Building a new PC/HTPC

[babalou1]

Ive been recently asked to build a system or look into systems for an owner of a club.

To start I figured Id approach this like Im building a HTPC instead of the usual request for a gaming PC. This club has 6 screens (3 via projector) + 3 more in DJ Booth, 12 speakers, and literally a thousand CDs. The clubs current setup is a little old and they are wanting to replace the current CD/DVD players they have with something a bit more managable in the form of a Desktop system or a Laptop.

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor : newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

MSI NF750-G55 AM3 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard : newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130235

CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX 750W : newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

HT | OMEGA CLARO Plus+ 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Card : newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271003

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 : newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231275

Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB : newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136792


Case/Keyboard/Mouse/External HDD I'll worry about later. This is the basis of what I have so far.

Please let me know if I missed something, if you have a question, or if you have some input as to what I might do different. If anyone has any experience with this type of systems, please share. Thanks.

[llDemonll]

no GPU and a 700W PSU? Could easily get away with ~300W

[babalou1]

Thats true.

Please keep suggestions coming. Am I taking the right approach for this type of system? Does anyone know of other websites I can go to for more information of this kind?

Ive been given the go ahead to build it how I want, with final approval by owner of course. That being said... Id like to keep the price as reasonable as possible even though Im being given some leeway on how to build it. I could build this like a gaming pc or I can build it like a HTPC.

[haxartus]

This CPU is an overkill for a HTPC. What exactly are they going to use it for ?
Edit:
For a HTPC you might want a motherboard like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128439

[babalou1]

Its not quite a HTPC. Its actually being built for a Club/Bar. Im just at a loss on how to go about building this thing.

[Shuckless]

For an HTPC CPU you'll definitely wanna go cheaper, so go with
http://www.amazon.com/AMD-Athlon-Tri...3304490&sr=1-1

EDIT: Actually, I'll recommend you a good system for what your gonna be using it for.. Gimmie a min to put it together

CPU : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3067296&SID=
Mobo : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3067296&SID=
RAM : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3067296&SID=
HDD : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3067296&SID=
PSU : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3067296&SID=
Case : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3067296&SID=

That's around under $300 on the price tag.

[Deleted]

A few questions.

You mentioned multiple LCDs and projectors - is this thing supposed to drive those?

I'm making the assumption that at minimum, the computer is going to be used to provide the speakers with sound/music. It would help to know what sort of inputs their systems can handle.

[babalou1]

I'll have exact specs later on tonight.

It is a fairly old system and Im actually going back up there in a couple of hours to talk to the owner and seeing exactly what setup they have running.

I had a basic idea of what I needed and was hoping to build but the more im wrapping my brain around it, the more of an issue the unknowns are turning into. If a mod wants to lock and/or delete until I get everything. Thats fine. Otherwise I can just let the thread go until I can edit the original post.

The way Im envisioning this is PC > A/V Reciever > Projectors/Speakers. I can build a normal PC with eyes closed as can most people that frequent this board. However this is something all together new for me.

[vesseblah]

For typical media server computer you'd want something like:

- mediocre CPU, something like i3-2100 would be fine for less heat and noise (third party cooler)
- lots of discspace in raid5 configuration: 3x 2tb would be good start
- low end graphics card with video decoding and hdmi output (something like radeon 5450 would be enough)

All video and audio can be played through single HDMI connector to any midrange home AV reciever which can be used to drive simple multi room speaker configurations. HDMI splitter can be placed after the AV reciever to drive multiple screens if necessary.


You really need more details about where/when/how the computer is going to be used, and by who.