Building new HTPC, CPU Advice?

[tojoski]

Alright guys, motherboard wise I pretty much have my mind made up either way I go, but I need help with the cpu choice..

The new Core i3 530, at $125 or the Pentium e6500 at $95 ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115222

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...6093&Tpk=e6500

This machine will at times play back h.264 video, so either should do the trick, I'm just thinking the core i3 will be a little more future-proof.

This is the board I picked for the i3 : ( all solid caps )

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128421

[Megawatt]

Re: Building new HTPC, CPU Advice?

how bout the amd athlon 620 with a 785g ?

[c_hegge]

Re: Building new HTPC, CPU Advice?

For a HTPC, I like the Pentium Dual core CPUs (not to be confused with Pentium D). They run very cool and so the CPU fan doesn't have to spin fast to keep it from overheating (even though the stock coolers are tiny). In a review i read about the newer core i__ CPUs, they would run a bit warm with the stock cooler. In other words, I would go for the Pentium E6500.

[tojoski]

Re: Building new HTPC, CPU Advice?

My mind keeps going back and forth...

I think (atleast for the moment) I'll go with the e6500 and a full atx motherboard.

I'll use my old geforce 6600gt for graphics for the time being, and upgrade it one of these days if I decide to play games on the big screen.

Does anyone know by chance the idle power usage of the e6500? I'm considering using it for my home server also.

Joe

[bgavin]

Re: Building new HTPC, CPU Advice?

Home theater does not require ballz out horsepower.
You are better suited with a power-converative processor that generates minimal heat. This reduces cooling fan noise.

Your choice of case is more important.
The Antec Solo case is a great choice for quiet operation and excellent cooling.
120mm fans at a slow RPM move sufficient air and are dead quiet.

I use the Antec P182 case, which is the larger brother to the Solo.
Both offer bungee disk mounting, or soft silicone mounts for the disk drives.
This is an excellent noise reducer. Both cases have fiber panels for noise reduction.

I use an E8400 Wolfdale, 3 GHz, 1333 FSB, and a 63w power draw.
Cooling is a Scythe Zipang with bolt-through kit, and an Evercool 140mm fan at 1100 rpm. Silent running. The Zipang with bolt through kit is a huge pain in the ass, but does work. I use the Thermalright bolt kit.

If you don't have adjustable case fans, you can reverse the Molex pin group in the fan connector, so it runs on the 5v lines. This drops the RPM way down and makes the case fan silent. They move enough air to exhaust the heat. This is another huge noise reducer.

I use passive cooled video cards based on the nVidia 9500 series. Excellent performers, $50 USD price, and rock solid. I use a Rocket V cooler (10$) which is 2x70mm fans in a PCI slot. This blows on the video card passive sink and works perfectly. Rocket V is 2 speeds. It is cheap, and some last a long time while others fail young (sleeve bearings). They cool the southbridge nicely, too.

I use Corsair power supplies. Modestly price, modular cabling, 120mm fans, good caps.

[tojoski]

Re: Building new HTPC, CPU Advice?

This is the best full-atx case I could find, looks nice too:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112082

with one of these psu's:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139008

this mobo:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128414

Have you ever tested the power draw from your entire system?

I'm getting the xeon counterpart for your processor, the e3110 for my server.. and I'm hoping at idle it won't draw too much

[linuxguru]

Re: Building new HTPC, CPU Advice?

Intel D945GCLF2 mini-ITX board with a dual-core Atom 330 processor is the best value at the moment for a low-power HTPC box.