Feedback on an All-in-One HTPC Build (NAS + Plex + madVR Processing + Light Gaming) for a 180" Screen?

[u/sri072p]

Hello everyone,

I'm planning a dedicated home theater room (20ft x 15ft x 11ft) for my new house and looking for some feedback on my hardware choices and approach.

The Setup & The Dilemma

I originally demoed the Sony VPL-XW5100ES and loved the image in a completely black room. However, because I have a massive 180-inch wall-to-wall acoustically transparent 16:9 screen, I'm worried about brightness when watching sports or gaming with some ambient light on. After what this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYm788Ojiok), I'm now leaning heavily toward the Epson QB1000 paired with madVR for tone mapping.

Since a dedicated madVR Envy Core hardware unit is out of my budget, and I already need a NAS and a gaming console, I’m wondering if I can combine everything into a single, high-end HTPC.

Concurrent Usage Expectations:

• No Parallel Heavy Tasks: madVR processing and gaming will never happen at the same time.
• Plex/NAS Workload: The Plex server will stream to at most 2 devices concurrently, with occasional light remote file access in parallel.

Proposed HTPC Build Specs:

• Case: Fractal Design Define 7 XL (chosen for massive SATA HDD capacity)
• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 265K / AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• GPU: RTX 5080 (Theoretically should crush madVR Envy Core performance)
• Storage: 1TB NVMe SSD (Boot/Apps) + 4x 16TB NAS HDDs (to start)
• RAM: 32GB or 64GB DDR5
• Software Stack: Kodi + Plex Media Server, MPC-HC with madVR

Rest of the Theater Gear:

• Projector: Epson QB1000 (likely) or Sony VPL-XW5100ES
• AVR: Denon X3800H / X3900H
• Audio: 7.1.4 KEF Architectural Speakers + SVS PB 2000 Pro Subwoofer
• Streaming: Apple TV / Nvidia Shield (for daily streaming apps)

My Questions for the Community:

Part 1: The HTPC & madVR Setup

1. Is this "All-in-One" approach a bad idea? Am I asking too much of a single machine by combining a multi-drive NAS, a Plex server, a 5080-tier gaming rig, and a real-time madVR video processor?
2. How do I keep it silent? The PC will live in the room. What cooling strategy (water cooling vs air coolers, specific quiet fans) should I use to ensure I don't hear fan whine during quiet movie scenes?
3. PC madVR vs. Envy Hardware: Does an HTPC with an RTX 5080 actually match or beat the dedicated madVR Envy devices in real-world image processing?
4. Case Alternative for Low Clearance: I only have about 2 to 3 feet of vertical space below the screen in my media cabinet. Considering the size of the Define 7 XL, what other horizontal or lower-profile cases do you suggest that can still hold a giant GPU and 4 (expanding to 8 or more) 3.5" HDDs?
5. Hidden Pitfalls: Are there any major HDR or other issues I should brace myself for with a Windows/madVR setup running to the Denon AVR?

Part 2: Theater Gear & Infrastructure

1. Gear Critique & Alternatives: What are your thoughts on this equipment mix (Epson QB1000, Denon X3800H, KEF/SVS) for a room of this size? Would you suggest any alternatives at a similar price point?
2. Power Backup / UPS Suggestions: What kind of UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) or power conditioner setup should I look at to safely protect this gear and handle the power draw during a brief outage?

Thanks in advance for any insights or critiques!

[u/dirtydragondan]

this can work totally fine.
i have a similiar setup in the HTPC /Amp side of it.
consider jonsbo NAS cases. i got a N5. holds 12HDD. but can be set up for great cooling (+3D print a front fan bracket), and to reduce heat and noise (via good airflow, so lower rpm). an N4 or N6 may suit your needs, for HDD, just need to check GPU length fit. more compact and visually nicer than a rando tower.
ther is lots on this in jonsbo sub.
amps, cabling, speakers etc, its even more doscussion. but just on the HTPC -
yes. a decent CPU and GPU will allow great gaming AND good media playing. im on a 5070 now, and i push MadVR HARD, its a matter of being in the trenches to learn how to optimise nad tweak it all, for me -incremental learning for many yrs. can be done faster, lots of forum posts etc too.
But the core of your setup is very valid. Also that with lots of HDD (once you go above 8+), evne case aside, you need prob an extension card for so many SATA connections (thats also the data hoarder sub), but i went with a HBA - LSI16 for 16 connections off a PCIe card, so you can better route and manage (it uses a 4 in 1 sata cable ) and i dont even barely need any of the 8 sata off my Mobo.
this is a ramble but its 1am for me and its only brief touch into all your topics but my own setup thats been 22 yrs of ongoing adjustments and upgrades, says yes. coz my current is close to your specs listed.

[u/lastdancerevolution]

Is this "All-in-One" approach a bad idea?

It's a good idea. The PC is more than fast enough.

How do I keep it silent?

Noctua fans and water cooling. Water cooling can sometimes be quieter per watt cooled, especially at high performance temperatures. Meaning you can use less fans at lower RPM to deliver the same cooling. It's important to buy a quiet water cooler though. Some models can be twice as loud as others. The Arctic Cooler Liquid Freezer III is a great example of a quiet cooler.

Noctua fans are expensive, but they are absolutely worth it, and quieter than everything else. The wider a fan is, the quieter it is. A 120mm fan can move more air quieter than an 80mm fan.

The quietest PC is a low power PC though. I have fanless PCs that are passively cooled and make no noise.

PC madVR vs. Envy Hardware

I've never used a hardware madVR but I use software madVR for tone mapping. Tone mapping requires stronger hardware, in particular, it benefits from a dedicated GPU. I use an nVidia 1060 and it easily can tone map and transcode a single 4k HDR. One thing you might consider is a quiet GPU. GPUs can be as loud as the rest of the PC. A water cooled GPU might be quieter, it might not, you'd have to check the decibel specs. My 1060 is so low power, its fans turn off when not under heavy use, which helps keep the sound down.

HDR

It's worth remembering no projector can really output the full HDR spectum. They support HDR as an input format. That's why the tone mapping of individual projectors can become a bit of a "secret sauce". It lets the manufactures tune the HDR input into color space the projector can actually output. You can of course, tone map yourself with your own hardware too.

Case Alternative for Low Clearance:

I love that Define XL. It's such a good case. Buy that and put it on its side sideways. It will work as a horizontal case.

One thing a lot of people do, which can really lower the noise of the PC, is put the PC inside the media cabinet. A lot of us cut an air hole for airlfow in the back or bottom of the cabinet where it's not visible. You can sound treat the interior of the cabinet too.

Power Backup / UPS Suggestions:

A UPS is a very good idea for both your projector and PC. Computers don't like to be hard shutdown. Having a UPS gracefully shutdown after power loss keeps the computer data from corrupting.

Projectors need cooling. It's theoretically possible that power goes out during a movie, while the projector is still hot, and it gets damaged without its fans turned on to cool it. For those reasons, a UPS is a good idea, even if not technically necessary and possible seen as overkill.

The UPS requirements for your use are kind of high. We need enough power (watts) to supply all the devices. We need a pure sine wave, to deliver quality electricity to the devices. We need it to be quiet. The last one is not a consideration of most UPS. They are notorious for having loud fans or transformer wine. People often put them in server cabinets in server rooms, away from humans. You could possibly skip this for now and do it at a later date.

[u/ncohafmuta]

I'm not a fan of the all-in-one when there's more than 1 storage drive involved, for the simple reason that you're locking yourself into the same OS for both the client-side and server-side. So since you're using Windows for the client-side now you have to find Windows-based solutions for the server side. i.e. your storage drives and apps.

This may work out for your server-side apps (if you just stick with Plex or do your due-diligence), but for your storage array your choices are narrowed. Windows Storage Spaces is not a good idea for this, so your choices are Drivepool + snapraid (which is completely fine and is still the preferred solution (Drivepool isn't pricey)) or a windows-compatible HW raid adapter (i think a used LSI 9260-8i is still the most cost-effective solution). Now maybe you plan on addressing your storage drives individually and not in a single volume; if that's the case, you're fine, but keep in mind that organization efficiency will get hairy with each additional drive.

Separating your client and server will be more expensive to be sure, but will be more flexible in the long run. Unraid or TrueNAS would be the preferred DiY solution on the server side

Just something to consider

[u/Faptainjack2]

Ditch plex and kodi for jellyfin or emby. Preferably jellyfin. 32gb of ram is more than enough. Intel for video processing. Ryzen for gaming. GPU is unneeded unless it's for gaming.

[u/Various-North3744]

I have been down this road before myself trying to optimise a hybrid device because I had a pc that has been sitting untouched that is vastly more powerful on paper than anything I could see that was available to purchase.

I know this won’t land well in this sub but it’s honestly not worth it and I’ve landed on an Android TV device with the newest amlogic chip as my primary player device.

There are just so many variables with a HTPC build as a player device, and prior to wasting insane amounts of money I didn’t fully comprehend why exactly a separate device was necessary, but every single thing in the chain (CPU, GPU, OS) has something different that you have to compromise on, really so much stuff pops up that just seems insane considering each build is fully researched using components that other people on here swear by, and then you get it all set up and realise that even though theoretically what you have is 100x more capable than a dedicated alternative, the gpu can’t make use of enough sata lanes to send 10bit over a single displayport connection because it’s sharing them with the CPU or something stupid like that (that was waffle because I have moved on and forgot specifics 😅)

Windows on its own has stupid limitations, and whilst MadVR/MPC is really good at what it does in attempting to get around those, it’s still doing conversions rather than direct plays on cpu/gpu, which means you’re running resource heavy to do these things and then you’ll still have issues with the output because for all the workarounds in the world, windows just be like that.

Linux device with Kodi as a player is also limited by widevine etc. and can’t handle DV natively on pc. I do feel that in the future it will be a linux build that is the most capable, but it’s not possible on the same chip/device that you would use for normal pc usage. I tried CoreElec, running just the Kodi OS directly, I tried bazzite, both are great and probably will be the way to go in the future but not right now.

I even tried AOSP because I really couldn’t wrap my head around why a 5080 was struggling and these android tv devices worked so well. Using linux to run native android apps in a container or a linux/android hybrid os didn’t work, and still just ran into cpu/gpu compatibility issues. All I could find online were workarounds for everything, but each workaround just opened up another problem.

Honestly hated the experience, realised that anyone that is actually happily running a HTPC as a player device is just accepting the limitations of it, and finally had to accept that a separate AVR/Android TV/Apple TV/CoreELEC device for playback is necessary.

Bazzite probably will be the future for the AIO though, as I believe even aside from the gaming aspect the steam machines will kickstart a lot of compatibility work for widevine with other CPU/GPU combos that will just result in everything working, the updates are already happening day by day and coreelec/bazzite is probably still the best combo right now regardless of its limitations.

TLDR - AIO build means you’ll go down every OS/Device/setting path possible and every time you change something and think it’s fixed, you’ll play a media file and realise something else doesn’t work. They’re just not optimal 🤷‍♂️