Legit Reviews

Hey,

I am considering doing an HTPC/DVR/PVR machine the right way. (nice looking case, quiet, something that the wife doesn't look at and want to shoot me for). I've got pretty good plans for most everything, but I'm wondering if AMD or Intel is doing best for the low-power processors. This thing won't need a lot of power since I plan to have hardware encoding/decoding and I mainly want something that can be cooled passively, or very lazily if it has to be actively cooled.

So.....AMD or Intel?

AMD 4850 best bang for the buck. Pair it with a 780g motherboard.

EDIT:

I'm a big dummy and i looked up the processor. Why would AMD/ATI name a processor and a video card the 4850....that's just bad.

jakegub wrote:EDIT:

I'm a big dummy and i looked up the processor. Why would AMD/ATI name a processor and a video card the 4850....that's just bad.

Actually I think it's called the "4850e" to be precise. My bad.

Here is the HTPC I put together last week. - the case is very nice for a sub $100 HTPC case.. and it blends right in with all my other components. I didnt put a TV tuner in mine because I wouldnt be using it to record TV or capture video. picked up everything from newegg. only thing that hasnt worked out as hoped is the keyboard and mouse. The single doesnt reach my couch about 8-10 feet away. - I use mine for gaming also so I had to go with ah higher end video card.

nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Acrylic / Steel HTPC 5000B Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case $89.99
Intel E7400 2.8GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor $119.99
ZOTAC GeForce 7050 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard $44.99
EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB $154
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $5 (nice find with the rebate)
Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $99
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner SATA $22
OCZ StealthXStream 500W $25
Logitech EX 110 Black USB + PS/2 Standard Cordless Desktop Keyboard & Mouse Kit $30

Smack it looks like you have a nice HTPC.

I'm going with the Antec Fusion case and I think the 4850e or the 5050e are looking pretty good because of the 45W aspect. Seems more likely to be able to handle passive cooling.

I like the Antec Fusion case with the integrated IR sensor that works with the Logitech Harmony Universal Remotes!

I do really like the Antec Fusion case. - I was already a bit higher than what I had hoped to spend so I had to cut costs on the case.

I second that 4850e or 5050e with a 780G combined with a Cooler Master Gemini Dual Cooler. I only put one fan on mine and can't even hear it.

I recently built a HTPC with an E7400 and a Gigabyte GeForce 9400 mATX. Its a good quiet combo.. even with the stock Intel heatsink. The Case I used was a HEC 7KJ9, its a decent case for under $50.

You all have me pretty excited about the 4850e. Also it looks like the 790gx is the best chipset out now so I may be hitting that up.

I'm surprised no one has asked this yet...
What is your ultimate goal for your HTPC? I have mine setup to run SageTV and record TV for me and that's it, no gaming, etc... Unfortunately I don't have HD satellite so it's all SD video at this point. What I have in it is probably a bit of overkill but I had to do something with my old guts when I put together my C2Q system.

My HTPC history/progression...
1-Athlon T-Bird w/ GeForce 5600nu
2-Sempron 64 w/ GeForce 6800nu
3-Opteron 170 w/ Radeon HD3450
4-C2D E6750 w/ GeForce 8800GTS

GI-JOE wrote:AMD 4850 best bang for the buck. Pair it with a 780g motherboard.

The folks over at AVS forum speak highly of these cpu's for their HTPC builds. If you want to go with something from Intel an E7200 should be more than sufficient. If you think for whatever reason you might need processing cores the now price dropped Q8200 seems pretty good.

Intel if you are going to game, AMD 4850e if you aren't.