>200€ Ultra Budget HTPC Build

[Emil Stjernberg]

Hello, I've thrown together a super cheap and quiet HTPC system that should be able to play 1080p video without any issues. For the money, you'd have a hard time even finding a PC this cheap! But I need some opinions and recommendations to further improve the system. I played within a 200€ budget and I barely squeezed everything I wanted in there. Here are the components:

Motherboard: ASUS C8HM70-I/HDMI - 66.60€
RAM: Kingston 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SO-DIMM - 34.60€
SSD: Kingston 30GB SSDNow S200 - 43.90€
Replacement CPU fan: Scythe
Mini Kaze 40mm - 9.70€
OS: Linux Ubuntu - 0.00€
TOTAL: 199.70€

http://www.tietokonekauppa.fi/cart/kori/?a=cart_set&citem=151980,156880,151148,152307,29182

I intend to use the SSD for core installations and then use external USB storage for video and music files. The reason I chose to swap the CPU fan is because that seems to be the only major complaint with the
C8HM70-I/HDMI, in an attempt to make it almost inaudible.

There are two main concerns I have with this build right now: Will a 30GB SSD be enough for Linux Ubuntu and a few main apps used for music and videos? And will the 60W power brick suffice? And if you have any opinions and recommendations to improve this >200€ quiet mITX HTPC system, I'm all ears. Thanks in advance!

 

[cjkupers]

Hmm. This is really audacious, but there are some things to keep in mind when trying to pump out the minimal hardware specs to handle 1080p. (1920 x 1080 resolution)

First off, the Celeron chip included in that motherboard operates at the same speed that most netbooks with Intel Atom chips have. 1.1 Ghz is really low, and makes me unsure if it would be capable of processing a 1080p resolution reliably from anything other than a local hard drive. You can read more here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1629744/celeron-847-1080p-playback-capability.html

The next best thing would be to get an APU, or a CPU with embedded graphics.

Option 1:
Intel Celeron G550 Sandy Bridge 2.6GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80623G550 $60
ECS H61H2-I3 (v1.0) LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI Mini ITX Intel Motherboard $50
Total: $110

Option 2:
AMD A4-3400 Llano 2.7GHz Socket FM1 65W Dual-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 6410D AD3400OJHXBOX $45
ASRock A75M-ITX FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX AMD Motherboard $77
Total: $122

Then you can add your Ram, SSD, Case, etc.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231150 You only need 2GB Ram.. save money..

You can also ditch your aftermarket fan, the one included with the CPU will do just fine. Overall, it should actually save you money, and you can invest in either a slightly larger SSD, or buy a real Operating system. Heck, you can even try to add a Blu-Ray player and stay within your budget, allowing you to play blu-ray movies.

 

[Emil Stjernberg]

Hmm. This is really audacious, but there are some things to keep in mind when trying to pump out the minimal hardware specs to handle 1080p. (1920 x 1080 resolution)

First off, the Celeron chip included in that motherboard operates at the same speed that most netbooks with Intel Atom chips have. 1.1 Ghz is really low, and makes me unsure if it would be capable of processing a 1080p resolution reliably from anything other than a local hard drive. You can read more here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1629744/celeron-847-1080p-playback-capability.html

The next best thing would be to get an APU, or a CPU with embedded graphics.

Option 1:
Intel Celeron G550 Sandy Bridge 2.6GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80623G550 $60
ECS H61H2-I3 (v1.0) LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI Mini ITX Intel Motherboard $50
Total: $110

Option 2:
AMD A4-3400 Llano 2.7GHz Socket FM1 65W Dual-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 6410D AD3400OJHXBOX $45
ASRock A75M-ITX FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX AMD Motherboard $77
Total: $122

Then you can add your Ram, SSD, Case, etc.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231150 You only need 2GB Ram.. save money..

You can also ditch your aftermarket fan, the one included with the CPU will do just fine. Overall, it should actually save you money, and you can invest in either a slightly larger SSD, or buy a real Operating system. Heck, you can even try to add a Blu-Ray player and stay within your budget, allowing you to play blu-ray movies.

Unfortunately I cannot find the parts and configurations you've suggested for less than 200€. I'm already using the best value retailer in Finland, so I know the prices are the lowest they'll get over here without a sale. The other systems would also be louder, bigger and more power consuming than the one I put together, even with the larger performance. I only have the Scythe Mini Kaze 40mm aftermarket fan in the cart because the fan on the C8HM70-I/HDMI has gotten a fair amount of complaints about being noisy, so the Scythe seems to be a necessity. It was also the cheapest quiet replacement I could find, otherwise I'd have gone with a Noctua NF-A4x10 FLX. The 2GB RAM was a really good suggestion, I'll add that to the cart. I also managed to get a larger SSD (60GB) for the money, which should give it ample room for the OS and the ten or so apps I want to have on it. Unfortunately I cannot fit even the cheapest version of Windows into the 200€ budget, since that would only leave about a 100€ for hardware, which is an almost impossible budget unless you go with a Raspberry Pi. 😛 So I'd have to either get a torrent copy or I go with Linux. And it seems Linux is getting a little more support nowadays. Even so, I didn't plan this to be used for much more than 1080p video and audio playback and web browsing, so the apps available on Linux should be enough.

The new RAM and SSD:
http://www.tietokonekauppa.fi/product/99953/memory+module/ADATA/Premier+Series+SO-DIMM+DDR3-1333+Retail+CL9+2+GB/
http://www.tietokonekauppa.fi/product/143219/ssd/KINGSTON/SSDNow+60GB+V300+SATA3+64cm/

http://www.tietokonekauppa.fi/cart/kori/?a=cart_set&citem=151980,156880,29182,99953,143219