New Plex / HTPC Build

#1

I’m looking into building a new Plex / HTPC Machine, and have tossed together some parts. Curious what everything thinks of it so far.

I’ll note I have a small HDD for the OS, and have several WD Red HDD’s floating around at home already. No OS / HDD’s needed to be included. All prices are in CAD.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($139.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($76.70 @ DirectCanada)
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case ($119.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 400W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular Fanless ATX Power Supply ($130.47 @ DirectCanada)
Total: $612.14
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-09 18:46 EDT-0400

#2

One thing about Plex is if you plan to use it for full 1080p bluray “backups” then you have to consider a decent CPU. I haven’t researched it much but an i3 might be a little thin for it. You may have read otherwise though, I’m just guessing.

#3

I’m sure we are talking about a system for “educational” purposes… I am conducting my own experiment regarding whether piracy leads to purchase of worthy content. I think in a few years I will have some solid data on the subject.

#4

Majority of my content is 720p encodes and at most there will be only 1 or maybe 2 active streams. From what I’ve read the i3 is capable of having multiple 720p videos streaming, however if I was looking for multiple 1080p streams, then I’d likely need to look into an i5.

#5

Yea I’d suggest an i5 if you can swing the extra $70 or so.

#6

I ended up picking this up and upgraded to the i5. The money wasn’t the issue was just looking for something that did the job well and effectively. Figured I’d rather get it and play it safe, then not get it and realize the i3 doesn’t cut it.

Hopefully I get everything setup sometime this week / next weekend assuming everything ships on time.

#7

We can make this a new topic if you want, but I’m going to be the dummy that asks: what the heck is a Plex/HTPC machine?

#8

htpc=home theater pc
plex is the name of the media server software…another one is xbmc(now called Kody)

#9

Yep, @ghosthog got it.