Need advice for Gaming HTPC

[yesh1th]

Wanted some advice from the HTPC Gurus for a Gaming HTPC build.

Why I need Gaming -
I'm not a hardcore gamer, will probably play for max 5-10 hrs in a week (of course if theres a new kickass game, then the number might be more) .. I like action/adventure/third person games, not a big fan of First person shooters ..
and my fat PS3, after serving me well for 4 yrs, finally stopped working .. the console works, its just that when there is a game disk in it, it crashes (blinking red lights) within the first 5 mins !!
Sony Service said they cant repair it, instead will give me a 30% discount for a new one ... i think its a shitty deal considering the ps4 is gonna come out soon ... so decided to try out a gaming htpc .. this is for a seperate media room which Im getting ready !!

I kind of zeroed in on the following components and decided to build it in phases .. let me know what u think and whether I'm making any mistakes !! its the first time I'll be building my own PC - so all help, comments, critiques will be highly appreciated

1. Antec NSK 2480 HTPC Case (w 380W PSU) (Rs.6000) Local Shop
2. Intel I3 3220 3.3 GHz (Rs.7250) flipkart
3. MSI B75 MA P45 Micro ATX Mobo (Rs.4444) flipkart
4. Corsair 1x8GB DDR3 1600 (Rs.4500) flipkart

Am planning on starting with this and running OpenElec from a flash drive for the time being.
These are the components Im planning for in the future to make it a gaming system-

5. LiteOn BluRay Drive
6. 60/120 GB SSD
7. Zotac NVidia 650 AMP Graphics Card GDDR5
8. 500GB/1TB HDD
9. Windows 8
10. XBOX 360 Wireless Controller

Pls do let me know what you guys think of this. Thanks

 

[shuv]

With this much firepower, won't a beefier PSU be wiser?

 

[rajadeep]

Use Windows 7 instead of windows 8... I am wondering y u need such a costly cabinet... Also if u want to invest 6-7k on a cabinet look for a Silverstone one... Also if u are making a gaming pc I personally would recommend not using the psu that comes with a cabinet rather to buy a high quality one separately that too of atleast 450-500W capacity... The pc might run on a 300-400W psu but to prolong the life of the other components it is better to buy a nice psu... Rest of the advice the gurus on this forum who are more learned than me can answer...

 

[manniraj]

As you are based in Chennai I would suggest you try out the itdepot.com and deltapage.com as they are based in Chennai and I think they also have stand alone stores where you can pick up directly.

 

[ukjeyaraj]

Make sure the said VGA card will fit in the cabinet. You may require a half height VGA card

 

[yesh1th]

With this much firepower, won't a beefier PSU be wiser?

Thanks Shuv .. I did think of that. But the Shop guy said this cabinet comes only with the PSU. Will try a few other places to see if they sell the cabinet without the PSU !!

Use Windows 7 instead of windows 8... I am wondering y u need such a costly cabinet... Also if u want to invest 6-7k on a cabinet look for a Silverstone one...

Thanks Rajadeep .. this was the cheapest "HTPC" cabinet with optical drive bay that I could find ... Silverstone cabinets are more expensive - in 5 figures from what I saw online .. couldnt find any local shops selling them ..

As you are based in Chennai I would suggest you try out the itdepot.com and deltapage.com as they are based in Chennai and I think they also have stand alone stores where you can pick up directly.

thanks Manniraj .. will check deltapage.com .. I did check theitdepot.com ... they are a bit expensive .. Im trying to locate cheaper shops in Ritchie Street .. have checked with Supreme Computers and all shops around them !!

Make sure the said VGA card will fit in the cabinet. You may require a half height VGA card

thanks Jeyaraj .. will make sure to check that.

 

[humblebee]

I think that you have a pretty good build here.
Things to consider:

1) What is the display you have? I assume you will have a Full HD TV. So if you want to play games at Full HD res and then also for some time to come, consider a higher level card like 650Ti or maybe even 7850. For 1600x900 res this is more than enough. Im talking abt high settings eye candy for both cases.

2) PSU is high quality and powerful enough. And a bargain bundle with case. Plz dont change.

3) MB's front panel USB 3.0 connector will remain unused.

4) Snapdeal seems to have cheaper prices in general.

Cheers !

 

[sam9s]

I kind of zeroed in on the following components and decided to build it in phases .. let me know what u think and whether I'm making any mistakes !! its the first time I'll be building my own PC - so all help, comments, critiques will be highly appreciated

1. Antec NSK 2480 HTPC Case (w 380W PSU) (Rs.6000) Local Shop
2. Intel I3 3220 3.3 GHz (Rs.7250) flipkart
3. MSI B75 MA P45 Micro ATX Mobo (Rs.4444) flipkart
4. Corsair 1x8GB DDR3 1600 (Rs.4500) flipkart

Am planning on starting with this and running OpenElec from a flash drive for the time being.
These are the components Im planning for in the future to make it a gaming system-

5. LiteOn BluRay Drive
6. 60/120 GB SSD
7. Zotac NVidia 650 AMP Graphics Card GDDR5
8. 500GB/1TB HDD
9. Windows 8
10. XBOX 360 Wireless Controller

Pls do let me know what you guys think of this. Thanks

Few of my tips as a decent gamer and with a decent machine.

Get a decent GPU the heart of any Gaming PC. ... got for atleast for something like HD 7850 and if possible 7870

Seriously consider ASUS boards over MSI.
CM 690 PC case with Corsiar VS550 Power Supply.
You dont need a BD drive for a gaming system
Get an Xbox 360 controller, a must accessory for a gaming PC

Rest SSD is totally up to you if you want to spend that extra amount, else on a regular 7200rpm drives games work and run absolutely perfectly ..

Regards
Sammy

 

[yesh1th]

Seriously consider ASUS boards over MSI.
CM 690 PC case with Corsiar VS550 Power Supply.
You dont need a BD drive for a gaming system
Get an Xbox 360 controller, a must accessory for a gaming PC

thanks a ton Sammy .. do u suggest I go for a proper tower cabinet since I also want to include gaming .. I was hoping to fit everything into a decent HTPC case !!

 

[yesh1th]

I think that you have a pretty good build here.
Things to consider:

1) What is the display you have? I assume you will have a Full HD TV. So if you want to play games at Full HD res and then also for some time to come, consider a higher level card like 650Ti or maybe even 7850. For 1600x900 res this is more than enough. Im talking abt high settings eye candy for both cases.

2) PSU is high quality and powerful enough. And a bargain bundle with case. Plz dont change.

3) MB's front panel USB 3.0 connector will remain unused.

4) Snapdeal seems to have cheaper prices in general.

Cheers !

thanks humblebee .. I actually intend to use it with my Epson Projector !! it will be in 1600x900 (edit - I got this wrong, I would prefer it in 1080p) resolution .. now do I need to rethink my GPU ?? will 1GB vs 2 GB make much of a difference for me (the cost definitely will) ??

 

[sam9s]

All an HTPC case does is it becomes Horizontal ...... and Horizontal cases are rare to find, the likes of cases like silverstone becomes very expensive. Unless you have some affinity towards horizontal cases, I dont see any reason not to go for vertical cases, save money and invest the same on something like a decent GPU.........rest is up to you ....

 

[chelm]

get a NVIDIA GTX 690. Also, definitely use the ASUS motherboard over MSI. As someone else up above commented, an xbox 360 controller for windows is definitely not a bad thing to have, but by no means necessary. It depends what games you are playing. For FPS, a lot of serious gamers actually prefer mouse and keyboard.

 

[nshankar]

Build your favourite gaming PC and for use as HPTC, ensure that it is silent, has HDMI out (which is pretty standard feature), and include an audiophile soundcard.

Do not go for a HTPC case as ventilation/cooling could be an issue, full tower recommended.

NAS recommended for storage of media files.

 

[asliarun]

A very different suggestion, but take a look at options like Xi3 Piston Steam Box. Over the next few months, you will start seeing more of these - especially as PS4 and the new xbox launches. These will let you play PC games like a console and will most likely suffice to do double duty as an HTPC.

Xi3 | Xi3 News

Edit: Of course, it would still be far cheaper to do a custom build. I'm out of touch with system builds but would definitely second Sam's suggestions. A good quality GPU is a must for even half decent gaming, and if you are going to do this on TV, you really want a GPU class that can render games in 1080p properly at least at low or medium quality settings. nVidia has had a better track record of late compared to AMD/ATI. By the way, Steam has a Big Picture mode that lets you operate your HTPC like a console using Steam's interface.

Similarly, a good quality high efficiency PSU is a must. One of my builds gave me no end of trouble due to this.

You may also want two sticks of RAM to fully utilize the memory bandwidth.

 

[arunlouie]

As shankar recommended you need to go for a tower which is more airy. GPU and Processor make you PC like oven while gaming. So better go for tower with good cooling solution.
Cabinet: NZXT Gamma (good looking for the price and more ventilated, comes with a built in ball bearing silent 120mm Fan)
Cooler: Cooler Master (Cooler MAster evo)

Add few more fans for proper cooling. In this tower you can add up to 6 fans.
For movies you can control the fan speed less noise. And while gaming can speed up the fans.

For everything you buy check reviews before you buy.

PS: My built was also started something like yours, now after spending 80k still upgrading hyeah:. LAst pening now is BD drive and an SSD.

 

[saikatbiswas82]

Just an idea......
For serious gaming plz upgrade to i5. If budget is a constraint, then downgrade to g2020/g2120. You could save some bucks here.
In my experience... I got best performance from Intel mobos. I do consider that build quuality of Asus is superb. I do have few Asus gadgets as well. But for mobo my vote still goes to Intel. Buy a mono with h77/z77 chipset. Pfb the differences between different chipsets
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1155

 

[sarith]

When I build my HTPC 1.5 years ago, it was a mid-fi one. But comparing it to today's tech, it's a normal HTPC now. No matter how much you spend on hardware today, it will be old tech in a year or two.

I did spend my money more on RAM, PSU and GPU. i5 2500k oc to 4.3Ghz + Ripjaws 8gb 2133fsb RAM + MSI 450 cyclone GDD5 (OC) + 750Watt Antec PSU + Asus P8Z68 V-pro Gen3 + Antec 200 Cabinet + CM Hyper TX3 Cooler +

CM 2x120mm fans + CM gold thermal compound used in both the i5 and GPU chip + 1KW V-Guard UPS. It runs COD, MOH, NFS (run etc), SGW etc well in full setting.

Compared to my previous set-ups I am pretty happy about the audio/video quality too. Thinking of selling the GPU and getting two Gtx 650ti in sli.

I used the computer for hours to download from torrent and the electricity bill that month was way too high for my liking. So I am getting a cheap computer for downloading purpose alone (not exactly convenient).

 

[sarith]

Post deleted