HTPC or Laptop

[raghavkrishna17]

My old hp laptop just crashed today, now I'm v confused as to what to do, build a htpc or buy a new laptop, my usage would be

To connect to my tv to browse the web, download movies and music and watch movies and tv shows

Connect to a Dac to play music.

 

[heliumflight]

My old hp laptop just crashed today, now I'm v confused as to what to do, build a htpc or buy a new laptop, my usage would be

To connect to my tv to browse the web, download movies and music and watch movies and tv shows

Connect to a Dac to play music.

If you want to to do all these things, I suggest go for a HTPC and connect it to your TV using HDMI. Sweet!:licklips:

--
helium
HiFi I= Asus Xonar STX + Luxman M-06a + Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary LE
HiFi II= Sansui Au-317 + Vintage B&W DM4

 

[asliarun]

If you want to to do all these things, I suggest go for a HTPC and connect it to your TV using HDMI. Sweet!:licklips:

--
helium
HiFi I= Asus Xonar STX + Luxman M-06a + Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary LE
HiFi II= Sansui Au-317 + Vintage B&W DM4

I'm in the hunt for the right set of PC components to build an HTPC as well, although more for audio than video.

The latest generation of Intel chips offer "good enough" performance at power levels that can allow you to build a completely silent and real compact PC. I envision something like the Intel NUC but based on Baytrail instead of Haswell to keep it even cooler and completely silent. Baytrail is still in the process of launching so I'm basically waiting for them to release an HTPC friendly part.

Or something like Gigabyte Brix, or even the Steam Machines that will launch in the next few months.

I feel these are exciting times for the HTPC and audio server market as performance/price/heat is reaching that point where we can literally treat these as media "devices" instead of PCs. Treat the TV as a monitor through HDMI and use something like the Logitech K400 for keyboard+mouse input. Media PC -> DAC -> Amp/AVR and we're done.

Edit: Discovered this site that has many interesting options: http://www.fanlesstech.com/

 

[musicbee]

Definitely a PC as it will give you more options to upgrade and change components at a later date.

@asliarun - Nice site.

 

[raghavkrishna17]

Ok so I have a budget of around 20k max is it possible to build a htpc which will be mostly used for audio.

 

[asliarun]

I came across this nice step by step instruction to fully setup the second generation Intel NUC (Haswell). The article also contains some benchmarks.

This has the Core i5-4250U (used in Ultrabooks) with HD5000 which should be more than sufficient for full HD and will even do for light gaming, it has 8GB RAM, dual band Intel wireless, and 180 GB SSD. It also has 4 USB3.0 ports besides HDMI. The best part is that the system idles at under 5 watts, and even under full load, it only consumes 30 watts! And that is with HD5000 graphics which would be equivalent to an entry level nVidia card (but which would consume 50+ watts all by itself).

Raghav, sorry I think this will be above your budget as it comes to $675 (40k?) which really is the bummer in the whole deal.

Like I said, if you are willing to wait a few months, you can get the Baytrail NUC with about half the performance which would save you about 15k I guess.

Or you can go the AMD route which offers the best value for money - but the big problem is finding the right energy efficient one if you really want a very small cabinet.

Yet another option is an Android based solution. Consider it as it is really inexpensive and offers even better value for money. Only limitation would be that you will be limited to the Android app store and will not be able to use Windows apps. However, Android has quite a few apps for audio and video streaming playback.

Consider the Minix NEO X7 for example. It has dual band wifi, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage inbuilt, and also has numerous USB ports, HDMI, and even optical out. It only costs $150, and the younger brother, the X5 (which I have) costs close to $100. It comes with Android pre-installed out of the box and is completely hassle free to get started with.

 

[raghavkrishna17]

I came across this nice step by step instruction to fully setup the second generation Intel NUC (Haswell). The article also contains some benchmarks.

This has the Core i5-4250U (used in Ultrabooks) with HD5000 which should be more than sufficient for full HD and will even do for light gaming, it has 8GB RAM, dual band Intel wireless, and 180 GB SSD. It also has 4 USB3.0 ports besides HDMI. The best part is that the system idles at under 5 watts, and even under full load, it only consumes 30 watts! And that is with HD5000 graphics which would be equivalent to an entry level nVidia card (but which would consume 50+ watts all by itself).

Raghav, sorry I think this will be above your budget as it comes to $675 (40k?) which really is the bummer in the whole deal.

Like I said, if you are willing to wait a few months, you can get the Baytrail NUC with about half the performance which would save you about 15k I guess.

Or you can go the AMD route which offers the best value for money - but the big problem is finding the right energy efficient one if you really want a very small cabinet.

Yet another option is an Android based solution. Consider it as it is really inexpensive and offers even better value for money. Only limitation would be that you will be limited to the Android app store and will not be able to use Windows apps. However, Android has quite a few apps for audio and video streaming playback.

Consider the Minix NEO X7 for example. It has dual band wifi, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage inbuilt, and also has numerous USB ports, HDMI, and even optical out. It only costs $150, and the younger brother, the X5 (which I have) costs close to $100. It comes with Android pre-installed out of the box and is completely hassle free to get started with.

Hi Arun

Thanks for the post but the main issue here is that i have no pc to use in my room for browsing and playing music and videos so waiting is not really a luxury i can afford, i was thinking of assembling a pc on my own and as my requirements are quite basic i was thinking something with an intel i3 cpu and a cheap graphics card.

now i was wondering if some one could give me good options for the following:

1. a cabinet and a motherboard.

2. a psu

3. Ram

4. Graphics card.

5. cooling unit(would i need one)

6. a good sound card with a spdif out if possible.

7. ill probably run windows 7 on this.

8. would it be easy to compile the pc on my own i know my way fairly around computers.

9. would i need a ups if yes which one?

10. anything else that i have left out.

 

[asliarun]

There are several threads in this forum on building your own htpc with all the details you have mentioned.

Please note that this setup will not be really feasible for browsing. I would suggest getting a 7 or 8 inch tablet. I am in fact typing from a nexus 7 first gen, and very few tablets come close to this one. I find it superior to the iPad too which I also have, as the iPad is slower, more pixelated, and most importantly, is too big and heavy. Not talking about the iPad mini though which is the ideal size like the nexus 7 or kindle.

My PC usage has come down by about 95% since the tablet.

 

[rite2sandeep]

Hi Raghav,

I too was on the hunt for an HTPC sometime back, and I have created a mini HTPC just as a DIY project, and am actually quite happy with its performance.

Budget is under 6k, I am talking about "Raspberry Pi model B", do some R&D on it, and see if the hardware is sufficient for you, I initially was hesitant, but it turned out to be
good.

FYI, "Raspberry Pi" is a mini computer, it is a credit card sized electronic board, has got 512 MB RAM, all connections you need (SD Card, USB, Ethernet, RCA, HDMI).
I have ordered this board, a case for this board, a powered USB hub to connect my huge external drives.

It boots up from an SD card, so I used my existing class 10 card, and you can use any OS you want.

Since its primary purpose is HTPC, I am running XBMC via openelec, and its interface is just awesome.

Let me know if you any help or details.

 

[raghavkrishna17]

well now the problem is that i need something from which i can play music into a dac, movies and it can also be used as a download rig as i mostly download torrents. im wondering if a htpc is the right option for me as arun mentioned it cant be used for browsing and downloading stuff.

need help dont know what to do!!!

should i just buy a laptop as it can provide all the functionality.

 

[raghavkrishna17]

Hi Raghav,

I too was on the hunt for an HTPC sometime back, and I have created a mini HTPC just as a DIY project, and am actually quite happy with its performance.

Budget is under 6k, I am talking about "Raspberry Pi model B", do some R&D on it, and see if the hardware is sufficient for you, I initially was hesitant, but it turned out to be
good.

FYI, "Raspberry Pi" is a mini computer, it is a credit card sized electronic board, has got 512 MB RAM, all connections you need (SD Card, USB, Ethernet, RCA, HDMI).
I have ordered this board, a case for this board, a powered USB hub to connect my huge external drives.

It boots up from an SD card, so I used my existing class 10 card, and you can use any OS you want.

Since its primary purpose is HTPC, I am running XBMC via openelec, and its interface is just awesome.

Let me know if you any help or details.

its a v good option sandeep but not for now as i need a download rig and a htpc compiled into one unit.

 

[karthi1000]

you can use ur htpc to download

 

[jerin]

Why dont you take a look at my setup using raspberry bi and Xbian installed...
My Audio Video Setup | Weblog of Jerin Joseph

Its using raspberry pi at its core..but it can do all the following
1. Play music from DAC
2. XBMC interface
3. Couchpottato and utorrent for download
4. very less power consumption.
5. HDMI CEC

 

[latinoheatx]

I would suggest a laptop since it gets a single point warranty, portability etc.
You could look into one of those AMD APU based ones have decent CPU & GPU. I have one from Sony YB series - Zacate based. Can play 1080p, swift browsing and flash payback. It costed me only 25K, had a 11.6 inch screen and hence very portable. Sadly the same series is discontinued from Sony but I think HP does continue to offer Zacate based laptops.

 

[raghavkrishna17]

Why dont you take a look at my setup using raspberry bi and Xbian installed...
My Audio Video Setup | Weblog of Jerin Joseph

Its using raspberry pi at its core..but it can do all the following
1. Play music from DAC
2. XBMC interface
3. Couchpottato and utorrent for download
4. very less power consumption.
5. HDMI CEC

Great setup...i might set up a raspberry pi in the near future but for now I think a laptop is what I would look at just in case I have to leave home for a few years

 

[panditji]

A quick question here - if we plan to use an external DAC with async USB, does the power supply of an HTPC really makes any difference in the end sound?

 

[asliarun]

A quick question here - if we plan to use an external DAC with async USB, does the power supply of an HTPC really makes any difference in the end sound?

I cannot answer the question, but from what I have found in reading about DACs, the mid-range ones seem to do async to provide some protection against jitter, but the high end ones seem to do reclocking or "clock regeneration" which I presume provides even more immunity against jitter and other issues in the source.

Srisaikat pointed this out in one of his posts about Schiit Gungnir which has a "Buy Better Gear" LED that comes on if the input to the DAC is unacceptable. I thought it was a cool, even hilarious idea!

 

[panditji]

The BBG LED is actually a fun thing but what I would like Schiit to inform us is what makes the LED light up? Is there something wrong with the USB of the PC/Laptop, power supply not good/silent enough, sound card not good enough, software not good enough???
Would be nice to have some clarity on that as everybody insists that the power supply makes a lot of difference and hence HTPC is the way to go...But if the USB input is async, should the power supply or soundcard make any difference to the quality of sound if the DAC is getting the proper signal from a working USB port and decent software say a Foobar?

 

[asliarun]

The BBG LED is actually a fun thing but what I would like Schiit to inform us is what makes the LED light up? Is there something wrong with the USB of the PC/Laptop, power supply not good/silent enough, sound card not good enough, software not good enough???
Would be nice to have some clarity on that as everybody insists that the power supply makes a lot of difference and hence HTPC is the way to go...But if the USB input is async, should the power supply or soundcard make any difference to the quality of sound if the DAC is getting the proper signal from a working USB port and decent software say a Foobar?

I was trying to say that if the BBG led doesn't light up, it should be safe enough to presume that the digital feed into the DAC is of sufficient quality. I think the answer itself would be very subjective as there are numerous aspects in a computer such as CPU, audio processor, driver software, amount of ram, hard drive quality and speed, music player, music format, besides the power supply.

And if the bbg led does light up, it might be then worthwhile to then identify the root cause.

Edit - I forgot to add that I would imagine that the DAC itself would probably only be able to detect errors in the bitstream.

I also said the above because I have seen too many guidances about audio servers to be able to determine what is really over engineering and what is really necessary for sufficient bitstream quality and reliability.

 

[heliumflight]

I'm a recent convert from CD players to Dacs and finally, hopefully HTPC.

--
helium
HiFi I= Asus Xonar STX + Luxman M-06a + Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary LE
HiFi II= Sansui Au-317 + Vintage B&W DM4