Please critique this HTPC configuration

I have a home theater that's about to complete construction and I need to build an HTPC for it.

The idea is to be able to decode anything and everything thrown at the system through software if necessary. For example, non-standard formats such as H.264 High 10 profile.

I'm considering the following components for it (prices taken from pcpricetracker.in):

CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 5600G - 25k
Mobo - Asus B550I ROG Strix - 21k
RAM - G.Skill Ripjaws V F4-3600C16D-32GVKC (16GBx2) - 20k
Case - Fractal Design Node 202 - 7.6k
PSU - Silverstone SST-ST45SF 450W SFX - 7k

EDIT: Updated

CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X/Ryzen 5 5600G - 24-25k
GPU - Not sure yet
Mobo - Asrock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 - 15k
RAM - G.Skill Ripjaws V F4-3600C16D-32GVKC (16GBx2) - 20k
Case - Silverstone Grandia GD09 - 9k
PSU - Fractal Design Ion+ 660P - 13k

Honestly it feels like a lot of overkill when all it will do is be used for home theater.

However I don't know where to look for Tiger Lake NUCs within India.

EDIT: Some details which I think I missed in the top post:

1. This HTPC will run Linux and Kodi/mpv. That excludes MadVR as an option.
2. The display is a 135in screen, with a JVC DLA-N5 4K projector.

It IS overkill.
Like if I can play anything on my NAS, which contains:

Intel Celeron processor
Max 2.9 GHz
2 GB RAM

Then your system can surely power multiple streams at a time.

And is the case with glass on one side? It would give me nightmares, as I see lots of shattered glasses on Reddit due to multiple reasons.

I was like REALLY!!! Does HTPC demand such a rig?
Pentium or i3 wouldn't be enough?

@whitestar_999 @SaiyanGoku @Nerevarine say OP is running 10-bit video with madvr, do they need 32GB RAM ?? Any other video format/codec need such a CPU and RAM size?
How about if the OP is streaming on multiple devices at the same time?

Used to play 4k HDR videos with 8gb ram using MPC hc and madvr.

Native hdr is even lighter, low end android devices can play them nowadays

Vyom said:
It IS overkill.
Like if I can play anything on my NAS, which contains:

Then your system can surely power multiple streams at a time.

And is the case with glass on one side? It would give me nightmares, as I see lots of shattered glasses on Reddit due to multiple reasons.

This is actually a full metal/plastic enclosure that only supports SFX PSU. It is slim like a TV console.

nac said:
I was like REALLY!!! Does HTPC demand such a rig?
Pentium or i3 wouldn't be enough?

I couldn't find anything that supports AV1 natively. Apparently only Tiger Lake and Rocket Lake chips support it, and I don't know where to get Intel NUCs with Tiger Lake chips. Rocket Lake runs in to the same problem of expensive motherboard.

TheSloth said:
@whitestar_999 @SaiyanGoku @Nerevarine say OP is running 10-bit video with madvr, do they need 32GB RAM ?? Any other video format/codec need such a CPU and RAM size?
How about if the OP is streaming on multiple devices at the same time?

I was planning to install Jellyfin Server on my NAS, but this machine will likely run Kodi and read files directly from the NAS.

Nerevarine said:
Used to play 4k HDR videos with 8gb ram using MPC hc and madvr.

Native hdr is even lighter, low end android devices can play them nowadays

That's because of hardware decode IINM.

Another reason I want to build an HTPC is that I can install an Intel 82599EN PCIE 10GB SFP network card on it.

W

TheSloth said:
@whitestar_999 @SaiyanGoku @Nerevarine say OP is running 10-bit video with madvr, do they need 32GB RAM ?? Any other video format/codec need such a CPU and RAM size?
How about if the OP is streaming on multiple devices at the same time?

For madvr the graphics card matters much more than processor. 32GB ram is a bit overkill & processor is definitely overkill but then again considering that a new 1650 is costing ~30k nowadays there isn't another option to get a more powerful integrated graphics solution.

whitestar_999 said:
For madvr the graphics card matters much more than processor. 32GB ram is a bit overkill & processor is definitely overkill but then again considering that a new 1650 is costing ~30k nowadays there isn't another option to get a more powerful integrated graphics solution.

I think I'll be using mpv's tonemapping features and Kodi on linux.

It's not like my projector can display true HDR anyway, and HDR is yet to be implemented on linux.

Okay, looking at

*github.com/bloc97/Anime4K

Looks like I need to rethink my configuration and get a stronger GPU lol

The parts which you are considering would be too much for an HTPC build IMO and you definitely don't need to spend 21k on a B550 mobo.

You might need to look on aliexpress or banggood for it. But be cautious about customs.

does the old method of asking the seller to mark the item as gift works now?

SaiyanGoku said:
The parts which you are considering would be too much for an HTPC build IMO and you definitely don't need to spend 21k on a B550 mobo.

Looking at the Anime4K shaders I think I need a proper GPU too, something like a 6600XT or 6700XT.

The main problem with the mobo is that I can't find any mITX boards for the 5th Ryzen chips that are cheap. The Fractal Node 202 only supports mITX.

Now I need to find a horizontal case that will fit an mATX board.

RumbaMon19 said:
You might need to look on aliexpress or banggood for it. But be cautious about customs.

does the old method of asking the seller to mark the item as gift works now?

Aliexpress is banned here, isn't it?

Extreme Gamer said:
Aliexpress is banned here, isn't it?

yes, but people are still able to buy from them or alt sources.

RumbaMon19 said:
yes, but people are still able to buy from them or alt sources.

Excellent, time to look for SFP modules and 10G NICs.

W

Extreme Gamer said:
Okay, looking at

*github.com/bloc97/Anime4K

Looks like I need to rethink my configuration and get a stronger GPU lol

I say just get a good screen/TV(preferably older LG OLED model as latest series in India at least is a downgrade) & download 1080p/bluray remux/4k(wherever available). Also what does anime4k shaders have over madvr anyway.

whitestar_999 said:
I say just get a good screen/TV(preferably older LG OLED model as latest series in India at least is a downgrade) & download 1080p/bluray remux/4k(wherever available). Also what does anime4k shaders have over madvr anyway.

I am running linux and playback will be with Kodi and mpv. Anime4k works out of the box with mpv.

Display is a JVC DLA-N5 projector outputting to a 135in screen.

MadVR doesn't even come into the picture.

Also CMIW but does MadVR actually use neural networks based image upscaling? I thought it used directshow filters but no machine learning methods.

W

Extreme Gamer said:
Also CMIW but does MadVR actually use neural networks based image upscaling? I thought it used directshow filters but no machine learning methods.

From the creator of LAV filters:

*forum.doom9.net/showpost.php?s=681adbf76d87e5a82312aa3fd56215a2&p=1856595&postcount=53498

OP use this config as GHTPC (Gaming home theatre PC)

whitestar_999 said:
From the creator of LAV filters:

*forum.doom9.net/showpost.php?s=681adbf76d87e5a82312aa3fd56215a2&p=1856595&postcount=53498

Anime4K does an amazing job of upscaling 480~1080p anime to 4K in real time.

rockfella said:
OP use this config as GHTPC (Gaming home theatre PC)

For sure, although my options are limited until I have new keyboards in stock lol.

W

Extreme Gamer said:
Anime4K does an amazing job of upscaling 480~1080p anime to 4K in real time.

Have you compared with madvr on same anime source using same gpu/cpu power?

whitestar_999 said:
Have you compared with madvr on same anime source using same gpu/cpu power?

I think I told you that MadVR is literally not an option because I will use Linux.

EDIT: Looks like I forgot to list it in the top post, although I did mention that in the comments. Sorry about that.

W

Extreme Gamer said:
I think I told you that MadVR is literally not an option because I will use Linux.

EDIT: Looks like I forgot to list it in the top post, although I did mention that in the comments. Sorry about that.

No issue, I thought you were using linux only because of mpv & that if you find madvr better than anime4k then you could just run kodi in windows.

whitestar_999 said:
No issue, I thought you were using linux only because of mpv & that if you find madvr better than anime4k then you could just run kodi in windows.

Nah, my reasons for using Linux are deeply political

W

Extreme Gamer said:
Nah, my reasons for using Linux are deeply political

Might not be the best advice here, but I was just watching a 4k HDR10 movie with 5.1 DTS Surround sound on my Raspberry Pi running LibreELEC streaming from my Synology NAS. To be fair, the audio is set to pass through and is decoded by my AVR, but video is decoded on Pi and I did not experience a single stutter or frame drop in the entire movie. So configs like these are definitely overkill for an HTPC. Modern day processors are quite powerful and decoding 4K video is not that much of an ask.

You should also take into consideration the heat generated and power consumption if you're going to be running this setup often. AVR and projector themselves run quite hot. So overall, you'll be putting a lot of load on the AC.

W

Cool Buddy said:
So configs like these are definitely overkill for an HTPC. Modern day processors are quite powerful and decoding 4K video is not that much of an ask.

This setup is not going to be used for "simply playing" videos but rather use video processing filters to upscale 480p/720p/1080p content to 4k which is quite demanding on hardware. You can think of this setup as basically a 4k video editing rig working also as HTPC.

Cool Buddy said:
Might not be the best advice here, but I was just watching a 4k HDR10 movie with 5.1 DTS Surround sound on my Raspberry Pi running LibreELEC streaming from my Synology NAS. To be fair, the audio is set to pass through and is decoded by my AVR, but video is decoded on Pi and I did not experience a single stutter or frame drop in the entire movie. So configs like these are definitely overkill for an HTPC. Modern day processors are quite powerful and decoding 4K video is not that much of an ask.

You should also take into consideration the heat generated and power consumption if you're going to be running this setup often. AVR and projector themselves run quite hot. So overall, you'll be putting a lot of load on the AC.

I have a lot of content which is encoded at H.264 Hi10P. That's 10-bit encoding but not on HEVC.

A Raspberry Pi doesn't have hw decode for it, nor does any stronger CPU.

The reason your Pi can play 4K without a stutter is the presence of hw decode capabilities for HEVC.

I happen to own an OSMC Vero 4K+ and I can 100% confirm with you that it is unable to play my H.264 Hi10P content because of the lack of CPU grunt. HEVC 4K content OTOH works just fine, although output to an SDR screen is unsatisfactory. Obviously I expect it to work better with an HDR projector since IIRC it has native HDR10 support.

whitestar_999 said:
This setup is not going to be used for "simply playing" videos but rather use video processing filters to upscale 480p/720p/1080p content to 4k which is quite demanding on hardware. You can think of this setup as basically a 4k video editing rig working also as HTPC.

This is actually a good analogy.

Specs updated in OP. Still a bit overkill.

This seems like a Tiger Lake NUC

*www.amazon.in/dp/B09BB9L9VR/

Cool Buddy said:
This seems like a Tiger Lake NUC

*www.amazon.in/dp/B09BB9L9VR/

thanks for the link.

I'm inclined towards a DIY because then I can fit an intel SFP+ NIC.

Decisions...decisions lol