Show Your HTPC Setup - Page 13

I was looking at this case mainly for the removeable drive system in the front. I emailed Zalman to see if extra "cartridges" were available. They never replied... I could not find any on their site. Have you been able to find any?
Thanks, Steve

No I have not. I know that I could switch out a different HDD in the same tray in under a minute - it is truly tool-less. And, compared to fitting the internal drives, this was quite quick. Having a spare would be nice, as I will likely lose this one, or break it. I see they market a 3 bay HDD enclosure with removable trays (ZM-HDR1), but the front end is different. I would expect the connections to align, but its $50 for essentially three spares. Maybe someone else can confirm if these fit.

FYI - Mike

Basic HTPC build, mostly for casual big screen gaming...

CoolerMaster Elite 360 case (cheap & ugly but for $40 you can't complain )
3.2Ghz dual core AMD
MSI 785 mobo
Radeon 5750 (can't fit anything more powerful/bigger in case)
2 gig kingston ddr2
500gb 7200 rpm sataII HD
ASUS dvd-rw sata optical drive
Antec true power 480w ps

*other than OS I threw it together for right around $300 by searching around for the best deals and buying some stuff used. Will add another 2 gig of mem and a blu ray drive when I come across a solid deal.

Didn't think to take pics during build .




My sig has pics of what it's used on, 120" 1080p front projection set-up.

Gaming pc is in media/gaming room with a 3.4Ghz quad and a radeon 4890 hooked to a 24" LG monitor and a 50" Samsung 3D plasma.

Jason

very nice for $300... we ended up taking out our dvd drive after never using it (and preferring the look of the case without the drive inserted)

Toshiba 46XV645U 46" HDTV

Pinnacle Microburst 6000 5.1 Speaker System

Pioneer VSX-820-K 5.1 Receiver

OmniMount Gemini 1 Speaker Stand

Z-Line Stealth Flat Panel TV Stand w/ Integrated Mount

HTPC: AMD Athlon II X2 250 3.0 GHZ / Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H RT / Samsung Blu-ray SH-B083L / ASUS EAH4350 Radeon HD 4350 / Kingston HyperX 2GB / Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB / Apevia X-Master Red Computer Case

Shop at Dania, do we?

Samsung 42LN550
Asus A8N SLI Premium, Athlon 64 X2 3800, 3GB
1TB Caviar Green, 2 x 250GB Samsung Spinpoint
ATI HD Wonder, Vista View Saber DA-1N1-E, PVR-150,
Antec Sonata ll, Windows 7-64 bit
Nmedia HTPCKB-B RF wireless keyboard and remote
Logitech Z5000 5.1 speakers
Zenith Silver Sensor clone antenna mounted on old torchiere.

+1 very cool idea.

Hey,

as i finally got it all smooth running with major tweakings inside/outside i thought to post some pics.

Stuff Used:

HTPC: Silverstone gd05 with c2d e6750/asrock p43me 4gb ddr2 900Mhz + hd5750 + 1.5TB HDD + enermax modu 82+ 525W ( both heatpipe coolers bended to fit the case.) System windows 7 64bit

Receiver: Marantz sr6004 for speakers.

LCD TV: Philips phl8404/12 (Amblight i love it)

Speakers: Anthony Gallo Reference 3.1+Strada Center+Adiva'ti rears.
Subwoofer: Reference 3.1's second voice coils powered with xtz sub amp and rechorn b-2 active subsonic filter.

TV/AV Stand: icon aero 4250+

Total wat usage of system under load: 300-400W
at idle when lcd turned of listening music: 100+W
only computer idling: 60w

PICS:







Chheers and big thanks for all the help i've got!

My Home Theater
Pioneer VSX-1020-K (A fine match for efficient Klipsch Heritage)
Technics SL-J3 turntable, Behringer phono preamp
Speakers
Front mains-Klipsch Cornwall 84' (Re-capped in 2012)
Front Heresy I's 77' (Gave to my Little bro, He loves em.)
Center-DIY Heresy II part based center. (PolkCS350-LS= RETIRED) (See, Heritage center project for plans and pics)
Side surround-Polk FXi50 (dipole) [Soon to be replaced with RS-52's]
Front Height-Klipsch SS.5 (dipole)
Sub-Energy encore8 (Mid bass)
DIY Sonosub LLT Sonotube 24"x54", 14.5hz, 800w 15in Dayton TitanicIII Using REW and a Behringer BFD for bass management. Powered by a Peavey CS800x 1200w at 4ohms bridged.

Dell 4200 Plasma (good for now 3D passive LED/LCD next move)
Nintendo Wii

Home built HTPC in a Silverstone case/AMD Phenom x3 3ghz /8gig ram/2.5 tb hard drive/Nvidia 260GTX HDCP OC/Gigabyte mobo onboard optical connection to Receiver. LG WH12LS30021117 Blu-ray burner

Software in use, Win7 Ultimate MCE with ANYDVD HD, My Movies4 & JRiverMC17, G-force and Whitecap eye candy.
Storage, 100 disc DVD DSS Dischub and 2.5 TB of external SATA storage.
Control, Harmony 880, Dell Gyration media center remote, Microsoft media center keyboard, Rii wireless keyboard (get one), Insteon 2412n lighting control and a iPad2 to alternatively run most of it.

Wanted a Vintage Klipsch speaker system from the start, the room should be bigger but It's got WOW factor like the theater. (sound wise) Planning Klipsch RS rears for 2012 Thank's Craigslist/eBay for the great speaker deals $600 total.

WAF "Thumbs Up"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25046782@N07/4848100933/

What an awesome TV stand. I like the rest of the system, too. So clean and uncluttered. I'll try to post some photos of ours, perhaps this weekend.

Excellent choice for sound! I have three Heresy III's up front, and two Heresy I's in the back, with a Epik Knight monster sub and Onkyo 805. I bought the heresy I's 25 years ago in high school.

I bought a Sammy 52 inch 120hz LCD model LN650A in April 2008. I never tried to hook it up to my pc becasue my pc was old. I ordered a new PC that should be here next week, and I didnt think about the HTPC thing until i came here tonight.

I have no clue what else I need to convert my new super pc to a HTPC to use with this Sammy LCD tv? This is the computer I ordered.

I7-930 cpu
asus p6x58-e
gtx 460 1 gb
corsair dominator 3x2 gb 6 total
intel 80 gb SDD
wd 1 tb 64 cache sata 3 storage drive
corsair 750 psu
liquid cooling
nxzt tempest evo case

I overclock my pc's and this set up will do 4ghz is the tv as good as a monitor for pc use? is my tv good enough?

I have Samsung 52LNA550 (also posted photos here on the earlier pages), been using it as an HTPC monitor (blu-ray playback,media center,online streaming,basic PC stuff blu-ray ripping etc.) for a long time now I don't see any reason why your TV should not be good enough and it has better specs.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2504678...7624667178572/

Thanks...

Love it! I'm already using media browser, diamond theme (thanks to GreenEyez). where do you get the 7MC black desert theme? did you use Media center studio?

I do indeed use Media Center Studio. I use "Black Desert" (do a google image search) for both my desktop wallpaper, and the "background" image in MCS. I did customize the image a bit to match my Sony Bravia TV. The theme is quite large, but I'll post the PNG image on Flicker for you.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25046782@N07/4866313949/
Thanks for the compliment!
Steve

I only found it in 1078x768 max (and a guy wielding a Barrett M82 came up on the image search, lol). How does it look on your Bravia (46 inch if i remember correctly) at this resolution, does it look pixelated from close up ?

PS : True Blood "rulz"

Here is our system - note the HTPC in the second picture below. I'll post some more later, including system build.

Here is some more:

The HTPC: I replaced the blu-ray drive that came with the player with the LG combo drive that can play HD-DVD as well.




Intel ITX board and DC-DC power supply. Behind the optical drive is a 500 GB notebook drive (5400). Perfect for the OS, photos, music, and recorded TV; movies are on the server, which is off most of the time.





Note how I oriented the board so I can use the back panel. Currenly only the digital outputs are connected, but analog ones can be easily connected as well.




The only mods I had to make on the back panel was to cut holes for USB and Ethernet. Short cables lead to the board.




Here is the power brick minus the plastic case. The green board next to the optical drive is the Microsoft IR receiver. The IR sensor is on the front panel.

DJ, great "case mod". What a great use of a 1st gen BD player!
Very nice system too!

GreenEyez, my system scales the Black_Desert picture very well. Try using it as the "background" in your titanium & silver theme.

Yep that's a slick case mod there DJ, very stealth!

Jason

Here's a couple image's of my htpc setup, still running of an older vizio tv from 09' because I'm in college and saving lol. But, I am currently in the market for a tv right now to compliment my setup, right now I'm looking at the new Panasonic Vt25's, The Laservue L75-A91's, or going with the best bang for the buck with the Mits 738/838 series. My rig consists of

Corsair Obsidian 800d chasis
Evga x58 3x Sli Classified
Intel Core i7 960 oc'd to 3.8ghz, waisted money on the 960 because of the overclock... But oh well lol.
2x Ati Radeon 5870's in crossfire
6gb ddr3 ram
2x300gb Western Digital VelociRaptors in raid 0
1x 1tb Western Digital HDD
Waterblocks chipset blocks, and the reservoir is by swiftech.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/...&ref=fbx_album

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/...&ref=fbx_album

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/...&ref=fbx_album

Just finished mine, with the exception of a few minor things.


I just finished, figured I'd share a few pics:

Case: nMEDIAPC Red Wood Wood/Steel HTPC 8000 ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

Processor: Intel Pentium Dual-Core E6500 Wolfdale 2.93GHz (stock cooler)

Motherboard: EVGA 132-CK-NF79-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI ATX Intel

Power supply: COOLER MASTER GX Series RS650-ACAAE3-US 650W ATX12V v2.31 80 PLUS

Memory: Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) 6-6-6-20

Video cards (SLI): 2 x PNY GeForce 9600 GT 1GB GDDR3

Optical drive 1: LG Black 10X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Disc Combo Model CH10LS20K

Optical drive 2: X-box 360 HD DVD external drive

Hard drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB (adding another 2TB drive in the near future)

Wireless card: Zonet ZEW1605 802.11g Wireless PCI Adapter

Remote: Lenovo Multimedia Remote with Keyboard (Black)

Now I just need a good TV tuner and I'm set!

Nice Job, very similar to my project as linked below:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...032&highlight=

Thanks, guys. Doing these kinds of things is as much fun for me as enjoying the finished system, if not even more.

gmanhdtv, I am well aware of your build, as a matter of fact, I had studied it in detail, but decided to do it slightly differently. I have to say that yours is neater and more complete. I am far less active on the forum since our move last summer, and I saw the thread long after the discussion had stopped, so I didn't comment there, but thought I could always PM you if I had questions. Have you had a chance to work on the S500 as you had mentioned?

I wanted an HTPC w/as few components as possible, hopefully to cut down on sound and heat. The plan is to stream my media through the computer in the back (which has two TB just for movies/TV shows, as I'm a Blu-Ray fanatic. I'm also a casual gamer.) So:



Case: Zalman HD135

Mobo: Asus P5QPL-AM, although I just ordered a Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L. Not sure if I'm actually going to need it, however. From what I understand, I will need a different motherboard in order to get better sound, and since this is going to be the entertainment center in my living room, I think I have to upgrade to a full ATX. (The current setup doesn't allow for a separate sound card, thanks to the video card cooler I just HAD to get.)

Processor: Intel Core Duo 2 E8400 @ 3.0GHz

RAM: G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2-SDRAM 800 (PS2-6400)

Video card: GeForce 9800 GT. Video is currently set up as DVI to DVI.

Monitor: Westinghouse 47" 1080p LCD Monitor LVM-47W1

Hard drive: Toshiba MK1649GSY 160GB @ 7200 RPM.

Optical drive: ATAPI BD O DH4O3S. It's the replacement Blu-Ray drive that was in my old HP Entertainment computer.

PSU: Raidmax 630W. I only got it b/c it's modular & game w/a $40 rebate (that I never got, of course).

TV tuner: Hauppauge Win-TV-HVR-850

Wireless card: Netgear WNA1100

Put it all together...



A very plain setup for a very plain person.

Currently using Microsoft Remote Keyboard, model 1044. I hate this thing ever-so-very much. What I really want is a wireless keyboard w/backlit keys, so any suggestions there would be greatly appreciated.

Ordered some new kit - several things drove the selection of components but I think there's some overkill in this list. (Clarkdale vs Nvidia GT240 and 8GB vs 4GB RAM). My priorities were quiet and large storage for TV/movies.

I currently have a PC I've been using WMC with but wanted a storage upgrade after I received my Ceton. The upgrade got out of control and I ended up ordering parts for a completely new PC.

Case: Silverstone Crown CW02 Black
Motherboard: Asus P7H57D-V
CPU: Intel i5 760
Memory: 2x GSkill 2x2GB kit, F3-10666CL7D-4GB
Video: Asus ENGT240 Silent Nvidia GT240
Cooler: Thermalright HR-01 Plus with 120mm duct (from existing system)
Storage: 6x Western Digital 2GB AV-GP WD20EVDS
PSU: SeaSonic 650W X650 Gold
Remote: Gyration (from existing system, may use supplied remote)
Keyboard: Logitech Playstation Bluetooth keyboard (from existing system)
Bluetooth: generic (from existing system)
Tuner: Ceton InfiniTV
Disc: LG Blu-ray/HD-DVD combo (from existing system)

The disks will be RAID5'ed with Intel's software for a total of 10TB of space.

There are only two fans (may use two additional 92mm fans if need be) 120mm CPU exhaust and 120+mm on the power supply.

I could do without the knobs on the front of the case and I'd prefer exposed USB ports (for Bluetooth). Unfortunately this is the only case with 6+ 3.5" disks and 120mm exhaust fan.

The edge connected SATA ports on the motherboard might end up being an issue in the case.

Should be quiet but if noise turns into an issue I'll put the system elsewhere and use an Xbox 360 4GB as an extender.

It took a lot of research to find a suitable case that has the potential to be quiet. Will post a pic or two when built.

Here are some pictures of my setup, pardon the carpet and baseboards, we just moved in here about a year ago. It's slowly getting to the top of the house hold upgrade list :-) The pictures are not that great since I just snapped them with my phone.

My HTPC doubles as a gaming PC.

It's specs are:
intel Core i7 860
ati HD 5850 (great for bit streaming HD audio and 24p output)
4gb ram
2x 2tb hard drives for media
1x 650gb hdd for other items

I use mediaportal as the media front end. With the streamed mp skin and moving pictures plugin.

My reciever is a Onkyo TX-SR607. It is hooked up to a Panasonic AE4000u projector. The screen is 100" and made by visual apex.