Jumping in to the HTPC build and need some advice

[fleep]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking to take a stab at building a HTPC and this is what I've come up with. I'm new to this area of building, so any advice is greatly appreciated.

Approximate Purchase Date: I'm looking to buy in the next month.

Budget Range: My budget is around $1k After Rebates and After Shipping

System Usage from Most to Least Important: general HTPC stuff with light net surfing and probably no gaming

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: all new

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire:No

Your Monitor Resolution: n/a

I'm thinking that RAIDing 2 1TB HDDs is the way to go, but I can easily be persuaded by a better option. Not sure I'll need the remote control as the case seems to come with one, quality of the remote included with the case is unknown, but if it saves me $20, it saves me $20. Ceton InfiniTV is there to replace my Time Warner DVR...Also if anyone can recommend a power supply, that would be great! Last bit, any thoughts on after-market cooling on the CPU and / or fan upgrades?

Here's my list so far:

ASRock A75 PRO4/MVP FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157316

AMD A8-3850 Llano 2.9GHz Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 6550D AD3850WNGXBOX $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103942

G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR $58.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231460

ASUS Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM $49.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135247

2 Western Digital AV-GP WD10EURX 1TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $199.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136941

Rosewill RRC-126 Windows 7 Certified Media Center Infrared Remote Control with Netflix Function $19.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16880101002

Ceton InfiniTV 4 Quad-tuner Card for Watching Digital Cable TV on the PC, PCI-Express x1 Interface $199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815706001

Logitech K400 (920-003070) Black USB RF Wireless Standard Keyboard $34.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126264

SilverStone Black Aluminum front panel, 0.8 mm SECC body Lascala Series LC20B-M-USB3.0 ATX Media Center / HTPC Case with 2X USB3.0 ports + 2X USB2.0 ports (Black) $179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163216

Total $933.90 + shipping

So there you have it. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

Well first off, you probably don't even need 4gb of ram, I would go with 4 though. Do you need two tb of storage, if not I would consider 500gb in raid or even 250.
Also are you sure that you need a quad channel tuner, you could get a dual channel one for half the price. You probably don't need an APU stronger than this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103951
Why not go with a motherboard like this I think it would fit your needs better.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135294
and from what I see you don't have a powersupply.

 

[fleep]

Thanks for the info lt_dan_zsu.

4gb seems like the safe point for RAM. I agree, I probably could go lower but with my budget I'm okay getting 4. Since I'll be using this in place of my DVR, I'd rather stay on the higher-side as far as HDD space goes.

You're correct, I am looking for advice on a power supply. I never been good at picking the right one for my need. So if anyone has any advice or recommendatios, that'd what I'm looking for.

 

[diellur]

My HTPC has a 480W PSU and it's way more than is needed...something around the 400W mark would do you well. I'd try and get a passive one...pricier, but quieter and silence is king where an HTPC is involved.

4GB RAM is plenty, and that APU is good as you don't need a separate GPU. Green hard-drives are good too...they're quieter than other drives.

 

[Wolfshadw]

As a Ceton InfiniTV4 owner, I can assure you that 4GB of RAM is plenty (you have 8GB in you build btw).

For a power supply, I don't see you needing anything more than an Antec EarthWatts Green 380, but you may want to consider going with a modular power supply and remove any unnecessary cabling for better air flow through the case.

I'd also note that your case does not appear to come with any case fans though it has spaces for 2x80/92mm front case, 2x80mm rear case, and one 80mm side case fans. At a minimum, you're going to want the two rear case fans. I'm not big on silent fans, but I hear Scythe USA fans are pretty good (quiet).

-Wolf sends

 

[fleep]

Thanks for the help everyone! I'll put together a more complete list and finalize a few things and repost my "final build" when it's closer to my buy date.

Again, I really appreciate everyone's help on this! Also, good catch on the "no fans included with the case" I completely missed that!

 

[fleep]

Best answer selected by fleep.