# Completed my HTPC Build and an unRaid server



## GortWillSaveUs (May 22, 2012)

After much researching, I finally completed my HTPC as well as an unRaid Server. Thanks to all who gave comments on their systems and helped me decide on this system. All the parts are solid and it is silent.

Here are the parts:

[CASE]
SilverStone Aluminum/Steel Micro ATX Media Center/HTPC Case ML03B (Black) $59.99
[Power Supply]
SilverStone Strider 400W, 80 PLUS, Active PFC Power Supply ST40F-ES (Black) $48.99
[CPU]
AMD A6-3500 APU with AMD Radeon 6530 HD Graphics 2.1/2.4GHz Socket FM1 65W Triple-Core Processor - Retail AD3500OJGXBOX $74.99
[CPU Cooler]
Scythe BIG SHURIKEN 2 Rev B. 5-Heatpipe Universal Low Profile CPU Cooler (SCBSK-2100) $47.95
[MOBO]
ASRock MB-A75M Socket FM1/ AMD A75 FCH/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/ Micro ATX Motherboard $74.99
[RAM]
Kingston HyperX Genesis 4 GB Kit (2x2 GB Modules) 1866MHz DDR3 PC3-15000 240-Pin Non-ECC CL9 1.65V DIMM XMP Desktop Memory KHX1866C9D3K2/4GX $35.74
[SSD]
Crucial 64 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT064M4SSD2 $80.99
[BD-ROM]
LG UH12LS28K LightScribe 12x SATA Blu-Ray Combo Internal Drive, Bulk (Black) $57.39
[OS]
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit (Full) System Builder DVD 1 Pack $99.99
[Keyboard]
IOGEAR Multimedia Keyboard with Laser Trackball and Scroll Wheel, 2.4GHz Wireless GKM561R (Black) $39.08
[Remote]
Windows 7 Vista XP Media Center MCE PC Remote Control and Infrared Receiver for Home, Premium and Ultimate Edition $15.41
[HDD] (One for HTPC and one for unRaid server)
Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB Desktop Hard Drive WD20EARX


and for the unRaid (I already have a motherboard and RAM):
[Case]
Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $54.99
[Power Supply]
Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Since I only have 4 internal sata on the mobo, and no PCI-E,..I needed a PCI solution to expand my sata connections. A co-worker highly recommended this card and said he uses it with great success,..and great price at: $10.07 (I'll probably buy another once I upgrade my unRaid license to a Pro Level)
PCI to SATA / IDE (2 SATA / 2 PATA) Combo RAID Controller Card - VT6421A (Manufacturer Part # SY-VIA-150R)

I have an external Western Digital HDD with an ESATA connection. Never had the cable, so picking this one up for: $8.01 with Free Shipping
Cables To Go 10221 External Serial ATA Cable (2 Meters, Black)

Since I don't want to run CAT cables through my walls,...the same coworker Highly Recommended these and said he uses them flawlessly with his HTPC. Price: $72.62
ZyXEL PLA401v3 HomePlug AV 200 Mbps Powerline Wall-plug Adapter (Starter Kit - 2 units)

AND, can't go wrong with this price on 2 sata cables: $0.97 with Free Shipping!!!!! (Buying 5 sets of these)
SATA Data Cable (2pk.)

Overall, I am TOTALLY pleased over this build. I can't get my family off of it.


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## GortWillSaveUs (May 22, 2012)

Having problems posting pictures of my build,..but I'll figure it out so you can see the build in progress.


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## GortWillSaveUs (May 22, 2012)

While I have been able to watch movies over my wireless. (Although I will get stutters sometimes which can get pretty aggravating)

I decided to take the plunge and purchase this PowerLine solution. Since I didn't want to run CAT cables through my walls,...a few coworkers Highly Recommended these and said they use them flawlessly with their HTPC.
ZyXEL PLA401v3 HomePlug AV 200 Mbps Powerline Wall-plug Adapter (Starter Kit - 2 units)



Well, the units arrived yesterday.
I got home from work, unwrapped them, plugged them in,..and instantly had network connections.
I then pushed the button on the sides of the devices to set the encryption for both devices and again,...no problems.
But the big test was the family. They had noticed that a few of the movies that were being streamed via wifi were stuttering.

We played 3-4 of the movies and no stuttering, instant playing,..and the fast forward, chapter skipping, stopping, starting were smooth!
I am SO glad I brought the ZyXEL PLA401v3 HomePlug AV 200 Mbps Powerline Wall-plug Adapter (Starter Kit - 2 units)


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## Mopar_Mudder (Nov 8, 2010)

Sounds like a good set-up, you will really like when all done. Like mine some much I should build another HTPC for upstairs, right now running to rooms off one HTPC. Wired network is the only way to go, much less chance of trouble in the future. 

Some thing else you might want to consider is a UPS for the unriad server. I just added one to mine and a program that runs with UnRaid monitors the UPS and does a clean power down when their is a power failure, now I am working on getting it to trigger my HTPC to shut down also.


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## GortWillSaveUs (May 22, 2012)

Mopar_Mudder said:


> Sounds like a good set-up, you will really like when all done. Like mine some much I should build another HTPC for upstairs, right now running to rooms off one HTPC. Wired network is the only way to go, much less chance of trouble in the future.
> 
> Some thing else you might want to consider is a UPS for the unriad server. I just added one to mine and a program that runs with UnRaid monitors the UPS and does a clean power down when their is a power failure, now I am working on getting it to trigger my HTPC to shut down also.


I agree with you about hard wiring,..but a lot of people either can't,...they rent their place, or they can't afford to hire a professional,...or a bunch of other reasons,....

But looking at your pictures,..all I can say is WOW! That is one sweet setup and it appears that you have the room and that you can afford to do a great job getting this done.

I suppose, I am just saying that I've heard or read a lot of posts where guys get all freaked out because they can't afford to run CAT-6 and buy all the other related equipment. My system shows that you can keep it relatively cheap, and use ZyXEL PLA401v3 HomePlug AV 200 Mbps Powerline Wall-plug Adapter (Starter Kit - 2 units) for great movies watching.

As far as UPS's,..I agree,..that's next on my list of purchases. I'll be buying this one CyberPower CP1000AVRLCD Intelligent LCD 1000VA 600W with AVR Mini Tower UPS because we use them at work and a few other HTPC owners told me about it.

I like to think that I'm building my Home Theater to look like yours,...it'll take 20 years, but I'm gettign there.


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## Mopar_Mudder (Nov 8, 2010)

Yea I did all my own work, wiring included because I can't afford them people also. Good to know the HomePlug works to give people that can't run CAT a good option for it.

I got the CyberPower CP1350PFCLCD and it seems to be working good. Never was a big UPS believer then we lost a buch of equipment at work last year and had a hit this spring at the house but it took only the modem out so got lucky. Actually in both cases the surge came from the phone line and not the power, traveling the net work line (well maybe wireless is better now that I say that) and taking out mother boards.

So really just a surge protector problably would do but figure might as well go all out.


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

What is your sound card..? I didnt see a mention, so I assumed onboard sound - which can in some cases add a latency to the movie output if the CPU is handling the decoding.....also most onboard sound chips have pretty average specifications for sound quality.....just sayin....:innocent:


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## GortWillSaveUs (May 22, 2012)

RTS100x5 said:


> What is your sound card..? I didnt see a mention, so I assumed onboard sound - which can in some cases add a latency to the movie output if the CPU is handling the decoding.....also most onboard sound chips have pretty average specifications for sound quality.....just sayin....:innocent:


No sound card needed,..all on board, including graphics. The mobo is THX certified, and can handle HDTV 1080p.

This AMD A6-3500 APU with AMD Radeon 6530 HD Graphics 2.1/2.4GHz Socket FM1 65W Triple-Core Processor - Retail AD3500OJGXBOX is simply awesome. It can even handle 3D HDTV

I was going to go "real beefy" on processor and ram,..but this setup is simply perfect and 3x less than what I would have built if I let myself be fooled into thinking I needed 64GB of RAM and such.

More money doesn't always mean better quality.


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## Mopar_Mudder (Nov 8, 2010)

What is the need of a big fancy sound card for a HTPC? Most are bitstreaming over HDMI to a reciever for the decoding. Sound card is getting kind of old school :nerd:

And GortWillSaveUs is right, does take much power to make a nice HTPC now days.


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

I use high end sound cards for the same reason ppl use higher end video cards. But if you think that your average HDMI onboard sound output sounds superior to 124db s/n ratio in 7.1 analog with 96k sampling at 24 bit rate then by all means keep on believing that...... some of us prefer superior sound quality :neener:



Mopar_Mudder said:


> What is the need of a big fancy sound card for a HTPC? Most are bitstreaming over HDMI to a reciever for the decoding. Sound card is getting kind of old school :nerd:
> 
> And GortWillSaveUs is right, does take much power to make a nice HTPC now days.


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## GortWillSaveUs (May 22, 2012)

RTS100x5 said:


> I use high end sound cards for the same reason ppl use higher end video cards. But if you think that your average HDMI onboard sound output sounds superior to 124db s/n ratio in 7.1 analog with 96k sampling at 24 bit rate then by all means keep on believing that...... some of us prefer superior sound quality :neener:


I don't think anyone should criticize an audiophile for wanting perfection (or as close to it as possible) from their sound equipment. 

I think one of the points I'm trying to get a cross to anyone who wants to build a HTPC is this:
It's not as hard as it seems, and you don't have to spend a thousand dollars to get great video and sound,....from a system that you've built yourself. 

Too many times, I've seen newcomers stopped from building a system because they think they need 64GB RAM, a High End Graphic card, the latest CPU,...10TB of storage space,...you DO NOT!

If you look at my system, it appears entry level,..but I can assure you it ROCKS. This system has been built by many XBMC users, and it has awesome sound and awesome video. It was also fun to build (and almost too easy).

No one says you can't customize your system to fit your needs. it your system, make it yours.


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## Mopar_Mudder (Nov 8, 2010)

RTS100x5 said:


> I use high end sound cards for the same reason ppl use higher end video cards. But if you think that your average HDMI onboard sound output sounds superior to 124db s/n ratio in 7.1 analog with 96k sampling at 24 bit rate then by all means keep on believing that...... some of us prefer superior sound quality :neener:


But if all you are doing is watching BluRay and DVD that is bitsteam perfect to a reciever what are you gaining, their is no decoding of the audio done. I can see if you are heavy into music it might have some benifit to it.


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## Mopar_Mudder (Nov 8, 2010)

Mopar_Mudder said:


> Sounds like a good set-up, you will really like when all done. Like mine some much I should build another HTPC for upstairs, right now running to rooms off one HTPC. Wired network is the only way to go, much less chance of trouble in the future.
> 
> Some thing else you might want to consider is a UPS for the unriad server. I just added one to mine and a program that runs with UnRaid monitors the UPS and does a clean power down when their is a power failure, now I am working on getting it to trigger my HTPC to shut down also.


Just wanted to update that I now have unraid monitoing my UPS using Apcupsd. I also have Apcupsd running on two PC's. They monitor the Apcupsd server on the UnRaid box over the network and auto shut down based on the settings you configure when the power goes out.


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

RTS100x5 said:


> I use high end sound cards for the same reason ppl use higher end video cards. But if you think that your average HDMI onboard sound output sounds superior to 124db s/n ratio in 7.1 analog with 96k sampling at 24 bit rate then by all means keep on believing that...... some of us prefer superior sound quality :neener:


 Interesting you should say that, on the video side of things i was interested in a particular projector and travelled 6 hours to view a demo of this simm 2 projector and when i arrived for the demo, the sales team had it running through a computer which was used as a source to play the bluray disc. But what was even more strange to me at the time was the fact that they had the one and only "Denon DVDA1UD" sitting there doing nothing. Now for some that may not know, this machine they had sitting there retails for around $10,000.00 and is among the best of the best universal players around according to many people depending on who you talk to.(there are plenty others too) The bottom line here though is that they had this projector running through a computer,i used to think that the parts going into a computer were cheap and nasty but my view is starting to change.It was just interesting that i travelled to brisbane, a 6 hour drive and seen it running through a computer. The projector by the way retailed for around $52,000 but i dont know if that would have made a difference.I gather sound cards would work in the same way to a degree. Sorry didnt mean to hijack this thread, i just thought now would be a good time to tell this story.


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

GortWillSaveUs said:


> I don't think anyone should criticize an audiophile for wanting perfection (or as close to it as possible) from their sound equipment.
> 
> I think one of the points I'm trying to get a cross to anyone who wants to build a HTPC is this:
> It's not as hard as it seems, and you don't have to spend a thousand dollars to get great video and sound,....from a system that you've built yourself.
> ...


I totally agree, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Too much splitting hairs nowadays. And that is a technology trap for young players too much babble on things that dont really matter and it can very easily put someone in a frame of mind that can easily destroy what they have initially set out to do.


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