New HTPC build, suggestions?

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Teecee

Gawd
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May 31, 2005
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Case = Antec New Solution NSK2480
MB = ASUS M2A-VM HDMI AM2 AMD 690G
CPU = AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2
Memory = 2 GB DDR2 800
HDD = 750gb SATA plus my 2TB NAS
Video = 8800GT
OS = Vista Ultimate
Sound = Onboard????? Should I get an X-fi?

Receiver = Denon 3808CI
TV = 55" Mitsu 1080i HDTV


Ok. Please give me some suggestions. I am building my first HTPC and my primary use for this is to store DVDs and HD-DVDs into a catalog system. I want to make this easy for my son and wife to watch movies during the day. I do have a few questions that hopefully someone can help me with.

1. 5.1 sound. What is a good solution for 5.1 surround sound with my receiver?

2. Playing DVD/HD-DVD from my NAS. I wired my house with cat6 cables and everything is plugged into a 24 port 10/100/1000 managed switch. Should I have any problems playing my DVDs and HD-DVD over my NAS?

3. Any suggestions/changes to my current hardware? I prefer to have more than enough horsepower.

4. Tips/Tricks?


Thanks in advance for your help. I will take pics and let you know of my progress.
 
Since you are going to use a dedicated graphics card, I suggest that you get this motherboard instead. Its the same model board just without the added expense of the HDMI / SPDIF daughter-board. The downside is that without that card you won't have digital audio output from the onboard audio chipset and you will have to get a soundcard.

An alternative would be to get this motherboard, which has digital optical onboard. However, the onboard nic is PCI based and therefore slower than the Asus's PCIe based solution. How much that matters I don't know, but it is something to consider.
 
lifeinchains said:
Since you are going to use a dedicated graphics card, I suggest that you get this motherboard instead. Its the same model board just without the added expense of the HDMI / SPDIF daughter-board. The downside is that without that card you won't have digital audio output from the onboard audio chipset and you will have to get a soundcard.

An alternative would be to get this motherboard, which has digital optical onboard. However, the onboard nic is PCI based and therefore slower than the Asus's PCIe based solution. How much that matters I don't know, but it is something to consider.
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That second board you linked looks like a much nicer board for what I want. The HDMI/SPDIF does not take up the PCI-E slot so I can use an aftermarket video card. Thank you for the suggestion.

Has anyone ever used HDMI port on these cards to play HD-DVD content? Does the video and sound look great? I was thinking the 8800GT would give me plenty of power for HD content and if I did want to game I would have a card in there that could look pretty at 1080i resolutions. To be honest I probably will never game on the media center due to my gaming rig being more than enough but you never know.
 
I saw this on the review of GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H board.

Cons: The SATA connectors face parallel to the board at the outer edge, rather than upward as on most boards. I had a serious problem installing this board in an Antec Fusion case as a result. The Fusion case is compartmentalized and the space for the motherboard is just big enough for the board itself. I had to partially disassemble and modify the case to make space to run the SATA cables under the case divider. NOT an easy job for the typical do-it-yourselfer. Right angle SATA connectors might also work, but they would block two of the four SATA ports. I don't know if you would call this a design flaw in the board or the case, but the fact is most boards would not have had this issue since the SATA connectors normally face upward. If you are considering the Antec Fusion case, you should probably buy a different motherboard.
Click to expand...

That looks like it could be a problem for me but I would really like the digital audio out. Any suggestions on another really nice case that might help me avoid this SATA problem?
 
Teecee said:
Nice. Very nice. Is the Fusion better case than the NSK2480?
Click to expand...

a little bit, it has a firewire port in front, one of the external drive bays is replaced by a VFD, a 430W PSU instead of a 380W, and the volume knob on the front makes it blend in with other home theater equipment, at least to my eye. it's pretty much the exact same on the inside, so if those little things i've mentioned don't mean that much to you, it's probably not worth the extra $50.
 
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