Gaming Mini HTPC

[Dr.Aqua]

Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price


APEX MI-008 Black Steel Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case 250W Power Supply
Item #: N82E16811154091
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$16.00 Instant
$55.99
$39.99


Western Digital Caviar Green WD7500AADS 750GB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136359
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-$10.00 Instant
$69.99
$59.99


ZOTAC 880GITX-A-E AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Mini ITX AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813500060
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$114.99


ASUS ENGT430/DI/1GD3(LP) GeForce GT 430 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video ...
Item #: N82E16814121397
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
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-$10.00 Instant
$15.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$79.99
$69.99


CORSAIR XMS3 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN3X2048-1333C9
Item #: N82E16820145183
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
$29.99


AMD Athlon II X2 255 Regor 3.1GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ADX255OCGMBOX
Item #: N82E16819103896
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
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$62.99


LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA Model iHOS104-06 - OEM
Item #: N82E16827106325
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$49.99
Subtotal: $427.93
Tax: $35.30

Shipping: $19.99


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Grand Total: $483.22

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Would this work out?

 

[Diablo1123]

I don't think 250W will power that graphics card, you should look into it.

Also your motherboard has an intergrated video card, so you might not need another one.

 

[Nollog]

All a HTPC needs is to be able to play back 1080p wirelessly or from a wired LAN.
You can do that with an ION-Atom setup(cheap).

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product-geforce-gt-430-us.html
Says minimum recommended psu is 300W.

 

[Dr.Aqua]

hmmm

Any suggestions

id like to make it around $300

 

[trumpet-205]

hmmm

Any suggestions

id like to make it around $300

Your best video card for HTPC is Radeon HD 5450. I have a HP Slimline with 300W PSU and I use Radeon HD 5570. So pick 5450 if you do 2D gaming, and 5570 if you do mid-quality 3D gaming. Radeon HD 5570 uses less power and comparable to GT 430.

 

[Dr.Aqua]

I meant like a uild

I want low/normal everyday use power
mini itx
3d bluray support
yah

hd radeon 5450 no 3d

 

[Diablo1123]

I think an Atom/ION like Nollog said would be good.

 

[trumpet-205]

3d bluray support
yah

hd radeon 5450 no 3d

Only Radeon HD 6850 and 6870 support 3D Blu-ray, and those video card don't have low profile and small power consumption requirement.

For Nvidia you need 3D Vision kit, a 3D capable TV/monitor, and 3D capable blu-ray player. It'll cost a lot of money. $300 budget isn't going to cut it.

 

[Dr.Aqua]

already got that stuff though

 

[trumpet-205]

Then it'll be good enough. As for PSU, you can do some mental calculation.

CPU - 65W
GPU - 50W

That adds up to 115W, with other components I see, you get about ~170W power drain at peak. You should be fine with a 250W PSU. Just make sure that 250W PSU is at least 80% efficient. More efficient equal less heat. Small form factor (Mini-ITX) is really sensitive to heat. Though CPU I recommend 250e as opposed to 260, 20W less power drain at the expense of 0.2GHz slower.

 

[Dr.Aqua]

but the fermi card requires 300w

 

[trumpet-205]

but the fermi card requires 300w

No it doesn't. 300W is total PSU recommendation under worst case scenario. Since you are using GT 430 you can look them up here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_400_Series. Look at TDP for GT 430.

Nvidia and AMD usually overstate PSU requirement to make sure their card works on consumer PCs. I run a 5570 (TDP 42W) and Athlon X2 4450e (TDP 45W) with a 300W PSU just fine. Calculator estimated that my PC at peak would draw about 140W. If you want to jump to 300W that's okay, I'm just saying that given that this is Mini-ITX and you picked a 65W CPU, 250W PSU can do the job. Now if you plan to OC that's a completely different story.

Like I said if you have extra money buy Athlon II X2 250e instead of 260 to reduce heat build up inside.

 

[Dr.Aqua]

hmm
would an intel build be better?

 

[trumpet-205]

hmm
would an intel build be better?

Atom/ION build? Sure, if you don't do any gaming on it, it'll be perfect. It is designed as a low cost HTPC. Don't know if it'll do 3D blu-ray though.

 

[Dr.Aqua]

hmm
would an intel build be better?

Atom/ION build? Sure, if you don't do any gaming on it, it'll be perfect. It is designed as a low cost HTPC. Don't know if it'll do 3D blu-ray though.

Thats wat he videocard is for i suppose

I was actually thinking about core i3 when i wrote it

 

[trumpet-205]

hmm
would an intel build be better?

Atom/ION build? Sure, if you don't do any gaming on it, it'll be perfect. It is designed as a low cost HTPC. Don't know if it'll do 3D blu-ray though.

Thats wat he videocard is for i suppose

I was actually thinking about core i3 when i wrote it

Core i3 is more powerful than Athlon II X2, but more expensive and more power consuming. Core i3 is more of a low-end performance CPU, rather than mainstream.

 

[Dr.Aqua]

Yah but maybe Turbo bosot and hyperthread will help with video encoding

 

[trumpet-205]

Yah but maybe Turbo bosot and hyperthread will help with video encoding

Turbo Boost is not available in Core i3. Hyper-threading only shines when you multi-task (running multiple apps at the same time). Even then don't expect a huge performance gain.

 

[Dr.Aqua]

Yah
the virtual core can compare with the physical cores of i5
Stupid sandy bridge error thing
Sandy Bridge Capable of 3d bluray