Andre S. Veteran Posted May 5, 2013 Veteran Share Posted May 5, 2013 Alright it's HTPC building time for me! It's been 2 years since I built a PC and for the first time I'm building something small, silent and Trinity-based. This will be hooked up to a 47" HDTV and used for movies, web browsing and light gaming. I'm buying in Canada mainly from NCIX. Here's my list of parts with their listed price alongside the (price match) if applicable. Let me know what you think! Computer: Case: Silverstone GD05B Micro-ATX 95$ CPU: AMD A10-5700 140$ (130$) Motherboard: MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 65$ (60$) RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 2x4GB DDR3-1866 105$ (50$) SSD: Samsung 840 Series 120GB MDX 100$ Blu-ray: LG Blu-ray Combo Drive UH12NS29 50$ PSU: Seasonic SS-350ET 40$ Accessories: ASUS Wireless Adapter 300Mbps, PCI-Express 30$ Microsoft Arc Wireless Keyboard 18$ Logitech Wireless Trackball M570 60$ (50$) nGear Power Cord 5$ Total price: 706$ (636$ pricematched). Notes: I have a spare license of Windows 8 Pro. Why A10-5700 instead of similarly priced A10-5800K? 65W TDP instead of 100W. This should mean less heat = less noise = hopefully no need to buy a better CPU cooler. I'm not sure though, your opinion is welcome on this. I am not planning to overlock. The RAM is chosen for its high speed (crucial for APU performance) and low height, allowing use of slim CPU coolers in case I end up needing it. I've heard bad things about the stock cooler, so I'm not taking any chances. I figure the trackball mouse will be a good fit for controlling the PC from the sofa; as well this is mainly for my mother and she's already quite adept at using this mouse. As for the keyboard, it's well reviewed and really an impressive promotion at 18$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fusi0n Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 To be honest, you are not going to want to have wireless on your HTPC.. I tried that.. even using the best wireless routers and bridges.. if you wanting to stream 1080P mkv files, it isn't going to work.. 802.11AC will work.. But, for best, you are going to need to hardwire it.. I have tackled this issue in my last house and in my new house.. I stopped fighting it and just wired it.. Might want to pick up a media center remote.. Also, look into doing XBMC.. they have a installer now that is just linux with xbmc on top.. just a thought.. works quite well ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre S. Veteran Posted May 5, 2013 Author Veteran Share Posted May 5, 2013 To be honest, you are not going to want to have wireless on your HTPC.. I tried that.. even using the best wireless routers and bridges.. if you wanting to stream 1080P mkv files, it isn't going to work.. 802.11AC will work.. But, for best, you are going to need to hardwire it.. I have tackled this issue in my last house and in my new house.. I stopped fighting it and just wired it..Yeah technically there's already all the holes needed in my house to run a long ethernet cable from the router to behind the living room TV, it's just a matter of doing it cleanly and safely, and until I get the motivation to do it, I guess we'll just copy these mkv files over to the SSD before playing them, it's not that big of a deal.Might want to pick up a media center remote..Also, look into doing XBMC.. they have a installer now that is just linux with xbmc on top.. just a thought.. works quite well ;) That is interesting, I had no idea something like this existed. Will have to look into it, but for now we'll do with keyboard and mouse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre S. Veteran Posted May 6, 2013 Author Veteran Share Posted May 6, 2013 Order is placed, alongside an LG 47CS570 47" LCD. Can-not-wait. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 I'm looking at getting one of these keyboards for my future HTPC, to work alongside a media centre remote - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=KB-001-XB Looks to me to be more convenient than separate keyboard and mouse/trackball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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