Guide to Building a HTPC, Workstation and Server - Page 112

And im guessing heatpipe is a good thing? so: GA-EP45-DS4 then?
And it'll still work with Radeon HD 4870 X2 i presume?

Thanks! The 4850e it is then. Cooler and less power consumption sounds better if the payoff is only waiting for a little more time for divx conversions.

No, im not going to use a RAID controller card in the HTPC. I didn't quite get that. The x16 slot is really a x8 slot?

For anybody interested in the Remote Black case I contacted "PROVANTAGE" and rec'd the following info;

It appears that it will be around 10/08/08 before this item ships.

Thank you! Have a great day!

Kathy Zwick
Sales Support
PROVANTAGE Corporation
800-336-4466 Ext 212
330-494-5260 fax
kzwick@provantage.com

Guess I'm headed down to fries to pick up an Antec NSK2480, on sale for six-zero after rebate

Looks like i should go for the X48 chipset, just in case. As long as there are no significant differences between DQ6 and DS4, i'll choose DS4. The two less sata ports are fine. And you said the heatpipe was unnecessary?

Newegg

wwwDOTneweggDOTcom/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129055

sorry about the link im still new and cant post url yet but i improvised

USD 249.95 + USD 14.99


Is it overkill?
Do we really use the volume knob on the front?

It has finally landed in USA. Have to start eating instant noodles for awhile after this....

Hi Renethx,

What are your first taught of this new case?

Im still in a middle of a decission making

My plan is

Mobo: Asus P5W DH Deluxe (old board)
CPU: E6600 (old CPU)
GPU: HD 4670 (Still new with this not much comparison among other brands eg HIS, Sapphire, MSI or Gigabyte)
PSU: Seasonic M12II-500W or Enermax Modu82+ 425W
Ram: GSkill (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ
Case: Either SilverStone LC20B or Antec Fusion Remote MAX
Cooling: stock cooling first because im not sure of the internal case height (Maybe a Scyhte Mni or Thermalright )
Sound: onboard sound, Xonar is expensive and the software still not mature maybe in the future.
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 (Adequate for now)

As a side note I will not be gaming a lot but mostly Movies,Music,Office LCD HDTV experience.

I prefer ATX case for future upgrade opportunity (more headroom)
IMHO Antec Fusion Remote Max has excellent ballance between cooling and silent. It also include my favorite dust filter. Some consumer might not be interested in it for its giant case dimension.

Thank you

I welcome all advise as this will be my first HTPC built for some decent setup.
Renethx, I love your HTPC recommendation and keep up the good work!!!

First Post, don't mean to Hyjack the thread, b ut I couldn't find another place suitable to post for help.

I have been researching to build a HTPC for nearly 2 months. The information hear is has been a great help but I still have questions. I'm an experienced PC builder but this is my first HTPC attemp and I want to try to future proof it as much as possible. The PC will handle double duties (If Possible) Stage I will be a Home Server/PVR. I already have an up-to-date home network with 4 PC's, running XP or Vista in various flavors all connected using a wired Gigabit router, connected to the Internet by 10mbs cable. The following is what I would like the system to support.

Stage I requirements

1. Home file/media server, Videos, Photo's, document storage, Backups, etc
2. Web and FTP server
3. PVR, I have HD Digital Cable. I would like to be able to record any of the channels delievered by my cable company, HD and Standard def. Also I would like to be able to schedule series and future recordings as per Sage and Beyound tv types (Not sure what software to use) watch TV while recording another channel. All recordings will be stored on a raid array. Play back will be directly back to my 46" HDTV, by which ever method is best, HDMI, component, etc. I would like a remote that will control this. The same as having a set-top box, channel switching, recording, menu's, etc.
4. Play home movies, MP3's, etc
5. Burn Recordings to DVD's
6. Raid configuration (Motherboard has Raid and 6 SATA II Ports)
7. all setup, configurations and maintenance will be handle, remotely or through my HDTV screen. In other words this server system will only have a temp. (borrowed from another system when needed) monitor, keyboard or mouse.

Stage I Build

1 ea-COOLER MASTER Stacker 810 RC-810-KKA1-GP Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Full Tower Computer Case RS-850-EMBA 850W Power Supply

1 ea-AMD Phenom 9950 BLACK EDITION 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 140W Quad-Core Processor

1 ea-GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-DS4H AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

1 ea-CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

2 ea-SUPERMICRO CSE-M35T-1B Black 5 Bay Hot-Swapable SATA HDD Enclosure

1 ea-LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe

2 ea-HITACHI Deskstar P7K500 HDP725050GLA360 (0A35415) 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (I already have 4 of these drives)

1 ea-SAPPHIRE 100249L Radeon HD 3850 1GB 256-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card (Crossfired with on-board Video)

TV Tuner card or Digital Box (Homerun, Wintv, Or??) I need help with this.

OS, Windows XP Pro or Windows Home Server or Windows Server 2003. I have been playing with a number of Linux Distro's, although they have some great features I'm more adapt to Windows type OS.

PVR software, Mythtv, Sage TV, Beyond TV ????????

All this is with-in my $1300.00 Stage I budget, I need advice, are the selected components worthy, do they hold any future proof value, are there better choices.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stage II a few months down the road.

Add Blue Ray Burner/player
Add additional Video card (Crossfire x 3)
Add additonal harddrives
Add Theater sound card and speaker system

Thanks for the help

Tony

Go with the Silverstone LC20M, you'll love the case!

If someone could help me out getting the right VGA cable..

I have purchased this cable: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5168

and it did not work with my HDTV (Samsung LN40A650). When i plug one end to the TV, it is not recognized by the TV. I have tried to use this cable with my 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor and it did not work neither. However, it worked with an 4:3 20" LCD.

Now i took one cable from work (see vga.jpg) and it is recognized by my TV as i plug one end to it. And it worked on my TV with resolution of 1920x1080.

I can't keep this cable so i have to buy another one, i would like to ask if this one could be right one?:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

It looks so like the one i bought so i'm not certain it will work?

PS. I need the audio cable too.

Thanks,

What "REBATE"? Nevermind - I was able to (finally) learn that this was a 2-day only (9/15 & 16) in-store only (Frys) rebate that expired today for $40.

The first one your bought is most likely a dud cable, for whatever reason. Missing some pins (one missing is normal), bad wires or something of that sort that your (probably) older monitor wasn't as sensitive to. VGA cable is VGA cable is VGA cable -- all anyone can really say here is that Monoprice is extremely well-known for cheap, quality cables (I know, that's traditionally an oxymoron).

Also, check that you're outputting a hertz (60Hz) that the TV can use.

Hi Mr. Satan,

Thanks for the tip. Yes, i'm outputting the correct 60Hz. If i use my black cable, it does not work, but if i switch cable (the blue from work), it works.

I'll take a chance with Monoprice then

Does SVGA or VGA makes a difference?

Is there any issue using HA for BR and h.264 files if your using XP as OS?

G45 is the chipset Im now considering? HA wont work if I go with XP? What exactly would I be losing?

My thoughts on the fusion remote max (I currently own a Fusion 430 Black)
+ATX
+More HDD Bays
+Front eSATA, Firewire
+140mm side fan
- Only 1 side fan, compare to two on the Fusion 430
- WAY Bigger
- UGLY!!!
- PRICE

The remote is a wash for me as I use a Harmony. Who wants to use separate remotes for separate components?

Renethx and anyone else with helpful comments,

Well, Based on your advice and this great thread, I managed to build the CW02 based Intel Premium system. I used the Visiontek Card instead and threw the two aux fans from Nexus you recommended and upped the G-Skill Ram to 8 GB. In addition, I threw in 5 new WD Green Power TB drives and the LG Blu Ray/HD Player Burner.

I am a finance guy by trade and being just a middle aged non mechanical non tinkerer, I just have to say thanks for the input. Everything fits, the case is big enough for a whole heck of a lot of gear and I even managed to dress out the case fairly nicely. It also is amusing the damn thing weighs a good 55 lbs +. I think I'll call it "The Beast". I think the only thing I might tweak is adding a thermal or speed fan control to the two Nexus Aux fans. I currently am powering these fans by the motherboard NB fan and the Power Fan 2 plugs. This means they are running at full speed and I don't think I can switch them down. I do think I read about being able to do this in the Bios system but I can't remember (I'm a newbie on all this)

So hear are a few observations first from a total non tech person.

1). The little blue power light on the case can light up a Theater room like you can't imagine. I think I'll have to cover it up a bit. The system is very quiet given four fans and a monster GPU. Sitting in my glass front panel media enclosure, I hear almost no noise. I think you would hear it if it was plopped in an equipment rack or furniture piece out in the open and could eventually annoy you. This case is really, really, nice. It is pretty big but that's a good thing as you need space to ad cards, drives, and clean wiring. The Hex screws on top were pretty tightly stuck on so be careful not to strip them or chip them up too much. Disregard the horrible little manual on the case it kind of indicates you should take out the Hard Drive cages in one illustration and you should not; just load the drives in the beginning or right after installing the optional fans. Also plug the power supply in to the motherboard before installing the motherboard in the case. If you install the CPU cooler first before installing the power cables you will never get the Power plugs inserted. (I figured this out the hard way). You will need extra tie downs to make this thing nice and clean.

2). The I-Mon LCD is pretty slick but it's hard to figure out and install. (It has a non existent "Engrish" manual and practically no support. If you want to have a little fun, go in to the I-Mon forums on their site and read the in house gurus comments. It is damn near impossible to interpret any given response. Also they sometime take weeks to respond to a forum post. (On their own site no less)

3). Those ATI GPU cards really do heat up a room. I guess you can hack the settings to up the GPU idle fan speed and I may try to attempt this at some point. I think Rivatuner also supports fan control now but so far tweaks like this are beyond my limited skill set.

4). I couldn't get the GPU card to really fit that well in the second PCI-E 16 slot. I put it in the first slot and with some decent wiring I think my air flow is pretty good. The two little PCI-E slots on each side of the card would make tuner cards really, really, really tight. For this reason and the fact I may want to add eSata cards, I will probably opt for the SiliconDust HDHomerun unit. I can also stick the external tuner on our homes top floor and get over the air reception without having to feed wires through three floors of home. (What do you think about that?) It also seems that tuner - Microsoft Vista technology is in play right now and it may be better to wait.

Here are my only remaining problems. Does anyone have advice.

A). Each time I reboot the PC, the 1st time I get the Gigabyte Energy utility to start and then the screen locks right before you get to the Vista Desktop. I then can fire up task manager and shut down from there. The system then reboots and the next time I can get to the main desktop and Vista opens a caution about the Gigabyte program wants access, etc.... I then click allow and then I get a comment that says a GUI failed to launch and is shutting down. Finally I-Mon appears to work as does the Frontview program that controls the LCD. So here is my question for anyone using the Premium system build. i) What do I need to do to not get the double boot issue? ii) What GUI is failing to launch? I am new to Vista and again not a computer guy by trade.

B). I have middle aged ears and eyes. (Damn that whole aging thing). My current Theater system includes the following; 7.1 B&W Speaker system comprised of 5 Nautilus Series 805's an HTM2, and an ASW 2500 Subwoofer, B&K 307 Receiver being fed SPDIF in from the PC and being converted to either Dolby Digital or DTS Digital Format. The room is professionally sound treated and I am watching on a Sony VPL-VW100 projector and a Stewart Screen. In short, very good equipment.

So since this is a thread on building a HTPC here is my question. Is there really, given high quality audio equipment and a good room, a noticable difference between Dolby True HD/ DTS HD and the older compressed audio technologies? Is there a difference in using a hardware software program that down converts to 48Khz from the possible 192Khz solution. I ask because I fired up Transformers in Arcsofts TMT last night on the new PC and it showed a 48Khz rate and sounded fine. I also think the Realtek chip set did the simple task of sending Spdif out just fine. This motherboard is a massive uptick from my Dell based proprietary Soundblaster Audigy piece of #$@!@

Remember I am middle aged and unlike some bats utilizing echolocation and a few teenagers who programmed their phone to ring in a high inaudible (to adults anyway) tone I am not sure I can hear as well as a bat. I like my old tech B&K 307 and before I shell out another $3,500 or so to upgrade to a new B&K 707 uber receiver, I'd like to have some thoughts from people who have actually heard sound from good to great systems in real world situations. I fear we are going in to the logorithmic stratosphere hear where we are trying to get the absolute theoretical best sound as opposed to the actually noticeable realm of sound. All thoughts are appreciated.

Final thought.... If I can build a HTPC with a fairly high level of component complexity, anyone can. Thanks for this thread and excellent advice...

I have B&W equipment in 3 rooms of my home although they are mostly the in-wall and/or in-ceiling speakers (Signature Seven and CWM 6's) and even the lowly 602's in a general family room and think that these provide pretty good bang for the buck. I have two 15-inch powered subs in my front-projector Home Theater room that probably rival your ASW (105dB max). I think the tiny audible differences you "might" experience from a new receiver would be VERY minimal and not worthy of another $3.5K investment but then again what you already have installed is (probably) worth more than two of the three late-model cars in my 3-car garage (i.e. over $60K) so my POV and yours might be a bit different as I am also using a "below" low end system for my BlueRay playback and since it's just playing back from actual DVD's, it's plenty for my purposes.

Quick question:
First off I have been addicted to this thread for a few days no and cant wait to build my first HTPC.

I am planning to build the recommended Mid level AMD/NVIDIA exactly as suggested however I am concerned about the graphics card. I need the go the nvidia route since I plan on using linux and quietness is a huge importance to me since the box will be housed about 5 to 10 feet away from viewer. My concern is that all the reviews on newegg reference it being extremely hot.

Those that have built the recommended system is this the case for you? Does it get too hot?

My intentions for the HTPC is to storage and view SD movies, hopefully Blu-ray in the future, and some linux gaming (not the super intense games out right now but still require 3d acceleration)

Thanks.
_Mick_

SeattleHTGuy
You have great stuff!
B) Why not just go with it for now and see if it sounds good to your ears?
If you feel like you're missing something, you can decide if it's really worth the trouble and cost.
Some recent anecdotal and A/B testing results were pretty much negative for any significant audible improvements.

IMO, not worth upgrading to Dolby True HD / DTS HD yet. Definately not. Especially for the $3,500.

This is coming from 23yr old ears with a Yamaha 5.1 DD/DTS system, Klipsch KLF series speakers and Velodyne subwoofer.

Hello Ladies and Gents,

First time poster, long time reader- I have to admit, after scouring this forum i find myself more confused than when i started. There are so many acronyms, file types, media types, it really sets one's head to spinning. My goal is to build an HTPC that will be able to fully integrate with the television i'm looking at (panasonic 50' Touch of color) My goal is to be able to Play World of Warcraft at full 1080 resolution, and watch Blu-ray/Streaming HD content. I would like to have a 7.1 sound system for both gaming and general movie watching. If anyone could share their experience and builds that have worked for them- I would be much obliged. This is one of the biggest things i'm looking forward to when i come home!

Sincerely,
SGT Skaggs

ndabunka, esteves, UnitedBreaks,

Thanks for your comments. I think I will just get use to the new HTPC and really just listen to the system as is. So far, after two nights, the sound is much improved from my old PC with very, very, clear sound and movie sound affects clearly audible from each speaker; clear and defined.

Thanks for the comments regarding my equipment. That is why this string is so helpful. It really drills down to how to build a great HTPC at multiple price points.

ndabumka. B&W's are fantastic speakers in almost every line. The only difference between your's and mine are most probably marginal (for sound) and cosmetic. I purchased the 805's 9 years ago and they are fantastic. It is also all about the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) as they look great and are not massive. I'd like to pick up another used ASW 2500 at some point but haven't pursued an active search just yet.

I think that many people here neglect speakers and power but then again, I imagine that would be another thread. It might be nice for Renethx to add recommended amplification and possble price points speaker sets as well or tie in another thread to discuss. New HTPC's, well built can really do just about every front end solution and will probably just eliminate the need for a true pre-amp or receiver very soon. All any PC part manufacturer need do is create minimal switching capability (say at the card level) for a game machine and an I-Pod and we're there. I wonder if anyone is working on an HDMI switch for just such a solution?

Finally, if anyone has an idea about my remaining build issues it would be appreciated.