Small, quiet media PC?

[format]

So I've got lots of wages but not enough time to spend it so looking at getting a media PC for my flat when term starts again.


Must be

Small, reasonably aesthetically pleasing.
Quiet (ish) reasonably low power consumption.
Able to stream over home network/transfer files from other networked PCs.
HDMI/DVI out.
Audio out.


Would be nice to

Be able to torrent off it, run it 24/7 as torrent box along side media player.
Be reasonably cheap


Not really sure what a realistic budget would be for this but I'll start with around £350.

I could pay more if that is unrealistic or if there are some things that are really worth having.

If there are prebuilt solutions this to this, that'd be great. If I have to build it myself that's also fine.

I've not really got a clue what would be best for OS/software for this.

My aim is to have a Wii, 360, and this all running through one of these with a HDMI hub or something.

Recommendations welcome


Thanks in advance.

[aidanjt]

Sounds like a job for one of these things: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=5&subcat=1436

And a low-mid range Core 2 Duo.

Stick it in a nice ITX chassis, and you're flying.

[Crusoex]

Build a micro atx system. £350 is not very big budget if you have lots of wages to spend.

Do you want to game off it? That will increase the price however...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This is what I would get this:

Athlon II X2 250 ~£68

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166519

Asus 760G ~ £52

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161330

4gb PC2-6400 ram ~ £34

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166461

Coolermaster Elite 340 ~£33

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/129891


Be Quiet 350w PSU ~ £30

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166784

Passively cooled HD4670 512mb ~ £62

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512Mb...PCI-E-VGA-Card

DVD rewriter ~ £13

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/101321

1TB Samsung HD103UJ ~ £66

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

[aidanjt]

Why not get a 780G board and forget about the GPU card?.. It's not as if the HD4670 has any advantages over the 780G IGP for HTPC use.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If the OP does not want to game I would go with the following 780G motherboard instead:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150278

[format]

Gaming would not be required at all tbh.

Will respond at length soon, in a big hurry at the moment, thanks all for recommendations.

[staffsMike]

I like that PSU CAT.. looks good

If you only need onboard from HD playback etcc you could go for mini ITX, like the silverstone SG05. Comes with a 300W PSU and a 120mm fan to cool it.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Silve...00W-80plus-PSU


http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/JandW...X-HDMI-DVI-VGA

or intel
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Zotac...Board-Graphics

Costs a bit more but looks more pleasing if it has to be out in the open.

[Terbinator]

why not a pentium dual core E5200 along with a 750i Nvidia board?

[staffsMike]

As above E5200 with a zotac mini ITX will be pretty good

Actually use less power afaik.

[TheAnimus]

If your after mini-itx.

I've got a zotac 9300 mini itx wifi board and its very good.

The only fault is it dosen't seam to have proper support for wake on USB, so i can't use the remote to wake it. Not a major issue for me, beceause i keep it switched off at the wall when not in use, but still its a nasty little niggle that i wish wasn't there.

[Terbinator]

The only fault is it dosen't seam to have proper support for wake on USB, so i can't use the remote to wake it. Not a major issue for me, beceause i keep it switched off at the wall when not in use, but still its a nasty little niggle that i wish wasn't there.

Yeah this has done its rounds on the internet and Zotac have said it will only be revised in a hardware change and not a bios update so you could end up being lumbered wiht an older 'defect' board if you buy one.

[ice_chill]

Check out this thread about building an energy efficient PC for 24/7 use, scroll down to the bottom: http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...ving-pc-3.html

[format]

This is what I would get this:

Athlon II X2 250 ~£68

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166519

ASUS M3A78-EM 780G ~ £60

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150278

4gb PC2-6400 ram ~ £34

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166461

Be Quiet 350w PSU ~ £30

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166784

DVD rewriter ~ £13

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/101321

1TB Samsung HD103UJ ~ £66

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

Edited the quote to include the motherboard with onboard, comes to around £270-80 accounting for price fluctuations.

What'll be a quite and low profile HSF for the processor, and I'm not a big fan of that case, can anyone recommend something else for the above build?

Cheers.

Everything above looks good but I don't like the look of that case...

[Cistron]

How do you feel about the Antec NSK2400? The Scythe Mini Ninja is a very good fit for the case. It will also allow you to install two slow 120mm fans and remove then fan from the heatsink.

Btw, I'm not sure whether the latest Athlon generation has good BIOS support. Something off the back of my head tells me that the full potential only unfolds on AM3 boards. Maybe a 4850e or 5050e is better choice for now. I doubt the less in performance will make a difference for a HTPC.

You might also be happier with the latest EcoGreen F2 Samsung generation, which run very very quiet. At least the one platter 500GB model did.

[format]

Is the NSK2480 much different? That looks decent. Would save money with built in earthwatts PSU too.

I take it the mini Ninja works with an AMD processor? I've had Intel for a while so I've kind of neglected the AMD market. I will definitely consider a 5050e et al if it means better BIOS options etc.