Cheapest ever HTPC that's decent. Proud of myself. - Page 23

Ah. I forgot an important detail in my post. To get the price down to $20 you need to use coupon code EMCNBJF33.

Actually, you were correct the first time, I just overlooked that extra $5 off when I looked at the page and was just looking at the "after rebate" price.

 

Good pick up.

Hi guy, I'm getting a budget HTPC for my room. So...can AMD APU like E350 run 3d iso well ?

The E350 cannot do 3D

I finally got an SSD to use as my system drive.
It's a Zalman N series 128 gig.

Someone earlier in this thread said to set the controller in the BIOS to AHCI when using an SSD. In fact, the box states "Optimized for AHCI mode". However, I can't find any setting in my BIOS that shows this setting.
It shows up in Device Mgr. as Zalman N128GB ATA Device.

It also supports Windows 7 trim command, which sounds familiar, but I don't remember what that is or if it relates to HTPC use.

What motherboard are you using?

Asus M3A78-CM.

In the manual, it states: SATA Configuration. Allows you to configure SATA devices.

ONChip SATA Type: Configuration options: SATA RAID AHCI. I don't know if this is a single setting that affects all drives in the system, or each port has it's own. I'll check when I reboot.
SATA IDE Combined Mode. (When SATA IDE Combined Mode is set to disabled, SATA ports 1-4 work well in all three modes, while SATA ports 5-6 only work at RAID or AHCI mode).

I should have dug out the manual first. But should I set combined mode to enabled or disabled? Will this setting screw up my other SATA drives? I believe the SSD is on port 5 if I am not mistaken. So I'm guessing having this setting at disabled will ensure the SSD is set to AHCI?

Edit: No good. I changed the setting to AHCI, and the thing blue screens as soon as the Win 7 balls start rotating. Same thing with the RAID setting.
It did mention something about making sure to install AHCI drivers in your OS, but how do you do that if your drive isn't set to AHCI first? It's a catch-22.
Edited by leebo - 8/18/12 at 11:54am

What would you guys/gals suggest for a good silent CPU cooler? I got a hold of the Corsair H60 liquid cooler, but it sits idle at 40c and the fan is a little too loud for me. I am using an HTPC case so I'm thinking those temps are something I may have to live with, but would much prefer a quieter fan.

Yeah, this system is going on three years old. I bought the ssd because Newegg was selling it for$50 after rebate. And, as I mentioned, this system takes forever to boot.

It's significantly faster now. I was only looking into ACHI because someone here mentioned it a while back.

If I have to install Windows fresh, I'll wait till I upgrade to 8.

So, are you saying ms has a hot fix for my issue?

Thank you. What I did was clone it to the ssd, so essentially I guess the result is the same.
I will look into it tonight when I get home!

I'm sure you are correct.

The hotfix didn't work. However, I installed the drive on SATA port 5, and my BIOS says something about SATA ports 1-4 being used for AHCI, and be sure to install the driver if I'm going to use ports 5 and 6, and blah, blah.
Could be that the SSD, as my boot drive, needs to be installed on SATA ports 1 thru 4, and not on 5 or 6. I'll try changing it this weekend and cross my fingers.

Otherwise, I'm probably going to wait until I'm ready to try out Win 8. It's so much faster now than b4 I'm still enjoying it.

Well, I couldn't wait till the weekend. I switched the ports for the SSD and the old system drive (1 and 5), went in the BIOS and enabled AHCI, and now it boots! I clocked about 60 seconds from when Windows first starts to load, until the desktop with it's icons and gadgets were all displayed.
I suppose that means the AHCI driver is loaded. I don't know any way to tell for certain.

Thank you for all the info. If/when I move to Win 8 I'll install clean. I'm planning on waiting a while until it's been out and I hear enough feedback to trust it.

Was that directed to me?

I already mentioned I got it working, so I'm not sure if you're asking me or.....?

Here's the final product. I had a frame rate problem when watching some OTA SD programs & discovered there was such a thing as the 29/59 bug in WMC where the frame rate may fluctuate. Mine actually briefly jumped from 59 to 29 fps several times per minute. The suggested fix was installing a video card. So I put in a cheap HD6450 card & with the latest driver it cured the stutter. It also steadied the frame rate as displayed when using MPC-HC. So this was a double win.

I then picked up a 2nd AVerMedia Duet dual tuner card from ebay. This card has been discontinued per AVerMedia's website & I called them to confirm that. They did not know if anything would be replacing it.

I now have 4 OTA tuners & a video card. The only problem is that since installing the video card the SPDIF setting gets kicked out overnight & has to be enabled ever day. The HTPC stays in sleep mode & does not get powered off at night. So far I don't know what causes this setting to not "stick".

The video card does run hotter according to HWMonitor with the 2nd video card, which I'm presuming is reducing some of the air flow for the video card. But I guess this is typical because you cannot change the spacing between the mobo slots. So far it cost $364 which includes tax & shipping. Here's a couple photos.

Nothing new here, but I will make a comment about the cheap HTPC that I built a few months ago.

Sticking with the nature of this thread, I reused a Dell PC minitower case. Can't get any cheaper than that. I was waiting for a nice looking HTPC to go sale & figured would then get one & transfer the components.

But I've come to appreciate the Dell case tucked out of sight in the corner behind an end table. While I don't have a sexy looking HTPC to display, I also don't have a noisy one to hear, even with a cheap video card that has a fan. In fact what I hear is the Dish DVR which cannot be turned off.

Even if you bought a $20 minitower case & had to stick it in the corner there are advantages. Besides reduced noise you won't have to re-arrange all the A/V components on your shelves to make everything fit.

I think I'd go this direction

$89.95 Mini-box itx case w/ 120W pico psu and adapter ebay

$34.99 H61 ITX mobo (AR before shipping - free shipping shoprunner) newegg

$19.99 1x4GB DDR3 1600 (although I'd split up something like the recent Patriot Viper 2x4GB for $26 and essentially saving another $7) newegg

$49.99 G620 (Microcenter or PM somewhere else) Stock cooler would be a squeeze in the case (H of 64mm) but if it's not mod-able I'd go for a low pro aftermarket

$64.99 128GB Agility 4 (Microcenter after rebate or snag the next Samsung 830 for $70 deal)

I have a leftover W7 license that was <$50 or that would otherwise kill the deal. I'd probably ditch live TV and just go OpenELEC, then play the waiting game for solid XBMC live TV support to come in the future.

$260 for an OpenELEC build / or $260 + W7 license otherwise


Edit - added picture

Could trim down to a g530/$35 and 60GB Vertex2 / $30 and it would come out to $210 before software. (I'd spend the extra $50 though)

looks like stock hsf on g620 definitely won't fit

rather than $80 for g620t, I'd go for $50 g620 and $26 for this cooler newegg

could go cheaper with rosewill for $10 newegg

How do you remote the thing for viewing?

I have lots of CPU cases from the old days. I could tuck one at the end of the sofa but there would be no line-of-sight for the remote.

The Rosewill MCE remote that I got came with a USB extension cable for the IR receiver. The HTPC is hidden behind an end table and the IR receiver is sitting on the bottom shelf of the table next to some books. It is visible but barely so. In my case the end table is pretty close to the HDTV so that aiming the remote toward the HDTV still works. The supplied USB cable is only about 20" long but you can always buy a longer one if needed & hopefully place the IR receiver where it works for you.