AVS › AVS Forum › Video Components › Home Theater Computers › Guide to Building a HTPC, Workstation and Server
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Guide to Building a HTPC, Workstation and Server - Page 468

post #14011 of 18891
6/14/10 at 7:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven55 View Post

I know that I could get away with 2GB of ram, but if I be honest I might use it for other tasks as well, the only thing I'm not sure about at the moment is whether to go for 1333MHz or 1600MHz, as I mentioned in my original post, I'm not sure whether the Intel i3 530 supports up to 1600?
I may consider 2GB of ram to save some money, but if I do, I will without a doubt use the 32bit version of Windows 7.

DDR3 1333 should be enough. If you get DDR3 1600, I think it will be downclocked to 1333 by default. Besides, actual performance difference between the two will be miniscule. The main advantage of DDR3 1600 is in overclocking.
Reply
Reply

Gear mentioned in this thread:

post #14012 of 18891
6/14/10 at 8:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven55 View Post

I may consider 2GB of ram to save some money, but if I do, I will without a doubt use the 32bit version of Windows 7.

If you're just looking for safety margin and the money isn't an issue, I'd go for the 4 GB and still use 32-bit Win7. You'll still get 3 GB of available RAM, and the cost isn't very high.

Quote:


It's also handy to me that you have a similar case, as I now know I will get away without using a modular PSU and I will also take note on your comments about fan noise on the Silverstone, though mostly it will only be on when I'm listening to music or playing a movie, enough to drown them out hopefully.

I think the cases are identical with the exception of the partially hidden optical bay on the GD04. I do seem to recall that the GD04 front is solid aluminum and the GD05 is aluminum over plastic, but I could be wrong. Either way, tons of room for cables.

I don't think you'll hear the fans over a movie or music, except possibly during the quietest of passages. The note of the fan noise is low, neutral and inoffensive. On the other hand, I could clearly hear it over the full-sized refrigerator / freezer directly adjacent to it while I was building it.

Quote:


With regards to adding a Graphics card, I really hope I can avoid that task, as that was why the Intel i3 530 seemed such a good prospect. My display is a 37inch Panasonic Plasma (TH-37PX60B), so I'll keep my fingers crossed on that one and will only install a Graphics card if needed.

No harm in trying to do without it first. If you decide you want it or need it, the HIS Radeon HD 5450 Silence 512 MB DDR3 is only about $45 shipped.

Good luck with your build.

/jab
Reply
Reply
post #14013 of 18891
6/14/10 at 9:53am
Is it possible to update this???
Reply
Reply
post #14014 of 18891
6/14/10 at 10:14am
Thanks ilovejedd and JAB, I appreciate your help.

@ JAB: Before I go ahead and order the parts, how do you feel about the GIGABYTE GA-H55M-UD2H? As I was stuck between this and the ASUS P7H55-M PRO and would welcome any feedback on the choice you made.

Steven55
Reply
Reply
post #14015 of 18891
6/14/10 at 11:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JAB View Post

* I find the fans in the Silverstone too loud for my taste, although the note is inoffensive. I'm going to install a cable to drop the fans down to 7V or so. If I can't do that, I can probably live with the sound at 12V.

I've found that I can just use two out of the three fans, and both of those are running at 7V with the Nexus voltage reduction cables. Temperatures are still comfortably low, and the fan noise is now entirely acceptable.
Reply
Reply
post #14016 of 18891
6/14/10 at 12:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven55 View Post

@ JAB: Before I go ahead and order the parts, how do you feel about the GIGABYTE GA-H55M-UD2H? As I was stuck between this and the ASUS P7H55-M PRO and would welcome any feedback on the choice you made.

I have zero complaints about the GIGABYTE, except the possible lack of thermal control for the system fan and the single system fan header on the MB. The CPU fan clearly has thermal control. Maybe thermal control works for the system fan, but with three fans and one header, I never found out. BTW, splitting the power from that single header won't work; not enough juice to power the three fans. You'll need to connect them directly a 12V supply off the PSU and use a reduction cable, like gcoupe does, to reduce noise. That having been said, the GD04 / GD05 are great cases. Heat has been a non-issue at 12V, and gcoupe seems to have no problems at 7V and 2/3 of the fans.

I looked at the ASUS. The GIGABYTE is (i) slightly cheaper; (ii) has an eSATA port on the back panel, although one fewer SATA internally (5 vs. 6); (iii) has a DisplayPort on the back panel; and (iv) has a PCIe x4 slot instead of a PCIe x1 slot. If there were other factors, I didn't take notes and don't recall them.

Quote:
Originally Posted by gcoupe View Post

I've found that I can just use two out of the three fans, and both of those are running at 7V with the Nexus voltage reduction cables. Temperatures are still comfortably low, and the fan noise is now entirely acceptable.

Good to know. I appreciate the advice.
Reply
Reply
post #14017 of 18891
6/14/10 at 1:01pm
Thanks again JAB.
Reply
Reply
post #14018 of 18891
6/14/10 at 1:35pm
I'm finishing a test pvr/htpc build (Windows 7) for a family member but the catch is that they only have an sd tv right now. Any recommendations for a "newish" video card that supports tv-out via s-video, is low-profile and low power? This HD 4350 is passive and has s-video. Any thoughts? Or should I go back and look at the hd2400, 3xxx or 8400gs cards? Onboard sound will probably be fine for now. Do they even make a low-profile card with s-video and hdmi?
HTPC Build:
AMD 5050e, Biostar 760 board, 2gb ram, W7, WD 640gb Black HD,
Reply
Reply
post #14019 of 18891
6/14/10 at 2:23pm
hi

I would like to know
is it possible to use Gigabyte H55-USB3 (onboard graphic) + INTEL CORE I3 530?

i purchased H55-USB3 + INTEL CORE I3 530 but onboard graphic doesn't work

Please Direct me
Reply
Reply
post #14020 of 18891
6/14/10 at 3:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dave83 View Post

hi

I would like to know
is it possible to use Gigabyte H55-USB3 (onboard graphic) + INTEL CORE I3 530?

i purchased H55-USB3 + INTEL CORE I3 530 but onboard graphic doesn't work

Please Direct me

Read this below, I copied & pasted it from a website. Hopefully it may answer your question?

It is important to understand that with socket 1156 CPU the integrated video is produced by the processor and not by the motherboard chipset, as it occurred until now. There are processors with integrated video and processors without this feature. The board has only the interface and connectors necessary to route the video signal generated by the CPU. You can install CPUs with an integrated video processor or without, but with CPUs without a video processor you won’t have on-board video, needing an add-on video card. Of course with a processor with integrated video you still have the option to install an add-on card and disable its video engine.
Reply
Reply
post #14021 of 18891
6/14/10 at 3:26pm
@dave83

Yea it should be working. How do you have your TV or Monitor connected to the motherboard make sure you have it on the correct input.

You have the Clarkdale i3 should be working with that Motherboard. Since only the Clarkdale Chips have the iGPU
Reply
Reply
post #14022 of 18891
6/14/10 at 3:41pm
thank you BDestroyer8418 and Steven55

i connected both of video output dvi-d with converter and analog vga out
but there is no screen out.
my main board is rever(1.0) should i upgrade the bios?
the mainboard just screen out with an external graphic card
is there possibility my intel core i3 530 have problem?

please direct me ,
i had a contact with gigabyte and they told me your setup should be screen out
but my main doesn't power up and screen up ,it is screen out just with a ext graphic card
Reply
Reply
post #14023 of 18891
6/14/10 at 3:44pm
Don't do vga at same time.
Reply
Reply
post #14024 of 18891
6/14/10 at 4:02pm
What about a HTPC laptop? Seems to me that a laptop could potentially be an ideal HTPC.
Reply
Reply
post #14025 of 18891
6/14/10 at 6:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caminatr View Post

What about a HTPC laptop? Seems to me that a laptop could potentially be an ideal HTPC.

If you already had a decent laptop that you were willing to repurpose for a htpc, maybe, but I don't think they would hold up to the power and flexibility that a homebuild can give you. With a laptop, you're paying a premium for a small, portable package--everything is built for portability and weight and you pay for it. The other drawback is that you pretty much have little or no upgradability in regards to your video card and processor. You also are paying for something you're not going to use (ie laptop screen).

On the other hand, the recommended homebuilds allow tons of flexibility from form factor to specific uses. They let you splurge on the items that mean the most to you. Have a picky wife? Spend the extra on a case that looks like just another piece of stereo equipement. Want a killer gaming machine? Get the high-end graphics card and a faster processor. And right now, a simple graphics card upgrade bumps up not only the visuals but also bitstreaming audio. I think things might last a little longer, too, since you will be able to cool components better and more quietly than a laptop typically does.

Of course, this is all just my opinion based on experience from building a htpc last spring (which just got upgrades in the processor and graphics card department). I'm curious, though, if you had any laptops in mind that could hold up to a htpc without completely breaking the bank. I could see using a laptop for a htpc in a room where space is a premium and you would actually use the screen (ie. kitchen).
Reply
Reply
post #14026 of 18891
6/14/10 at 8:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven55 View Post

Thanks ilovejedd and JAB, I appreciate your help.

@ JAB: Before I go ahead and order the parts, how do you feel about the GIGABYTE GA-H55M-UD2H? As I was stuck between this and the ASUS P7H55-M PRO and would welcome any feedback on the choice you made.

Steven55

Hi Steven55,

FWIW, and to add a bit to Jab's answer, I did two builds and used both these MOBOS. The Gigabyte got the Clarkdale I5 and 8gig of memory as I felt the board was more "Futureproof" and therefore stay with the HT. I ran the I3 and 4 gig with the other board figuring at some point it would be a media server. Both are running Win7 64 bit. The Videoport was a big part of the decision for HTPC, even if I have no use for it now.

Oh, and I run the I5 with a 5670, the I3 doesn't have a dedicated GPU as it's only driving a desktop moniter.

IMO, the Gigabyte has several features that give it the nod. YMMV
Reply
Reply
post #14027 of 18891
6/14/10 at 9:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carisma View Post

Is it possible to update this???

Maybe you could say thank you to the people who work hard keeping this guide as up to date as it is, and if you have a specific question, ask it.
Reply
Reply
post #14028 of 18891
6/15/10 at 5:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tomandbeth View Post

Hi Steven55,

FWIW, and to add a bit to Jab's answer, I did two builds and used both these MOBOS. The Gigabyte got the Clarkdale I5 and 8gig of memory as I felt the board was more "Futureproof" and therefore stay with the HT. I ran the I3 and 4 gig with the other board figuring at some point it would be a media server. Both are running Win7 64 bit. The Videoport was a big part of the decision for HTPC, even if I have no use for it now.

Oh, and I run the I5 with a 5670, the I3 doesn't have a dedicated GPU as it's only driving a desktop moniter.

IMO, the Gigabyte has several features that give it the nod. YMMV

Hi tomandbeth and thanks for your post. After yours and jab's comments, I'm almost certain to get the Gigabyte board and may order all the parts tomorrow, so I can hopefully have it set up by the weekend . I'm also considering leaving out a DVD Drive as well, giving the inside of the case a bit more space and air, I will just put an old one in to get the OS installed and then remove it.

I find it a little surprising how many use the likes of the Intel i3 and still install a graphics card, I thought that the CPU's graphics should be good enough? I will try it without a dedicated graphics card and if I feel the video on my TV is lacking a bit, I will probably add a 5670 as you have.

Cheers again.
Reply
Reply
post #14029 of 18891
6/15/10 at 1:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven55 View Post

Hi tomandbeth and thanks for your post. After yours and jab's comments, I'm almost certain to get the Gigabyte board and may order all the parts tomorrow, so I can hopefully have it set up by the weekend . I'm also considering leaving out a DVD Drive as well, giving the inside of the case a bit more space and air, I will just put an old one in to get the OS installed and then remove it.

I find it a little surprising how many use the likes of the Intel i3 and still install a graphics card, I thought that the CPU's graphics should be good enough? I will try it without a dedicated graphics card and if I feel the video on my TV is lacking a bit, I will probably add a 5670 as you have.

Cheers again.

How much noise do you think a 5670 would add? I'm looking at a similar setup but am considering a 5450 with passive cooling instead to keep the noise low.
Reply
Reply
post #14030 of 18891
6/15/10 at 2:43pm
I'm new to this myself, but below is a post from renethx. I'm sure he knows a bit more than I do

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...ostcount=13574
Reply
Reply
post #14031 of 18891
6/15/10 at 2:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dethread View Post

How much noise do you think a 5670 would add? I'm looking at a similar setup but am considering a 5450 with passive cooling instead to keep the noise low.

I have a Sapphire 5670 and a HIS 5670 and both are silent in my HTPCs
Reply
Reply
post #14032 of 18891
6/15/10 at 3:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dethread View Post

How much noise do you think a 5670 would add? I'm looking at a similar setup but am considering a 5450 with passive cooling instead to keep the noise low.

Why not just go with a fanless option for no noise?
HIS has a HD 5570 that's fanless for $83, seen here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161342

and Gigabyte has a HD 5750 for $150 here if you're a gamer:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125328
Reply
Reply
post #14033 of 18891
6/15/10 at 3:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric Porter View Post

Is anyone successfully using the 20 HDD Rack Mount System II in post # 13100 with Windows Home Server for streaming Blu-Ray rips?

I put this together a couple of weeks back and picked up Samsung 2tb F3EG drives and have been having problems watching anything with HD Audio without getting stalls and dropouts. No problems streaming DVD Rips and HD TV I have recorded and I can stream from my Win7 computers so I have pretty much ruled out my network as the issue.

The build again for this setup is:

# Case: NORCO RPC-4220 4U EATX/ATX (20 x SATA/SAS drive bay)
# PSU: Corsair TX750W CMPSU-750TX 750W,
# CPU: Athlon II X2 240 ADX240OCGQBOX 2.8GHz AM3,
# CPU Cooler: Stock Cooler,
# Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA785GT-UD3H AM3 AMD 785G chipset ATX,
# Memory: G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-2GBNQ DDR3-1600 2 x 2GB Kit,
# Graphics: Radeon HD 4200 (integrated in the chipset),
# HBA: Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 8-port SATA Controller PCI Express x4 Card,
# HBA: Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 8-port SATA Controller PCI Express x4 Card,
# Cable: 0.5m SFF-8087 to Four SATA Reverse Breakout Cable (e.g. 3ware CBL-SFF8087OCR-05M or Norco C-SFF8087-4S),
# Cable: 0.5m SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 Cable (e.g. 3ware CBL-SFF8087-05M or Norco C-SFF8087-D),
# Cable: 0.5m SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 Cable (e.g. 3ware CBL-SFF8087-05M or Norco C-SFF8087-D),
# Cable: 0.5m SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 Cable (e.g. 3ware CBL-SFF8087-05M or Norco C-SFF8087-D),
# Cable: 0.5m SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 Cable (e.g. 3ware CBL-SFF8087-05M or Norco C-SFF8087-D),
# OS HDD: WD Scorpio Black WD3200BEKT 320GB SATA 3.0Gbps mobile 7200 RPM,

I'm also having another problem with the hard drives dropping out of the storage pool when transferring large files like DVD and Blu-Ray rips. This is only happening to the drives attached to the supermicro cards. I've been trying to troubleshoot this thing for almost a week and it is really starting to frustrate me.

This could be your issue as some of the WD drives need to be set correctly and the symptoms are dropping out of the RAID arrays.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-Li...Error_Recovery
Reply
Reply
post #14034 of 18891
6/15/10 at 5:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dethread View Post

How much noise do you think a 5670 would add? I'm looking at a similar setup but am considering a 5450 with passive cooling instead to keep the noise low.

With the top off I can hear the HIS 5670 up to about 2-3 feet. With the top on it is almost silent. The Windows score of the 5400 is below my 4670 or the other build I3 running without a dedicated GPU.

Everything is a tradeoff. The I5 with Gigabyte board, 4 sticks of ram, 2 hard drives and the 5670 gives me a Speedfan reading of 110F, which is 30 degrees above ambient (I use Ren's HTPC recommended case.) The I3 build without the GPU runs 5 degrees cooler. A smaller case is going to affect these numbers.

And I might sound like a cheerleader, but if you guys want the list maintained, send a contribution. I KNOW I wouldn't have had the courage to build my own without this list. I learned a lot by reading posts and making mistakes along the way
Reply
Reply
post #14035 of 18891
6/15/10 at 6:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dethread View Post

How much noise do you think a 5670 would add? I'm looking at a similar setup but am considering a 5450 with passive cooling instead to keep the noise low.

Everything with a fan adds noise. The question is whether the total noise produced by the box is noticeable. A single cricket isn't very loud, but a few thousand crickets in a cove of trees produce a racket you can hear from inside a house.

The trade-offs are time vs. money vs. performance vs. power consumption, heat, and noise. The last three almost always come together and are difficult to avoid without hurting performance. Even a fanless GPU is dumping heat into a case, and that heat must be evacuated. A more powerful GPU dumps more heat, both from its direct consumption of power and the inefficiency of the PSU delivering that power. Any heat that doesn't escape by convection, must be removed by a fan somewhere in the case.

So, it's a balancing act. The balancing act becomes more difficult if any of the components is more powerful than it needs to be to perform its minimum necessary functions. Sometimes, you can both increase performance and decrease noise, but that often involves money.

An ATI Radeon HD5450 is by all accounts perfectly capable of performing 1080p deinterlacing and audio bitstreaming as well as any other ATI GPU. It consume less power, produces less heat, is quieter, and costs less money than any solution other than an iGPU. It looks like a reasonable tradeoff.

However, if you need video post-processing features (e.g., noise removal, detail enhancement) and deinterlacing, then HD5670 would be another good tradeoff. A HD5570 might be a better trade-off, but I haven't seen many reviews. Unless you need gaming performance, anything more powerful is pointless.
Reply
Reply
post #14036 of 18891
6/16/10 at 1:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tomandbeth View Post

Hi Steven55,

FWIW, and to add a bit to Jab's answer, I did two builds and used both these MOBOS. The Gigabyte got the Clarkdale I5 and 8gig of memory as I felt the board was more "Futureproof" and therefore stay with the HT. I ran the I3 and 4 gig with the other board figuring at some point it would be a media server. Both are running Win7 64 bit. The Videoport was a big part of the decision for HTPC, even if I have no use for it now.

Oh, and I run the I5 with a 5670, the I3 doesn't have a dedicated GPU as it's only driving a desktop moniter.

IMO, the Gigabyte has several features that give it the nod. YMMV

it's solved ,h55 should be bios update to F5

all intel core i3 integrated with graphic

thank you all for info
Reply
Reply
post #14037 of 18891
6/16/10 at 9:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tomandbeth View Post

The Windows score of the 5400 is below my 4670 or the other build I3 running without a dedicated GPU.

Hi tomandbeth, I assume you are talking about the Windows Experience Index above and would be interested to know what the scores are on your 2 dedicated GPU's. I should be building mine tomorrow and have not yet decided whether to stick with the Intel i3 graphics or get a dedicated one, so your scores will be useful for me to compare the difference and see how much better I could do.

Thanks
Reply
Reply
post #14038 of 18891
6/16/10 at 11:14am
Unless the Windows Experience Index is measuring the ability to play 1080p video, I'm not sure it matters much.

There are other reasons to choose a separate GPU over the iGPU. For example, the iGPU still can't do proper 24p, if you need or want it.
Reply
Reply
post #14039 of 18891
6/16/10 at 3:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven55 View Post

Hi tomandbeth, I assume you are talking about the Windows Experience Index above and would be interested to know what the scores are on your 2 dedicated GPU's. I should be building mine tomorrow and have not yet decided whether to stick with the Intel i3 graphics or get a dedicated one, so your scores will be useful for me to compare the difference and see how much better I could do.

Thanks

The I5 system is all 7.0 or higher except for Data Xfr rate, which is 5.9
(WD 640 Blue- AAKS) I have just rec'd the 640 Black - AALS) just to see if it'll bump the score up.idle curiosity and I wanted to move the second hard drive in this build anyway.. I'll use the Acronis image tool from WD (free- from WD) and make the black drive primary.

The black drive did not change the Window score, Nor operating temp

The I3, IIRC, was also limited by the WD Blue drive. That's in another room and this lazyboy feels really good ;-)

The 4670 card went into an older desktop running a dual core 6300. In THAT build I believe the 2 gig of very old RAM ito be my bottle neck.

Save your money on the dedicated GPU until you see if you really need it (JABs post). But be sure to mosey over to the MOBO website and get the latest drivers.
I did install the auto updater from the MOBO disk but dumped it after a while. It isn't that hard to bookmark the website and check for drivers now and then.
Reply
Reply
post #14040 of 18891
6/17/10 at 4:39am
I put a Sapphire 5670 into my son's computer. It has a pretty large, low speed fan that is inaudible more than a few inches away. The advantage to a fan is makes choosing and configuring a case simpler and less concerns about ambient air temps, because thermal loads are less of an issue.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Home Theater Computers

Gear mentioned in this thread:

AVS › AVS Forum › Video Components › Home Theater Computers › Guide to Building a HTPC, Workstation and Server