Graz

Been a while since I put a PC together from scratch but all the bits have now arrived for my HTPC so I'm looking forward to commencing it's build tonight

The spec.

Intel Core i3 4340 (Haswell) - no need for i5/i7 in a HTPC build. All about keeping the power down.
ASUS H87M-Pro Motherboard
8Gb Corsair DDD3 1600 RAM
120 Gb SSD Crucial M500
3TB WD Green HDD
Pioneer Blu-Ray Burner
TBS 6280 Dual Tuner Freeview HD PCIe card.
Silverstone Grandia GD04-B HTPC case.
Silverstone Strider Essential 400W PSU.

And some not entirely essential extra goodies to control it:

Logitech Harmony Ultimate Remote + USB IR receiver.
Logitech DiNovo Mini Bluetooth Keyboard / Touch Pad

It will run Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit and essentially Windows Media Centre most of the time for all media duties, recording TV, etc. along with the media browser plugin to make it all look sexy.

Will be plugged into my Panny 50" plasma via my home cinema amp using HDMI.

Basing the build on this rather useful website / guide: http://assassinhtpcblog.com/

I'll let you know how I get on

JackClark

Amazing when you think all of that comes built in on modern TV's. Fair play to you for keeping the classic's working. If it wasn't for people like you all the traction engines would be rusting heaps.

dpb

IV yet to see an up to date tv with a built in bluray

JackClark

What's a blue ray?

Graz

I've got a "Smart" TV and it doesn't provide half the functionality a HTPC does. Admittedly Panasonic does seem to be behind some of the other manufacturers but no 4OD, no ITV player, no Spotify, doesn't play Flac audio, doesn't have 3TB storage for my film (****) collection, needs an overpriced webcam to do Skype, etc., etc.

So I'm quite looking forward to my new gadget. Can play a few games on it too.

Scooby Soon!

I would be interested in what advantages it has over this box: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MX2-Androi...item5d40cf71d1

Galifrey

iTrader: (3)

TV Tuner for recording live TV
3TB of storage for movies and TV
Play genuine PC and Windows games
Proper Keyboard for Surfing
Built in Blu-Ray Player and recorder
Mali 400 graphics/CPU are a bit sucky for full 1080p and AC3
Torrent/Newsgroup compatibility
Will run full webpages not Mobile versions

phoenixgold

iTrader: (2)

What was the total build cost if you don't mind sharing?

EddScott

I got one of these under my TV

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/.../overview.html

Does pretty much all I need - I will have (when I can be bothered to put it together!) network storage for the house which will serve the NUC as well as everything else in the house.

Good luck with the build.

Galifrey

iTrader: (3)

NUC's are awesome bit's of kit.

Graz

Not at all...

Intel Core i3 4340 (Haswell) - £113
ASUS H87M-Pro Motherboard - £85
8Gb Corsair DDD3 1600 RAM - £65
120 Gb SSD Crucial M500 - £61
3TB WD Green HDD -£83
Pioneer Blu-Ray Burner - £61
TBS 6280 Dual Tuner Freeview HD PCIe card - £88
Silverstone Grandia GD04-B HTPC case - £77
Silverstone Strider Essential 400W PSU - £34
USB IR Receiver (eBay) - £8
Win 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM - £66

Total £741 - for a working box with OS.

Could have gone with an i3 4130 (-£27), H87M-E Motherboard (-£12), 4GB RAM (-£23), and not bothered with an SSD boot drive (-£61), so something perfectly competent for £618 still including a TV tuner and Blu-Ray Burner.

The control goodies are a luxury:

Logitech DiNovo Mini Bluetooth Keyboard / Touchpad £60

I've wanted one of these for a while, totally unnecessary for the HTPC but I like the idea of combining all my remote controls into one.

Logitech Harmony Ultimate Remote £170

Graz

Progress report too....

Fitted PSU to case. Fitted processor and RAM to motherboard then fitted it to the case. Plugged in the power cables to the motherboard, case power/reset/LED cables, CPU fan connector and a couple of the case fans. Hooked up a monitor, keyboard and mouse, and applied mains power..... always a bit scary first time

The LED came on on the motherboard so I hit the power on button, the fans started spinning and I was greeted with the BIOS screen on the monitor. Processor and RAM are ok so ready to carry on. Really quiet too

Tonight I'll be tidying up all the cabling, fitting the drives, and if time allows installing Windows.

Beef

If everything is compatible (TV tuner, I'm looking at you) I would strongly suggest installing Win 8.1 - the boot time is slashed significantly, which is useful for such a device.

I did consider this route myself, but ended up buying a Roku in the end.

Graz

I considered Windows 8 but the general consensus is that the integration of Windows Media Centre is better in Win 7. With the SSD it'll be pretty quick to boot anyhow. My current freeview PVR (Topfield) takes at least a minute from power up to being able to use it so I doubt It would be any worse than that

If I see some positive reports about media centre and Windows 8 then I might update in future.

May be in the market for a Roku or WDTV (or even an Apple TV) to use as extenders in future. Would be cool to be able to watch something recorded (or a film) on the media centre on the bedroom TV.

EddScott

I considered all the options and I know the NUC is probably the expensive option compared to an all in one or a Pi or similar. But I knew I wouldn't be happy unless it could do absolutely everything I wanted without fuss. To be fair I've only used it to surf **** but I'm sure I'll think of something else to use it for eventually.

Scooby Soon!

not trolling just seems so dated running windows with your TV especially when you see the costs involved in doing it

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I like that ALOT

I'm considering using these to replace the three mATX office PCs.

I'm sick and tired of huge PCs, when technologically there is no need.

My original HTPC was a bit like Graz's...but it was a full ATX case (Silverstone LC14M with iMon inside), great looks wise but I didn't like Silverstones poor attention to detail for such a expensive case...the case behind the bezel is a very tinny bog standard PC case, thin metal and sharp edges....Not only that I've had budget sub-£30 PC cases that were much better in respect to noise damping in relation to mounting for hard drives, fans as well as the main board and cooling etc. Seriously a case that costs this much should have rubberised drive mounts, it should have filters, it should come with proper quiet fans (not noisy ones), and also should have quick release or thumbscrews and not have metal to metal contact between sections without any form of vibration damapening. Some of the newer Silverstone stuff still doesn't address these shortcommings when making a perfectly quiet PC (or HTPC).

Anyway I'm diverging here, due to its size, even if it were a mATX, it no longer serves as a HTPC under the TV as its just so darn big (bigger than my Onyo, which is also too big). So now it lives as a desktop PC (well, it did until I moved house - I haven't bothered to unpack it yet! ), albeit heavily modified to make it quieter!

So what is my HTPC? A Lenovo Ideacentre nettop with a dual-core Atom. Suprisingly it does the job. So long as its kept on wired gigabit LAN (Wifi struggles). It could do with a faster drive (SSD would be ideal) and more RAM wouldn't hurt. But for the TV, its been sound.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

< Winces> . Graz: I strongly suggest that before taking this advice that you try 8.1 before you buy it. Yes its slightly more usable than 8.0, but I personally still find it horrible and non-intuitive to use on a non-touch screen PC.

Graz

Don't worry, I'm sticking with Win 7 for the foreseeable. I have a Windows 8 laptop, I've got used to it but I don't think I'd run it as a HTPC OS. Have yet to upgrade to 8.1, need to get my server back up and running so I can create a backup to restore to if needs be.

Further update, attacked it with a bag of zip ties last night, cabling now more or less sorted. Didn't get as far as installing any software. Don't have enough time anymore, by the time the kids are in bed and we've had some dinner only got a few hours to play

Galifrey

iTrader: (3)

I would ditch Windows Media Centre though and use XBMC, it is way way better.

Graz

May well end up running both, WMC is supposedly better for live TV and the recording of etc. From what I've read though XBMC and WMC will happily coexist on a HTPC.