Hardware Advice on htpc build.

[Lanlan]

I am looking for a monitor so i can give my mom my old but decent monitor. Something under 250 would be nice mainly for gaming.

What size and connections do you need? Need speakers included? Also, prebuilts will be much more expensive than one you build yourself.

 

[Foxi4]

If you're going to get a pre-built, keep in mind that despite the fact you might save a buck or get a better build, there are consequences. It's likely that certain parts will simply be soldered onto the board, most commonly it's RAM and any future upgrades to the build will become impossible or at least costly beyond their worth.

A custom build will always be superior to a pre-build if customization and future upgrades are something you hold dear. That, and if the parts are soldered rather than in slots, in case of hardware failure you either have the option of soldering new parts on which is costly, usually beyond the price of the device itself... or you can throw it out the window.

 

[kjb1686]

For the monitor either DVI or hdmi speakers doesn't matter have a decent set.

As for prebuilt vs building one yourself did a little looking and found one that is cheaper than what i have not including a dvd drive.

Mine

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/EAN2

Prebuilt

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1189007

 

[Fishaman P]

First off, I could recommend the Raspberry Pi as the whole system.

If that doesn't float your boat, get a basic i3. An AMD APU should definitely work for now, though it isn't known if it will reliably decode the upcoming HEVC codec. The software decoder is rated to decode 1080p@60 on smartphones, so you should probably be good.

 

[trumpet-205]

Who needs software acceleration when there's hardware acceleration?

Not every video can be hardware accelerated. Hi10p H264 is one example it cannot be accelerated via hardware.

 

[Foxi4]

Not every video can be hardware accelerated. Hi10p H264 is one example it cannot be accelerated via hardware.

I sincerely doubt that it would lag on a proper AMD APU.

 

[kjb1686]

What do you guys think about this build

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/EAN2

or this prebuilt i found

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1189007

What about a decent monitor that has either DVI or hdmi and speakers speakers don't matter have a decent set.

 

[Foxi4]

Both are nice. The pre-build does have removable CPU/Memory and it's ASUS, meaning it's quality stuff. That said, I don't trust Seagate drives and I've never heard of G.Skill memory - your Kingston and Samsung combo's better and the price is comparable.

I'd say in this comparison the custom build wins.

 

[kjb1686]

Nice i will go with the custom build and try to find a less wattage Power Supply for cheap, along with a cheaper hdd maybe downgrade from 1tb to 750gb would be more than enough for her.

I found this PSU i believe antec make great psu's but need some feedback.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-power-supply-bp350

 

[KingBlank]

If you are building a PC, get 8 gigs of ram.
There's not much point getting 4 gigs of ram when you can get 8 for a few bucks more.
if that's to much to ask, at least get 6... please!

 

[Foxi4]

Oh yeah, I just realized your build has 4GB RAM...

...I mean, it's enough for video but... 8 is welcome, yes. It's not a huge price difference and you won't regret it.

 

[kjb1686]

Added 8 gigs bumped price from 322 to 337 not huge bump at least. Also i completely forgot about falcons guide for building a P.C i am going to go over those parts and see what happens.

Okay here is my updated link to my build

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

Basically just found a cheaper case, any other recommendations for a decent case for a htpc.

 

[Originality]

Foxi never heard of G.Skill? I know they're from Taiwan and more common in America than Europe... but... never?

I won't comment on them in terms of performance - nearly all RAM performs the same. I will say I don't trust Kingston RAM for the same reason why Foxi doesn't trust Seagate drives.
I usually just pick Corsair XMS3 for budget systems and Vengeance for high end systems, although Crucial Ballistix and G.Skill RipjawZ are also very popular.

 

[kjb1686]

Hi everyone i am back yet again been fiddling with the build managed to get a final price of 333. Any other recommendations by you would be appreciated thanks, it looks to be a halfway decent build. But like i said i haven't the faintest idea about AMD so i did my best. Anyways here is the link to hopefully the final build.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/EGeV

One more thing i chose a 500gb HDD rather than a TB because it is cheaper, if in the future i need more i can always upgrade.

 

[Lanlan]

Hi everyone i am back yet again been fiddling with the build managed to get a final price of 333. Any other recommendations by you would be appreciated thanks, it looks to be a halfway decent build. But like i said i haven't the faintest idea about AMD so i did my best. Anyways here is the link to hopefully the final build.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/EGeV

One more thing i chose a 500gb HDD rather than a TB because it is cheaper, if in the future i need more i can always upgrade.

Nice little build. You picked out an APU meant for overclocking though, you can save a bit of money if you get one without the K on the end.

 

[kjb1686]

Okay updated build again for a a4 APU instead of a6 APU for about 20 dollars less. The good side is it is only a little less powerful than the A6. Anyway here is the updated link and it is cheaper by a little.

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

 

[Foxi4]

Foxi never heard of G.Skill? I know they're from Taiwan and more common in America than Europe... but... never?

Never ever. Never even seen it in stores.

I won't comment on them in terms of performance - nearly all RAM performs the same. I will say I don't trust Kingston RAM for the same reason why Foxi doesn't trust Seagate drives.

Pretty much, yeah. I've got cheap GoodRAM sticks and they perform just fine, but it's always good to aim at a "big name company" with the absolutely essential parts like memory - we don't want that to keel over, it can seriously handicap a system in terms of performance. I merely suggested Kingston instead of G.Skill because I've seriously never seen them or read about them.

I usually just pick Corsair XMS3 for budget systems and Vengeance for high end systems, although Crucial Ballistix and G.Skill RipjawZ are also very popular.

Corsair sounds good, that'd be my pick.

 

[Rydian]

I've seen G.Skill around for years.

I don't trust Kingston for flash memory because they're a reseller (so you don't know who actually made the stuff they sell you), but apparently they do produce their own RAM.