HTPC- Need Consultation

[nekulturny]

So, any of you older guys who remember me know I used to be quite good at recommending system builds for people of any budget. Well for my own use, I just don't do "small", "low budget" that well. For those of you who don't know me, sorry I don't do TLDR very well either. Sorry, I ramble.

Few months ago, got a new apartment, love it. Love the job I've been working at for a year now (1 year anniversary tomorrow), that made getting an apartment this nice possible. New stuff, pretty everything I've gone new on. Furniture, etc, but most importantly new 50 inch Toshiba television that is begging for an HTPC/NAS to back him up.

Wanting to keep it on the low end side, since I do have my primary desktop that still meets and exceeds my expectations for.. high end stuff.

But, I was thinking about maybe keeping the option open to host an MC server on it. The motherboard I'm looking at supports 2 DIMMS. Think I really need to shell out the extra 30 bucks for 8GB of RAM instead of 4?

I've hosted MC servers before, so I kinda have an idea of their requirements. Have a server hosted by Fragnet, ran Bukkit on it, liked that game mode, but it wasn't very successful in terms of gaining recruits. Let a friend take it over running a game mode I don't really care for, I just pay the bill, hes had success with it.. If I decide to fire up my old Bukkit world file on the HTPC, wanna make sure its gonna handle it.

So heres what I got. Would love to see this budget trimmed up. I am firm on AMD APU as the power source, I believe its ideal for HTPC applications, but a lower end model isn't out of the question. While I do want this system to be on the cheap side, understand that quality is a concern. I don't want a chinsy case but it doesn't have to be as high quality as my NZXT Phantom either. Also have 2 indoor cats, prefer something with good filtration.

1 Hard drive is fine for now, with an SSD (I can stick that anywhere if need be), want a case that has enough airflow to support up to 3 hard drives at least.

Prices are exclusively newegg with the exception of the SSD.

CPU/GPU AMD 6400K Richland Dual Core $64.99
Asus A55BM-A $61.29
Kingston HyperX 8GB (2x4) $74.99
PSU CX430 $35.99
Silverstone Case $77.99
SSD Kingston V300 120GB $64.99
WD BLACK SERIES WD3003FZEX 3TB $149.99
Keyboard Thingy $15.89

 

[menetlaus]

I don't get it. Why do you want to have a HTPC (home theater PC) next to your TV but to only use it to host a MC server?

My preference for a HTPC is low noise and able to play some flash games, 1080P youtube videos, web browsing/email, and such.

A NAS/backup storage/MC server with multiple drives/fans would be noisier than I would want next to a TV.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying don't do it, just that the usage for the thing doesn't fit with the HTPC title.

I would probably go with something like a new nettop box (very quiet and able to handle the web usage no problem) behind the TV, and get a used PC + couple parts and make a separate NAS/server that sits next to your main box (sharing monitor/KB/Mouse)

 

[cub_fanatic]

Yeah, that's nice, build that.

 

[nekulturny]

Oh, other information I suppose is going to be relevant here.

Probably not going to be running Windows. Some distribution of Linux, Ubuntu, Fedora, depends on what I'm in the mood for, using the XBMC software. Ideally, should be able to handle a potential Minecraft server with say 12 players online at once max, and should be able to handle it while doing its HTPC thing.

 

[nekulturny]

I don't get it. Why do you want to have a HTPC (home theater PC) next to your TV but to only use it to host a MC server?

My preference for a HTPC is low noise and able to play some flash games, 1080P youtube videos, web browsing/email, and such.

A NAS/backup storage/MC server with multiple drives/fans would be noisier than I would want next to a TV.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying don't do it, just that the usage for the thing doesn't fit with the HTPC title.

I would probably go with something like a new nettop box (very quiet and able to handle the web usage no problem) behind the TV, and get a used PC + couple parts and make a separate NAS/server that sits next to your main box (sharing monitor/KB/Mouse)

Well, I did add some other stuff. But its primary purpose is going to be to have sufficient hard drive space to house my movies and TV show torrent files (right now they're split up into 3 hard drives in my primary desktop). The Minecraft server is just a potential thing it may end up doing occasionally. It probably doesn't fit the HTPC title exactly. I'd like to set it up so that my family while traveling with a place that has free internet can access those files on there so they can watch TV/movies, etc, hence the NAS portion of what its going to be intended to do. I have a sister in the navy in particular who I've forbidden to torrent anything because she has a bad habit of picking up viruses.

As far as noise next to the TV, this is a wonderful apartment, ask me for pictures sometime, its beautiful and nobody believes me when I tell them what my rent is, but it is on the main street of the town, so the noise down below is going to negate any noise from the computer requiring more fans.

 

[camohanna]

Something like this may be nice.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD 5350 2.05Ghz Quad-Core Processor ($59.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus AM1I-A Mini ITX AM1 Motherboard ($45.24 @ Amazon)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($58.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 110 Mini ITX Tower Case ($33.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($24.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $296.17
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-02 18:56 EDT-0400

 

[nekulturny]

Caomhanna, I like the price of that power supply, definitely gonna update that. EVGA makes good stuff. I'll have to look into how that CPU performs though further.

 

[nekulturny]

I'm looking at that Kabini Quad APU, its definitely got my attention. Trying to find some information on how it handles Minecraft server hosting. I know thats primarily a single core functionality, being Java based and all. I know AMD struggles with single core performance, but can't seem to find much on Google about how it holds up doing the MC homeboxing. But if that will do it for a dozen players and I can find some info to back it up, I'm sold.

 

[camohanna]

I'm looking at that Kabini Quad APU, its definitely got my attention. Trying to find some information on how it handles Minecraft server hosting. I know thats primarily a single core functionality, being Java based and all. I know AMD struggles with single core performance, but can't seem to find much on Google about how it holds up doing the MC homeboxing. But if that will do it for a dozen players and I can find some info to back it up, I'm sold.

Its a 25w processor so it should be much more friendly on the power bill.

These are the official server requirements: http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Server/Requirements/Server

Being a 25w processor and all it will suffer so i am unsure whether it will will handle hosting a server. However, i think that internet connection will be the main thing as I rememeber when i was hosting on my own computer (i5 / 8gb ram) i got terrible lag when more than 5 people joined because of my bad internet connection.

 

[nekulturny]

Yeah, I know the internet is a big deal. I did okay homeboxing on my main machine with about I think we had 10 people at the most before we decided to rent a server because the internet was holding it back. I say a dozen just for overhead, realistically, 3 or 4 probably.I had Atlantic Broadband at my old place 30down/3 up.. I have a similar speed through Comcast now.. lets put it this way though, I miss Atlantic Broadband for customer service... But thats another story, suffice to say it didn't take long being a Comcast customer to see why they're so hated.

http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Server/Requirements/Dedicated
This guide I found on your same source is saying K8 AMD's will do what I'm looking to do, those are first gen Athlons, I think the Kabini will probably do it, even with a 25w. Oh as far as the power bill, HA, I have baseboard electric heaters, no computer is gonna break my bank compared to those damn things this winter lol. But sure nice to keep it low outside of winter, since my bill even running my big computer 24/7 is about 55-60 a month even with my window AC units keeping the place cold like a refrigerator.

 

[camohanna]

Yeah, I know the internet is a big deal. I did okay homeboxing on my main machine with about I think we had 10 people at the most before we decided to rent a server because the internet was holding it back. I say a dozen just for overhead, realistically, 3 or 4 probably.I had Atlantic Broadband at my old place 30down/3 up.. I have a similar speed through Comcast now.. lets put it this way though, I miss Atlantic Broadband for customer service... But thats another story, suffice to say it didn't take long being a Comcast customer to see why they're so hated.

http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Server/Requirements/Dedicated
This guide I found on your same source is saying K8 AMD's will do what I'm looking to do, those are first gen Athlons, I think the Kabini will probably do it, even with a 25w. Oh as far as the power bill, HA, I have baseboard electric heaters, no computer is gonna break my bank compared to those damn things this winter lol. But sure nice to keep it low outside of winter, since my bill even running my big computer 24/7 is about 55-60 a month even with my window AC units keeping the place cold like a refrigerator.

The other good thing is that with low tdp, it means less heat therefore easier to cool it Yeah it should be fine for 10 or so people. My up speed was like 1 up so thats most probably why.

If you do want the kabini i would say go ahead with it, its a little known about gem!

 

[nekulturny]

Thanks for the input, yea I had no idea about them, I've been out of the PC news so long, I didn't even realize AMD was making new gen CPUs under the name Athlon, I skipped right over them in newegg putting this together.

Just a tidbit as a reward in addition to getting a best answer choice, share my rage at comcast. Prior tenant broke the lease here, figured Comcast might try to stick me with their bill, asked em about it, they had me bring a copy of my lease in to prove I wasn't affiliated with the prior tenants who as I suspected left a balance. Brought lease in, they made a copy of it.. 2 days after setting up internet.. its gets shut off.. guess why? Non-payment.. Oh yes, I screamed at the poor Indian woman on the phone.