puffenstuff Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 This will be my first Hackintosh. I am shooting for an HTPC to run PLEX, eyetv, and any other audio/video program I choose to throw at it. My priorities, other than its functionality, are low noise and low price. It will output via DVI to a 1080p TV and via 3.5mm to a pair of speakers. (Surround sound is not a high priority for me). Input will be via a wii remote and wireless keyboard/trackpad. (I have not picked a wireless keyboard yet. Any suggestions?) Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813128357 CPU:Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz Core 2 Duo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819116072 CPU Cooler: Scythe SCASM-1000 120mm Sleeve Andy Samurai Master http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835185042 RAM: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820148160 GFX Card:XFX PVT94GYHH2 GeForce 9400 GT 512MB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814150354 PSU:CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817139008 OS Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822135106 Media Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136317 DVD Drive: SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16827151187 Case: Antec Solo Black/Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811129018 Bluetooth: cirago BTA-3210 USB 2.0 Micro Bluetooth Dongle http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16833242001 Current price from newegg: $563.89 So what have I overlooked? Have I missed some comparability issue? Will one of the parts be massively overpowered, cost allot and give no benefit? Will one of the parts be massively underpowered and hold the system back? All comments are much appreciated. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/180373-criticize-my-htpc-build/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaap Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 Looks good. Seems like you've done your research. Should work great. Follow the ES2L guide in my sig if you're doing a retail install and it's hard to go wrong. As for wireless HTPC keyboards- that's a bit of a personal choice. If you have a store near you that carries a good range of keyboard, go and see what you personally may prefer. Personally, I can't stand trackpads with an HTPC, and greatly prefer a trackball/mouse buttons built into the keyboard. To me it just makes perfect sense the way you surf when looking across the room at a big screen. If you're ever having to actually look at the keyboard as opposed to the TV, it blows. (Of course, that's just me, you may prefer different). My suggestions from newegg: IOGEAR GKM561R ADESSO WKB-3000UB ione KBP20 Keep in mind, any of these =fantastic for navigating an HTPC and the occasional typing like logging into an account, typing a web address, etc, rotten for using as a normal desktop keyboard for lots of normal typing. That's true of virtually ALL HTPC keyboards. Also, stick with RF and avoid IR keyboards (require line of sight) like the plague. Bluetooth will work, but you will probably need a regular keyboard to enter the BIOS. Good luck with the build! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/180373-criticize-my-htpc-build/#findComment-1228829 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomCom Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 My only criticism would be the OS hard drive: Such an oldie will be painfully slow. Make a small partition for Leopard on your 1TB HDD but don't buy that {censored}. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/180373-criticize-my-htpc-build/#findComment-1228913 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaap Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 I dunno how fast or slow that drive is, but the size is a bit of a rip off. First off, it IS a great idea to keep OS and content seperated on an HTPC, especially if you're going to be recording large HD files with eyeTV. Your recording/media drive will take a serious thrashing over time with average HTPC duties. Also, content drives tend to fragment badly- the reason is simple, lots of large multi-gig files. When a big file is erased off your disk (as one tends to do with content like TV shows) even one small file gets into the space left behind. Think of a gap in a bookshelf left by a wide book, then a thin book is put into it. The next huge content file that comes along- BAM- guaranteed fragment. Even if your OS is on a partition of the same drive, think about it- if the read heads are scooting around over fragmented files anywhere on the drive, it's going to effect read speeds on other partitions as well. So yeah, it's perfect to have your OS elsewhere. But even though it's 'just an OS' drive, why not spring for a drive with a much larger capacity for around $15 more? IE: Samsung 320GB $50. So basically, 4x the capacity, twice the cache, for a measly $15. Seems like a no-brainer to me. Divide the drive up into two 160GB partitions and install OSX twice for built in redundancy. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/180373-criticize-my-htpc-build/#findComment-1228945 Share on other sites More sharing options...
puffenstuff Posted August 18, 2009 Author Share Posted August 18, 2009 Good thought on the hard drive. I'll switch that one out for a larger one. Installing twice is an interesting idea. Setting everything up and then cloning to a second partition might make an easy way to reset to scratch if something gets messed down the line.... I may try that. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/180373-criticize-my-htpc-build/#findComment-1228967 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntsmkfob Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 2 drives or 2 partitions is the best way. Before doing any updates, I use SuperDuper to clone my live partition, install Chameleon to make it bootable, then do the update. If update kills my system I can boot the clone and copy it back to the live disk. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/180373-criticize-my-htpc-build/#findComment-1229179 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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