Guide to Building a HTPC, Workstation and Server - Page 630

I have a GeForce GT 430 1GB video card in my current system and I'm looking to upgrade the CPU/MB/RAM. If I get a Z77 motherboard and an i3 for the CPU, would the video card be pointless, or would it be better than the onboard solution?

I've been doing quite a bit of research for my first build, and the general consensus is that a dedicated GPU is always a better route than on board. Something along the lines of the Asus Maximus V Gene has LucidLogix Virtu MVP Hybrid Graphics boost, which enhances the GPU. This may be more useful in gaming, but with an older GPU, it may help. This will be the board I run due to the mini-PCIe card that offers extra slots on the mATX form.
http://www.asus.com/ROG/MAXIMUS_V_GENE/
http://www.lucidlogix.com/product-virtu-mvp.shtml

Do you play games???

Nope, no gaming at all any more.

Hello Guys i'm trying to build my first HTPC
want to be able to:
* Bistream HD-Audio
* Play 3D 1080P movies

This is on my list so far:

* CPU cooler: Scythe Shuriken Rev. B
* Intel® Core™ i3-3225
* PSU: Corsair 430CX
* case: SilverStone SG01B-F
* mobo: ASRock Z77 Pro4-M
* memory: Corsair 4 GB DDR3-1600
* HDD: Kingston SV300S37A/ 120G SSD

what are your thoughts on this build?

I like it

The CPU cooler is probably not needed. Where is your media coming from? You only have 120GB of storage listed and no tuner card.

+1, the standard CPU cooler is more than enough. I have a similar build and even running Handbrake at 100%, the standard cooler never even speeds up.

What are you going to use as your Blu ray player? And you don't need a CPU cooler. I just built my first HTPC. I'm using the stock cooler that came with the CPU and while I have to listen closely to hear it, it would be a waste to by a seperate cooler.

I use my Samsung BD-P2500 from 2008 as my Blu-ray player.

I have another Samsung SH-B123L Internal Blu-ray drive in a portable enclosure on my desk connected to my PC that gets far more use than the BD-P2500 does now. I can easily connect this to my HTPC but never have.

How is the new 7790? It seems be to a perfect successor to 7770 or else should be called a good HTPC-gaming card.

Will be 7790 sufficient for 24fps Jinc3 2k to 4k upscaling? thanks
Edited by Plutotype - 4/21/13 at 2:20am

And swap HDMI for DisplayPort, em I correct? HDMI 1.4 supports 4k up to 30fps max.

Hey renethx, this might be more of a receiver question but I always wondered if there was a way to fix the audio delay when starting to play things.. it seems like there's always a 1-2 second delay when starting a new movie in xbmc or music in any program.. and when I pause the music and come back after a few minutes, there's a delay before my receiver starts playing the music again when I unpause. My friends also say their receivers do this.. I'm using hdmi to the receiver..
edit: could it be a delay because I'm using the dac of the receiver? or a protection delay? I tried direct mode and it still does it.. onkyo tx-nr609 receiver
edit 2: the delay when unpausing only seems to happen in xbmc, when unpausing music in jriver it doesn't have the delay.. but music does have the delay when I play the first song after turning on the receiver...
Edited by uncola - 5/4/13 at 1:50pm

Oh it's not desynched. I just miss the first two seconds of audio then my receiver kicks in

That's common with digital audio - all my stuff does the same thing.
When the Receiver is transferring audio, it could be in many different formats - Dolby Digital, DTS HD, Stereo PCM, etc. etc. - and once there's a silent period, it takes a bit of time for the Receiver to work out what format the new stream is in - it may not be the same format as 5 seconds ago ! Some Receivers will sense quicker than others.

I'm making another attempt at building an HTPC. My first attempt was back in 2008, but that was before the transition to full power OTA HD in Denver, and I couldn't get reception with my HDHomeRun dual tuner and couldn't really get Mythbuntu working with it so I abandoned the project and later scavenged the drive and memory to add to my main PC. Xfinity (aka Comcast) keeps raising my rates and I'm tired of paying $100 just for an HD DVR and since F1 is no longer available on Comcast and they stopped carrying Universal Sports (World Cup skiing) 2 years ago, there is almost no need for cable except for the DVR so I am seriously considering dropping it once I get my DVR built. So mainly I need it to be able to record OTA (and possibly cable, should I decide to keep a very basic service) and play it back. I also would like the possibility of being able to stream live or recorded content across my CAT5/6 network up to my office bedroom Ubuntu PC's 24" LCD monitor. I don't want to build a dedicated server (at this time especially as I just spent $1500 on a 65" plasma TV - maybe in the future if I ever decide to digitize my 1000 CD collection) and just want a simple front/back end HTPC. The hardware is an Antec NSK2480 case, ASUS P5E-VM HDMI motherboard, Core 2 Duo E4500 2.2 GHz processor, and 6 GM RAM. I just bought a 2 TB WD Green AV drive which I RMA'd for too many bad blocks and they sent back a 3 TB Green AV drive which I'm having a hell of a time trying to get my PC BIOS to see as more than 0 MB just so I can test it. It also has a regular DVD drive and I have a separate BD player.

Back in 2008, the only free option was MythTV, but I just read an article in a Linux magazine about how XMBC is now pretty close to capable as a replacement. It has some interesting things like being able to use run on Android for a remote. What software do you recommend for my HTPC? Mythbuntu or XBMC, or what?