new HTPC build *PICS*

D

dakillabee

n00b
Joined
Jan 3, 2006
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longtime reader, infrequent poster, blah blah.

anyway, got bit by the HTPC bug and this is what I came up with:

Lian Li PC-37B
Seasonic S12II-330
Athlon II X4 620
Gigabyte MA785GMT-UD2H
4GB Mushkin DDR3-1600 7-7-7-20
500GB Seagate 7200.11
LG BluRay

htpc1.jpg


htpc2.jpg


Super quiet, great performance, all for just under $700.:D
 
solid man..... nice CPU :D

what is it hooked up to? and what frontend are you using?
 
how does the onboard Radeon HD4200 perform? Does it output audio through HDMI as well?

Edit: According to FiringSquard.com the HD4200 on the 785G chipset only supports 2 channel audio output. If you want 8 channels you have to use the separate Realtek sound chip.

That's a damn shame. $89.99 is so enticing for a fully featured HTPC motherboard.
 
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i am highly interested in your total power draw at the wall socket. thinking of putting a similar system inside a car. could you throw a meter on that and post results?
 
should be around 300w

my HTPC with a AII 250 X2 and similar setup is running around 300w as per kill-a-watt and my UPS

change the CPU and it can be nice a low.....
 
Azhar said:
how does the onboard Radeon HD4200 perform? Does it output audio through HDMI as well?

Edit: According to FiringSquard.com the HD4200 on the 785G chipset only supports 2 channel audio output. If you want 8 channels you have to use the separate Realtek sound chip.

That's a damn shame. $89.99 is so enticing for a fully featured HTPC motherboard.
Click to expand...

yeah, the real deal are the HD4xxx series cards, all of which have realtek audio chips onboard for the full 7.1 output.

Newer nVidia cards (actually, only the g210/g220) might have this, too.
 
Sony Bravia 40" 1080p

Windows 7 64bit.

I am a wireless keyboard and mouse on the coffee table kind of guy, so no fancy frontends or IR doo-dads involved (yet).

Not completely worried about the lack of 8 channel audio, as I haven't gotten around to building the home stereo yet. For now it is either HDMI out to the TV speakers, or the Sennheisers.

The system alone is drawing about 180w idle, spikes close to 300 under load.

EDIT: I should have been more clear - Windows 7 automatically detected HDMI audio as the default device following the install and it works great in 2ch mode.
 
jeremyshaw said:
yeah, the real deal are the HD4xxx series cards, all of which have realtek audio chips onboard for the full 7.1 output.

Newer nVidia cards (actually, only the g210/g220) might have this, too.
Click to expand...

My HTPC has a Galaxy Geforce series 210 HDMI card in it. I can vouch for it's 8 channel audio.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5271085&CatId=3670

Same price at Best Buy too where I picked it up.

To the OP, from the pic I see you have PCI-E slots available. That's a good thing in case you get around buying surround sound system. You could always pick up HDMI video cards that can do surround sound later on.
 
Yeah, too bad there won't be an HD4770 or greater in low-profile any time soon, if at all. :(

I was going to go with a full height Lian Li so I could salvage one of my HD4850s from an existing Crossfire setup, but they were either too deep or unavailable on the Egg.
 
No need as a 5550 is likely to be pretty close to 4770 levels on a passive system. at under 80 USD

Do you use that for gaming? If not you likely can get away with a serious underclock
 
Looks good. I really dig the case. I'm wanting something low price like that for my 2nd HTPC since it's in an Antec 300 right now. Does it take a full atx psu?
 
@Zachstar, they going to be making a 5550 in low profile? If so, great.

@SC385, it does take a full ATX PSU and has a vent on the top so you can use 120/140mm based PSUs like Corsair and Seasonic and not choke the airflow.
 
I am quite sure the 5550 will be marketed as a Blu ray handling video card for low powered systems. So low profile is almost a given. It is not going to be powerful enough for serious gaming but will be low power and will bitstream DTS MA and Dolby TrueHD
 
Where did you get the info on the 5550 (Cedar XT)? Interested in finding out more.

Yes, already googled it. ;)
 
dakillabee said:
Where did you get the info on the 5550 (Cedar XT)? Interested in finding out more.

Yes, already googled it. ;)
Click to expand...

Extrapolating from 4550 info, of course.

It's reasonable to assume AMD will not give up the bridgehead they have already established in the 'low power, decent performance' region.
 
dakillabee said:
Where did you get the info on the 5550 (Cedar XT)? Interested in finding out more.

Yes, already googled it. ;)
Click to expand...

Well its really an assumption but I would eat my shorts if it was wrong.

#1 4550 and 4350s are widely used in HTPC work.

#2 5x series have bitstreaming

#3 AMD needs moar monies!

Therefore the 5550 is most likely going to be a low profile enabled design. I would say it will be more expensive than the 4550 due to massive popularity in 5x parts and exclusive Bitstreaming so far. but no more than 80 or so USD. most likely 70-75 USD

There is quite a good chance it will be a fan version at first to be on the safe side. But VGA passive coolers are available and before long a company would do so with their version (There is fan version of even the 4350 and you can cool it with piece of metal (Joke) ) However that will matter little to you already cooling a quad
 
The HD4550 launched at 90usd, iirc.

The 4350 is without a doubt, my favorite card (of course, the XFX sticker helped a bit, too).
 
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