Ryzen for my HTPC

Hello gurus, here's the deal:

I want to build a new platform for my HTPC. Clearly it's more than overpowered for what I use it for (TV, streaming, very light gaming / steam inhome streaming), but I've never tried out a Ryzen rig, my last AMD build was an Athlon XP. (I do plan to take a very close look on Zen2 for my next main gaming rig, but that's a different story.) I'm not exactly on a budget, but for what my rig's supposed to do (1080p display, maybe down the road 4K display and very, very light gaming) I'm not sure that pumping lots of money into a build would make sense. Also, I don't plan to overclock this thing at all.


So here's what I picked so far:

MSI B350I ProAC (because I want on board WLAN)
G.Skill Ripjaws V 16GB 3200 C16 (on the mainboard's QVL, Samsung chips)

I will still use my old case (Corsair Carbide Air), any drives I have (up to 4 drives attacked via SATA, no fancy stuff), as well as eventually my Noctua NH-D15 (AM4 bracket should be here in a matter of days, until then maybe the stock cooler).


What I don't know are the following things:

CPU:
What CPU would you guys suggest? I don't really need a powerhouse, I mostly play only Hearthstone on that rig, so it's more a challange of becoming somewhat aquainted with the platform. Needless to say, the B350 chipset is more than enough for me I guess, but I'm not sure if it's worth to get a Zen CPU or a Zen+ one. I do have a dGPU, so taking any R5-2xxxG processor seems like a bit of a waste for me...
I think it'd be a good idea to go with a quad core (not much work done on that HTPC at all), but is SMT a necessity? Technically I believe I could do well with only 4/4, but I'd go 4/8 just to be safe for the times to come.

Generally I was thinking about something around the 1400 / 1500? Does that make sense, or would you advise to go for any other CPU? Feel free to advise me on the one you think fits best.


MAINBOARD:
Does the B350 chipset work well, or should I go lower (no OC)? Originally I wanted to go with the ASrock Fatal1ty AB350 gaming, but I've read not the best things about that BIOS and how it's a PITA to work with it (I'm kind of spoiled by ROG bios here...). Flashing out 200€+ for a board just to get a working BIOS, a TOSLINK and onboard WIFI doesn't really make much sense tbh... so maybe anybody has some experience with the ASrock boards and their BIOS and is able to give some feedback? With a change of the mainboard I too would take a second look at the RAM to pick one from the QVL, it doesn't need to be super fast 4GHz RAM anyway...

What I'd really fancy would be WIFI on the board, and a TOSLINK to maybe get the sound out via my stereo, and a usable BIOS. Any suggestions?


KNOWLEDGE BASE:
So when it comes down to knowing what to do with the hardware I picked (not baught yet), is the Ryzen All in One thread (HERE) enough to know?
Anything I have to look out for in particular? Do I have to run win10 on this rig to get it to work hassle free, or is any other OS better for it?
Do I need to watch out for anything else, like special PSU requirements? Anything that I wouldn't know, being different from an Intel system?


Thanks for any input. Please don't bash me because my current rigs are Intel. Have a good day!

Spoiler

 

My best suggestion go with an AMD Ryzen 3 APU 2200G , even thought it's a quad core it will do the job for 1080p and even up to 4K htpc , + a B350 mobo they do work well. Your choice of motherboard it's a good one also. I made a suggestion for a second motherboard option for you.
Definitely you will want Windows 10 as your OS for compatibility. No other special requirements for a Ryzen built , same psu as Intel PCs and everything else.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113481

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157780

In my opinion , that's a great combo . Good luck with your new built.

Kind Regards: Chispy

 

2200G is definitely good choice. But I really like 2400G more. Reason is not GPU performance, but active SMT. SMT is now standard in both camps. And sooner than later we'll many optimized applications working smoother w/ SMT present.

And I do agree with APU over CPU in things you want to do. dGPU will be waste of space and watts which means heat and additional fan(s).
Then I think that instead of going big, you can go small. Yes, there are very few mITX boards and they cost bit more. And PC cases if any good cost more while being much simpler than regular towers.
I had made cheaper variant 2200G system w/ uATX for under $500 including SSD + HDD. And prepared list for my 2400G mITX tiny PC for ~$675 w/ overkill MB/RAM. (likely not gonna build it)
@fantaskarsef : And I think that you can go easily with 2x 4GB ram as Day to Day activities like browsing do not need it + heavier gaming will be actually done through network streaming.

For HDDs, just put them somewhere on network accessible place. With modern fans, most noisy thing is 3.5'' HDD as vibrations transfer to case frame.

But maybe you really want bigger system. They to place that PC case there and imagine it being there in half a year. If it does not annoy you, then you can go cheaper with 1500 + cost efficient MB.
Depending on your choice, Your system can eat 80~160W under maximum load and be good, or can eat 250W and not deliver much more. (wall socket) If you use dGPU, you may downclock it a bit and undervolt.

 

Thanks for the input guys. Btw, good to see you back chispy.

So I should pick a 2200G / 2400G over a 1400 / 1500 because of the Zen+ improvements?
Now I'll have to look for a PSU that's that low, 250W isn't much hehe

 

Okay, I'll give it a try, although I'd have a dedicated card and would be willing to even get a new one, I guess it's okay for Hearthstone and steam inhome streaming to use the iGPU. Then I probably should aim for 16GB RAM to have enough for the system and the iGPU as it uses the system RAM as VRAM, correct?
Thanks for the input @chispy , @Fox2232 , and @Hilbert Hagedoorn

 

Could not give more than 2GB. IIRC 2GB ram is all that can be given to APU. Seen some noise about 4GB, but never actually confirmed. Then in most benchmarks, 1GB or 2GB did not make reasonable difference.
I think Hilbert will know better.

 

Well, thanks for all the advices @chispy , @Fox2232 , and @Hilbert Hagedoorn , I will put down my orders today.
I'm so confused right now, running an Intel+NV rig, and soon one running an AMD APU... I feel so not fanboyish now

 

Will post you photo of one I am building this week for cousin. I wanted to make tiny cute box for her. But she did not care about aesthetics, because it will be in her office, next to old 2008 style big case. And therefore it will have price efficient components.

 

As promised:

Spoiler: Open & Opened:

Spoiler: Open & Closed:

Spoiler: APU Box:

Spoiler: Back I/O:

 

Looks quite small indeed. Stock cooler? Which maimboard did you use now, the one you mentioned in the other thread, ASRock A320M-HDV? I ordered the ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming-ITX/ac.

 

Yes, cheapest stuff available. PSU does not even have PCIe 6+2 connector.
2400G; 8GB 2666MHz; A320M-HDV; 128GB SSD; 2TB HDD; 420W PSU.

Entire thing weights 5.4Kg, PSU being by far heaviest. If I was to design that case it would have 25% lower volume. But I tend to be disappointed with almost all PC cases. This one had few nice surprises. Like acceptable cable management holes and that opening panel for SSDs.

Will be doing stability testing on weekend. And since there are new APU drivers since today, I'll do comparison for few reasonably undemanding games.

Edit: As for cooler, I considered giving her my leftover 2700X stock, which is incomparably better even upon 1st look w/o testing.
But it may complicate RMA for me or her in time as we live 300km apart.

 

Looking good there Fox

 

Funny Thing that PC above... I updated BIOS today to Agesa 1.0.0.1a...

Spoiler: New BIOS Framebuffer Options:

Spoiler: Effect in Windows:

So, I did little comparison in few games:
512MB to 1GB: fps improves like 5~8%, occasional loading stutter when turning around.
1GB to 2GB: fps improves like 2~4%, almost no stutter.
2GB to 4GB: fps improves like 0.5~1%, almost no stutter.

I think that for office use 512MB~1GB is enough. For Gaming 2GB is enough.

 

Oh now we're talking... give us bigger iGPU die space with more cores and 4GB will easily compete with low to middle dGPUs... nice!

 

Well, turns out the mainboard shipped with an old BIOS, so I can't do anything with either the CPU or the mainboard now. This is just... ridiculous to be honest. I can't say how disappointed I am that this is still happening in 2018. Anything I can do now is connected to either sending stuff back or RMA. Or buy new stuff.
Honestly, AMD and / or ASrock beat me to be disappointed, and I even asked here if there's anything I should look out for, if the mainboard works with the CPU etc. Wtf AMD, wtf ASrock... I bought a brick.

 

I encountered this problem when I got my 2400G (had to tear apart my 1800X system to update the BIOS). You should apply for the boot kit from AMD.

 

Sadly I don't have any Ryzen system I can tear apart, and honestly I don't think this should even be necessary.
AMD's support page says you can get that boot kit if the mainboard manufacturer doesn't exchange your mainboard to one with a newer BIOS, and ASrock of course will tell me to contact the retailer first (as stated AFTER I filled their contact form with the details). So it's back to RMA that thing via the retailer, which is a PITA anyway since I bought new hardware that doesn't even want to do anything. Also, apparently, I got a brick PSU too since the mainboard didn't even want to start with the Seasonic PSU I bought in the first place, I had to hook up an older PSU to even get the mainboard into a bootloop without getting to POST a single time.

I can't help but ask myself what would have happened if I just bought an Intel system in the first place... probably nothing since it would have... just worked. And that's the real shame. What sense does backward compatibility make if it isn't working without an older CPU to update the BIOS?

 

IMO, Raven Ridge is worth the hassle (my 1800X was on a custom loop and was a pain to take apart)

I can understand your frustration, and I find it a bit surprising that the board wasn't updated (it's been months since Pinnacle Ridge and Raven Ridge came out). My guess is that it was an old board that they had in storage somewhere, and should not have been sent with that CPU. At any rate, hope they take care of it.

 

Yeah sleeping a night over it, I wondered the same thing. I guess it's not an AMD / ASrock specific issue, since for instance my X99 board (Rampage 5 Extreme) supported the Broadwell CPUs only after a newer BIOS, so technically I think it would have been the same situation.
But it's a shame that I can't even do anything with the hardware now besides waiting and waiting, probably going through the PITA of RMA with the retailer, if he declines go down the ASrock RMA route, if that doesn't work I have to wait for the boot kit, which not only takes days, probably weeks to go through, but even has me paying for postage in the two latter cases, which is just a joke.
I am already considering buying a new mainboard which could be here sooner than even an answer from any of the companies, and give away the AB350 from ASrock to anybody on the forums being fine with running a Ryzen 1 CPU or having an upgrade that spares them the mainboard costs. It just takes the enthusiasm away from my first Ryzen build, my first AMD build in probably a decade etc. it's not fun now, more of a hassle than anything.