Budget 0-20k Building a HTPC

[ALPHA17]

Thanks Alpha and Jacob, i think i got what i was looking for. Thanks again.

MSI Global ? Mainboard - B75MA-E33

If you want a SFF cabinet with front USB 3.0, you can try to find out about the availability of the Cooler Master Advanced 120. I am tagging the Cooler Master REP on the forums here -- @Coolermaster.

P.S. -- you can PM me for his contact details if you want to get in touch ASAP. Cheerio!

 

[Jakob]

I did search that case but online it seems to be unavailable,It's little expensive i guess,Only @Coolermaster will know that.

If you want a SFF cabinet with front USB 3.0, you can try to find out about the availability of the Cooler Master Advanced 120. I am tagging the Cooler Master REP on the forums here -- Coolermaster.

P.S. -- you can PM me for his contact details if you want to get in touch ASAP. Cheerio!

 

[Rockfella]

If you want a SFF cabinet with front USB 3.0, you can try to find out about the availability of the Cooler Master Advanced 120. I am tagging the Cooler Master REP on the forums here -- Coolermaster.

P.S. -- you can PM me for his contact details if you want to get in touch ASAP. Cheerio!

Thanks man, appriciate it but i don't wanna go Mini-ITX

 

[ALPHA17]

Thanks man, appriciate it but i don't wanna go Mini-ITX

Sorry did not realize that.

 

[Rockfella]

Sorry did not realize that.

Change in plan. I also want to buy a TV Tuner to watch and record HD TV on HTPC. Need a mobo with more than one PCI Express X1 or X16 slot to install Xonar and a PCI Express X1 1080 reso TV Tuner. Any know good models of TV Tuner? Set Tob Box is airtel.

 

[Jakob]

The Intel DH67BL has 2XPCIe x1 slots and 1XPCIe x16 slot so you're good to go for it.Hope you stick to this one.

Change in plan. I also want to buy a TV Tuner to watch and record HD TV on HTPC. Need a mobo with more than one PCI Express X1 or X16 slot to install Xonar and a PCI Express X1 1080 reso TV Tuner. Any know good models of TV Tuner? STB is airtel.

 

[benryu]

Is the Seasonic S12II Bronze 430W better than corsair CX450v2? You can also consider the Antec vp450.

Dont know much about these. @ALPHA17 could you throw some light?

 

[Jakob]

Don't hack threads like this,If you feel like you've doubts then create a new thread.Yes Seasonic S12ii 430 is better than Corsair Cx430V2.Also there is no CX450V2 it's CX430V2 FYI.

Is the Seasonic S12II Bronze 430W better than corsair CX450v2?

 

[Rockfella]

Seasonic has bad ASS in India. Corsair WINS due to better ASS.

This mobo with 1 PCI and 2 PCI Express 1 seems perfect. Availibility please? (sorry to whack your brains out )

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1155 - GA-H61M-USB3-B3 (rev. 2.0)

The rev 2.0 has 1 PCI and 2 small ones. I don't think this is available in India though

 

[ALPHA17]

Change in plan. I also want to buy a TV Tuner to watch and record HD TV on HTPC. Need a mobo with more than one PCI Express X1 or X16 slot to install Xonar and a PCI Express X1 1080 reso TV Tuner. Any know good models of TV Tuner? Set Tob Box is airtel.

Check out this model --> GIGABYTE-H77-D3H http://hardwire.in/motherboards-/716-gigabyte-h77-d3h-motherboard.html. A bit expensive but carries all the connectors you will ever need. Cheerio!

Stick to the Corsair CX v2430W ~2700/- OR Seasonic S12II 520W ~4500/-.

 

[Jakob]

I don't know why you're sticking to Gigabyte H61 when Intel H67 and Gigabyte H77 mobo's are very easily available.Go for Intel mobo i've suggested,If you're ready to shell out 7.5k then go for the one ALPHA17 suggested.

Seasonic has bad ASS in India. Corsair WIN due to better ASS.

This mobo with 1 PCI and 2 PCI Express 1 seems perfect. Availibility please? (sorry to whack your brains out )

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1155 - GA-H61M-USB3-B3 (rev. 2.0)

The rev 2.0 has 1 PCI and 2 small ones. I don't think this is available in India though

 

[sudhanshu123]

I dunno when trinity is arriving in india,but when they do,there really is no comparison btw their igp and the igp of the g630 or even the 3220(and since you are making a HTPC,i would advice you to wait a little if you can......).

 

[Rockfella]

I don't know why you're sticking to Gigabyte H61 when Intel H67 and Gigabyte H77 mobo's are very easily available.Go for Intel mobo i've suggested,If you're ready to shell out 7.5k then go for the one ALPHA17 suggested.

Simply because of the great ASS and low failure rate %

I dunno when trinity is arriving in india,but when they do,there really is no comparison btw their igp and the igp of the g630 or even the 3220(and since you are making a HTPC,i would advice you to wait a little if you can......).

It'll cost a bomb

Guys anything on the TV Tuners please? I can buy the Intel model if there will be not much choice. Even MSI for Rs. 4500 is great VFM.
I am keen on Avermedia OR Hauppage.

 

[Jakob]

Yes the gigabyte A.S.S is good but that particular mobo is rare,We have given you choices it's whats available matters.About TV Tuners yes the companies you've mentioned are good,Look for some reviews and go forward,I am not much into tv tuners @6pack might help.

Simply because of the great ASS and low failure rate %


It'll cost a bomb

Guys anything on the TV Tuners please? I can buy the Intel model if there will be not much choice. Even MSI for Rs. 4500 is great VFM.
I am keen on Avermedia OR Hauppage.

 

[Rockfella]

Yes the gigabyte A.S.S is good but that particular mobo is rare,We have given you choices it's whats available matters.About TV Tuners yes the companies you've mentioned are good,Look for some reviews and go forward,I am not much into tv tuners 6pack might help.

True!

 

[6pack]

full hdtv tuners cost a bomb in india. only way for you is to import them through iccworld (cheapest) or shopandship if you have an account with them. i have the hauppauge 1414 colossus tuner. captures brilliantly, but has bugs which the company hasnt yet taken care of yet. it does not switch between dolby 6ch ac3 and stereo audio properly in its software interface. it just tunes to one format. switch from one hd channel to sd channel and you wont get audio. the hardware decoder decodes and encodes perfectly. no complaints on that ground.

it cost me 8.5k when the us-inr rate was 43 about 1 and half yrs back. it costs 15k officially here in india. so it depends on you whether you really require a hd tv tuner. imo, hd channels in india are not worth recording due to too many self promotions in them before, during and after the tv program is broadcast. best option would be to get airtel's dvr or buy the tv serials you want on bluray.

 

[Rockfella]

Just before i make a mistake considering only Intel rig was wondering options in AMD. Priorities are same:
USB3
Onboard HDMI
2 Pci x1 Slots
Entry level "AMD Dual core" would do ... something as good or marginally slower than G630
Thanks.

- - - Updated - - -

Hey thanks for posting man. I don't want to buy anything once i get a TV Tuner (or not). HD tuners are out of question now as they are too expensive. Which TV Tuner card would you suggest for basic recording on Airtel STB (or any)
Thanks.

full hdtv tuners cost a bomb in india. only way for you is to import them through iccworld (cheapest) or shopandship if you have an account with them. i have the hauppauge 1414 colossus tuner. captures brilliantly, but has bugs which the company hasnt yet taken care of yet. it does not switch between dolby 6ch ac3 and stereo audio properly in its software interface. it just tunes to one format. switch from one hd channel to sd channel and you wont get audio. the hardware decoder decodes and encodes perfectly. no complaints on that ground.

it cost me 8.5k when the us-inr rate was 43 about 1 and half yrs back. it costs 15k officially here in india. so it depends on you whether you really require a hd tv tuner. imo, hd channels in india are not worth recording due to too many self promotions in them before, during and after the tv program is broadcast. best option would be to get airtel's dvr or buy the tv serials you want on bluray.

 

[ALPHA17]

Just before i make a mistake considering only Intel rig was wondering options in AMD. Priorities are same:
USB3
Onboard HDMI
2 Pci x1 Slots
Entry level "AMD Dual core" would do ... something as good or marginally slower than G630
Thanks.

With an AMD RIG you will get a slightly improved iGP but raw compute performance will be poorer.

Here is what I suggest --
AMD A6-3500 ~4500/- AMD A6-3500 review | Expert Reviews
MSi-A75M-GD55 ~6000/-
Corsair Vengeance 4GB x2 1600MHz ~3200/- (the Llano iGP scales with the speed of the memory used, so the faster the RAM modules more the performance -- Testing Different Memory Speeds on AMD's A8-3850 Llano APU - Memory Performance on AMD's A-Series APU - Legit Reviews / HARDOCP - AMD Llano Fusion - AMD's Llano Fusion - A Series APUs)
[rest configuration same-same as Intel's]

Hope this helps, Cheerio!

 

[6pack]

Just before i make a mistake considering only Intel rig was wondering options in AMD. Priorities are same:
USB3
Onboard HDMI
2 Pci x1 Slots
Entry level "AMD Dual core" would do ... something as good or marginally slower than G630
Thanks.

- - - Updated - - -

Hey thanks for posting man. I don't want to buy anything once i get a TV Tuner (or not). HD tuners are out of question now as they are too expensive. Which TV Tuner card would you suggest for basic recording on Airtel STB (or any)
Thanks.

sorry mate, not much idea about tuners. i think there are some good tuners which record and convert at the same time. some people swear by avermedia. in the end it depends on your budget. just pick the right one you feel which has all the functions you want it to have. you could skip all this and get a dvr from airtel too. it would save the serials as broadcast, but the only con would be you wont be able to save it to hdd on computer. the 500gb hdd in it is more than enough to store hundreds of episodes and movies.

 

[Rockfella]

UPDATE: After my new sound card failed (given for RMA) and my gpu (ATI HD5770) died yesterday the end user decided to go for this instead of HTPC! The friend for whom I was assembling the HTPC felt it is way too much to spend on to watch movies n stuff and the additional cost that might come after buying a computer (repairs n bullcrap) So i suggested him this:
ASUS - Multimedia- ASUS O!Play Mini
I think he spent wisely, he can download on laptop and watch anything on this baby. 20k VS Rs. 4000/- (bought from SMC International, Nehru Place)
The audio/video quality is not as good as compared to ATI HD video+Asus Xonar DX however because of the price difference he is happy. This things plays almost anything and everything using a pen drive.
Really thankful for all who helped... specially Alpha and Jacob.
Vivek.