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[mikemcc]

Greetings,

I'm putting together my first HTPC. And this is my first post.

My goal is to centralize my all my AV media storage and playback into a new HTPC and through my existing LCD TV and speakers (and an external DAC). I store my music in flac format. My wife uses iTunes, not lossless. I will replace my blue ray player with the PC's internal CD/DVD/BD player, which will also have a TV tuner card for DVR and such.

Because I'm not really a gamer, I don't plan to buy a video card but use an AMD A10-6700 Richland 3.7GHz 65W CPU for my graphics processing, as I understand that this CPU should be more than sufficient for HD viewing. And I'll run an HDMI cable from the PC to my TV. I guess my first question is: for HD viewing, is this a reasonable set up?

Regarding audio, I also don't believe I need to buy a sound card because I like the DacMagic Plus for an audio converter; this appears to me to strike a good balance of quality & cost, and I have very tight space restrictions (so I can also use it to replace my bulky AV receiver and amp and power my speakers).

Based on my understanding of Media Center, I believe it will format my music audio files so they can be converted to analog by my DAC and I can simply run a USB 2 cable from my HTPC to it to listen to my flac files; and to listen to the HD audio component from blue ray disks Media Center will also decode those files and output a 2 channel PCM signal to my DAC. My second question is: will this set up work? Additionally, does it make sense to pay the extra money for a higher quality external DAC (and in my case, one with an integrated amp), and use Media Center for sound control and manipulation as a replacement for the features in an AV receiver?

Am I missing something?

I haven't selected a motherboard yet or case or heat sink & fans, but will choose them to balance form factor, in/out ports, size, loudness, cost.

Clearly, I'm still at the design stage, and still have a lot of learning to do. I appreciate your advice. Thanks.

[JimH]

Welcome to the forum.

The fastest way to learn is to try things.  If you have a spare notebook or desktop, just install MC and rip a few CD's.  Then try playing.

[syndromeofadown]

I have no knowledge about the AMD A10-6700, but everything else you are planning should work fine.
I just finished a build that I have been planning for a year. Its a lot of work finding the right parts.

I think the typical setup consists of a server to hold all your media then an HTPC to play it.
I went with a different approach and made my HTPC the server as well. I chose a very large case and an ATX motherboard.
I have 9 Hardrives, a video card, and a Bluray drive inside. I use an external DAC and have my TV connected.
My laptops and tablets can access all the files over the network.
The only downside is that its a little bit loud. I rarely notice it though.

If you don't use a video card and you have an external dac, you should be able to use a mini-itx motherboard. They only have 1 pci slot.

Make sure whatever motherboard you choose has enough sata ports for your hardrives

[dean70]

The A10-6700 APU should be fine. I have the earlier A8-3850 & it does BluRay with RedOctober HQ (with a bit if tweaking). The A10 is about 15+% faster.

[mikemcc]

Thanks for the input.

Although I don't have many DVDs, I anticipate needing more storage than my current media needs might indicate. Thus, I am also looking into a NAS. If you have thoughts or suggestions on NAS, I'm definitely open.

Must be wishful thinking and being a newbie, but the DacMagic Plus does not supply power to drive speakers -- it's not actually an amp. So I'll either have to replace my current one to use my existing set of speakers (which are above average, but my wife doesn't like them), or buy self powered speakers, which I feel would sacrifice sound quality and defeat the purpose of buying a nice DAC.

Is that true? Any recommendations on a pair of affordable, quality self-powered speakers for a two channel set up? Or a recommendation for a small-form amp (120W @ 6 Ohms per channel)?

[Arindelle]

Probably should balance your budget to include the analogue end -- hard to give recommendations for an upgrade path  -- what is your budget including the htpc? what speakers and receiver do you have now?.  How big of a room, how important is audio quality etc.