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LSU Coyote
Member since Sep 2007
9323 posts
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quote:
I'm all for building rigs used for editing, encoding, gaming, and even productivity, but for true HTPCs intended to live in the living room hooked up to the TV and used solely for media playing, I think people go way overboard with what they need.
I have a little acer revo which I added some memory to and run XBMC on. It cost me only $200 and it serves all my media needs.
Most ppl today do not just stream movies but also use it as a Steam Box. You need just a little more punch for it.
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LSU Coyote
Member since Sep 2007
9323 posts
| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/7/13 at 3:15 pm to stout)
quote:
But your 7950 would excel at higher resolutions!
quote:
Too bad it won't excel in running certain games as well as nVidia cards.
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jcole4lsu 
Virginia Fan
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Member since Nov 2007
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| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/7/13 at 3:17 pm to LSU Coyote)
is there a damn chart anywhere that shows what video card the APUs will "crossfire" with?
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LA kid but AU fan 
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Member since Apr 2007
3864 posts
| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/7/13 at 3:21 pm to jcole4lsu)
quote:
how do you like that? does it play well with windows 7?
I love it. It plays well with Windows and Linux in my experience, haven't used it with OS X. I personally run it with OpenElec to minimize the OS to maximize resources for the program.
If you're configuring it for folks, then they don't have to learn anything. But otherwise, yeah, installing directories and new features requires some work.
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LSU Coyote
Member since Sep 2007
9323 posts
| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/7/13 at 3:22 pm to jcole4lsu)
quote:
is there a damn chart anywhere that shows what video card the APUs will "crossfire" with?
Yes I can find you one but it needs to be 7660/6660 and below to crossfire with.
ETA:
FM1 Socket List
FM1 / FM2 Socket List
This post was edited on 1/7 at 3:26 pm
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LA kid but AU fan
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Member since Apr 2007
3864 posts
| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/7/13 at 3:22 pm to LSU Coyote)
quote:
Most ppl today do not just stream movies but also use it as a Steam Box.
Well then we might just have a semantic argument since I'd call a steam box a light gaming PC rather than an HTPC, but point taken.
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jcole4lsu
Virginia Fan
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| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/7/13 at 3:24 pm to LSU Coyote)
i wanted to see the increase in price to go from pure htpc to steam box, and if it would be more cost effective to do pure CPU + GPU card for the latter build.
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stout 
Arizona Fan
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| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/8/13 at 12:42 pm to LSU Coyote)
quote:
That makes the 660Ti clock lower because it doesn't benefit as much from higher core/memory clocks.
I was just looking at the differnce this makes. Could be a problem with Anti-Aliasing and Anistroscopic Filtering. Damn!
Also, doesn't look like there is a huge gain going with the 680 over the 670
LINK
ETA: Does Galaxy make decent stuff?
LINK
This post was edited on 1/8 at 1:00 pm
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LSU Coyote
Member since Sep 2007
9323 posts
| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/8/13 at 1:11 pm to stout)
I usually stay with MSI, EVGA or ASUS when it comes to GPUs.
Never have owned a Galaxy product so can't say.
ETA:
For price per performance for 670s the EVGA 670 FTWs are overclocking the highest out of the 670s.
This post was edited on 1/8 at 1:19 pm
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LSU Coyote
Member since Sep 2007
9323 posts
| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/8/13 at 3:28 pm to LSU Coyote)
This thread has pumped me up to build a HTPC/Steam box for the bedroom.
Help me choose a case:
1. Lian Li PC-Q16B
2. Fractal Design Node 304 (My living room HTPC is this case)
3. Lian Li PC-Q09FNB (Leaning towards this one the most, has a 5.25" bay)
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stout
Arizona Fan
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| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/8/13 at 3:29 pm to LSU Coyote)
Sell me some of your spare parts.
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LSU Coyote
Member since Sep 2007
9323 posts
| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/8/13 at 3:43 pm to stout)
I really just have that 650Ti and shite tons of brand new case fans (120-200mm), RAM, PSU cables (modular and extenders), 1 iTX AMD AM3 MOBO and a couple monitors. A lot of misc shtt but nothing retarded.
Have an unopened H80 but giving that away in the benchmark thread.
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stout
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| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/8/13 at 3:46 pm to LSU Coyote)
Oh. The only other thing I need/want right now is a fan controller.
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LSU Coyote
Member since Sep 2007
9323 posts
| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/8/13 at 3:53 pm to stout)
quote:
Oh. The only other thing I need/want right now is a fan controller.
If your budget is 50-100 look at the Lamptrons. You really quite down your rig when you can push just 4Vs to each fan. Going cheap some of those NXZT fan controllers aren't to bad. I have one in the home server to volt down the fans.
I have the touchscreen one from Lamptron, really hate it and wouldn't recommend it. The touchscreen is really sensitive and not accurate. You could touch to turn down one fan and it enables another fan. It is really hard to get precise speeds on each fan. It looks great though.
LINK
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stout
Arizona Fan
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| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/8/13 at 4:15 pm to LSU Coyote)
That's good to know. I was looking at the touch screens.
Also, I like the 1st case you linked.
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puffulufogous 
USA Fan
New Orleans
Member since Feb 2008
4775 posts
| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/8/13 at 4:21 pm to LSU Coyote)
i used a core 1000 case for the htpc I built, but space wasn't really a premium. I found that the node and other cases with that shoebox style design ended up offering less actual space(volume) than their more traditional equivalents and had higher prices. I can see how you might want a VCR/dvd style htpc if you had to fit it in on a shelf or somewhere like a bedroom though. I will say that the quality of that case far exceeded the 40 dollar price tag.
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bluebarracuda 
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Member since Oct 2011
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| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/8/13 at 5:22 pm to stout)
I have a galaxy 680 right now. Probably one of the best out of box clocks on the market
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stout
Arizona Fan
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| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/8/13 at 5:35 pm to bluebarracuda)
Which card are you keeping out of the 680 and 7970
ETA That Galaxy I posted is factory overclocked and has a higher core clock than the other 670s I was looking at.
This post was edited on 1/8 at 5:59 pm
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bluebarracuda
LSU Fan
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Member since Oct 2011
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| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/8/13 at 5:50 pm to stout)
Whichever one sells first. I have a trade right now for a 3770k plus cash for my 7970, so I'll probably just go with that
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jcole4lsu
Virginia Fan
The Kwisatz Haderach
Member since Nov 2007
21918 posts
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| re: Help with a HTPC build (Posted on 1/8/13 at 6:03 pm to LSU Coyote)
quote:
This thread has pumped me up to build a HTPC/Steam box for the bedroom.
going for a tiny build huh?
out of those id go with the Fractal Design. Lian Li's seem overpriced to me.
I like the Node 605 myself LINK
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