Dead Cheap HTPC configuration

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Sorry to put a spanner in the works, but at 3K, i believe you cannot get anything but a 500GB HDD, even that will be difficult.
 
@venki, where did you get the price for cm elite 100 even without smps it will cost around Rs.4500 so as per gpu selection you have to spend another Rs.2000 and above for power supply and for 1TB HDD you have to spend Rs.5700 rather than Rs.2950 as you mentioned. Intel graphics is onboard which is not powerful I think software you mentioned will demand dedicated gpu so atleast buy Ati hd 6570 kind of card which will cost around Rs.4300 fro ddr3 version (Rs.5300 for ddr5 version).
 
Components Description Price (INR)
Processor AMD A6-3650 5900
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-A75-S2V 5900
RAM Corsair 4GB DDRIII 1333MHz 1250
HDD WD 2 TB 6600
GPU ATI HD 6570 4300
Cabinet CM Elite 100 3000
ODD Samsung 22X SATA DVD 900
Total 27850
So, Will this fit the bill?
 
Having seen your new requirements, would suggest you spring for at least a Phenom II X4 955 as the CPU, or i3/i5 from the Intel side. Also change the GPU to a nVIDIA one as they have CUDA support for the apps.
 
Sorry folks. Back to square one.
Looks like it will take a complete toll of my budget.

Dead cheap HTPC it is.

DarkAngel said:
Components Description Price (INR)
Processor+Motherboard Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3 (AMD E-350) 7300
RAM Corsair 4GB DDRIII 1333MHz 1250
HDD Seagate 500GB 2.5" 5400.6 Momentus or WD Blue 500GB 2.5" 2800
GPU AMD HD6310 -
Cabinet CM Elite 100 3000
PSU/SMPS in built 150w -
Key Board Logitech SET - Optical Blk Mouse+ MMKB 650
Mouse NA -
Total 15000
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Doubt: Deltapage quotes the AMD Fusion @ 8380 in its website?
 
venkiraja said:
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Can I upgrade with a better GPU later when I wish to?

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As vivek.krishnan mentioned above, it does not make too much sense to get an add-on GPU for this board. The built-in GPU is very adequate for HTPC use.
Another thing you need to consider is that the Elite 100 will not let you install an add-on card. The case is very slim, and it does not have a PCI-slot window either (not needed as it cannot take an add-on card).
venkiraja said:
What is the difference between Asus based AMD Fusion e350 and Gigabyte based AMD Fusion e350? Available for 7.5k at Flipkart.
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The Asus Board you've linked to is an mATX board, and the Gigabyte board referred to earlier is a mini-ITX board. The mini-ITX board is much smaller, and has only one expansion slot (a PCIe slot), while the Asus board has 4 (2 PCI slots, 1 PCIe 1x slot & 1 PCIe 16x slot). There are other differences also (SATA headers, availability of USB3 in the Gigabyte board, availability of eSata and Firewire in the Asus board, etc).

In any case, both boards will fit into the Elite 100. But if you plan to add on cards later (a soundcard or a GPU or something else), I'd suggest you get the Asus board and a bigger cabinet.

I think (I'm not 100% sure of this) that a full-ATX SMPS with 80-plus rating (such as the Corsair SMPS suggested to you earlier) will be much more power efficient in the long run than the built-in SMPS in the Elite 100 cabinet. You may have to pay a bit extra for a bigger cabinet and the SMPS now, but with 24x7 use, you will save a LOT of money on electricity bills over the next 3 years or so of use.

I use this Asus board (E350M1-M) in a Music PC (also used for movies once in a while) and I'm very happy with it.
 
hydrashok said:
The Asus Board you've linked to is an mATX board, and the Gigabyte board referred to earlier is a mini-ITX board. The mini-ITX board is much smaller, and has only one expansion slot (a PCIe slot), while the Asus board has 4 (2 PCI slots, 1 PCIe 1x slot & 1 PCIe 16x slot). There are other differences also (SATA headers, availability of USB3 in the Gigabyte board, availability of eSata and Firewire in the Asus board, etc).

In any case, both boards will fit into the Elite 100. But if you plan to add on cards later (a soundcard or a GPU or something else), I'd suggest you get the Asus board and a bigger cabinet.

I think (I'm not 100% sure of this) that a full-ATX SMPS with 80-plus rating (such as the Corsair SMPS suggested to you earlier) will be much more power efficient in the long run than the built-in SMPS in the Elite 100 cabinet. You may have to pay a bit extra for a bigger cabinet and the SMPS now, but with 24x7 use, you will save a LOT of money on electricity bills over the next 3 years or so of use.

I use this Asus board (E350M1-M) in a Music PC (also used for movies once in a while) and I'm very happy with it.
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Thanks. I have an old Zebronics SMPS, which I'm planning to re-use. And, I'll be booking my Asus board very shortly on flipkart. I guess only the Gigabyte/ MSI versions are available in Ritchie street. I'm also re-using an old Seagate HDD (80 GB) till the prices of HDDs supposedly drop.

Thanks for all the inputs friends :) Will keep you posted once I build the rig.

EDIT: What about the pro-version of the same? About 600 extra, and has better benchmarking in the reviews, I read. <Link>
 
I don't think the "PRO" version is available any more. The only additions it has are USB3.0 and a tiny fan (which you can choose to not use). To me, the fan is useless, as the board works well without a fan (in a well ventilated cabinet), and this is one of the major attractions of the board (in a media-PC application). USB 3.0 would be a welcome addition, though.

You wouldn't need too much power for this setup, and I'm sure that SMPS will power the PC well enough.
 
I have an old Seagate Momentus 80 GB Internal Hard Disk. I have been using it as a External Hard disk with a casing. Now, when I tried to use it with my PC, I cannot see how to connect it. A friend tells me that it is a Laptop Hard disk. Is there a way I can use it with the Desktop?
 
My hard disk is a 80 GB Seagate Momentus as mentioned in the foresaid link.

I wish to use that laptop's internal HDD as a Desktop's internal HDD.

Will connectors like this work?

My mobo doesn't have an IDE port. Only Sata! (AMD Fusion E350 based Asus E35M1-M)

Or, is there an alternative workaround?

Please, help me out! It is the last thing I need to finish my Rig.
 
If its a Native SATA HDD, no issue. You can use it internally with the same connectors you use for the Desktop SATA HDDs, but be careful. I have recently lost one HDD by doing the same.
 
Sorry for gravedigging.
Thanks for all the replies so far.

Didn't buy the HDD so far and used a generic Intex cabinet to keep the rig safe.
I managed to squeeze some cash for a Cooler Master Elite 361 and a 1 TB Seagate Cuda HDD and set it up this weekend.

So my configuration stands as:
Asus E350m1-m APU
1 TB Barracuda Seagate HDD
4 GB Corsair RAM
LG DVD Reader/ Writer
CM Elite 361
iBall Booster 5.1
(Using the SMPS which came bundled with my earlier generic cabinet)

The system rating is 3.9 (For Processor performance, the highest being 5.9 for HDD performance)

My primary usage was a HTPC and now I find this rig struggling to play 720p videos with a heavy bitrate and is completely clueless when playing 1080p videos. It plays 480p AVIs and FLVs. I don't know what the issue is, but I'm told that this is very good HTPC material. What should I do to play videos seamlessly?
 
Parix said:
If power is a concern and you are not interested in Games , you can go with a AMD fusion E350 platform.

the board + cpu combo will cost something like 7K. you can spend the rest on the other peripherals.



this config is not suitable for gaming, but should be able to handle full HD content easily.
Click to expand...

Very true. But I am playing few games too.
 
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