# My plans for my HTPC. Is it enough?



## CorrectNickName (Jul 31, 2012)

I want to be able to stream with out choppiness. Maybe some game play(D3-WoW). I want quality. So I threw together a plan. tell you what you guys think..
Case w/PSU - $115 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163171

Motherboard - $90 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157273

Processor - $120 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819106001

RAM - $45 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148485

Hard Drive - $120 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148681

SSD - $120 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

That should be fine. Many made-for-streaming devices (WD TV Hub, Netgear NeoTV, Dune) don't have near that processing power. More important is your home network. Forget wireless for streaming HD - some folks get it to work, but most don't. Go hardwired 1 gig and you should be fine. 

Make sure you have room for more than one hard drive (both in the case and SATA ports on the motherboard). HD video files run between 6-11 gigs per hour, depending on encoding rate. You may want to swap that SSD for a 2TB or so standard hard drive to give more storage. Also, you should add a blu ray drive.

I just noticed that you did not list a graphics card. I don't think you want to depend on on-board graphics. A nice AMD or Geforce card with HDMI and HDCP compliance is what you need. 1 Gig of video RAM is plenty. Should be able to get one for $100 or less. Dual HDMI outputs could be handy as well, although you can do that externally with a HDMI splitter for about $40. Most cards come with one HDMI and one or two DVI ports. Not sure if the DVI ports will support HDCP, likely not.

Also pay attention to fan noise - for the power supply as well as the case fans.


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

Ditto , I thinkj all your hardware is fine but my preference is always have a dedicated video card so as not to load the CPU with any video.... A nice HDMI video card will also give you HD sound through the same....
something like this ....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908


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## JeffKnob (May 30, 2007)

That is plenty powerful. I have a laptop with a cpu in the same family. Mine is the slowest (A4-3300). This has Hdmi out and can do 1080p with hd audio without any hiccups. What the other posters don't realize is the integrated video with these processors is quite powerful. It will handle htpc duty easily.


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## jdent02 (Jan 13, 2012)

Third on getting a dedicated graphics card and a large traditional hard drive.

I sucked up over 2/3rds of a 2TB on about 50 DVD's and a lot of Simpsons and Family Guy sets.


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## pharoah (Jul 21, 2012)

games do require a real video card.integrated graphics just wont cut it.


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## rantanamo (May 13, 2010)

No TV card?


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## olga66 (Feb 14, 2012)

I think Media Players will kill this HTPC world soon. Some time ago I build my first PC for "all needs". Today I found that "WD Hub" doing even more then I dreaming about. So, in my opinion, I will spend some time to searching what new in this industry right now instead to build second HTPC.


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

Only 2 complaints for WD Hub would be

1. still has trouble with certain movie and audio file types

2. no on board storage..


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

pharoah said:


> games do require a real video card.integrated graphics just wont cut it.


Agreed


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## olga66 (Feb 14, 2012)

1) WD Hub - 1T
2) agree - but hard to find file what not accepted


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

It still wont play any of my audio files encoded to WMA PRO 5.1 which really bugs me....:explode:


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