Critique my HTPC build options please (1 Viewer)

[geordiejc]

I was using my laptop as a HTPC for Skygo app, and Youtube @ 1080p. The motherboard has died and i need a new HTPC.

I'd love your honest feedback on the options i have.

Option A

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD 5350 2.05Ghz Quad-Core Processor (£34.98 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock AM1B-M Micro ATX AM1 Motherboard (£22.02 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£15.70 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£34.98 @ Dabs)
Other: DVD/RW Driver (Purchased)
Other: AVP HTPC Micro Atx Media Case Black with Blue LED 450W PSU AvP Gladius CA36 (£39.99)
Total: £147.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-17 20:41 GMT+0000


I think this PC has enough horsepower to stream and decode HD video as it has a built in APU ?

Option B)

This is on offer for £30 - i'd need to add GeForce GT 610 1GB it for £25 im told - Sorry for poor description - it is what is posted in the advert.

INTEL E6600 , CORE 2 DUO (4 MEG L2 CACHE) 2.4 GIG CPU
QUALITY INTEL MOBO
3 GIG DDR2 RAM
250 GIG SATA HD
DVD WRITER
QUALITY SEASONIC 80+ PSU


Can you guys please evaluate both options please and tell me any pitt falls ? as i said its literally just to watch legit TV/youtube and playback of my own backups of blurays,

Thank you!

 

[geordiejc]

this forums dead

 

[charleyp1]

It's not dead yet!

Here is a link to a guy (I believe he works for the maker of Plex) that talks all about best practice configuration and hardware requirements. This specific link may not cover it all, but there's others by the same guy (BytemyBits) and he walks through everything.




Something that he talks about is "mark" ratings of CPUs for running Plex. IIRC, to stream one HD movie, about 4000 marks are needed from a CPU (Plex is CPU intensive, not so much for RAM) to insure smooth playback. Maybe you need a llittle more horsepower, maybe a little less, but that is the general guideline.

Here is a really good CPU benchmark site so you can see what CPU(s) might work best for you:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/ (I recommend just clicking on the link towards the bottom of the page that will list "All CPUs", from which you can search. Note- you need to know the specific name of the CPU...

As you can see, the AMD Athlon 5350 APU with Radeon R3 rates at 2590 marks and the Intel Core2 Duo E6600 @ 2.40GHz rates at 1562 marks.

Your first choice is going to be the better of the two, but may still be insufficient for smooth blueray playback. I believe the recommendation for RAM is 4 or 8GB as well. Again, I'd watch every video put out BytemyBits to ge ta really good idea of what kind of horsepower you will need.

Good luck - and report back on what you decide to go with.

 

[Daddy]

Would you consider an Intel NUC or is realestate not an issue?