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Hey guys,
I am looking to slowly upgrade the spare parts that I call my HTPC. It's about 5 years old now, and is really struggling when playing/streaming HD media.
As this is an overtime thing, I am not going to overhaul the whole thing. At this time I am looking to do the Motherboard, CPU & Potentially memory.
The HTPC case I have fits a regular sized motherboard.
Basically, I am looking for value. While I am at it, I would like to use products that support E-sports, like MSI, Intel, Kingston, w.e.
I was thinking of using the i5 2500k, however at the price, I am wondering if it would be overkill for the use I want.
As I am canadian, I am probably shoe-horned into NCIX or newegg.ca.
Your help is appreciated!
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You want value and products that are spending more on advertising/endorsements at the same time? They don't really mix well, honestly. The "lesser" level of sponsors, meaning less extreme than Kingston HyperX, pretty much includes everybody anyways. They all have their name at least somewhat represented, between tournaments and sponsorships.
Just go with the price/performance you need.
What do you need your HTPC to do besides the obvious. As in, do you rip DVD's/Blu-Rays to it? (From your legally owned collection, of course.) Do you expect high end perfect video quality, or just standard?
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I do not rip Blu-Rays from my legally owned collection. I would like to get high quality video, but without spending absurd amounts of money.
As for your first paragraph about the obvious contradiction between value & the brands spending the most on advertising, I understand this, but I am looking for value with-in the category of products supporting e-sports.
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On July 13 2011 11:08 Bloomfielda wrote:
I do not rip Blu-Rays from my legally owned collection. I would like to get high quality video, but without spending absurd amounts of money.
As for your first paragraph about the obvious contradiction between value & the brands spending the most on advertising, I understand this, but I am looking for value with-in the category of products supporting e-sports.
Again, pretty much all of them support e-sports to some degree, so it's not hard to do that at all.
If you don't need to do heavy duty encoding, you should be able to get away with a G840 SB Pentium, a cheap H61 mobo, and a GT430, with 4GB of DDR3 1333. That combined will run you probably $250-300, and give you good performance for light HTPC duty.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4380/discrete-htpc-gpus-shootout
The conclusion should give you a fair idea. EVGA and Sapphire both support e-sports, so with either camps GPU suggestion from their conclusions, you have an option from the more notable sponsors.
For mobo, Intel boards are known for reliability, and they support e-sports, so one of their H61 offerings should be good enough there, I'm not sure who all you can get memory through besides Kingston that supports e-sports.
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Thanks for your help.
As you pointed out, the hardware is cheaper.
Again, my knowledge of the latest stuff is limited, but my old stuff is a Intel Core 2 6320 @ 1.86Ghz, with an Asus P5ne-sli Mobo, with 4gb of DDR2.
I was kinda hoping to jump to a good quad core, to me atleast, the jump seems minimal.
What would you recommend if I wanted to jump up a little bit.
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core i5 2400 = $180
asrock h61m-vs = $55
4gb = $30 or 8gb = $60
You could get a more expensive motherboard if you wanted USB3 and SATA3. You could get a 2500k and a P67 instead if you wanted to overclock as well.
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On July 13 2011 11:26 Bloomfielda wrote:
Thanks for your help.
As you pointed out, the hardware is cheaper.
Again, my knowledge of the latest stuff is limited, but my old stuff is a Intel Core 2 6320 @ 1.86Ghz, with an Asus P5ne-sli Mobo, with 4gb of DDR2.
I was kinda hoping to jump to a good quad core, to me atleast, the jump seems minimal.
What would you recommend if I wanted to jump up a little bit.
i5 2300.
Or skyR's suggestion.
Me personally, if I built an HTPC, I'd probably build a fairly minimalist one, but that's because I can always use my gaming rig and an external overnight for any encoding or other jobs, so I'd just be looking to have enough to actually play the movies right.
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Do not forget G.Skill supports GomTV and many other teams, and obviously Intel is one of the major sponsors. You should probably buy RAM from G.skill, they have DDR3 1333 Mhz (4 GB) for a cheap price. If you are not interested in gaming, I agree with the i5 2300, but if you play SC2 even casually, a small upgrade to a 2400 probably would not hurt.
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I commend Bloomfielda's consumer mentality.
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I do play SC2 casually on the HTPC, just because its on the 50".
So it seems to me like we have settled around the i5 2400. Would jumping up to the 2500k be worth a 30 dollar upgrade?
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See, my personal preference is shaped by good experiences and reviews, rather than endorsements. I'm cynical, so since I know they're only sponsoring e-sports to try and make more money off of that fake camaraderie, I feel no compulsion to let it work.
2500k is worth it if you want to OC. If you play high unit counts, it can't hurt.
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On July 13 2011 11:47 Bloomfielda wrote:
I do play SC2 casually on the HTPC, just because its on the 50".
So it seems to me like we have settled around the i5 2400. Would jumping up to the 2500k be worth a 30 dollar upgrade?
Jumping to a 2500k is much more than $30. The processor itself may be $30 more but you'll also be jumping from a H61 / H67 board to a P67 / Z68 board which is another $30+ jump and than adding a heatsink for overclocking is another $20 jump.
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What else does this HTPC do? I'd think a quad core is overkill unless it's handling transcoding duties (and not via Quick Sync). Is a Core i3-2100 not good enough?
Also, "HTPC" generally conjures images of small form factor builds, yet you say your case fits standard (I guess full ATX) motherboards? I guess you're just reusing an old case. How loud is the HTPC now, and how loud are you willing to let it be? Any other requirements?
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@jinglehell I absolutely respect that opinion. I too was like that back when I had the time to be informed. My lack of information is the reason why I come to you guys, and you have already changed much of my plan.
As a former BoC guy, I completely understand your cynical approach to loyalty from advertising. When I stepped away from the world I decided that as long as it didn't come at a large expense, I would try to support the products & services that support my interests.
With the growth of media streaming, is the ability to overclock the 2500k at all realistic? To me, it sounds like the 2400 will do fine.
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The 2400 is definitely enough, I'm still of the opinion that if you aren't doing heavy lifting encoding-wise with it it's kind of overkill for HTPC.
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On July 13 2011 11:58 Myrmidon wrote:
What else does this HTPC do? I'd think a quad core is overkill unless it's handling transcoding duties (and not via Quick Sync). Is a Core i3-2100 not good enough?
Also, "HTPC" generally conjures images of small form factor builds, yet you say your case fits standard (I guess full ATX) motherboards? I guess you're just reusing an old case. How loud is the HTPC now, and how loud are you willing to let it be? Any other requirements?
The HTPC is occasionally used for gaming when I want to use the big home theater system (playing through campaigns etc). The case itself is actually brand-new, the parts however are old. The case itself isn't loud at all.
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On July 13 2011 12:03 Bloomfielda wrote:Show nested quote +On July 13 2011 11:58 Myrmidon wrote:
What else does this HTPC do? I'd think a quad core is overkill unless it's handling transcoding duties (and not via Quick Sync). Is a Core i3-2100 not good enough?
Also, "HTPC" generally conjures images of small form factor builds, yet you say your case fits standard (I guess full ATX) motherboards? I guess you're just reusing an old case. How loud is the HTPC now, and how loud are you willing to let it be? Any other requirements? The HTPC is occasionally used for gaming when I want to use the big home theater system (playing through campaigns etc). The case itself is actually brand-new, the parts however are old. The case itself isn't loud at all.
2400 is still plenty for most gaming. It's enough for most reasonable SC2 scenarios, and SC2 gets way more benefit from CPU power than most games. Really, I'd put slightly more GPU in it over slightly more CPU if you want it to also handle some gaming duties.
Possibly step up to a GTS 450, preferably with a non-reference cooler if there is one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125341&cm_re=gts_450-_-14-125-341-_-Product
This one might be reasonable. Not seeing noise listed as negative feedback.
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He's from Canada. Don't buy from Newegg, terrible retailer.
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^^ ew yeah did not notice he's from Canada, ncix.com good in Canada though right?
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who would you recommend skyR? I have bought from Newegg before and haven't had issues.
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On July 13 2011 12:19 Bloomfielda wrote:
who would you recommend skyR? I have bought from Newegg before and haven't had issues.
I think he just means newegg.ca has terrible prices compared to other retailers in Canada.
edit - Although the i5 on newegg.ca is cheaper lol. And ncix.com is more expensive than both on the i5. I'm sure skyR has an alternative retailer he can recommend.
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NCIX pricematches. Makes them better, since you can shop around and get the best prices, without having to suffer on shipping.
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On July 13 2011 12:23 JingleHell wrote:
NCIX pricematches. Makes them better, since you can shop around and get the best prices, without having to suffer on shipping.
Have you ordered from them before? Wonder even with the price match if the shipping would make it more expensive to the US.
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NCIXUS does not pricematch. Only NCIX.com pricematches.
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On July 13 2011 12:26 skyR wrote:
NCIXUS does not pricematch. Only NCIX.com pricematches.
Oh  Learn something new everyday
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On July 13 2011 12:19 Charger wrote:Show nested quote +On July 13 2011 12:19 Bloomfielda wrote:
who would you recommend skyR? I have bought from Newegg before and haven't had issues. I think he just means newegg.ca has terrible prices compared to other retailers in Canada. Yeah Newegg.ca is a place to buy stuff on sale from, not an entire PC or anything at regular price. I bought some parts of my PC from there, the rest from a local retailer (which is actually priced about equal with shipping factored in compared to Newegg and NCIX in most cases, plus they're locally owned, awesome and super helpful. They answered any questions I had and gave good advice, mainly for setting up wiring, as I'd never done that before). For example, I bought my RAM (back when it costed an arm and a leg no matter what), for 20% off on Newegg, my video card on sale on newegg, and my PSU for 40 bucks off. I did compare to TigerDirect and NCIX and they were cheaper on Newegg at the time only because of the sale.
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I-5 is the greatest thing I've ever bought I entirely recommend it. never had a problem with any game
Get a pair of cheap nividia cards that can be slied together AMAZING performance. did crysis 2 extreme graphics and just fine steady 30 fps.
Gskill RAM get 2 duel channeled 2GB sticks you'll love every moment.
A bigger thing to think about is your mouse and headset. you can go your whole life with ear buds and you'll never know the beautfy of a headset. there 80$ish for a good one. a mouse is a mouse Steel series has a cheap one thats good. keyboards
all the companies mentioned are esport supporting companies Huge props on that I did it too not disappointed.
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On July 13 2011 12:49 sermokala wrote:
I-5 is the greatest thing I've ever bought I entirely recommend it. never had a problem with any game
Get a pair of cheap nividia cards that can be slied together AMAZING performance. did crysis 2 extreme graphics and just fine steady 30 fps.
Gskill RAM get 2 duel channeled 2GB sticks you'll love every moment.
A bigger thing to think about is your mouse and headset. you can go your whole life with ear buds and you'll never know the beautfy of a headset. there 80$ish for a good one. a mouse is a mouse Steel series has a cheap one thats good. keyboards
all the companies mentioned are esport supporting companies Huge props on that I did it too not disappointed.
Uhm. why would you suggest SLI for an HTPC? You generally don't want that kind of noise.
Also increases costs significantly by the time you factor PSU and mobo for it.
That's ignoring the extra effort involved in having it work fully, and the cases where scaling sucks.
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EPT
