HTPC - Total Media Center

[thefonz]

Hi folks,

I'm currently rocking a simple htpc in my lounge which has an install of win 7 and xbmc v 2 'frodo' as my media solution of choice.

This week I'm building an upgraded version to allow me to access my steam games and do some gaming with a more powerful setup and I'm eyeing up windows 8 as my OS along with xbmc and steam to provide my media solutions.

Plan is to install the OS/XBMC/Steam onto my Corsair 60GB SSD with all the media/games installations sitting on a 2TB hard disk.

Does anyone have any experience with windows 8 in this manner - i have zero intention of installing it on my main laptop which is rocking win7 64bit very happily - this would just be from a pure media perspective.

Also thoughts on XBMC? I dabbled with windows media centre and media browser plugin but found it to be massively lacking compared to xbmc.

I might post a review of my system and full setup once its all done next week.

For the record, here's the system I'm gunning for:

Silverstone Strider Plus 600W ST60F-P

G.Skill Ares F3-1600C9D-8GAO 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB OC

Corsair 60GB SSD

ASRock Z77E-ITX Mini ITX Motherboard

Intel Core i5 3570

Win 8 Home

XBMC Frodo

Steam Install

Thanks :)

Fonz.

[Aergan]

Spec wise, looks good to me.

I used to use Windows Media Center but ditched it for XBMC when Windows 8 / Server 2012 was released as it hasn't seen any updates in a long time (MyMovies is a great addon for MCE though for covers & library).

I would see if there are any compatible tools on Ultimate Boot CD to adjust the acoustic noise management if available for any non-SSD HDD's. E.g I have 2x WD and 2xSamsung and changed all 4 to "quiet/low". Makes a hell of a difference in the evenings.

If you have an MCE remote (Fortuna etc), you may find that it will not have a driver unless the MCE add-on is activated on Windows 8 Professional. There is a patched driver set that is floating around the internet but requires loading a non-CA verified certificate and enabling developer signing test mode for the kernel.

WinAero do a "SkipMetro" tool if you want to jump straight to XBMC on logon.

[thefonz]

Jesus what a nightmare.

A I put together all the bits and obs and then found that the case I have is way too small...been using a lian Li q11 and my research said it would all fit fine.

Anyway got it all put together and i am currently cheerfully installing everything onto the ssd...Jesus that's fast.

Bought a sexy new fractal design node 304 which should arrive on Monday to refit everything into...till then, this is my setup!