Over/Underkill HTPC?

I

iRpilot

Weaksauce
Joined
Oct 4, 2011
Messages
102
Alright, after much research, this is what I've come up with. I'm open to comments and suggestions. If anyone notices something that I missed that won't fit or doesn't look right let me know:

Intel Core i3 2105 3.1GHz 65W (Power efficient, HD 3000 graphics)
Gigabyte GA-Z68M-D2H Mobo (Micro ATX, HDMI out, Z68 chipset)
Samsung 830 Series 64GB SSD (Good reviews, decent price on Newegg)
G.Skill Ripjaws Series 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 SDRAM (High rating, good price)
Antec EarthWatts Green 380W Power Supply (Efficient, cheap)
Silverstone Micro ATX MILO Series case -Black (Sexy)

BD/DVD drive isn't really a concern for me here because I already have one, although I plan on throwing a Ceton InfiniTV 4 in this beast eventually.

I already have a media server to stream content from and store DVR recordings on.

Maybe I'm an idiot, but I kind of wanted to keep a blue theme inside, and the RAM ruins it. :(
I thought about it more, and the Ceton card and Sata cables will be red, and no one will even see inside it, so whatev. :rolleyes:

***EDIT 12/22***
I bought a new camera off a fellow user on here, which cut into my budget a bit, so now my main focus is LOW budget with these main considerations:

1. On-board video
2. Ceton card with WMC
3. Efficiency

I picked out an H67 board because of some suggestions:

MSI H67MS-E43 Mobo (Cheaper than the Z68)

I'm open to using gently used parts, especially RAM, and SSD, but honestly the SSD isn't a necessity. I'm not factoring extenders into the equation any more, that's a step I'll take later. If anybody has some budget-wise suggestions that would be helpful I'd appreciate it!

Thanks!
 
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I too am curious about what a good HTPC build is without going overkill.

I believe I have that same power supply, I know mine is an Antec EarthWatts green, however it may be a 420 watt version. It has worked great for the last 3 years or so. I bought it for my HTPC 3 years ago but after my main power supply went out, I ended up using it in my main rig.

I just barely retired it after upgrading my video card a couple of weeks ago, but I do still plan on using it in my HTPC but now I need a motherboard and CPU for that system.
 
What about your kb/mouse solution? Media center remote? I assume your media will reside on a server and you will either watch BD on that drive or stream over a gigabit network, right?
 
AQ_OC said:
What about your kb/mouse solution? Media center remote? I assume your media will reside on a server and you will either watch BD on that drive or stream over a gigabit network, right?
Click to expand...

I already have a keyboard and mouse I can use, and yes I have server with all my media on it. The HTPC and the server will be wired on the network.

As far as a Media Center remote, I have a pretty awesome app on my android that has a remote function for almost everything I could possibly need on an HTPC. It has a media center, Netflix, XBMC, Boxee, and basic mouse pointer remote, plus countless others. It's called Unified Remote. I recommend it to anyone with an HTPC.

But you brought up a good point. I have 3 remotes I have to use right now: TV, A/V receiver, and cable box. I plan on getting a Logitech Harmony One or 900. Probably the One because I don't need RF and I want sequencing, which the 900 doesn't have. As far as using the Logitech with the HTPC, I've been having some trouble figuring out a solution. I thought I could just buy an IR dongle somewhere to pair the remote with the HTPC, but I can't find one anywhere. I figured I'd have to buy a cheap Media Center remote with a dongle and just pair the Logitech to the dongle. :confused:
 
iRpilot said:
I already have a keyboard and mouse I can use, and yes I have server with all my media on it. The HTPC and the server will be wired on the network.

As far as a Media Center remote, I have a pretty awesome app on my android that has a remote function for almost everything I could possibly need on an HTPC. It has a media center, Netflix, XBMC, Boxee, and basic mouse pointer remote, plus countless others. It's called Unified Remote. I recommend it to anyone with an HTPC.

But you brought up a good point. I have 3 remotes I have to use right now: TV, A/V receiver, and cable box. I plan on getting a Logitech Harmony One or 900. Probably the One because I don't need RF and I want sequencing, which the 900 doesn't have. As far as using the Logitech with the HTPC, I've been having some trouble figuring out a solution. I thought I could just buy an IR dongle somewhere to pair the remote with the HTPC, but I can't find one anywhere. I figured I'd have to buy a cheap Media Center remote with a dongle and just pair the Logitech to the dongle. :confused:
Click to expand...

That's what I did....bought a cheap MC remove and just used the IR dongle. The Harmony software will let you pick a device called a Media Center Remote that will work just fine with the IR part and WMC.

One could argue that the I3 is overkill for basic HTPC tasks as you can get lower end processors that will also do the job. JFYI.
 
AQ_OC said:
That's what I did....bought a cheap MC remove and just used the IR dongle. The Harmony software will let you pick a device called a Media Center Remote that will work just fine with the IR part and WMC.
Click to expand...

Ok, awesome. Glad to hear it works, that's exactly what I'll do then.

AQ_OC said:
One could argue that the I3 is overkill for basic HTPC tasks as you can get lower end processors that will also do the job. JFYI.
Click to expand...

I had considered other options, and I'm still open-minded to them. My main concern is future-proofing a bit. Since I plan on adding a Ceton InfinitTV 4 tuner I want at least a dual core, and I think at 3.1GHz the i3 2105 will get the job done well. I'm sure recording up to 4 HD channels at once may require some juice. Ceton's website says at least a dual core at 2.0GHz should cut it.

One thing I noticed about the Ceton card is that there seems to be no compression, which requires less processing power but more HDD space I would assume.

Also, I'm still researching this, but I plan on setting up some type of multi-room viewing enviroment using extenders. I don't know much about extenders, so I don't know they use the extending HTPC's processor for streaming or if it has its own processor that takes on the majority of the load.
 
Personally, if I were buying new I'd go with an i3 too (in fact, I did -- see sig). I only use lesser parts if I already own them (as my E6850 dual-core CPU).

I've not used any turners or extenders so we'll have to hope that someone else chimes in on that part.
 
Are you planning on using any extenders once you get your InfiniTV? Spec is to allocate ~2GB ram per extender (although they do use less memory).

I'd throw in 8GB ram - it's cheap and will come in handy if you start running multiple extenders concurrently.
 
H67 would save a few bucks over z68 if you aren't overclocking.
 
I'm building a very similar build for my HTPC overhaul this week (turning the current one into a desktop for the g/f).

I sort of became obsessed with trying to build a quiet, small, and energy efficient fileserver + HTPC while still making it plenty powerful and capable of storing 5+ storage drives + SSD. Here's what I've got on order/waiting to be built:

Intel Core i3-2100 65W (wish I had seen the 2105 prior to pulling the trigger)
Scythe SCSMZ-2000 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler + Nexus DF1209SL-3 92mm Case Fan
ASRock H67M-ITX/HT Mini ITX Intel Motherboard (Plan is to ditch the built in WiFi and install a Mini-PCIe SATA port extender card in the very near future)
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600
Crucial M4 64GB SATA III SSD (Had a C300, but that's going with the desktop build so new SSD it is)
SeaSonic X series SS-400FL Fanless 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Power Supply
LIAN LI PC-Q08B Black Aluminum Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case

Ripped out the ugly front LED fan + top fan and replaced with these:
Scythe SY1225SL12M 120mm "Slipstream" Case Fan
Noctua NF-P14 FLX 140mm Case Fan

The only thing I'm keeping from the current build:
2 2TB WD Green drives
 
iRpilot said:
Ok, awesome. Glad to hear it works, that's exactly what I'll do then.



I had considered other options, and I'm still open-minded to them. My main concern is future-proofing a bit. Since I plan on adding a Ceton InfinitTV 4 tuner I want at least a dual core, and I think at 3.1GHz the i3 2105 will get the job done well. I'm sure recording up to 4 HD channels at once may require some juice. Ceton's website says at least a dual core at 2.0GHz should cut it.

One thing I noticed about the Ceton card is that there seems to be no compression, which requires less processing power but more HDD space I would assume.

Also, I'm still researching this, but I plan on setting up some type of multi-room viewing enviroment using extenders. I don't know much about extenders, so I don't know they use the extending HTPC's processor for streaming or if it has its own processor that takes on the majority of the load.
Click to expand...
I have the Ceton, and have not had an issue recording 4 programs at once. I have a old core2 duo e6300 Wolfsdale (on a Asus G35 MB, but using 5670 vid card). So the 2105 will have no issues at all.
 
thegrinch said:
Are you planning on using any extenders once you get your InfiniTV? Spec is to allocate ~2GB ram per extender (although they do use less memory).

I'd throw in 8GB ram - it's cheap and will come in handy if you start running multiple extenders concurrently.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I need to do more research, but I plan on using some extenders. I've seen Linksys and D-Link wireless-N extenders. I don't play Xbox, so I really don't want to buy one just to use an extender lol. Those are the only ones I really know off
 
Ruiner said:
H67 would save a few bucks over z68 if you aren't overclocking.
Click to expand...

I was actually just looking at some H67 boards, that's a pretty good idea. The only problem I'm having is finding a board that's cheaper than the Z68 with sata III 6 Gb/s.
 
_cashel said:
I'm building a very similar build for my HTPC overhaul this week (turning the current one into a desktop for the g/f).

I sort of became obsessed with trying to build a quiet, small, and energy efficient fileserver + HTPC while still making it plenty powerful and capable of storing 5+ storage drives + SSD.
Click to expand...

Nice build, ours do have a lot of similarities. I have a separate media server so I'm going for more of a SFF HTPC. I would like to use an aftermarket heatsink, but haven't really found any low-pro enough yet.

I looked at Crucial SSD's as well. The price is about the same as the Samsung. I think the Crucial might be more preferable over the Samsung, I just like Samsung stuff I guess.
 
iRpilot said:
Gigabyte GA-Z68M-D2H Mobo (Micro ATX, HDMI out, Z68 chipset)
Click to expand...
Motherboard is OOS. Go for the updated version here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128495

With that said, an Intel H67 with SATA 6.0Gb/s, mATX form factor, and four RAM slots are about $25 cheaper:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130584
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121506

iRpilot said:
Silverstone Micro ATX MILO Series case -Black (Sexy)
Click to expand...

Good case but don't buy it from Newegg since it's a bit overpriced there once you factor in shipping. Grab the case from Amazon.com instead to save some money:
http://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-A...UAUE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324423351&sr=8-1
 
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Check out the specs on my Beta node (in my sig) -- seems similar to what you're doing. It's just in a smaller package (mini-itx). If I watched TV, I could even throw a infinitv4 in there with no issues :)

I'm using a Gelim SS heatsink in there and it works perfect, cpu doesn't go over 45C. (oh, and the cpu/mobo combo was $140 at microcenter, if you've got one nearby)
 
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Danny Bui said:
Motherboard is OOS. Go for the updated version here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128495
Click to expand...

Yeah I just noticed they were OOS on Newegg, I also threw all this stuff in a wishlist on Amazon to compare prices.

Danny Bui said:
With that said, an Intel H67 with SATA 6.0Gb/s, mATX form factor, and four RAM slots are about $25 cheaper:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130584
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121506
Click to expand...

I'll have to check out the H67 boards some more, I didn't look very hard apparently. haha

Danny Bui said:
Good case but don't buy it from Newegg since it's a bit overpriced there once you factor in shipping. Grab the case from Amazon.com instead to save some money:
http://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-A...UAUE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324423351&sr=8-1
Click to expand...

I was planning on grabbing most of this stuff from Amazon, the case for sure. The only problem with Amazon is that I end up buying twice as much crap as I originally planned.

I went on Amazon the other day intending to buy a filter for one of my camera lenses and ended up buying a tripod, a cheapo fisheye macro lense, some macro tubes, and 2 remote shutter releases. Why in the hell I need 2 shutter releases I really don't know, but they were bundled for 5 dollars so I bought them. :rolleyes: haha
 
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iRpilot said:
Yeah, I need to do more research, but I plan on using some extenders. I've seen Linksys and D-Link wireless-N extenders. I don't play Xbox, so I really don't want to buy one just to use an extender lol. Those are the only ones I really know off
Click to expand...

The extenders have been discontinued for many years now, so you'll likely only find them used on Fleabay. The only one still in production is the Xbox360.

I've got one of the Linksys DMA-2200's and I've got no issues hitting my box pretty hard (recording a bunch, playing back on both the PC and extender, etc), and its specs are a bit under what you're proposing. Though, I've done far more with less powerful hardware, so your main focus will likely be cost effective storage...

As far as networking goes, the DMA-2200 does support wireless N, however, with both N and G I was not able to get a reliable enough network signal to run HD content, thus I got a MoCa bridge to solve the issue.
 
Machupo said:
Check out the specs on my Beta node (in my sig) -- seems similar to what you're doing. It's just in a smaller package (mini-itx). If I watched TV, I could even throw a infinitv4 in there with no issues :)

I'm using a Gelim SS heatsink in there and it works perfect, cpu doesn't go over 45C. (oh, and the cpu/mobo combo was $140 at microcenter, if you've got one nearby)
Click to expand...

I dig that case, very clean, the slot-loading optical is pretty tight too. That PSU is ridiculously small, you just plug a DC power adapter into it? I couldn't find the heatsink you are using via Google.

I wish I had a Microcenter nearby. I live in BFE Oklahoma. I think the closest one is in Dallas. :(
 
Schro said:
The extenders have been discontinued for many years now, so you'll likely only find them used on Fleabay. The only one still in production is the Xbox360.

I've got one of the Linksys DMA-2200's and I've got no issues hitting my box pretty hard (recording a bunch, playing back on both the PC and extender, etc), and its specs are a bit under what you're proposing. Though, I've done far more with less powerful hardware, so your main focus will likely be cost effective storage...

As far as networking goes, the DMA-2200 does support wireless N, however, with both N and G I was not able to get a reliable enough network signal to run HD content, thus I got a MoCa bridge to solve the issue.
Click to expand...

I guess the extender market never really took off. The extenders themselves are pretty damn expensive. The DMA-2200 is $220 plus, I might as well buy an Xbox haha.

I've been actually considering the MoCa route for a while now, mainly because wireless just pisses me off. You can pick up a pair of Verizon MoCa bridges for around $50 online now. I've read about people getting 70+ Mb/s throughput on older equipment and 100+ Mb/s on newer equipment. I think full 1080p BluRays have a bitrate of 48 Mb/s so a MoCa bridge with Verizon equip would work fine I think.
 
iRpilot said:
I dig that case, very clean, the slot-loading optical is pretty tight too. That PSU is ridiculously small, you just plug a DC power adapter into it? I couldn't find the heatsink you are using via Google.

I wish I had a Microcenter nearby. I live in BFE Oklahoma. I think the closest one is in Dallas. :(
Click to expand...

Lol, whoops -- misspelled the hsf: it's a Gelid Slim Silent. As for the psu, yep, just a brick adapter.
 
I just had another thought... for the price of an extender costing 250 bones, I could build one of the infamous NES mini ITX computers and use it as an "extender"!

Rather than acting as a extension of the main HTPC, it would act independently, accessing dvr recordings and movies from my server.
 
You could do that. It would be a fun project but a bit more time consuming of a project.
 
iRpilot said:
I guess the extender market never really took off. The extenders themselves are pretty damn expensive. The DMA-2200 is $220 plus, I might as well buy an Xbox haha.

I've been actually considering the MoCa route for a while now, mainly because wireless just pisses me off. You can pick up a pair of Verizon MoCa bridges for around $50 online now. I've read about people getting 70+ Mb/s throughput on older equipment and 100+ Mb/s on newer equipment. I think full 1080p BluRays have a bitrate of 48 Mb/s so a MoCa bridge with Verizon equip would work fine I think.
Click to expand...

I haven't looked lately, but I paid about $80 shipped on Ebay 2 years ago for my 2200. Doing a quick search, I see a buy it now for two that are NIB @ $125 and a trio of auctions around $50 with 1-2 days remaining (yay, I just looked lately). If I could really get $220 for it, I might just sell mine off and parlay it into an xbox...

Do NOT expect the extender to be able to play back 1080p files. I only have 720p TVs, so I havn't done much twiddling with it, but they do support a VERY limited set of codecs, such that you'll likely end up transcoding on the fly for anything other than native recordings. My MoCa bridges are "300 mbit" rated or something like that, yet the rocket scientists at Netgear slapped 10/100 ports on the back...

iRpilot said:
I just had another thought... for the price of an extender costing 250 bones, I could build one of the infamous NES mini ITX computers and use it as an "extender"!

Rather than acting as a extension of the main HTPC, it would act independently, accessing dvr recordings and movies from my server.
Click to expand...

That would be nice, however, you will not be able to view DRM infested content that was captured by your cable card on it. ONLY extenders can view that. In the days before MCE was worthwhile, I used Snapstream's BeyondTV, and it allowed other PCs as extenders, thus, I had a small shuttle box in the bedroom.... The EPG would also not be shared, so you wouldn't have a coordinated recording schedule for the entire house. This may or may not matter to you.

If you don't need access to the other machine's DRM'ed recordings and don't care about the shared EPG across the household, then you can setup the Ceton card in one of the PC's and share the tuners over the network such that you'd have 2 dedicated to each (or 3/1 if that works for you as well).
 
iRpilot said:
I think full 1080p BluRays have a bitrate of 48 Mb/s so a MoCa bridge with Verizon equip would work fine I think.
Click to expand...

Beware on this....IME, Blu-Rays take about 10 MB/s (megabytes, not bits) for reliable streaming (i.e., any title). You can only get that (and more) over gigabit Ethernet.
 
AQ_OC said:
Beware on this....IME, Blu-Rays take about 10 MB/s (megabytes, not bits) for reliable streaming (i.e., any title). You can only get that (and more) over gigabit Ethernet.
Click to expand...

10MB/s= 80Mbit/s, so if that is the true requirement, any current generation power line or MoCa solution should be able to sustain that level of traffic rather easily even if it was bottlenecked by a 10/100 interface like my MoCa solution is. My wireless N bridge can sustain about 90mbit (and its limited by a 10/100 interface), however it will dip from time to time causing stuttering (as the MCE extenders do NOT buffer at all).

All of the high bit rate media discussion could be moot if the extender doesn't support the codec...
 
Schro said:
10MB/s= 80Mbit/s, so if that is the true requirement, any current generation power line or MoCa solution should be able to sustain that level of traffic rather easily even if it was bottlenecked by a 10/100 interface like my MoCa solution is. My wireless N bridge can sustain about 90mbit (and its limited by a 10/100 interface), however it will dip from time to time causing stuttering (as the MCE extenders do NOT buffer at all).

All of the high bit rate media discussion could be moot if the extender doesn't support the codec...
Click to expand...

The problem with your claim is that few devices achieve 100% stated speeds. You are lucky to get 70% thru put. Spending money on any 100MB/s solution is going to be a lesson in frustration. Btdt. Best to do it right the first time....go gigabit ethernet if you want to stream blu-ray reliably.
 
Streaming blurays over 100MB/s network will most likely work fine (assuming you're not saturating your network with other things at the same time). However I agree with AQ_OC - in this day an age, you're much better streaming over a gigabit network if possible. Cost is relatively a non-issue between the two.

I couldn't tell if the OP was planning on streaming "full" bit rate blu-ray's anyways - most folks I've seen end up streaming betweening 10-25Mbs rips anyways.
 
You could look into jailbreaking some Apple TV2s for your "extenders". They are pretty simple to work with, compact, and will output 720p perfectly fine. Slap XBMC on there, and your good to go. I'm pretty sure there's a way you'd be able to feed SD cable content to them on the fly as well. Might need a MythTV backend to do it properly though.
 
AQ_OC said:
The problem with your claim is that few devices achieve 100% stated speeds. You are lucky to get 70% thru put. Spending money on any 100MB/s solution is going to be a lesson in frustration. Btdt. Best to do it right the first time....go gigabit ethernet if you want to stream blu-ray reliably.
Click to expand...

Depends on the device. Ethernet tends to be pretty reliable in providing > 90mbit on a 100mbit connection as long as both ends can support that much data. The MoCa adapters have no trouble saturating a 100mbit connection, as they're rated at 300mbit, so even at a 50% real world rate, they would still be fine.

I agree going gig-E is the best future proofing method, but when you're looking at point solutions where running wires isn't possible, the arguement to go gig-E is rather moot.

Ruoh said:
You could look into jailbreaking some Apple TV2s for your "extenders". They are pretty simple to work with, compact, and will output 720p perfectly fine. Slap XBMC on there, and your good to go. I'm pretty sure there's a way you'd be able to feed SD cable content to them on the fly as well. Might need a MythTV backend to do it properly though.
Click to expand...

Going the MythTV/Apple TV2 route would eliminate his ability to use the Ceton card. That requirement basically requires the use of MCE7 and extenders to view the content. Sure, a split solution could be pursued with MCE7 for cable and XBMC/Apple TV for other content, however, the WAF (wife acceptance factor) generally declines on a logarithmic basis inverse to complexity of use if you know what I mean.
 
Schro said:
Going the MythTV/Apple TV2 route would eliminate his ability to use the Ceton card. That requirement basically requires the use of MCE7 and extenders to view the content. Sure, a split solution could be pursued with MCE7 for cable and XBMC/Apple TV for other content, however, the WAF (wife acceptance factor) generally declines on a logarithmic basis inverse to complexity of use if you know what I mean.
Click to expand...

I could have sworn there were Linux drivers for the Ceton cards. I know there are plugins in development for XBMC that allow "live tv" type setups. I think it could be done. The WAF is pretty decent with the ATV2 though... considering there are three buttons on the remote. My wife never had an issue.
 
Schro said:
I haven't looked lately, but I paid about $80 shipped on Ebay 2 years ago for my 2200. Doing a quick search, I see a buy it now for two that are NIB @ $125 and a trio of auctions around $50 with 1-2 days remaining (yay, I just looked lately). If I could really get $220 for it, I might just sell mine off and parlay it into an xbox...

Do NOT expect the extender to be able to play back 1080p files. I only have 720p TVs, so I havn't done much twiddling with it, but they do support a VERY limited set of codecs, such that you'll likely end up transcoding on the fly for anything other than native recordings. My MoCa bridges are "300 mbit" rated or something like that, yet the rocket scientists at Netgear slapped 10/100 ports on the back...
Click to expand...

I just quickly looked on Amazon and they had those bad boys listed at $220, lol. I almost forgot Ebay existed. To me it sounds like the whole extender route is going to be a big pain in the ass and isn't really going to fit the bill.


Schro said:
That would be nice, however, you will not be able to view DRM infested content that was captured by your cable card on it. ONLY extenders can view that. In the days before MCE was worthwhile, I used Snapstream's BeyondTV, and it allowed other PCs as extenders, thus, I had a small shuttle box in the bedroom.... The EPG would also not be shared, so you wouldn't have a coordinated recording schedule for the entire house. This may or may not matter to you.

If you don't need access to the other machine's DRM'ed recordings and don't care about the shared EPG across the household, then you can setup the Ceton card in one of the PC's and share the tuners over the network such that you'd have 2 dedicated to each (or 3/1 if that works for you as well).
Click to expand...

I brought up the DRM concern on another thread about CableCARD's and someone gave me a smart ass answer about Googling it. I figured DRM would be a factor somehow, glad to know not with extenders, but sucks about other PC's on the network. A coordinated DVR schedule isn't a big deal to me, but not being able to watch recordings would suck.

Thanks for the incite.
 
iRpilot said:
I just quickly looked on Amazon and they had those bad boys listed at $220, lol. I almost forgot Ebay existed. To me it sounds like the whole extender route is going to be a big pain in the ass and isn't really going to fit the bill.
Click to expand...

It all depends on what is most important to you. If having the whole house coordinated DVR and library is important, then extenders are worth the hassle. However, if you need more flexibility at each endpoint to play back a potentially variable set of media and TV is a nice to have, then going the multiple cheap PC route would probably be better.

Ruoh said:
Ceton MythTV drivers and setup:
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Ceton_InfiniTV_4

XBMC Live TV and MythTV backend:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=MythTV
Click to expand...

I would be amazed if the MythTV folks got this working. My understanding is that CableLabs would have to certify their solution and that only big companies would want to bother going through the time and expense of that process (as the OS would also have to get certified). The biggest issue is for the content marked as copy once.....
 
I don't think that you'll need more than a G530 for the CPU, that's what I use in mine. Power draw never gets above 20 watts and it's faster than just about any Core2 Duo. I like to use a 5450 for the GPU, those are usually about $15 AR and lets me go with a less expensive H61 mobo.
 
Be sure to get a Z68 board over a H67 as you will need it unless you are getting a dedicated vid card for this build, also be aware that the smaller the case the more likely you will have a wind tunnel effect with many fans blowing. All looks good otherwise.
 
fastman said:
Be sure to get a Z68 board over a H67 as you will need it unless you are getting a dedicated vid card for this build.
Click to expand...

The H67 chipset allows him to use the onboard video already. So no point for the Z68. You're thinking of the P67.
 
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