HTPC Board Options...

[shortie87]

Jimbob: I'm not even entirely sure what kind of stress I'd put on the A10, its been so long since I actually used a PC with a decent bit of power! I was initially looking at the Intel for longevity and upgrade options but it seems they're bringing out a new socket next year.

Thanks for that advice, I hadn't spotted the reliability issues with the Vertex 4 but will definitely look into it now, I was tempted by the 5 year warranty... I've always been a fan of Samsungs spinpoint hard drives so may look at what they're offering in terms of SSD. I very much doubt that the SSD will be written to/accessed all that often which, from reading around, seems to cause issues with flash memory. All my media is on a NAS drive.

I think it is fair to say that going from an X2 4400 (2.2 GHz) to an A10 will be a massive jump in performance.

I recently got an A10 5800K for my home server, and the only thing I can really criticise is the fan it comes with is only quiet when the machine is idle. Thankfully you won't be using that

I think you've hit the nail on the head there tbh...

[DanceswithUnix]

I think you've hit the nail on the head there tbh...

It seemed worth saying

You get nearly twice the perfomance per core, as well as twice the cores.
There are quite a few cpu features added since the 4400 days, and in things like video processing they can really help.

[davesom555]

Oh that's fair enough.

Actually thinking about it an AMD would make much more sense for a media centre pc anyway, rather than an Intel. Depends what you wanna do with it - if its just media, some light gaming and office stuff then an APU is easily good enough. The only thing to go for an Intel over the AMD would be high end gaming on your tv - with discrete graphics, and would cost a lot more. TBH the AMD paired with a discrete card wouldn't be that much noticeably slower anyway.

[shortie87]

The PC lives in my bedroom, which is pretty much the main reason I want it to be completely silent. It is quite often used at night, with no music/sound at all. Its used mainly for AV purposes and running guitar amp modelling/recording software (this is the bit that will test CPU performance more than anything else IMO), but also the occasional bit of photo and video editing, plus most day to day basic tasks. I don't imagine anything it will get used for would be TOO strenuous. I rarely, if ever, use my PC for gaming.

I may go for the AMD board now, see how well the case deals with the 65w TDP of the A10 5700 and possibly look at upgrading the the new Intel architecture in a couple of years time. I guess if I have a chassis which works with such a wide range of boards (as opposed to the propitiatory thing I have now), upgrading becomes a much cheaper and easier task.

[MrJim]

Its used mainly for AV purposes and running guitar amp modelling/recording software (this is the bit that will test CPU performance more than anything else IMO), but also the occasional bit of photo and video editing, plus most day to day basic tasks.

Which CPU do you have at the moment, and what levels of utilisation are you seeing when running your software? That might give some indication as to how much of an upgrade you really need...

Video & photo editing are both areas that really benefit from as many cores / threads you can throw at them, but if you go AMD, you might just find that your render times are a few minutes longer, that's all.

[shortie87]

My current CPU is (dont laugh...) an Athlon 64 X2 4400. It does occasionally top out while running the modelling software and die...

Render times are not really an issue, as long as it will happen sooner or later, it doesn't happen all that often

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Remember,the IGP is playing a bigger part in software acceleration too. The Core i3 is a nice CPU if you are building a SFF gaming PC with a discrete card. However,with an IGP only I prefer the AMD APUs instead.

[shortie87]

Thats a very valid point! I have the PS3/X360 for gaming though so that is about the only thing the PC won't get used for!

AMD seems like the only sensible choice now really! Now to find out how far I can undervolt the a10-5700...

[MrJim]

I'd also spotted the riser, but felt it could affect cooling performance... not sure on that one. It is an option, but one I'd rather not use if possible, unless I was to find a great deal on a board with larger heatsinks (which seem to be more expensive anyways...)

I've just seen this article over at Anandtech which might interest you; they built an HTPC with the FC10 and heatsink riser, and the results are very encouraging...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6523/s...vy-bridge-htpc

[shortie87]

Well, just thought I'd pop back now that my new build is done! Although plans changed slightly half way through...

I decided against the Streacom case, as I decided I wanted to allow myself more options for upgrading in the future, and lack of space for a real ATX power supply put me off eventually. Instead, I bought a Fractal Designs Node 605, which I'm VERY impressed by. Rest of the spec is as follows:

• Gigabyte GA-f2A85XM-D3H
• AMD A10-5700 with a Scythe Mini Ninja on top
• 2x8gb Crucial Ballistix Sport VLP
• 128gb Samsung 840 Pro
• Pico-PSU 150XT
• Sony BD-5750H Blu-Ray Writer

So far, I'm pretty happy with the build, it's definitely living up to expectations, and I've come across no problems so far. The memory defaulted to the correct voltage automatically (1.35v), and I've had no power or heat issues at all. Its currently 5 hours in to converting a blu-ray in Handbrake, and although I've got the fans running at full blast (these were included with the case), CPU temp is hovering around 35 degrees. Under normal load, it drops below this with the fans at 20% through Speedfan, resulting in a total silent system. I am thinking of replacing the fans with something better, so I can push a bit more air, but at the moment its not really necessary.

All in all, I'm glad you guys talked me round to the AMD way, as I built the entire system for roughly £560, which I didnt think was too bad at all!

[wrighta16]

Hi,

I've just built a new HTPC using the same mobo and having problems getting Speedfan to take control of the fans. I've been using for years without any real problems. I've disabled BIOS fan control & Cool & Quiet but still not working. I tried the Advanced PWM settings that default to On/OFF and getting some weird changes but not control and that was the BIOS settings at Manual not disabled.

What settings are you using?

Thanks in advance...