I’ve got a spare MSI B450M Pro 2 motherboard, memory, and a few hard drives (7200 RPM - three drives, 5 TB total amongst them).
I kinda want to try to put together a Kodi-based HTPC out of it, but I’ve honestly got no idea what that sort of build should look like?
Can I use a Ryzen chip with intergrated graphics or do I need a dedicated GPU?
I think with a IG chip, I can get away with a very low power supply (3 drives and the CPU would be about it) so I might be able to get away with a very small, tight case.
But honestly, that’s about as far as I’ve gotten with it.
I tried googling that motherboard and “HTPC” but there was nothing. I might not be able to do this, but if I can, I’m betting someone here can tell me what the build should look like.
Thanks in advance.
I’m no expert for this type of build but I’ll share what I know.
Integrated graphics should be fine, though they may cause hiccups if you’re planning to use Kodi’s ability to stream to other devices, which can require transcoding. This depends on the CPU in question too though, because that determines if it’s feasible for encoding to be done in software (and thus handled by the CPU).
I would recommend getting a small SSD to put the OS and Kodi installation on, because it will have a dramatic effect on the responsiveness of the Kodi UI. Doesn’t have to be much, The $45 250GB Samsung drives I’m seeing on Amazon would work fine. Can probably get away with cheaper, but make sure that the drive in question has a DRAM cache (the cheapest ones lack it), otherwise it’ll be almost as slow as a mechanical HD in some situations.
It could definitely fit into a compact case without much issue, so long as the case’s cooling is reasonably competent.
A “long term support” (LTS) version of Linux would be a great fit for the OS on a machine like this, because it’ll never auto-update out from underneath you (can actually turn off automatic updates), and it’s guaranteed at least 2 years between major releases, with support and security patches continuing for at least 5 years for each release. So you can really just set it and forget it. Much less turbulent than even Windows LTSC.
Other than that, yeah I think you have the basics down. Just need case, mobo, CPU w/iGPU, (probably SFX form factor) PSU, and drives. If you want to get fancy you could add a USB IR receiver to make it work with standard remotes, and if you look a little I’m sure there’s cases that have an integrated receiver.
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Thanks, Chroesire.
I have, I think, two SSDs now - both good quality (one’s a Samsung, one’s a Hynix) - that I hadn’t considered adding to the build, but as a system/Kodi drive it makes sense to put one in there to speed things up.
I was looking at a linux build for this one - mostly because I just don’t need another Windows license (yeah, I can run without - 30+ years in IT and it rubs me wrong not to pay for a proper license).
I’m looking at probably a Ryzen 3400G CPU and a cheap case large HTPC case or a small MicroATX case (something more shoebox than cereal box). I’ve got a far larger PSU than this will need and I may downsize it and save it for a backup or new build later. I’d like to keep the energy and heat in this thing to a minimum.
That Ryzen chip may be overkill. There are other types that fit that motherboard that might work, but I don’t know much about them. I’ve only really got gaming and business PC build experience.
You’ve given me a lot to work with.
Thanks!
That’s probably going to be the most challenging bit. These days, most smallish cases are geared toward ITX, and the number of (I assume) 3.5" drive slots required further restricts that. That said, here are some small microATX cases that support at least 3 3.5" drives. I wasn’t able to add a filter for PSU form factor though, so keep that in mind when perusing the list.
I think the 3400G strikes a nice balance. It’s a little overkill, but not enough to cause problems and should serve to give the system some headroom and ensure that it’s almost never struggling to do its job (which is also important in keeping heat/energy down). Put a quiet and capable cooler like one of these compact Noctuas (according to available cooler space) on it and I doubt it’ll pose any issues.