$1,500 HTPC Newb First Build (be nice)

Danny Bui said:
In this particular case, the efficiency figures between the BFG LS-550 and Enermax 425W PSU is very very similar. In addition, the differences that are prevalent are pretty small, no more than 2% or so. So spending an extra $40 for that 2% more efficiency is hardly worth it.

In regards to the modular cables, I can agree with you there but you can get the Corsair 520HX for the same price as that Enermax with free shipping as well:
$110 - Corsair 520HX 520W Modular PSU

The Corsair 520HX is also just as efficient as the Enermax at low loads and offers modular cables as well.

I'm not saying he needs a 550W or 520W PSU, I'm just saying that it's a waste of money to go with a higher priced lower wattage PSU for a very very small increase in efficiency. Sure he'll be closer to the optimal efficiency range with the lower wattage PSU but the potential savings on the energy bill is far smaller than the extra $40 you have to spend for the Enermax.
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I wouldn't say that the 425W Enermax is worth $40 more than the BFG, but to be fair the Enermax is only $11 more after the MIR, which is a reliable rebate as I just got mine back about 1 1/2 to 2 months after I mailed it off. I got the 400W for $79.99-$20 MIR = $59.99, which is a lot better than the $85 it would cost now. I would say that if he doesn't mind waiting the two months or so to get the rebate, to get the 425W Enermax as it would come out to about $15 more than the BFG (after shipping compared to Buy.com). That is just my opinion on which one I would choose, though. Both are good PSUs.

And don't forget to use Microsoft's Bing Cashback! On a $1,000 Newegg purchase it will save you $25!
 
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It does appear that with the 425W Enermax, you may have to buy another modular cable, like this one, a 4-pin molex to Sata adapter, or a Sata power "Y" adapter. This is only if the one included isn't long enough to plug in all three devices. I haven't checked the BFG PSU, but I know that the 400W Enermax has all the cables you would need included.
 
Omegas said:
To all you Fusion Haters! (j/k)
I got my Fusion over the NSK because 1.) came with a a larger, and argueably better PSU, and 2.) IT'S BLACK!!!
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The Fusion no longer comes with a PSU (otherwise I wouldn't have a problem recommending it at around the $150/160 price) and is now nearly $200 and comes with a crappy remote. Remember, I have one too (the better, version one :D ) but I wouldn't recommend it now since several manufactures make decent, lower priced HTPC cases similar.
 
Ya, I know, it's sad really... And of course they won't bring the NSK2480 Black back because it would cut into their Fusion sales, or so I assume that being their mindsets. Now forgive my ignorance, but do any other manufactureres use 120mm fans? I've always liked Antec for using them even though most our HTPC's don't put out enough heat to justify it.
 
remember to get digital 5.1 surround sound to your receiver you do actually need a sound card. most onboard sound cards do say they produce 5.1 surround sound, but that is not true.. they output 2.1 channel surround sound via optical and 5.1 via the 3 headphone jacks.

if you want true 5.1 surround, you need a sound card.

ran into this problem via optical on my 780i
 
JacobC1983 said:
remember to get digital 5.1 surround sound to your receiver you do actually need a sound card. most onboard sound cards do say they produce 5.1 surround sound, but that is not true.. they output 2.1 channel surround sound via optical and 5.1 via the 3 headphone jacks.

if you want true 5.1 surround, you need a sound card.

ran into this problem via optical on my 780i
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The GeForce 9300/9400 chipsets will output 7.1 channel LPCM over the HDMI port. If he had a receiver/amp with HDMI inputs and video pass thru, there would be no use for a soundcard, especially once SlyPlayer comes out. I don't know what the motherboard is capable of outputing over the other connections, though, or what exactly his requirements are of the soundcard since he hasn't really said anything about it.
 
JacobC1983 said:
remember to get digital 5.1 surround sound to your receiver you do actually need a sound card. most onboard sound cards do say they produce 5.1 surround sound, but that is not true.. they output 2.1 channel surround sound via optical and 5.1 via the 3 headphone jacks.

if you want true 5.1 surround, you need a sound card.

ran into this problem via optical on my 780i
Click to expand...

WTF? How can they advertise that its 5.1 if it's not 5.1? If oyu have the 5 jacks on the back it's 5.1.

I know my board outputs 5.1 via optical as well.

I would caution using the term most...some or few would seem more likely.
 
JacobC1983 said:
remember to get digital 5.1 surround sound to your receiver you do actually need a sound card. most onboard sound cards do say they produce 5.1 surround sound, but that is not true.. they output 2.1 channel surround sound via optical and 5.1 via the 3 headphone jacks.

if you want true 5.1 surround, you need a sound card.

ran into this problem via optical on my 780i
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No, you don't need a sound card.

Onboard HDMI will have covered for up to 7.1 uncompressed. Optical will get you 5.1 compressed.
You are just passing it through so the sound card itself doesn't do anything at all but send it out to the receiver to process.
Even if you were having onboard process the sound and then sound it out i'd still go with onboard.
The only time i'd consider a soundcard is if I needed the HTPC to decode the dolby or DTS signal and pass it out via analog.

The 780 boards are gimped in that you only get 2 channel over HDMI. However you do get 5.1 via optical. If you aren't then you don't have it setup right.

OP - ditch the sound card. It's not needed. Your amp can decode Dolby Digital and DTS right?
For a power supply I use the enermax liberty. I think it's 400w. I like it because it's modular and in a small HTPC case you only use the cables you need.

Let me give you an idea of what I do:
I have a WHS box. All my movies and video are on that. I use a small hard drive in my HTPC as it doesn't store anything.
I did use my HTPC to tune and record via cable as it was a pain and not reliable compared to their supplied DVR. And your HD options are limited. I greatly prefer to use my satellite companies DVR.
I also use my main desktop for all ripping/encoding whatever.
My HTPC is just used for watching video and nothing more. I have a 2ghz C2D, 2gb of ram. An Intel G45 board and use the HDMI for audio/video to my receiver. Everything is controlled via the remote. I don't use a mouse/keyboard for anything.

For internet/email surfing in the living room I have a cheap laptop.
 
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@Killroy: When you say the 9300/9400 is LPCM, does that mean if i'm playing a bluray iso via PowerDVD or TMT, and feed it via the HDMI to my receiver (which supports True-HD), it will output True-HD? If so, time to upgrade the HTPC mobo.

And as Archer said, if you are just using this box as a strict HTPC, the setup is a bit overkill. I currently run an AMD 5200, 780G mobo (optical is lame, but works), and 4 gigs of ram on Vista32. Don't see all of the ram, but almost due to it being 32 bit vista, but i was having issues with mkv playback in WMC while on 64 bit and reverting to 32 bit fixed it. I believe my power supply is around 350 watts, and it gets the job done. Just some old Antec i had laying around.
 
UT-Jackal said:
@Killroy: When you say the 9300/9400 is LPCM, does that mean if i'm playing a bluray iso via PowerDVD or TMT, and feed it via the HDMI to my receiver (which supports True-HD), it will output True-HD? If so, time to upgrade the HTPC mobo.
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LPCM will output LPCM to the receiver. The receiver doesn't even need to support True HD. The computer would process the signal and just send out the audio and your receiver will light up with PCM.

When your receiver lights up with dolby digital or DTS, etc. the audio is being bitstreamed from your HTPC and thus the audio is unmolested by the PC, which is an issue with LCPM as it's often downsampled with TrueHD. The only way to get TrueHD or DTS HD bitstreamed from an HTPC is to get a Asus HDAV card and use the supplied arcsoft player.

However i'd upgrade just because you can use HDMI and can get up to 7.1 uncompressed audio. With optical you are limited to 5.1 compressed. It does makea difference if you have a nice sound system.
 
Ok, i knew that the HDAV card was the only way a while back, didn't know if that was still the case.

Is there any benefit of jumping to the 9300/9400 over the 8300? From my understanding it outputs LPCM via HDMI over 7 channels as well.
 
UT-Jackal said:
Ok, i knew that the HDAV card was the only way a while back, didn't know if that was still the case.

Is there any benefit of jumping to the 9300/9400 over the 8300? From my understanding it outputs LPCM via HDMI over 7 channels as well.
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IMO you don't want LPCM. You want bitstreaming. That way the HTPC can't mess with the audio signal. Though short of a asus HDAV card it's the only way to process dolby trueHD but the signal will be downsampled. So I have to wonder if it's even worth it. Only matters if you have a blue ray drive though.
But the primary difference between those chipsets as I see it is one is AMD and one is Intel.
 
How do you go about getting bitstreaming? Sorry, i'm a bit out of the game.

Ok, then i will probably stick with the 8300, as i have a chip to throw on it.
 
UT-Jackal said:
How do you go about getting bitstreaming? Sorry, i'm a bit out of the game.
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You just pass the AC3 signal through. The various players can do it. Some use FFDshow to do it. Other use MPC HC. I use AC3filter. It just passed everything over to the receiver to process, which is exactly what I want.

If your receiver lights up with Dolby or DTS then you are bitstreaming.
 
UT-Jackal said:
@Killroy: When you say the 9300/9400 is LPCM, does that mean if i'm playing a bluray iso via PowerDVD or TMT, and feed it via the HDMI to my receiver (which supports True-HD), it will output True-HD? If so, time to upgrade the HTPC mobo...
Click to expand...

I don't know a whole lot in regards to audio feeds and the like, but everything I know is in line with what Archer said and he is more knowledgeable than me in that area. What I do know is that when Slysoft releases their SlyPlayer, it will pass the audio through unmolested at the full bit-rate without the need for one of the new sound cards. The player itself will be free but will require AnyDVD HD to play Blu-rays and HD DVDs. The release date is unknown at this point and last I heard is that it may not even be released this year.
 
Sweet, i already have AnyDVD HD, so thats good news!

I guess i will mess around with it once i get my new board. What setting do y'all use in PowerDVD/TMT for the AC3? Or maybe its obvious.
 
UT-Jackal said:
Sweet, i already have AnyDVD HD, so thats good news!

I guess i will mess around with it once i get my new board. What setting do y'all use in PowerDVD/TMT for the AC3? Or maybe its obvious.
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I don't use those players to actually play movies. I have powerdvd installed but I only use it for the codec. I play all videos directly through Media Center and I need the codec for hardware acceleration.
But there should be a setting in their audio properties for that.
 
So no bluray iso's i take it? I think i'm like the only dumb@ss on the planet who doesn't rip to mkv.
 
UT-Jackal said:
So no bluray iso's i take it? I think i'm like the only dumb@ss on the planet who doesn't rip to mkv.
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No iso's.

But that doesn't make you a dumbass. There are valid reasons to use iso's. Preserving menus and extras. Having an unaltered disc. Personal preference.
It takes an enormous amount of time to make a mkv.
 
Archer75 said:
No, you don't need a sound card.



The 780 boards are gimped in that you only get 2 channel over HDMI. However you do get 5.1 via optical. If you aren't then you don't have it setup right.

.
Click to expand...



you are wrong, sorry man... I have worked with this issue for quite some time.

the 780i only works with 2.1 surround sound in a compressed format

OP-- make sure you delve into the problem on the board you choose, just a word of caution

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=100670223&mpage=1&key=�-+

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=689534&mpage=1&key=&#689534
 
JacobC1983 said:
you are wrong, sorry man... I have worked with this issue for quite some time.

the 780i only works with 2.1 surround sound in a compressed format

OP-- make sure you delve into the problem on the board you choose, just a word of caution

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=100670223&mpage=1&key=�-+

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=689534&mpage=1&key=��
Click to expand...

Then the particular board you got is doubly gimped. Most 780 boards get 5.1 over optical at least. And almost all other boards.
My 965 board does. Most if not all boards after that do as well.

The boards the OP listed as well as the ones suggested that I have seen are all capable of 5.1 over optical. Most of the ones posted also have HDMI.
 
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most optical out on boards only do 2.1 compressed sound over optical, including most of the 780i boards. it has to due with the chipset itself.

this can be counteracted by dolby prologic in the receiver that alters the signal into front and rear channels, as well as making a fake center channel.

even if your board does 5.1 over optical, it is still compressed and doesn't have most of the codecs that a true surround card has like trueHD, DTSHD and any THX processing

I would still get a sound card
 
JacobC1983 said:
most optical out on boards only do 2.1 compressed sound over optical, including most of the 780i boards. it has to due with the chipset itself.

this can be counteracted by dolby prologic in the receiver that alters the signal into front and rear channels, as well as making a fake center channel.

even if your board does 5.1 over optical, it is still compressed and doesn't have most of the codecs that a true surround card has like trueHD, DTSHD and any THX processing

I would still get a sound card
Click to expand...

Optical cannot do uncompressed. Only 5.1 compressed. Onboard, soundcard or a stand alone DVD player. Optical does not have the bandwidth, period. No matter where it comes from.

Most optical out on motherboards does 5.1. Unless you have an old board. The 780g can do it. Like I said, your board and perhaps the 780i chipset itself are gimped.

Even if you get a soundcard with 5.1 optical it's no different than from a motherboard. The soundcard doesn't process the audio at all. Same as the motherboard. It's just bitstreaming it out to the receiver to process. That's all it does. Just pass it on through. No processing. Nothing. Just sending it out(unless if you set your computer to process the audio and pass it out as PCM, which you don't want it to).
If you use analog which according to an earlier post of yours you may be, then a quality soundcard can make a difference. If you are running a bunch of cables out of the various jacks on the back of your motherboard/soundcard you are using analog.

A soundcard is not going to give you trueHD or DTS-HD. The ONLY product that can give you that is the Asus HDAV. No other soundcard of any sort can do it. And even with that card you have to use thier supplied arcsoft TMT player.

The player software such as PowerDVD can decode it. Which is LPCM only. No bitstreaming. Also, you don't care if your soundcard can process any of those formats. You want your receiver to do it. Even if powerDVD decodes Dolby TrueHD your computer is going to downsample the audio so it's pointless.

THX is a certification. Not a Codec.

The majority of the boards talked about here all do HDMI. So 7.1 uncompressed. And the ones that do, do indeed do 5.1 optical.

I would suggest you research the HTPC section of avsforums.com, there is a wealth of information and this topic has been covered heavily.
 
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Most boards can not do 5.1 out correctly, they send it to a receiver in 2.1 compressed mode and the receiver is used to decode the compressed sound to upsample to 5.1

THX is not a codec you are right, the certification allows the sound to be processed via the receiver or the sound card -- hence most receivers with the THX certification have a THX mode that allows the signal to be processed to THX certification standards

a sound card will send the signal to a receiver to allow for DTSHD and trueHD such that the receiver will allow for those signals to be used in their respective modes

I am a member of AVSforum, have been for years, thanks

best of luck OP
 
JacobC1983 said:
Most boards can not do 5.1 out correctly, they send it to a receiver in 2.1 compressed mode and the receiver is used to decode the compressed sound to upsample to 5.1

a sound card will send the signal to a receiver to allow for DTSHD and trueHD such that the receiver will allow for those signals to be used in their respective modes
Click to expand...

Wrong and wrong. You have many misconceptions and false information likely the result of your research of your own gimped board.

Most boards can do 5.1 optical. And if it's 5.1 optical you are sending all 5.1 channels out to the receiver if your material has those channels. Period.
5.1 optical does not send out 2 channels unless something is configured incorrectly. 5.1 does not mean we send out 2 channels and the receiver will make up for the rest.

If you send 2 channels to a receiver the best you can get is pro logic on the receiver. You will not get dolby digital or DTS.

Most chipsets that came out after yours are capable of 5.1 optical. Not 2.1 that we advertise as 5.1 optical. Can you find a single board that is 5.1 optical but really only sends out 2 channels?
How many chipsets can you find that came out after yours that cannot do 5.1 optical? I know the Intel 965 chipset and all the ones to follow can do 5.1 optical. I don't know about prior to those boards.

The ONLY soundcard currently on the market for bitstreaming True HD and DTS HD is the Asus HDAV. I dare you to post just one other card on the market that can do that. There isn't one.
The best you can get besides the asus card is your player will decode the TrueHD or DTS HD and the pass it out as LPCM. And in that case you don't even need a receiver that can decode those formats as it's already been done. And I dare you to post one card or board that can decode these formats and NOT downsample it. You can't because there isn't one.
 
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