Cheapo Entertainment system compy.

[civ_king]

My gut says Mac Mini with Apple remote

 

[Genocidicbunny]

He said cheap didnt he?

 

[Perfection]

Would an Acer Aspire Revo suit your needs?
Plays 1080p. Costs $200.

That is pretty damn cute. However, it looks like it just barely squeaks by on that when you tweak it, and though it has an eSATA. I'm skeptical if you could get it to work with an external blu-ray.

I'm not sure if anything Atom powered will be sufficient, but I wouldn't mind being proven wrong.

My gut says Mac Mini with Apple remote

He said cheap didnt he?

Yeah, if I went the Mac Route, I'd end up shelling out like $700 for the PC and controls. That's a lot of friggin' money for a stupid HTPC that can't do BluRay. Anyways, I could get a Dell Studio Hybrid for less, but still that's $500 which is a lot of money to fork over.

 

[GoodGame]

I suggest DIY, and doing some research, starting here: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/building-the-ultimate-home-theater-pc,review-549.html

 

[Perfection]

I suggest DIY, and doing some research, starting here: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/building-the-ultimate-home-theater-pc,review-549.html

A few good ideas, but generally I think their approach is sort of goofy. I don't particularly care if people know my TV runs on a PC. I'm concerned primarily with functionality. If I can get it in a smaller footprint, that might be worth spending a few bucks extra, but I'm not going all out for tiny-ness or special case here.

Anyways, Dell has a Studio Slim Desktop which at $400 ($520 for blu-ray) would probably fit the bill though it seems a bit pricey. Might be a good template to work off of for a DIY setup.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard -- 85$
CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply --51$
Kingston ValueRAM 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR1066D3N7K2/2G -- 53$
AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX240OCGQBOX -- 59$

Subtotal: 248$

Add your choice of HDD (between 50 and 200$ depending on capacity) and your case of choice (again, between 50 and 200$ depending on your choice) and you end up with a quite capable system for a pretty good price.

 

[Perfection]

That's a really nice looking setup, GB I will look into it further, but on the presumption that I'll use that or a close relative...

This seems like a possible case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147099 $45

Would I need to get anything special to interface the ports on the front with the motherboard?

Note the integrated PSU, is there any reason to steer clear of something like this and go with separate PSU? (Specifically, I'm a little concerned about noise and cooling issues)

Possible Blu-Ray Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135205 $65

HD: (1TB 5400 RPM)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136490 $80

Windows 7 Home Premium
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754 $100 (ouch!)

Subtotal: $497

Other stuff needed:
HDMI Cable
eSATA cable (i finally get to use the eSATA port on my external HD)
Wireless Keyboard, Mouse, Adapter (Bluetooth I presume) any recommendations?

Should I get thermal grease? If so Any recommendations?
Am I missing internal cabling? More Fans?




COMMENTS APPRECIATED!

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Id avoid Rosewill at all costs. Their stuff is pretty shoddy.

If you dont mind a tower case, then your options are much better. I suggest getting a regular mid-tower then. The Cooler master Centurion 5 isnt too garish, and if you kill the blue LED on the front (Im sure you would know how to do that) it's pretty decent looking. An extra 120mm fan would never hurt, but I think it holds it's own without it.

As for thermal grease and such, I believe the stock cooler for the CPU will have it pre-applied. If thats not good for you, swipe some from work. You work with electronics right? Your firm should have thermal grease somewhere there.

HDMI cable is pretty danged cheap on Monoprice. You can get your eSATA cable there too. We're talking like 15$ at most for the both of them, with shipping.

I have no opinions on wireless mice or keyboards. The only one I use that is wireless is a V450 Nano Logitech mouse, which serves me well, but it's a laptop mouse, hence small.

A comment on the OS. If this is going to be strictly a media center, then I suggest you check out Myth TV. There are a couple of Linux distros built for Myth TV, such as MythBuntu. It'll save you a nice chunk of change, and is a good learning experience. Worst comes to worst, you'll be able to go out and buy Windows.

 

[Perfection]

Id avoid Rosewill at all costs. Their stuff is pretty shoddy.

How would this shoddiness manifest itself? Would it be PSU problems?

I'm not too concerned with it being a little fragile, it's not going to be in a position where it's going to be kicked around a lot. The power button, and the OD drive bay are going to be the only things that I'd be worried about more than occasional usage.

If you dont mind a tower case, then your options are much better. I suggest getting a regular mid-tower then. The Cooler master Centurion 5 isnt too garish, and if you kill the blue LED on the front (Im sure you would know how to do that) it's pretty decent looking. An extra 120mm fan would never hurt, but I think it holds it's own without it.

All things being equal I would prefer a smaller sleeker case, I'd probably be willing to throw 10-15 bucks to make that happen. This thing is going to end up being somewhat prominent in my living room (free standing on the ledge over the faux-fireplace where my TV sits) which I've painstakingly have put together to present an illusion of classiness.

As for thermal grease and such, I believe the stock cooler for the CPU will have it pre-applied. If thats not good for you, swipe some from work. You work with electronics right? Your firm should have thermal grease somewhere there.

I'll ask around, but I'd be surprised. I don't think any products we make require thermal grease, and none of our PCs are custom built. (Part of this is because whenever I clean out the cooling system on my current laptop, I have to remove the heatsink and the grease on it is looking pretty lame lately).

HDMI cable is pretty danged cheap on Monoprice. You can get your eSATA cable there too. We're talking like 15$ at most for the both of them, with shipping.

Yeah, that was more a reminder to myself then anything. But I'll check out monoprice. I don't recall having used them before.

I have no opinions on wireless mice or keyboards. The only one I use that is wireless is a V450 Nano Logitech mouse, which serves me well, but it's a laptop mouse, hence small.

I might go with a refurb Gyration http://www.gyration.com/index.php/us/products/refurbished.html. I might even be able to steal one from my dad.

A comment on the OS. If this is going to be strictly a media center, then I suggest you check out Myth TV. There are a couple of Linux distros built for Myth TV, such as MythBuntu. It'll save you a nice chunk of change, and is a good learning experience. Worst comes to worst, you'll be able to go out and buy Windows.

I'll probably take a peak at it, but I'll probably have to but the bullet. I've already halfway figured out how to use windows, and I don't need the PC that I'll be using in front of other people, to be showing off my ineptness. I do enough of that already.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

How would this shoddiness manifest itself? Would it be PSU problems?

I'm not too concerned with it being a little fragile, it's not going to be in a position where it's going to be kicked around a lot. The power button, and the OD drive bay are going to be the only things that I'd be worried about more than occasional usage.

Magic black smoke coming from PSU, your components getting fried. That sounds about right for a Rosewill PSU.

All things being equal I would prefer a smaller sleeker case, I'd probably be willing to throw 10-15 bucks to make that happen. This thing is going to end up being somewhat prominent in my living room (free standing on the ledge over the faux-fireplace where my TV sits) which I've painstakingly have put together to present an illusion of classiness.

Again, it's your choice. Pick what you want to look good. Make sure there at least one intake fan and one exhaust fan though. If there's only a sinlge 120mm intake over the hottest components, that can work too. You have an integrated GPU, so your primary cooling concern is around the CPU, which includes the northbridge coolers.

I'll ask around, but I'd be surprised. I don't think any products we make require thermal grease, and none of our PCs are custom built. (Part of this is because whenever I clean out the cooling system on my current laptop, I have to remove the heatsink and the grease on it is looking pretty lame lately).

Id replace the thermal compound every time you take the heatsink off, unless you're doing it in rapid succession (like testing something, or making sure the compound is evenly spread)

Pick up a small tube of Arctic Silver on newegg with your order.

Yeah, that was more a reminder to myself then anything. But I'll check out monoprice. I don't recall having used them before.

Ive used them several times and every time they've been great. Their prices are good and they dont overcharge for shipping. Its my go-to place for cables.

I might go with a refurb Gyration http://www.gyration.com/index.php/us/products/refurbished.html. I might even be able to steal one from my dad.

Again, I've no opinion. Someone with some usage of these should be able to help you better.

I'll probably take a peak at it, but I'll probably have to but the bullet. I've already halfway figured out how to use windows, and I don't need the PC that I'll be using in front of other people, to be showing off my ineptness. I do enough of that already.

Again, it's your choice. Im merely making a suggestion. If you dont feel comfortable with using Linux, then by all means, go ahead and get Windows. Better yet, see if you can hit up a uni student to get it for you for cheaper. They can buy it for like 30$.

 

[GoodGame]

I have a Centurion case, and yep it is a good make. I'd recommend buying a quiet 120mm fan to mount on the front, and at least 2 quite 90mm for the side/rear (it can take up to 3 90mms though).

 

[mdwh]

Anyways, Dell has a Studio Slim Desktop which at $400 ($520 for blu-ray) would probably fit the bill though it seems a bit pricey. Might be a good template to work off of for a DIY setup.

Indeed, I was going to suggest looking at laptops, if you were considering spending as much as for a Mac Mini (prices starting at $599). I suspect the reason why small PCs aren't common (although they are available) is because you can get far more portable laptops at similar prices (e.g., a quick look at Dell shows Intel i3 laptops with ATI HD 4570 and HDMI connection). Also note that I don't think the Mac Mini has an option for Blu-ray?

But if you're happy building it yourself, it should be possible to do a much cheaper job with microATX motherboards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136490

I've just got the 7200rpm version of that - I haven't run any extensive tests on it yet, but it seems to be fine for my purposes.

Would I need to get anything special to interface the ports on the front with the motherboard?

Motherboards these days have slots for things like front USB and audio - it's just a matter of plugging in the connector leads from the case (the leads should be labelled, and the motherboard manual should tell you what goes where).

Should I get thermal grease?

When I got a Pentium Dual Core, it was pre-applied, as Genocidicbunny says. But when I got my latest Athlon 630, it wasn't - since I'd bought it as a motherboard/CPU bundle, the bundle included a small packet of thermal paste, but it may be that if I'd bought seperately, I'd have needed to get hold of some myself.

Am I missing internal cabling?

My motherboard came with 1 PATA cable and 1 SATA cable. So I'd have needed a second SATA cable for a SATA Blu-ray drive.

More Fans?

Remember that fans can add to the noise if you're not careful, which is less ideal for something intended for playing media. I don't see why it should be needed though - you won't be using a separate high end graphics card (which tends to add to the heat).

 

[Genocidicbunny]

My motherboard came with 1 PATA cable and 1 SATA cable. So I'd have needed a second SATA cable for a SATA Blu-ray drive.

Remember that fans can add to the noise if you're not careful, which is less ideal for something intended for playing media. I don't see why it should be needed though - you won't be using a separate high end graphics card (which tends to add to the heat).

1. Retail drives will come with the cables you need.
2. Depends on the fan. An extra 120mm fan, as long as it's quiet will not add any noticeable noise. If you really want to make sure the fan is silent, shell out for a Noctua.

 

[Perfection]

I few thoughts

Well, the BR drive I'm looking at is OEM, so I would presume that it wouldn't have the cabling needed, but if the mobo comes with one and the internal hard drive comes with one then I would be okay, I presume. I'll have to check out power cable situations.

I definitely could build this on a laptop, but I do want upgradability.

As for fans, I sure wouldn't want to pay like $60 in fans for those noctua. Anyone know a good cheaper fan? I don't need dead silence. I'd just like it to be quiet enough so I can hear the quiet parts good.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

The low RPM Scythe ones are good. If you can find them, the low rpm Yate Loon's are also good, and they're cheap (like 4$ for a good fan)

 

[Perfection]

Okay, so I got bogged down in crap, but I really need to get this stupid thing. My goal is to place the order tomorrow...

Of course, since I haven't looked at this in a couple months, I'm probably going to need to update things I am currently looking over the list

 

[Perfection]

Okay so I'm updating the Blue ray drive selection and I've come up with the same as before


Blue Ray Drive:
ASUS Black 4X BD-ROM 8X DVD-ROM 32X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model BR-04B2T - OEM
$64

Questions:
1. This is cheaper then rest presumably because of slower speeds (which I don't care deeply about), is there any other dangers with cheaping out here?
2. I picked this over a same priced liteon model because it has a better warrenty, any reason to go with the lite-on: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106325

 

[Perfection]

So mobo proc combo, is there anything new worth noting? I basically updated the stuff speced in march.

So here's the same Mobo as before, $2 more then the one speced before but has USB3.0!

MOBO
GIGABYTE GA-785GMT-USB3 AM3 AMD 785G HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
$95


PROC
AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor
$51

 

[Genocidicbunny]

For an HTPC no, there's really nothing new you need to worry about.

 

[Perfection]

So, here's the current plan:


Blue Ray Drive:
ASUS Black 4X BD-ROM 8X DVD-ROM 32X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model BR-04B2T - OEM
$64

Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar Green WD15EARS 1.5TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$75 ($0.05 a gigabyte!)

OS
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
$100

MOBO
GIGABYTE GA-785GMT-USB3 AM3 AMD 785G HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
$95

PROC
AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor ADX240OCK23GQ - OEM
$51

Power Supply
CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
$53

Memory
Patriot 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model PSD32G13332
$43

Is it worth it to go with Kingston instead? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134790

Case:
COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2-GP Black Aluminum & Mesh bezel / SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$65

SATA Cables (2):
Link Depot 19.69" SATA III Round Cable with Left Angle Model LD-SATA3L-0.5M
$9 (for both)

HDMI Cable:
OKGEAR 3 ft. HDMI male to HDMI male cable Model OK3HDMI
$7

I probably have enough audio cables

Subtotal: $562

Things left:
input devices (keyboard, mouse)
CPU Fan?

Am I missing any cables?