Guide to Building a HTPC, Workstation and Server - Page 527

Did you miss my question Rene? I am still hoping you will reply with some advice on multi-channel audio via the ATI 4670.

-Mark

Is there any differences (image quality, speed, perhaps something else) between iGPU (Intel Core i3) and discrete GPU when playing back video and general usage (using applications, browsing internet) (not gaming)?

Thanks for the reply! I have loaded the latest Catalyst Software Suite, and at this point I am getting some multi-channel sound, but there are still some problems. I don't think SageTV is the problem because I get similar results with all of the players installed on the machine, including SageTV, Windows Media Center, ArcSoft, XBMC, and WinTV.

Is there a software tool that I can use to verify that all of the drivers/codecs/filters/decoders/etc. are properly installed and configured? How about some good test material?

so i ordered the ASUS P5G41C-M LX LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

it doesnt come with an hmdi port so waht is reccomended i do to hook it up to the tv? my tv doesnt have vga so is a vga to hdmi converter a good idea?

Either cancel your order and go with a motherboard with HDMI or get a separate video card. I definitely wouldn't recommend going with a VGA to HDMI converter - that would likely result in lots of hassles including DRM / HDCP problems (you most likely wouldn't have much luck playing Blu-rays, would probably run into problems if you wanted to use a Cable Card tuner, etc.).

thanks babe. went with the

PowerColor Go! Green AX5450 1GBK3-SH Radeon HD 5450 (Cedar) 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready

good card?

Babe? That's a new one - never been called that before...


It should be fine for most / all HTPC uses.

lol my coworker calls me babe and its taking me over!

p.s i orderd a ASUS P5G41C-M LX LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel motherboard. it doesnt come with wireless does it? i am so used to laptops now lol

With a desktop all you need is a simple dongle in one of the USB ports to get wireless. As an example, Newegg had an "N" version for 10-15 bucks today.

Anyone know of a good CPU-cooler for Gigabytes GA-H55N-USB3 board? The cooler that came with my i3 CPU is too loud. Or is there a way to limit fanspeed and noise?

It looks to be extremely tight considdering I'm using both memory slots aswell as the PCI-E slot, maybe one of those angeled coolers could fitt?

Thanks, what utility is it? Is it the Energysaver2? That doesn't seem to do anything for me.

Hello!

will GTX 580 GPU really fit into 'NSK 2480 - EC' case? Especially card height? I am not so worried about card length as there is empty place at the back by removing that metal partition.
Why i am for this case, because i want MicroATX and i am limited by 15cm in height in my desk..

Thanks for any opinions!

I want to clone the HDMI out (using the DVI out) on my ATI 4550 to my old crt tv's in my house.

The video card will only clone using 1 resolution. So I purchased a device that converts 1920x1080 into a composite output for television. The problem is that whenever I connect anything to the DVI on the video card the max resolution available to all the displays drops to 1600x760 (or something). Why does the available resolution drop whenever I connect anything else?

I suspect its because the video card will only allow whatever the max resolution the display device can handle is....is there any way around this? Ive tried a usb video card secondary output (that does 1920x1080) But that seems to have the same issue...it will only output whatever resolution they think the display can handle..any ideas on how to get around this?

good stuff! Thanks!
but did you mention about card heatsink or cpu's one? this card has no pipes coming out of the top as gtx 480 does have. Visually it looks like there is still some space available between case top cover and card top to be able to plug power cables?! or if it does not fit then maybe some angle connector for card power cable can help me there?
thanks!

Ok thanks, I'll try to get those working then.

Adding a HTPC seemed redundant. And with a Playstation 3 in the loop, sporting its almost instant-on and rich audio/video playbackthere is almost no reason to power on a PC and wait it to boot up into a Media Center environmentuntil now.

I've ordered a new Ceton InifiniTV4 cable card tuner, and want to rebuild my HTPC to utilize the new card and Windows 7. My current set up is about 5 years old:

MSI K9N Platinum motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850e 2.5GHz cpu
ICE ATI HD 4670 video card
3GB DDR2 800 RAM
Cosair 520W power supply
OrigenAE X11 rev. 1 case w/ VFD&IR & rev. 2 HD cage case
Mitsumi floppy w/ USB 2.0 card reader built in
Seagate 160GB (OS/docs)
WD GP 750GB (videos)
WD GP 1TB (videos)
LG GGC-H20L BD/HD player/DVD Burner
Hauppauge PVR-500 MCE NTSC tuner (PCI)
DVICO FusionHDTV Lite ATSC tuner (PCI)
Vbox Cat's Eye 150 ATSC tuner (PCI)
Avner M780 dual NTSC & ATSC tuner (PCIe)

It’s running XP Pro w/ SP3 with SageTV 6, and feeds via HDMI a Pioneer Elite VSK-21TXH receiver then to my wall mounted Samsung LN46C630 46" LCD.

I plan on reusing the case, power supply, larger hard drives, optical drive, and the M780 tuner. I already have a Kingston SSD for the OS. I don't plan on reusing the floppy drive, or the PCI tuners.

I’m torn between going with an Intel i3/i5 system or an AMD Athlon X4 635/640. The quad core appeals to me because I want to do some streaming to my iPhone and placeshifting in SageTV, both of which rely on the HTPC to do the transcoding. But with the i3/i5 there is the possibility of using the onboard GPU – but I’m just not confidant in its ability to playback Blu-ray… I’ve also thought about moving up to a 5770 (one with a cooler that blows air out the back of the case – it needs it) to get bitstreaming audio, so I’d loose the slot next to the video card slot. With the Ceton, M780, and an HVR-2250 I have, I need 3 PCIe slots besides the video card slot. The Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H looks like it might fit my needs, but again, unsure about the onboard video. Can it be linked to a 5770 via the CrossFireX hybrid graphics?

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Mike

[quote=zicoz;19650725]Anyone know of a good CPU-cooler for Gigabytes GA-H55N-USB3 board? The cooler that came with my i3 CPU is too loud. Or is there a way to limit fanspeed and noise?

It looks to be extremely tight considdering I'm using both memory slots aswell as the PCI-E slot, maybe one of those angeled coolers could fitt?


I disagree with the statement that an aftermarket cooler is useless with the i3 on this board. I was building a very small case and had serious heat and noise issues with the stock cooler. To make matters worse, EasyTune was causing horrendous beeping artifacts on my audio. If you look at the overhead view, any cooler with a fan over 9 cm(stock) will likely block the PCI-E slot. I am not using the slot so I went with a low profile cooler with 12 cm fan(Big Shuriken). Silverstone makes a fan which looks exactly like the stock fan, but uses a different fan and components. The problem is it hasn't performed better in head to head testing.

Thanks, I hadn't thought of putting the video card in a different slot.

I was looking at the Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H and realized it didn't have a eSATA port on the back panel. I'm thinking I might one one if I get a 4 or 5 HDD enclosure/port multiplier. Is there a different motherboard that would give me 4 PCIe slots and a eSATA port in the back? or just use a PCI eSATA card?

hi all,

i am putting together a new htpc build this week, and wondering if you guys run any tests on your new systems to make sure they are stable and don't have any issues?

here's my new build:

CM Elite 330 Case
Corsair 430 PSU
Athlon II X4 640 CPU
ASUS 790 Mobo
G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB DDR3 1600
Asus 24x DVDRW
Kingston SSDNOW 64GB SSD
Samsung F4 2TB HD x2
Sapphire Radeon 5670 Video Card
Win 7 Ultimate 64

Why the 5670 vs 5770? and will putting it in the x8 slot affect performance?

Anyone have any ideas? I need to mirror my 1920x1080 output to a device I have that converts it to a CRT TV format. But nothing works, is this possible?