Guide to Building a HTPC, Workstation and Server - Page 615

My intention is to build a future proof; Ivybridge ready Sandybridge system.

Upcoming Ivybridge CPUs will be supported on existent H61, H67 and Z68 platforms with a BIOS update. My choice will be in favor of Intel Z68 (B3).

And motherboard should have PCI E third-generation expansion ports since future GPUs will take full advantage of PCI-E 3.0. (G3)
http://micro.msi.com/mc2/features_peg3.php

-FYI, MSI only supports G3 on their H61 and Z68 cards:
http://event.msi.com/mb/22nm/

Furthermore, only Z68 from the Sandy family supports SRT. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Response_Technology)

Finally, I have almost decided to this configuration:

Mobo: MSI Z68A-GD55 (G3)

CPU: Intel Core i3 2130 (I may change it with an Ivybridge CPU later.)

CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Frio advanced CPU cooler.

Memory: GSkill 8GB (2*4GB) RipjawsX DDR3 1600 MHz Ram

GPU: iGpu (I may use my existent nVidia card later.)

SSD: OCZ 60GB Vertex3 series SATA 3.0 SSD (for system)

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA 3.0 64MB Cache HDD (for storage)

OS: Win7 64

Thanks in advance for your comments.

EDIT: I might give it a go with SRT with a 500 GB Barracuda and OCZ. This case I will use that 1TB Barracuda for storage separately. But I'm not sure it is gonna give better performance than my above configuration.

EDIT: Additional information on LGA 1155:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1155

EDIT: Ivybridge ready mobos from Gigabyte and Asus:
http://www.gigabyte.com/press-center....aspx?nid=1048
http://event.asus.com/2011/mb/PCIe3_Ready/

EDIT: Asus seems to me support G3 only on some Z68 models?

For the MicroATX Mid-Range Build:

01. If noise is not a concern, will the Core i3-2105 cooler be sufficient?

02. Is an Antec EA-380D Green 380W 80 PLUS Bronze be sufficient or do I need the 430W PSU?

03. Can I use G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL memory? It is listed on the MB's compatible list.

This won't necessarily be a HTPC, just a general PC which may have to perform some HTPC tasks on occasions.

Thanks.

I finally bought and assemble my htpc.
All movies mkv plays great. The picture quality is much better than ion and even hdmi sounds seems better. The i3 2105 is really fast, powerfull and with crucial m4 everything runs really well and smoth.

The only not good point of my htpc is the optical drive (samsung sh b083l) that I bought in sale at 29 euros, but i already regret. In 10 cd audio i tried, 3 make a weird noise, like metalic noise at the background and 1 it simply cant play. The drive don't detect it, is the same as don't have any cd.

In bluray playback I tried 2. One (george michael) played 100% well, the other the optical drive makes more loud sound while is playing and it stutter the image.

I updated the firmware. I also tried format the drive in AHCI and in IDE. All without success.

And i am not able to put external player in XBMC, drive start make a weird noise.

I will put some pictures tomorrow.

Will the new guide be available soon?

My HTPC:
Intel i3 2105
Antec 380W
Gigabyte z68ma-d2h-b3
SSD Crucial M4 64Gb
2x1tb
Gskill ddr3 1600Mhz 2x2gb
Samsung sh-b083l (I don't like it)


Thanks for the help. Nice guide.

Make sure you check the firmware version on your M4 drive and upgrade if you don't have the latest:

Crucial M4 SSD Frimware Update Available Now for 5000 hour problem.

I have an older Yamaha RXV-2700 HDMI 1.2a capable AVR and only supports surround LPCM. No DTS-HD support or similar...

Do you guys know if these newer mobos are able to pass both sound and video through the HDMI input of my receiver? Or am I limited to the Optical S/PDIF option for the sound output coming from these boards?

- GIGABYTE GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 (INTEL)
- GIGABYTE GA-A75M-D2H (AMD)

Thanks!

What "refresh rate" do you use in intel drive? I use more .mkv files and I put it in 60Hz but to be honest I don't understand nothing about it.
Another thing I notice in XBMC if I have dxva2 enable it dont work well in some movies so I turned it off. Do you have more tips like that?


Thks, done

Awesome. Thanks!

Is that something that Intel need to fix or the team at XBMC?

I'm using iGPU in i3-2100 without DXVA and it works nicely.

Greetings! Thanks to the OP for putting together this guide. I donated $20. Seems like a lot of sweat has been put into it.

How are the donations these days? The original post shows that you have been getting $100-$200 per month back in 2010. Are you getting better/more donations now such that you're able to fund your research? Thanks again.

Dude, it seems to me your destiny as far as Intel and AMD exist.
Those, so-called, huge companies must donate to you and the others. Everybody works for them for the sake of a kiss. ( I know, that doesn't match with native English, but hopefully you understand what I mean.)

I mention a few times a month on AVS that people should donate to you for your work.

I know with my free guide here at AVS I have received a grand total of 31 donations in the 13 months I have had and updated my guide (which admittedly is no where near as detailed as yours) for an average of about 2 donations per month.

Needless to say when I started the work on my blog I made it a pay for service. That's the main reason why. There is simply no way I can justify the cost and exorbitant amount of time required in keeping it up without some sort of compensation. And I have kept mine advertisement free as well.

So what am I saying? Donate to renethx or he will be gone (out of necessity).

assassin, thanks a lot to you for being so open to us.
And thanks all the respectful guys like rene and you.
Thanks for your works.
However, do not forget we/you are masturbating while the others are making money.
WHERE ARE THEY?
WHY DO THEY NOT SUPPORT YOU WITH (at least) THEIR F*** PREMATURE (as always) HW/SW?

The guide is a great starting point for a system build. So much of the research work is already done that it makes designing your new system way easier (and less costly) than doing all the grunt work from scratch.

Even with that, the real value is Renethx's continued support from within this thread for anyone that asks, even the sponges that do not show their appreciation with donations.

Renethx, I never did care for the consecutive clause much but if you were to setup a lifetime membership to your guide for $50, I would buy the first one to kick it off

ps. It would be nice if the lifetime membership was transferable to a new membership if this guide where ever to go private

@renethx;

Very happy with my 'bedroom' small form factor fully passive HTPC based on the asus E45M1-I DELUXE with a M350 Universal Mini-ITX Case. Fits behind the TV perfectly. Thanks for your help on this.

Unfortunately a new investment is coming up and I need to replace my core system that:
a) Acts as the media server for the bedroom system, sonos etc.
b) is on 24/7 (as it also is used to manage all downloading etc.)
c) Is the DVBlink server (IPTV) for bedroom system and other devices (like Ipad etc.)
d) directly connected to my Receiver/TV (HDMI) running WMC (win 7) and used for live TV and all other Media (so core entertainment system)

So in short it's kind of a combo of a mediaserver and normal HTPC. No need to be perfectly quit or beautiful, just to be efficient, powerful (sometimes the un-rarring/parring of files and watching a 3d H264 movie hits the max perf of current system) and reliable (!).

My Q: How can I best mix and pick from your guide to get the best system? I would like to re-use my recently purchased GT-430 but happy to get rid of the rest (based on an intel Core2 6400 @ 2.13)

max 8 disks is enough

Any specifics for the PSU for a system that is on 24/7? Found out that these often are not fine with running 24/7 for years.

Thanks for the Intel tip. Will wait, no immidiate need if it keeps running.

Is the new HD4000 comparable with a discrete card (incl. bitstreaming capabilities etc.)?

I've assembled my new HTPC and am now in the process of configuring the bios and windows. I have a few questions regarding some settings.

1. I have a Gigabyte GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 Rev 1.3 motherboard with revision F13 bios. One setting that I can't seem to find an answer on is what to set the On-Chip Frame Buffer Size to. The default is 64MB+2MB for GTT and it can be set anywhere from 32MB+2MB for GTT to 480MB+2MB for GTT. The manual describes the funcation as "Frame buffer size is the total amount of system memory allocated solely for the onboard graphics controller. MS-DOS, for example, will use only this memory for display." I have 4GB of RAM and whatever value I set it to is deducted from the total RAM available under Windows 7. I'm not running a discrete graphics card. Do I need to set it at anymore than the default.
   
2. When installing Windows 7 it creates a user account which is assigned administration rights by default. I would prefer if the access rights for this main user account were changed to a normal user so as to prevent my kids from making changes to the system. Does the active user when running WMC (or associated programs such as PowerDVD, TMT, etc) need to be an administrator?
   
3. I've been following Assassin's excellent paid guides (I highly recommend you subscribe to them if you're setting up a HTPC for the first time) and am now up to Guide 2. I wish to complete as much of the software setup on a PC monitor as I can before hooking the htpc to the our HDTV as my partner will not appreciate me monopolising the TV to do so. Can I continue through all the steps in the guide and come back to setting up the HDTV later without having to make too many changes all over the place? I assume setps 1 & 3 in Guide 2 can be done at anytime?

What do you think about picture/audio quality beetween intel hd3000 and ati hd6870?

I said hd3000 was perfect comparing to ion. But now I tried hd6870 that I bought to another pc and omg, the picture quality seems even more perfect. Big range of colours and more smooth. What do you think about it? Is psicological lol?