• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

HTPC build need some recomendations

S

Spring2188

n00b
Joined
Jan 11, 2007
Messages
35
I have decided that I wanna build an HTPC system. I mainly want something to play my ripped dvd collection, I think I will find some additional benefits that an HTPC system will provide. I plan on connectind this system to a 50 inch plasma with built in HD tuners. Here is the list of equipment I am looking at starting with so far. Please Please Please gimme a little feedback as to what else I may need or not need.

Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128090

cpu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103255

hd for OS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148261

power supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341010

video card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102799

optical drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106270

A few things I am uncertain about...

Which OS to use vista, xp, other?

Is the video card I have selected even necessary? I have read reviews on anandtech that this card was a great choice for an HTPC, but I think the mobo has onboard video and sound, so not sure if I need a sound card either. I already have a 2 gig kit of OCZ ram to use in this build. I also would like to get a remote. At some point I may wanna rip blue rays and have the ability to play them back. I understand that I could have the use of a dvr with this system, but am not familar with what I'll need. I will gradually add 1.5 terra drives as needed for storage. I appreciate any input you all can give me. Thanks
 
with your motherboard, if the video decodes h.264 in hardware then i wouldnt bother with a video card. even if it doesnt. the system should still muscle it out in cpu fairly easily. one of those things where you can just try the onboard video for awhile, and if you feel like you want more then buy a card.

vista for the media center, its a no brainer for me at least. also, get an oem microsoft media center remote. the receiver they come with are quality made and fully automatic.microsoft made, they seem by far the best.

dont get a soundcard. onboard audio usually has windows-updateable drivers- anything to keep a htpc simple is better.

for dvr, all you need is a tv tuner card. there are ways to get digital cable on your tv, but its costly.; right now its still best to just use regular cable and run that only.
 
Overall, I would say you have selected some pretty good stuff. You can save some money on the video card and use that better stuff. You will also notice that some of the stuff I am suggesting is more $$. This is because there are some components designed specifically for HTPC and therefore, cost a little more (quieter, cooler, etc.).

Mobo:
Good board for HTPC. Wtih the 780 based mobo, you won't need a Video card for the HTPC as the chipset has enough power to do Blu Ray, etc. without any issues. Overall that is a pretty good board with a great chipset for HTPC. The only possible exception is if you are going to do any high frame rate gaming. You may stress the chipset a little and therefore a GPU card may be needed for the added Horse Power.

CPU:
Good choice for HTPC. Are you planning on serving content to any externders (xbox, etc.) in other rooms? If so, you might consider stepping up to a tripple or quad core. Likewise, gaming might require a little more HP. As such, there are some great 65W CPUs from AMD for HTPC. If not, 4850e is a great HTPC CPU.

Chassis:
If this is strictly for HTPC, you might want to consider a more AV centric chassis. nMedia PC H1000, Antec Fustion, Lian Li C37, Thermaltake DH series, etc. are just a few examples of chassis solutions for HTPC that look much more like a stereo amp than a PC. Much cleaner fit in the livingroom. You can get a range of prices for these chassis from $100 or so up to $400 so it is all about how much you want to spend.

PSU:
I don't have any experience with that PSU so I cannot offer anything there. I have used the Corsair VX line and those are super quiet and do a great job for HTPC.

HDD
Drive is good, but Seagate does have a HDD designed for HTPC use:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148187&Tpk=seagate db35

I only suggest this drive because it is super quiet. You don't want to hear the drive spinning up evertime you are trying to listen to the subtle dialog of a movie. IMO, HTPCs should be super quiet as well as cool without sacraficing the performance needed for HTPC.

Audio:
How important is audio and what are you doing for it? Are you planning on connecting this to a AVR? Are you planning on just using your TV speakers?

If audio/music is important, you might want to consider the MSI Media Live Diva board. This board was designed to target HTPC. It has killer audio/video including an amp option if you don't have a nice AVR.

Newegg is running some bundles right now, but these might be out of your intended price range.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...SubCategory=22&SortField=0&PageSize=10&page=1

The board only options...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...E&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=msi+diva

I have the amp version and the thing ROCKS!.

ODD:
Lite on makes a good, quiet drive for Blu Ray. Pioneer also has a good drive in the BD202. In either case, I think you have a good selection.

OS:
For the OS, I would suggest Vista Home Premium. MS really improved the MCE experience with Vista and it works much better. You can also dig around and find the Fiji TV pack update on the web which improves the TV Tuner support.

TV Tuner
If you add a TV Tuner to the mix, you can use this to capture local over the air (OTA) HD TV. Wtih the right tuner, you can also connect up your basic cable and get clear QAM channels and ditch the cable box (unless you get premium stuff like HBO, etc).

TV Tuners really help bring out some cool HTPC features.

Good luck.
Java
 
Sound is not really that important for me right now, but eventually I'd like to get a fairly inexpensive surround sound system complete my home theatre. What tv tuner would you all recommend so I can capture OTA HD TV and basic cable?
 
Spring2188 said:
Sound is not really that important for me right now, but eventually I'd like to get a fairly inexpensive surround sound system complete my home theatre. What tv tuner would you all recommend so I can capture OTA HD TV and basic cable?
Click to expand...

If audio is important, I would strongly suggest you look at the MSI Diva board. The audio quality out of that board is incredible. There are several folks over at AVS Forums that have the board and they were blown away by the audio quality.

I have the amp version myself, and it is absolutely amazing. Every bit as good as my Yamaha amp that I was using before.
 
As for tuners, I have the ATI TV Wonder 650 and it works great. Happauge also has some good tuners as does Avermedia.

You might want to check how strong OTA signals are in your area as well to make sure you can get a clean signal.

www.antennaweb.org should be able to help.
 
If you plan on getting the TV Pack [Fiji] and getting ClearQAM channels, I would suggest an Avermedia TV Tuner. I don't have experience with the ATI 650, but only a few of the Hauppage cards are supported in Fiji [2250 with beta drivers, and 1800 with a registry hack]. From what I've heard getting Avermedia to work with QAM is a lot less of a hassle than Hauppage, which seems to be hit or miss at the moment. I imagine hauppage is waiting Windows 7 before releasing legit drivers, but it's really frustrating.
 
I have Fiji running on the ATI 650 card, no problem. Installed without missing a beat and works great.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top