Mini Home Theatre PC + Media Streaming Device

[steaky360]

So I'm moving into my new house soon and was out shopping at the weekend with the other (better?) half for a bed. Whilst out I popped into Holburn Hi-fi to discuss getting some audio equipment for the house, surround sound system and some wireless type speakers (Sonos for example) to project music around the home. Currently when I play stuff, I use an old crappy Dell laptop I got in a bind a few years ago (before I'd heard of PCS...) but I feel this is due an upgrade. I am considering some kind of mini-pc to sit in a cabinet (or beside it depending on how much heat its producing) along with my shiny new amp to replace the laptop in the living room.

To go with that, I'd quite like to get some kind of NAS drive to store all of my stuff on so it can be accessed from any of the computers in the house. I was considering a server, but I can't see why I would need a server over a NAS drive (but if the Server were to be cheaper... or more upgradable or something then I'd certainly consider it). This is a separate item though

For the HTPC
Uses include;

• Watching high def, high quality media (blu-ray quality, full surround sound, perhaps even 3D stuff? etc.)
• Listening to Music
• Browsing the internet (potentially playing internet type games) - I won't be using it for games as I have my rig, but the missus just might I guess (I doubt it'd be new games though, probably facebook games at best). If that means a change in spec please let me know.

Must Haves;

• Quick Boot up/Shutdown etc.
• Quiet as possible (without sacrificing performance)
• Good quality sound (I want to connect it to the amp such that I can get proper 5.1 loveliness out of it)
• HDMI out (it will be connected to a TV permanently)
• Wireless (I know most of you are advocate's of homeplugs and will discuss this with me, I doubt I'll be able to dedicate a lan cable for this PC and bury it sufficiently, so wireless is the best option imo)

With that in mind, I made the following spec, but to be honest... I'm not sure whether I've totally gone overboard and don't need to spend nearly as much (that would be great ) or if I'm skimping in places I shouldn't have... Don't really know.... Any help would be much appreciated. Hell, maybe a "HTPC" isn't the option and a low spec "mini-gaming pc" is a better option? No idea.

I guess the budget is <£1000 but I'd rather spend less if possible...

Case
Silverstone GD05B Black Brushed Aluminium Case + 450W PSU
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3450S (2.8GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-M: MICRO-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 650 - DVI, mHDMI, VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio (£32)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Power Cable
1 x 2 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £863.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-htpc/MFhBVBvJnH/

Nas/Server
Also, if anyone would like to add any points to consider with regards to the NAS/Server issue please let me know as I'm eager to understand what the best options are. I really am not sure where to start with that. I had looked at Synology diskstations, which seem like a good option for mass data-storage. But I'm not sure at all.

Phew... Long post... Hope it doesn't put you off from offering some advice! Cheers!

 

[keynes]

For your intended use the integrated gpu and an i3 should be sufficient.
I got something like this for a mini pc:

 

[steaky360]

For your intended use the integrated gpu and an i3 should be sufficient.
I got something like this for a mini pc:
View attachment 3320

Integrated GPU doesn't have HDMI I don't think.

What on earth is that? Small wireless keyboard? I've already got a wireless kb/m that I'll just use

EDIT: The motherboard does indeed have HDMI.

Can it play 3D stuff though? Not even sure if it would work through a 3D tv anyway...

 

[keynes]

Can it play 3D stuff though? Not even sure if it would work through a 3D tv anyway...

Like bluray 3D it should
Intel® InTru™ 3D Technology provides stereoscopic 3-D Blu-ray* playback in full 1080p resolution over HDMI* 1.4 and premium audio.
Don't think it will be suitable for 3D gaming.

 

[steaky360]

Like bluray 3D it should
Intel® InTru™ 3D Technology provides stereoscopic 3-D Blu-ray* playback in full 1080p resolution over HDMI* 1.4 and premium audio.
Don't think it will be suitable for 3D gaming.

I doubt the missus would want to play and 3D games hahaha. Also to be honest, I dont either I still think the sound card would be a good investment.

 

[keynes]

I still think the sound card would be a good investment.

Definitely, especially if you are planning to use those high quality speakers. Don't have any experience with creative soundcards and the mini-pc section doesn't offer any asus soundcards for some reason.

 

[steaky360]

Definitely, especially if you are planning to use those high quality speakers. Don't have any experience with creative soundcards and the mini-pc section doesn't offer any asus soundcards for some reason.

I could always ask PCS to use the ASUS ones, but I've no experience with either of them so the Creative ones might be just as good/better?

 

[keynes]

I could always ask PCS to use the ASUS ones, but I've no experience with either of them so the Creative ones might be just as good/better?

Tom will disagree
Looking at reviews before buying mine the Asus card had better reviews to the creative equivalent but as you said they should be equally good.

 

[vanthus]

I could always ask PCS to use the ASUS ones, but I've no experience with either of them so the Creative ones might be just as good/better?

I have a Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ sound card and the sound is very good quality,I don't think you'd be disappointed.For some unknown reason though the sound disappears every once in a while and I need to reinstall the driver,but that's probably down to some bug or other on my system.

 

[steaky360]

Cheers for the help, taking Keynes and Vanthus' advice, dropped the graphics and processor down. I guess there is no need for 8Gb ram?

Case
Silverstone GD05B Black Brushed Aluminium Case + 450W PSU
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3 Dual Core Processor i3-3220 (3.30GHz) 3MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-M: MICRO-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio (£32)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Power Cable
1 x 2 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £651.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-htpc/xewE9pYGuG/

Also, does anyone have any opinions/suggestions on my NAS Drive / Server quandary?

 

[vanthus]

I reckon 4GB ram would be plenty.