New HTPC Acquired Athlon 64 / Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H

Here's what i got:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 CPU

Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/...=GA-MA69GM-S2H
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/...m-s2h_amd_690/

A-Data 2GB PC800 DDR


AVerMedia PCI-Express x1 NTSC/ATSC Combo Card

AVerMedia PCI MCE 180A (from my old HTPC)

SAMSUNG SpinPoint T 400GB 7200 SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

nMEDIAPC HTPC 200BA MicroATX Media Center / HTPC Desktop Case



Rosewill RD400-2-SB 400W ATX PS

LITE-ON LH-20A1L-06 DVD Recorder (With that freaky lightscribe stuff)

I think that i may give vista a trial run on this box but more than likely i'll just install my copy of MCE on it. I really need this box to work and be stable.

My old HTPC has heat issues currently. It also only has two little fans in the back, but to compound matters it's got 4 PCI cards and a mini PSU and the case has almost no ventalation.

I'm hoping that this new one will be ok. Allong with the two 60mm fans in the back there is also an 80mm fan up front near the hard drive. Also I have a full sized PSU with a big 120mm fan. Pluss this case has vent holes on both sides and a little duct up top to duct CPU cooling from the outside.

On top of that this box will have fewer cards with the video and audio integrated. I also have a PCIe ATSC/NTSC card which will replace two cards from the other system. I think that i'll be able to get away with only two expansion cards which will be really nice.

If I do have cooling issues i'll probably put in two 120mm fans in the sides of the case. With that small mATX board i think that there may be enough room for that if i get creative.

I got mine setup this weekend. All in all it went pretty smooth. Nice and painless. I love this motherboard.

I was looking to build a more modern HTPC (to be able to play x.264 content smoothly) and in looking around i stumbled accross that board. I really, really, really, really did NOT want an AMD CPU but i couldnt find any other board close to this one in spec or price. I got the MB and a 5000+ CPU and 2GB of memory for around 260 dollars. That just boggles my mind.

The thing is completly easy to setup. I downloaded the latest drivers (which i highly recomend you do early because the gigabyte website was absurdly slow to download). When i got it running i installed MCE 2k5, drivers for everything, the NVDVD codec, the CCCP codec pack (**CoreAVC or whatever can kiss my butt. ) and AC3Filter. I ran through a couple of configuration screens and then lugged the box into the theater. Connected it to the projector and was prepared to fight a long extended war to get everything working but to my utter amazement it all worked perfecty. 5.1 digital dolby via spdif from wmv files, DTS streamed just fine from DVD's 2 channel audio plays in stereo, and MKV's work perfectly.

So far i'm quite pleased.

I went out and bought CoreAVC last week and just to be sure that it would work i installed it on my desktop PC to test it out. Then last friday i took the day off so that i could have a good amount of time to build the new HTPC. I built the box and got ready to install CoreAVC and BAM, already registered. I had to create a ticket with their help desk and they'd "get back with me" when they didnt in a couple of hours i got irate and just deleted the crap and installed CCCP.

Appearently they have now removed the absurd copy protection so i guess i'm going to try to uninstall the parts of CCCP (i may need to say a prayer first) and then i'll do what you have done. That should be all i need as well.

It did have a component connector. I think that it takes up a slot opening on the back of the case. I run DVI-D so unfortunately i didnt test it but it is there.

I'm not sure about DX10, i'm running 2k5 and dont game on this box.

And my CPU was the retail boxed version so it came with the fan. My old HTPC had a nice aftermarket one because the one that came with that P4 was very noisy but this one seems quieter. Actually, the case temp sensor actually connects inline with the CPU fan to vary the speed based on case temp. I think that the motherboard drivers may also have a similar feature.

On, i'm not sure if this is your thing but i have been testing it with mkv files that my 3.4ghz P4 stammered on and so far it's been perfect. I've even tried 2 1080p ones and both seemed to work well. CPU usage is in the 35~40% range.

I did.

I'm new to PCIe too. Would there have been any reason to put it in the 16x slot?

I've read people say that the north bridge gets hot but... shrug... i've never stuck my finger in there with it running. The CPU and internal case temps are usually about 95/91 respectively. Not sure about the chipset. It does not have a fan on it though. I for one am glad that it dosent. My last htpc had a fan on the chipset and it gummed up and died as those POS little fans always do. When they die or get noisy i usually just take them off and goComando anyway.

So... i may not be the best authority on keeping a chipset cool.