In home streaming pc

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1

Hello every one I am trying to build a cheap HTPC for in home streaming from my gaming rig in the office.  I have this build so far: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DdXgCJ.

You will note that there is no psu as I have a Corsair 650w non-modular on hand for the build. I am however concerned that the bulky cables may prevent from building in this case, however I am not sure.  

I also have a optical drive to install into it if I need to use one for any reason.  

So this brings me to my most important questions:

1. Will I be able to use a copy of windows 7 that I use on the other 2 pc's I have running or will I need to buy a third?

2.  Will I be able to stream to this rig using my main rig with a gtx 680 without using a graphics card?  I plan on getting a 970 soon and will put my 680 in my girlfriends rig and take her 560ti for use in this build if need be.

3. Is there any cheaper way to do this without getting a hdd or smaller ssd, but mainly will I have H.264 on this rig without using a graphics card, if not what is the cheapest way to get that.

I have controllers, mice, keyboards, etc for the rest of the build but am just unsure if there is a better way to do this.

 

Thanks in advance for the advice and I will let you know how the build goes and of course the end results.

PS: Here are my other two systems for reference:

Mine- Corsair Obsidian 450D

Core i5 3870k

Evga P67 sli Micro

Evga gtx 680 4gb ftw

Evga Supernova 850G2 PSU

16gb Corsair XMS 1333Mhz RAM

2TB HDD and 500GB Samsung 840 EVO

 

Hers- Corsair Graphite 600T

Core i5 2500k

Evga gtx 560ti

AsRock Z68 Extreme 7 Gen 3

Seasonic 760w PSU

16gb Corsair Ram

2TB HDD, 250GB 840 SSD, 120GB Corsair SSD

2

I'd Kinda Switch that Pentium for a APU System. You don't really want to Deal with a Dual core anymore as awesome as that CPU is. the quad-core will do you a little better for the streaming, plus anything else you may wish to do when you aren't streaming.

3

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/XvCf23

This is cheaper, has wifi, and more powerful.. but I think spending more on the case would be worth it. (dust protection and easier to work with.)

1) You should be able to install windows 7 provided you have a retail copy and didn't go for an OEM version.

2) You will definately be able to stream, though wifi can get iffy results if you don't have the best signal. ( I have streamed to my atom powered Asus t100 tablet (not that I would recommend it) with mild success. A wired LAN connection will give you the best results by far. I also have a GTX 680 4gb on my gaming rig.

3) as stated above.. this is cheaper, has wifi, and a more powerful CPU, But I think the extra money on the case might be worth it... but the i3 has hyper threading for 4 threads.. it will multi-task and stream much better than a dual core.. unless you overclocked it quite a bit.... which could be a good option also.

4

Go for an AMD Kavari based APU. You can BF4 on them so that basically proves how much of a punch you get. For the Windows 7 stuff, there are ways around that. I'm not going to tell you since you have Google.

5

An APU is a good way to go for light-medium gaming, but I would want more CPU power for streaming from another gaming machine. Streaming a game over the network doesn't use the GPU on the remote system at all. It is all CPU.

After getting the GTX 560ti in the machine, it would be more powerful than the APU anyway.

 

6

Basically all you need is an inexpensive Mobo -- APU -- Ram -- Boot drive -- PSU and Case.

The drive only has to be large enough for the OS and a few media apps like VLC Player and XBMC and have room for Library cover art caching ... if all the media is on the office PC.

Just a weak dual core CPU in an old laptop with an old school monitor output like a 15 pin D-sub and a stereo patch cord would throw 1080p too a big screen.

Here is an APU option for $420 and it's complete overkill ... Just add a R7 250 w/2GB GDDR5 for $80 and it will game fairly good for what it is.. I put a semi modular Corsair 430w PSU on it for $25 so you can save the big one for your next project of a Home Media Server build ... lol

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/bhhRqs

Or this would work for $155  .............  maybe add an SSD and GPU?

Refurbished: HP 8000 Elite Desktop Computer - INTEL Pentium Dual-Core 3200 MHz 250Gig HDD 4096mb DVD ROM - Windows 7 Professional 64 BitRefurbished: HP 8000 Elite Desktop Computer - INTEL Pentium Dual-Core 3200 MHz 250Gig HDD 4096mb DVD ROM - Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit

http://www.neweggflash.com/Product/9SIA2PF2206728?icid=WP_0_10252014

7

If you are using it for in home streaming use an APU. Very little load will be on the machine. Hell I got it running smoothly on a low end Mac Mini with Intel HD4000 graphics on Linux. Network upgrades will help more than a GPU.

8

A wireless AC card and a ssd in the host machine will help most 

9

A small HTPC with home streaming screams APU and the kavari based ones have really good CPU cores.

10

 Download XBMC Media Center  Mirror 1 - Author

11

You are really over thinking this. If you are only going to use in home streaming and not play any games natively, you do not need anything that powerful. I just read a thread of someone that took a $160 Asus chromebox, installed ubuntu on it, and got it working stream in home streaming as well as plex working on it. 

Just put something together that is cheap and compact and spend the rest on a network upgrade.

12

I think you guys overlooked the game streaming... He could get a $35 Chromecast of he only wanted to stream media.. I think he will probably want to do things like stream network games streaming which needs some CPU power. My Asus t100 can do it but it's less that an enjoyable experience for fps games. An i3 would work really well and he can put his girlfriends gtx560 in later... The graphical processing will all be done on his gaming machine with the gtx680

13

Wow, thanks for the input everyone!  I forgot to mention that I have an Asus RT66AC-U router with 50/50Mbps Verizon (frown, but only option!) and am planning on using the great cat-5 ethernet cable vid from Qain and wire both host and client HTPC to it so the network will be great, no need for Wi-Fi.

Thank you FeralShad0w for your advice I think I will go with the i3 as it will give me more power if I ever do other tasks or do any direct gaming on it when I add the gtx 560ti soon after I build.  

I will also stick with the Corsair case as I obviously have had great experience with the other two cases being from them and LOVE the style of the 250D.

I cannot remember if I got OEM or Retail versions of windows 7 or not but will search the mighty Google for information on a work around just as long as Bill Gates and the NSA don't hunt me down lol

Also I am posting another thread to see if anyone on the net has seen or played with any of the 3440 x 1440 curved 21:9 monitors from Korea yet.  I'm most interested in how well one vs. two gtx 970's will handle benchmarks in soon to be released titles such as Witcher 3, GTA 5, Star Citizen etc.