Sub 400GBP HTPC?

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Hello! I want to build a HTPC capable of 10 bit h.264, HEVC, VP8/9 playback at at least 1080p, preferrably 4k, if possible, for less than £400 (~625 USD). I'm not expecting any miracles with SVP :p

Here is what I have so far, but I'm not really accustomed to this type of build, so I need a little guidance:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor (£83.62 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: MSI H81I Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£48.37 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£18.88 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 60GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£34.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Silverstone ML07B HTPC Case (£51.00 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: be quiet! POWER 2 400W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply (£49.68 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Panasonic UJ-265 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (£59.58 @ Scan.co.uk)
Other: DVBSky S952 (£56.90)
Other: Slimline SATA to SATA Adapter (£5.30)
Total: £408.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-17 22:31 BST+0100

I feel like the 400W PSU is probably overkill, not too sure on the rest.
A dual DVB-S2 Tuner and an optical drive are necessary.
Won't be needing any extra peripherals or OSes

Thanks!

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http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/BgLV99

This is what I would do, going Intel with a budget HTPC is completely pointless. If you can't afford it just drop the GPU, you'll be fine without it. I would also go for the HDD rather than the SSD, storage is always more important in an HTPC.

Not a perfect HTPC build, but it should be able to handle 4K. If it can't a cheap second hand GPU should cut it.

1 Like
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Thanks for the reply! I probably should've mentioned that a HTPC case is required, so basically a desktop style MiniITX. I'm trying to keep this thing looking like an somewhat ordinary set top box or w/e.

I went for the SSD because storage is not an issue - I already have plenty of that :)

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That case part totally flew over my head. I was thinking "Why such an outrageously dumb case? There are way better cases out there". That explains.

I would still swap out to an AMD based build. http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/k3626h

The APUs will have much better graphics than the i3, an HD4400 is smashed by the R7-ish thing in the A8.