# To Haswell or not??



## jdhansen63 (Nov 1, 2011)

I'm trying to decide on a mATX motherboard/CPU combo for my HTPC but am not sure what direction to go. The options are:

1) I5-4XXX processor & onboard GPU
2) I5-3XXX processor & discrete GPU (like Nvidia 430 or 670)
3) something else not listed 

There seem to be a lot of mixed reviews about the Haswell chip so I'm not sure it's worth the extra money. Thoughts?

Also, I can't seem to find a Haswell (1150) motherboard that has onboard wifi/bluetooth. Anyone know of one? Why do they make them for mITX and ATX but not mATX?

The end product will be a low power, quiet, all in one system. Not interested in anything fancy like OC'ing the CPU/ram but do want it to be 4K display compatible.

Thanks for the help!
Jason


----------



## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

Are you making this strictly a Media Server or will you be doing other stuff with it too? What software are you going to be using?

I have a Media Center that I just built that runs Openelec/XBMC on a i3 NUC and it works fine. I am currently just streaming my media from my USB drive but hopefully my UNRAID NAS will be ready by this weekend. I have no problems with watching 1080p mkv files. The NUC is virtually silent and boots into XBMC in a matter of a few seconds. It is very responsive compared to XBMC on Windows 7.


----------



## jdhansen63 (Nov 1, 2011)

No, it’s not just going to be a media server. It is replacing the family PC (~8 years old). So it will run Windows 8 Pro and be used for surfing the web, MS Office, audio/video encoding/decoding, light photo editing, streaming movies/tv, and watching bluray. I've been using JRiver MC and have been happy with it, and will probably continue to use it in the future.


----------



## igor123 (Jul 17, 2013)

I just built a Haswell machine (i5 with HD4600, 16gb RAM) and only using the CPU graphics for htpc and some other work. 

As long as not playing games that use a lot of graphics, (6-7 year old games works), it works like a charm for HTPC and "windows graphics". 

I haven't looked specifically for bluetooth or wifi since it's hooked up to my wifi router, but I know the top-line asrock motherboards have it build in. Don't know if they come in mATX form though, but all in all there are cheap usb-dongles for wifi and bt otherwise? Or more high-end ones for the new AC wifi standard for example. 

Going for separates you can re-use the components later on =)


----------



## Nachmanowicz (Feb 15, 2013)

igor123 said:


> I just built a Haswell machine (i5 with HD4600, 16gb RAM) and only using the CPU graphics for htpc and some other work.
> 
> As long as not playing games that use a lot of graphics, (6-7 year old games works), it works like a charm for HTPC and "windows graphics".
> 
> ...


I'll second that, the CPU's graphics are amazingly powerful, ofc they cant be compared to good GPUs, but I mean... they're "free"! If gaming isnt on your pre-list, dont bother with a video card. And if gaming is on your list on the future, they you might as well just buy a GPU later on!


----------

