First HTPC build

scooter3

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Hi there,

It's been quite a while since I last posted. I'm hoping to build my first HTPC and am looking for some reassurance that I'm heading in the right direction components wise. I selected the components bearing in mind that my laptop (ASUS K53e, 1.6Ghz dual core Celeron with Intel HD graphics) works flawlessly with XBMC, I just want something dedicated. Main use will be watching full HD uncompressed MKVs with some DTS-HD and Dolby True HD soundtracks. It will be connected to my AV receiver via HDMI.

Motherboard: A78M-E35 AMD MSI FM2 Micro ATX Motherboard Link
CPU: AMD A4 6320 + HD8370D, 65w, FM2, 1mb cache, 4000mhz Link
RAM: Corsair Memory XMS3 2GB DDR3 1333 Mhz CAS 9 Dual Channel Desktop X2 Link
Power Supply: ScanFX 500W Power Suppy Black with 120mm Quiet Fan ATX Link
Case: Cooltek G3 Home Theater PC Chassis (because I like the look of it and plenty of room for more HDDs) Link

I've already got a 2TB seagate drive with my movies on and a 320Gb 2.5" drive for the operating system, Ubuntu to start and then possibly Win 7 (as I want to add a BD drive to rip straight to library).

Many thanks

Scooter
 
Couple of comments:

I'd up to 4Gb RAM just to give yourself a bit of breathing room; you might want to use games emulators etc in the future.
Also consider a very small SSD for the OS. I use a 64Gb Crucial drive as mine always starts from a cold boot and speed is of paramount importance.
 
I've already got a 2TB seagate drive with my movies on and a 320Gb 2.5" drive for the operating system, Ubuntu to start and then possibly Win 7 (as I want to add a BD drive to rip straight to library).

I don't suppose you've got an existing power supply too? £10 power supplies at a third of the price of anything from a well reviewed brand are always rather dubious. Even if you're willing to ignore the silly 500W claim (with 22A/264W at 12V, 300W would be more like the amount of power you could draw without violating that) these models often have poor efficiency or in the worst cases simply can't deliver within spec at normal operating temperatures.

That CPU is in something of an awkward place. Intel's Haswell offerings at that price (celeron G18##) offer more CPU power and quicksync while the lower power models (AMD AM1, Intel's N and J prefix Silvermont processors) are often good enough and keep the maximum power consumption down. The only benefit for the A4 is that it has the most powerful graphics at the price but relatively speaking it's still fairly weak so may not be sufficient if you were going to be using the graphics processor for anything.

Memory-wise if you're using integrated graphics you want to go as fast as possible. I'd be looking at DDR3-1866 CL9 probably since that's generally almost as cheap as you can find, unless 2133 prices have come down.
 
Many thanks for the replies.I thought the power supply might be sub standard so I think I've decided to use this one Corsair CP-9020058-UK CXM Builder series 430W Power Supply (PSU) - Scan.co.uk. I didn't want to go too over the top with the processor as I don't do any gaming at all and never will. The only benchmark I have is my 4yr old laptop which absolutely flies along with XBMC (dual core 1.6 Ghz Intel Celeron with Intel HD graphics, 3GB ram) so I thought just go a little higher. The main problem I'm finding is that there's just too much to choose from out there.
 

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