HTPC with recovered parts

[Coldkil]

i dunno, thats still ~65 each for the case and PSU. And its an integrated PSU, a lot of those super-tiny ITX cases have an external brick.

I dont really think 65 each for a case and a good PSU (for its purpose) is really that bad. YMMV

Yeah, i'm not saying it's too much for the combo as a whole - just as a small project with recovered parts it's not really worth spending that much. If it was a brand new system, then it would have been a must buy.

As for the regular small case oiption, in my case it's not an option Maybe i could fit it behind the TV but the furniture i'm stuck with for now doesn't have much room for additional stuff (i am stuck to a 48/49" screen because otherwise it wouldn't fit).

EDIT: case arrived today - unfortunately i won't be able to bring it home until monday, but finally i'll have a reliable platform for all my streaming/playing needs. IIRC i can do Steam in-home streaming aswell, i just need to install the client right?

[Kagthul]

Yeah, i'm not saying it's too much for the combo as a whole - just as a small project with recovered parts it's not really worth spending that much. If it was a brand new system, then it would have been a must buy.

As for the regular small case oiption, in my case it's not an option Maybe i could fit it behind the TV but the furniture i'm stuck with for now doesn't have much room for additional stuff (i am stuck to a 48/49" screen because otherwise it wouldn't fit).

EDIT: case arrived today - unfortunately i won't be able to bring it home until monday, but finally i'll have a reliable platform for all my streaming/playing needs. IIRC i can do Steam in-home streaming aswell, i just need to install the client right?

I beleive so.

[Coldkil]

Well, just to write a conclusion: unfortunately the motherboard while ITX is just slightly bigger than the standard micro itx case and i don't want to have a picoPSU with an external block, so i called it a day and returned the case.

Fortunately i managed to sell everything as a home PC for browsing/office with a slightly bigger case so in the end i gained something out of it anyway

I'll likely just wait, then will build something similar with newer parts like a 2200G and a b450 later on. I have not dropped the idea, but since i don't need it right now and it was just a lucky chance to get my hands on some parts for free, i'm just selling the stuff i have right now and get something better in the future

[Kagthul]

If you weren't overseas, i could do you a great deal on i7 3770.

I just grabbed an old Dell office PC from a Dentists Office that was closing down due to the doctor retiring.

60$ for an i7 3770, 8GB of RAM, motherboard with PCIe slots, 2 DVD-RW drives, and a small SSD (64GB) and 512GB HDD.

Probably cost more to ship it than i paid for it though.

Also have an i5 3750K w/mITX motherboard and 8GB of RAM sitting here too.

All it needs to be functional is a PSU and storage (and a case if you care). But, again... probably more to ship it than its worth.

- - - Updated - - -

and for the 2200G or 2400G or the 3200/3400 variants... they are great for HTPCs.

I built a new HTPC with a 2400G (Micro Center had a great sale on the R5 1600 + MoBo, and i'd already built my son a rig with the 2400G, so i bought the 1600 /Mobo combo and swapped the 1600 into his rig) and an MSI B350 mATX board.

It works great, and i found out that with the most recent EFI, most B350, 450, and better boards can output HDMI 2.0 over the built-in HDMI port (which the box will tell you is HDMI 1.4a).

All i had to do was go a little deeper into display properties in Windows and enable it and im now getting 4k/60 on my TV with just the iGPU.

I didnt put mine into a small ITX case, though (even though im an ITX enthusiast) - since our entertainment center is built out of cleverly positioned and wall-hung Ikea Kallax shelving units, i bought one of the acrylic boxes that slides into the Kallax, a few motherboard standoffs, and used a tap-bit to mount the MoBo inside the box, and used a hole saw to drill a spot out of the back to let the cables in, and mounted a power switch on the front. The 9-hole grille in the front and back of of the box perfectly fits 140mm fans, so there is an intake/outflow, and then i put in a piece of 1x4 running side to side across the top half of the case to put the power supply on (so it can still breathe).

Unless you know its a PC, it just looks like the other storage boxes in the unit. Worked out really well.

Its a Ryzen 5 2400G, MSI B350 mATX, 240GB SSD (mass storage is on a 4-bay QNAP NAS), and an EVGA 450 Watt Bronze PSU. I added a Rosewill front-panel USB sled that normally goes into a 2.5" drive bay, and mounted it facing upwards on the inner lip, so you can just slide the box out a little and plug in Thumb drives if you need.

[Vash The Stampede]

My HTPC recently got an upgrade. It went from a FX 8350 to a Ryzen 2700X. The CPU was less than $200, with the motherboard being $60 and the ram costing $45. ASRock AB350 Pro4, which I already had laying around got a BIOS update that finally allowed for SOC voltage adjustments. The ram is just Geil memory off NewEgg that's 3Ghz. The GPU a MSI RX 470 I got used off Ebay for $100. It has a water block from China that cost $17, because the system already has a custom loop.

I don't agree with the idea of buying a 2200G or 2400G because you'll upgrade the GPU at some point, and quad core is dated. An 8 core Ryzen will last for a very long time. Any Ryzen 8 core will do, but if you get a none "X" variant then learn to overclock it. The new 3000 series Ryzen's are nice but not enough to avoid the previous generations.

[Coldkil]

I don't agree with the idea of buying a 2200G or 2400G because you'll upgrade the GPU at some point, and quad core is dated. An 8 core Ryzen will last for a very long time. Any Ryzen 8 core will do, but if you get a none "X" variant then learn to overclock it. The new 3000 series Ryzen's are nice but not enough to avoid the previous generations.

I just need it for streaming stuff from internet to the tv and some very minor workload. I don't really need a full fledged machine just for this - i don't even need a discrete GPU. Though i generally agree that buying "future-proof" is the best approach.

[Kagthul]

We are a LONG, LONG ways away from the day when a 4-core, 8-thread, modern-IPC CPU wont be enough for HTPC duty.

Like... itll easily last 6+ years.

Putting an 8-core, 16-thread CPU in an HTPC is insanity.

I literally -just- retired a Core 2 Duo 2.0Ghz Mac Mini as my HTPC - and only because the GPU in it couldn't do 4k. The CPU was still fine.

[Vash The Stampede]

We are a LONG, LONG ways away from the day when a 4-core, 8-thread, modern-IPC CPU wont be enough for HTPC duty.

Like... itll easily last 6+ years.

Putting an 8-core, 16-thread CPU in an HTPC is insanity.

I literally -just- retired a Core 2 Duo 2.0Ghz Mac Mini as my HTPC - and only because the GPU in it couldn't do 4k. The CPU was still fine.

It depends on what you do with the HTPC. My HTPC evolved from a Kodi machine that surfed the web to a Jellyfin machine that plays games better than a PS4. It plays all modern games, including even Switch and WiiU games as well, all on Linux Mint 19.2.

[Coldkil]

Ok, dug up this thread to avoid opening a new one. I decided to finally build this system with new parts since i got a little flow of extra money with a couple builds - i'm gonna buy the InWin Chopin case because it's really good looking.

So. ITX systems with iGPU for basically streaming from internet and movies with VLC. Maybe some limited in-home streaming with Steam.

Suggestions about which mobo and CPU? B450 with Ryzen is the way to go, but i'd like to know if there's some special recommendation for mobo brand and if it's worth buying a 3200G/3400G over the previous generation.

EDIT: do i really need 3000+ ram for this? It's literally just browsing the internet.

[Temp name]

Ok, dug up this thread to avoid opening a new one. I decided to finally build this system with new parts since i got a little flow of extra money with a couple builds - i'm gonna buy the InWin Chopin case because it's really good looking.

So. ITX systems with iGPU for basically streaming from internet and movies with VLC. Maybe some limited in-home streaming with Steam.

Suggestions about which mobo and CPU? B450 with Ryzen is the way to go, but i'd like to know if there's some special recommendation for mobo brand and if it's worth buying a 3200G/3400G over the previous generation.

EDIT: do i really need 3000+ ram for this? It's literally just browsing the internet.

ITX boards are kinda expensive.. If you don't really stress the system there's no reason to be loyal to any brand, just get whatever's cheapest. And nah, you won't need 3000+ RAM for browsing the internet.

As for 32/3400G over the last gen? Probably not unless you can find them cheaper.

[Coldkil]

ITX boards are kinda expensive.. If you don't really stress the system there's no reason to be loyal to any brand, just get whatever's cheapest. And nah, you won't need 3000+ RAM for browsing the internet.

As for 32/3400G over the last gen? Probably not unless you can find them cheaper.

I know, ITX are a bitch but i'm dead set on that due to sheer size and i counted that on budget. CPUs are in strange place right now since 2000 and 3000 series are basically on par. Worth going with an X400 compared to a X200? I know the Athlon is a cheaper alternative, but i'm fine with spending a little more.

EDIT: opted for a Gigabyte that has the integrated wifi module (not required but nice plus for being at the same price) and the 3200G as it was at the same price of the 2200G (around 90).

[Temp name]

I know, ITX are a bitch but i'm dead set on that due to sheer size and i counted that on budget. CPUs are in strange place right now since 2000 and 3000 series are basically on par. Worth going with an X400 compared to a X200? I know the Athlon is a cheaper alternative, but i'm fine with spending a little more.

EDIT: opted for a Gigabyte that has the integrated wifi module (not required but nice plus for being at the same price) and the 3200G as it was at the same price of the 2200G (around 90).

I'd probably just go with the Athlon chips for web browsing/watching movies. The X400 chips are only really worth it if you need the extra performance on the CPU-side, which you don't

[Vash The Stampede]

Ok, dug up this thread to avoid opening a new one. I decided to finally build this system with new parts since i got a little flow of extra money with a couple builds - i'm gonna buy the InWin Chopin case because it's really good looking.

So. ITX systems with iGPU for basically streaming from internet and movies with VLC. Maybe some limited in-home streaming with Steam.

Suggestions about which mobo and CPU? B450 with Ryzen is the way to go, but i'd like to know if there's some special recommendation for mobo brand and if it's worth buying a 3200G/3400G over the previous generation.

EDIT: do i really need 3000+ ram for this? It's literally just browsing the internet.

I bought my uncle a used ZOTAC ZBOX which was $35 off Ebay. I installed Linux on it and it happily browses the internet and watches movies. It is slow at loading so I recommend buying a SDD for it.

[Kagthul]

IF you're not super worried about budget (I.E. not trying to save every penny you can), i'd stick with the 2400/3400G just for longevity's sake. 4 core/8 thread will be enough for a long, long time as an HTPC.

As for the 3000 series over the 2000 series (as far as the APUs go, at least) - meh. Whatever's cheaper. Theyre basically the same (though the 3000 series may have the better IMC, this isnt an issue for an HTPC).

As for motherboards - im not 100% sure what is available in your area, but my son's rig (which housed my 2400G before i swapped him a 1600 and used the 2400G for the HTPC) has the ASRock Fatal1ty ITX board (his is B350, but the B450 is basically the same) and its quite robust and plenty for an HTPC and is on the cheaper end. (Here in the US at least its like ~109$ and a lot of the other ITX B450s are 150+)

But, like others said. its an HTPC. If there's one thats a lot cheaper... do that. You're not exactly going to be blowing this thing up.

Just make sure (if 4k matters to you) that its HDMI port can be updated to HDMI 2.0 so it can do 4k60. The ASRock boards can be (i used their mATX board for my HTPC) with a BIOS update (its probably already supported).

Otherwise youll end up having to add a low-end GPU for HDMI 2.0 output or using an active DP-HDMI 2.0 adapter (if the board has DP out). Both are a PITA when you can just get a board that supports HDMI 2.0

Note that at least in the US, the info on websites says that the HDMI ports on most B450 boards are HDMI 1.4, but i know ASRock, MSI, and ASUS boards can all be updated to support 2.0. Found out by reading HTPC forums when i was trying to figure out how to get 4k60 (because the 4k24 that HDMI 1.4 defaults to is awful) - since the APUs easily support it, i was surprised to find that none of the boards had HDMI 2.0 ports, but by browsing forums i found that most of them will with the most up to date EFI/BIOS.

You do have to go deeper into the display settings to get it to go to 60hz though, but it will support it.