up the memory to 4gb from two.

Openelec only uses around 500MB of RAM, that is running all the Sickbeard/Couchpotato et al as they are built in.

 

[Chingha]

Do not use the GT210, although it works fine, its does not support HD audio, HD-DTS or HD Dolby.

As a matter of interest, which equivalent card does?

 

[SYNERGY]

An AMD card such as the 5450 should have.
Don't take my word on that thou.

 

[Chingha]

An AMD card such as the 5450 should have.
Don't take my word on that thou.

Absolutely right! Glad I run this card, I thought the GTs were a bit newer and better.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...phire-radeon-hd-5450-512mb-ddr3-review-6.html

 

[Chingha]

Wootware have the 5450 at R400

http://www.wootware.co.za/powercolor-ax5450-1gbk3-shev2-go-green-hd5450-1gb-ddr3-hdmi-v2-64bit-pcie-2-1-incl-low-profile-bracket-desktop-graphics-card.html

so for R2800 you are up and running!

 

[Raphael123]

Or how about an Android Box

http://www.avsupply.co.za/product_info.php/droidtv-media-player-with-android-422-and-xbmc-p-437[/QUOTE]

Will the Android box be able to read media content such as mkv files from a 4TB Seagate external drive?

 

[crawler]

I would also suggest
http://www.cybernatic.co.za/product_info.php?products_id=1792

Mine been running for a year, bought it 2nd hand

 

[Fury05]

I would also suggest
http://www.cybernatic.co.za/product_info.php?products_id=1792

Mine been running for a year, bought it 2nd hand

That looks a decent price. I see it includes a SATA drive as well, wootware is excluding the drive. It's looking more and more attractive with each post.

 

[weelzSA]

That looks a decent price. I see it includes a SATA drive as well, wootware is excluding the drive. It's looking more and more attractive with each post.

I've been running mine for about two years now on 24/7 and couldn't be happier. It servers as my Plex Media Server, local storage of all my files and downloads.

 

[Fury05]

I've been running mine for about two years now on 24/7 and couldn't be happier. It servers as my Plex Media Server, local storage of all my files and downloads.

This now looks to be first choice judging by everyone's posts. I've read about noise being an issue which is what I want to avoid. Is swopping the fans for aftermarket coolers straight forward? No special connections needed?

 

[Chingha]

You should use a fan less graphics card. The other two are still quiet after about 3 years, the main one is proprietary IIRC but there may be after market ones around one

 

[AVSupply]

Or how about an Android Box

http://www.avsupply.co.za/product_info.php/droidtv-media-player-with-android-422-and-xbmc-p-437

Will the Android box be able to read media content such as mkv files from a 4TB Seagate external drive?

Mine reads an external 3TB drive fine, so a 4TB should be ok as well

If Android apps aren't important, get the MX IPTV Box. The last customer who bought one streamed a 48GB 1080p mkv perfectly!! The IPTV box is currently running XBMC 12.4 (Gotham release is coming soon)

 

[weelzSA]

This now looks to be first choice judging by everyone's posts. I've read about noise being an issue which is what I want to avoid. Is swopping the fans for aftermarket coolers straight forward? No special connections needed?

I have honestly never heard the fans. Mine is situated next to my tv and as I mentioned never hear any fan noise.

 

[Fury05]

Mine reads an external 3TB drive fine, so a 4TB should be ok as well

If Android apps aren't important, get the MX IPTV Box. The last customer who bought one streamed a 48GB 1080p mkv no problem!! The IPTV box is currently running XBMC 12.4 (Gotham release is coming soon)

What are the benefits of the IPTV over the Android box?