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Guide to Building a HTPC, Workstation and Server - Page 155

post #4621 of 18891
12/5/08 at 1:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

Yep, HD 4550 is basically equivalent to HD 4670 under the condition that only one display is connected and it is set to primary (it can be secondary if you use onboard graphics HD 3200/3300). I compared them closely. Dynamic contrast does not work with HD 4550, however.

What is the problem for connecting two displays with 4550? I currently have my 780G connected to both my LCD Mon (via HDMI) and tv (via VGA), and I could like to do so with the new display card. Also, if there is a problem for 4550, will 4670 have the same problem?
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post #4622 of 18891
12/5/08 at 1:36pm
i'm sure it's something simple!

Antec Fusion Case
Corsair VX450W PSU
GA-M78GM-S2H (rev 1.1)
AMD 9600
OCZ PC2 6400 1x2GB (have x2, but just trying to use one stick for now!)

i think(?) i have everything wired correctly, including the 24-pin ATX adapter cable with the 3-pin Molex power to the VFD. the VFD lights up, but no fans, no lights, no nothing else.

any ideas?
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post #4623 of 18891
12/5/08 at 1:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hangar18valk View Post

i'm sure it's something simple!

Antec Fusion Case
Corsair VX450W PSU
GA-M78GM-S2H (rev 1.1)
AMD 9600
OCZ PC2 6400 1x2GB (have x2, but just trying to use one stick for now!)

i think(?) i have everything wired correctly, including the 24-pin ATX adapter cable with the 3-pin Molex power to the VFD. the VFD lights up, but no fans, no lights, no nothing else.

any ideas?

Have you connected the 4 pin CPU power to the motherboard, as well as the ATX power?
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post #4624 of 18891
12/5/08 at 1:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sneals2000 View Post

Have you connected the 4 pin CPU power to the motherboard, as well as the ATX power?

yes...the PSU has 2 4-pin connectors on the same wire-bundle - i've tried them both
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post #4625 of 18891
12/5/08 at 2:46pm
hi all,
I am looking for suggestions on a MOBO with good SB audio. I am not too concerned about onboard video as I'm looking to get an HD4670 to handle BD/HD-DVD and other hi-def video. Here are the current items that I have:

RAM: 2x1GB Crucial Ballistix
HD: WD640AAKS
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 430W
CPU: Amd Athlon X2 BE-2400
Cooler: Arctic Cooler 64 PRO
Optical: LG Blu-Ray/HD-DVD Combo Drive

I don't want to spend too much on this motherboard as I would like to keep it under $75. This HTPC build is just going to be used to watch Blu-Ray/HD-DVD movies and any other videos or movies that I rip to my harddrive. There will be the occasional gaming, but the HD4670 will be able to handle that.

EDIT: Also this will be connecting to my receiver via optical or coaxial or even analong (need to check for analog connections). I currently don't have a receiver that handles HDMI inputs (at least not yet) for this PC build.
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post #4626 of 18891
12/5/08 at 3:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

Yep, HD 4550 is basically equivalent to HD 4670 under the condition that only one display is connected and it is set to primary (it can be secondary if you use onboard graphics HD 3200/3300). I compared them closely. Dynamic contrast does not work with HD 4550, however.

Hmm.. so let me get this straight...

The double size width memory bus, and the 4 x stream processors (320 vs 80) make no difference at all???
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post #4627 of 18891
12/5/08 at 4:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by StupidPig View Post

What is the problem for connecting two displays with 4550? I currently have my 780G connected to both my LCD Mon (via HDMI) and tv (via VGA), and I could like to do so with the new display card. Also, if there is a problem for 4550, will 4670 have the same problem?

4550 vs 4670 seems a tough choice for me.... Saw a 4670 for $70 after tax, s&h and rebate, then a 4550 for $55 after tax and rebate (s&h is free). Originally, for just $15 more, I thought I should go for 4670 for the possible advantage on video encoding with upcomming Stream, but then I read from web saying it's fan speed control is not working and very loud all the time. Anyone got insight about whether this fan speed issue for 4670 will ever be fixed?
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post #4628 of 18891
12/5/08 at 4:18pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hogweed75 View Post

.mkv files?

A couple of possible reasons are:

- You can select only necessary video/audio tracks and subtitles.
- Hence the file size can be reduced.
- The new HD audio formats are transcoded to FLAC (another lossless format) and you can play them at full-resolution.

Only transcoding involved is audio. So it's relatively quick (less than two hours per movie). ffdshow Audio Decoder is now capable of decoding Dolby TrueHD (and DTS-HD Master Audio too?; but only at 16bit/48kHz). So audio transcoding is even not necessary. MPC-HC (actually MPC Video Decoder which enables DXVA)+Haali Media Splitter+ffdshow tryouts+madFLAC is one of the quickest ways to play mkv. You can also play with VMC with appropriate codecs registered. In general you'd better stay away from codec packs, ffdshow tryouts is enough. At least you'd better complete back up your system drive before installing it and possibly messing up the registry. (This is a general caution; I don't know about K-Lite.)
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post #4629 of 18891
12/5/08 at 4:22pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by StupidPig View Post

What is the problem for connecting two displays with 4550? I currently have my 780G connected to both my LCD Mon (via HDMI) and tv (via VGA), and I could like to do so with the new display card. Also, if there is a problem for 4550, will 4670 have the same problem?

If you connect a second display to HD 4550, suddenly SD post-processing stops working. 4670 does not suffer from this problem. If you use 780G, then connect the primary display to HD 4550 and the secondary to HD 3200, and you will be fine.
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post #4630 of 18891
12/5/08 at 4:26pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by hangar18valk View Post

i'm sure it's something simple!

Antec Fusion Case
Corsair VX450W PSU
GA-M78GM-S2H (rev 1.1)
AMD 9600
OCZ PC2 6400 1x2GB (have x2, but just trying to use one stick for now!)

i think(?) i have everything wired correctly, including the 24-pin ATX adapter cable with the 3-pin Molex power to the VFD. the VFD lights up, but no fans, no lights, no nothing else.

any ideas?

Remove CPU and memory, then reseat them firmly.
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post #4631 of 18891
12/5/08 at 4:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by utee05 View Post

hi all,
I am looking for suggestions on a MOBO with good SB audio.

Also this will be connecting to my receiver via optical or coaxial or even analong (need to check for analog connections). I currently don't have a receiver that handles HDMI inputs (at least not yet) for this PC build.

Perhaps you will want DDL or DTS Interactive to get surround sounds from games. So GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2HP mATX or GA-MA78G-DS3H (rev. 2.0 only) ATX is recommended.
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post #4632 of 18891
12/5/08 at 4:37pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by walterg74 View Post

Hmm.. so let me get this straight...

The double size width memory bus, and the 4 x stream processors (320 vs 80) make no difference at all???

You can still notice difference with Dynamic Contrast on, and when two displays are connected.
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post #4633 of 18891
12/5/08 at 4:41pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by StupidPig View Post

but then I read from web saying it's fan speed control is not working and very loud all the time.

Only the ASUS and GIGABYTE cards suffer from this problem. HIS H467QS512P/H467QT512P is very quiet although you can't control fan speed. The PowerColor model is the quietest and its fan speed can be controlled from CCC (you have to buy the ATI DVI-HDMI adapter seperately).
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post #4634 of 18891
12/5/08 at 5:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

Remove CPU and memory, then reseat them firmly.

still nothing...even the PSU fan doesn't come on. yet power's going through to the 24-pin ATX cable, for the VFD to light up.

could it be one of the 2-pin front panel cables? i have them installed IAW the mobo's instructions (F_PANEL, Front Panel Header). there are actually two 2-pin power switch cables:

1. "POWER SW" (black/white) from front panel button (i assume)
2. "POWER SW" (black/red) from VFD for remote control use (i assume)

I've tried various combinations (yes, trying the remote too!), but not both plugged in at the same time (Pins 6/8 on the F_PANEL). not sure where i'd plug the other one in?

i'm going to pull the front panel and confirm the Antec wiring. and try to re-align the VFD...it's crooked.

and i don't have anything plugged into the 3-pin header of F PANEL PWR LED...should i?
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post #4635 of 18891
12/5/08 at 5:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

Only the ASUS and GIGABYTE cards suffer from this problem. HIS H467QS512P/H467QT512P is very quiet although you can't control fan speed. The PowerColor model is the quietest and its fan speed can be controlled from CCC (you have to buy the ATI DVI-HDMI adapter seperately).

Guess that's why the Gigabyte one is so cheap ($70). The HIS will cost $26 more after tax/S&H/Rebate. Another coincidence is both Gigabyte and ASUS (the one with fan speed issue) are the one with built-in HDMI port.
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post #4636 of 18891
12/5/08 at 5:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hangar18valk View Post

still nothing...even the PSU fan doesn't come on. yet power's going through to the 24-pin ATX cable, for the VFD to light up.

could it be one of the 2-pin front panel cables? i have them installed IAW the mobo's instructions (F_PANEL, Front Panel Header). there are actually two 2-pin power switch cables:

1. "POWER SW" (black/white) from front panel button (i assume)
2. "POWER SW" (black/red) from VFD for remote control use (i assume)

I've tried various combinations (yes, trying the remote too!), but not both plugged in at the same time (Pins 6/8 on the F_PANEL). not sure where i'd plug the other one in?

i'm going to pull the front panel and confirm the Antec wiring. and try to re-align the VFD...it's crooked.

There are two power switch cables in the Fusion case.

One comes from the power switch on the front panel, the other from the LCD or VFD (depends on model - Silver has VFD, Black has LCD).

There are two ways of connecting these.

1. Connect the Front panel Power Switch pair directly to your motherboard. This will only allow you to switch your PC on and off from the power switch.

2. Connect the Front panel Power Switch pair to the two pins on the VFD/LCD panel AND then connect the second pair of power switch connectors from the LCD/VFD to the motherboard header. This will allow you to switch the PC on either from the front panel OR from the infra-red remote control.

(I guess there is a third option where you leave the front panel power switch unconnected and only have IR remote control of power on - but that seems a little silly)

I am running 1. - as I never really need to switch on from the remote - and with the version of the case and VFD display I have it looks a bit tricky to connect the front panel power switch to the VFD.

Quote:



and i don't have anything plugged into the 3-pin header of F PANEL PWR LED...should i?

I think I connected my Power LED in my Fusion to the Power LED header on my motherboard, same cluster as Reset, Power and HD LED. Can't remember.

ISTR that there was a power connector from the PSU to connect to the VFD, as well as a half-USB header from the VFD to connect to a spare USB slot on the motherboard, as well as the power switch daisy chain.

I have a Fusion 430 Silver UK V2 (no remote control supplied, but came with PSU)
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post #4637 of 18891
12/5/08 at 6:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sneals2000 View Post

There are two power switch cables in the Fusion case.

One comes from the power switch on the front panel, the other from the LCD or VFD (depends on model - Silver has VFD, Black has LCD).

There are two ways of connecting these.

1. Connect the Front panel Power Switch pair directly to your motherboard. This will only allow you to switch your PC on and off from the power switch.

2. Connect the Front panel Power Switch pair to the two pins on the VFD/LCD panel AND then connect the second pair of power switch connectors from the LCD/VFD to the motherboard header. This will allow you to switch the PC on either from the front panel OR from the infra-red remote control.

(I guess there is a third option where you leave the front panel power switch unconnected and only have IR remote control of power on - but that seems a little silly)

I am running 1. - as I never really need to switch on from the remote - and with the version of the case and VFD display I have it looks a bit tricky to connect the front panel power switch to the VFD.



I think I connected my Power LED in my Fusion to the Power LED header on my motherboard, same cluster as Reset, Power and HD LED. Can't remember.

ISTR that there was a power connector from the PSU to connect to the VFD, as well as a half-USB header from the VFD to connect to a spare USB slot on the motherboard, as well as the power switch daisy chain.

I have a Fusion 430 Silver UK V2 (no remote control supplied, but came with PSU)

thanks, Sneals. i agree, just should have the POWER SW (button) on the header, and leave the remote 2-pin disconnected. i do have the USB half-header (does it matter which USB header it gets plugged into?), and the 3-pin power you mentioned is pig-tailed off the supplied 24-pin ATX adapter cable. the LCD (Black case) does light up with the PSU power switch on the back. so that part works.

i pulled off the 4-pin mobo power, and then my PSU fan came on! but now can't repeat that little element of "success."

could the OCZ memory be bad? or not compatible (Reaper PC2 6400 2Mb)? i can say it's not compatible with the Ninja Scythe in slots DDR1/2! i put the stock AMD HS on for now.
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post #4638 of 18891
12/5/08 at 6:29pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by hangar18valk View Post

could the OCZ memory be bad? or not compatible (Reaper PC2 6400 2Mb)? i can say it's not compatible with the Ninja Scythe in slots DDR1/2! i put the stock AMD HS on for now.

Try to power up the system with the minimum configuration: CPU with stock cooler, 1 stick of memory in the DDRII_1 slot (try each stick) or in another slot (try each slot), PSU, and nothing else. Connect only:

- Display/mouse/keyboard
- 24-pin main power cable
- 4-pin power cable for CPU
- 2-pin power switch cable from the case power button to the F_PANEL connector. Or short the two PW (Power Switch) pins of the F_PANEL connector using a flathead screwdriver (the same effect as pressing the case power button); this avoids the possibly malfunctioning case power button.
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post #4639 of 18891
12/5/08 at 6:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

Try to power up the system with the minimum configuration: CPU with stock cooler, 1 stick of memory in the DDRII_1 slot (try each stick) or in another slot (try each slot), PSU, and nothing else. Connect only:

- Display/mouse/keyboard
- 24-pin main power cable
- 4-pin power cable for CPU
- 2-pin power switch cable from the case power button to the F_PANEL connector. Or short the two PW (Power Switch) pins of the F_PANEL connector using a flathead screwdriver (the same effect as pressing the case power button); this avoids the possibly malfunctioning case power button.

OK, now we're getting somewhere! single stick in DDR4 got it! i put the stick back into DDR1 and it's running. now just need to connect up some cables (one at a time!), and then a monitor and check the BIOS, etc...

thanks for the steps, renethx...i thought i had gone through just about everything!
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post #4640 of 18891
12/5/08 at 6:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by hangar18valk View Post

OK, now we're getting somewhere! single stick in DDR4 got it! i put the stick back into DDR1 and it's running. now just need to connect up some cables (one at a time!), and then a monitor and check the BIOS, etc...

thanks for the steps, renethx...i thought i had gone through just about everything!

Looks like it is a memory compatiblity problem ...
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post #4641 of 18891
12/5/08 at 6:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

Looks like it is a memory compatiblity problem ...

i think it was the SYS_FAN header...my mobo does not have a NB fan, yet i tried to plug in a PSU lead to it. when i plugged it back in, no power. i figure i don't need it now...i'll just leave the SYS_FAN empty.

(i put both sticks of RAM in now, DDR3/4, in anticipation of re-installing the Ninja HS, and it works.)

i know what you're all thinking: he'll be back in an hour with something else!
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post #4642 of 18891
12/5/08 at 7:50pm
well i took your advice and ordered the
GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H
will be using a e6850 conroe at 3.14Ghz+

hoping to get great results with this and XBMC.

XBMC uses mplayer internal without any hardware acceleration at this time and some sketchy H.264 decoding. i intend to watch mostly 1080 material in mkv format.

With that said and XBMC's preceived limitations with H.264 playback what player would recommend with preferred codecs to launch using XBMC's newly integrated lauchplayer option to allow users to pick their own players.....
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post #4643 of 18891
12/5/08 at 8:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

You can still notice difference with Dynamic Contrast on, and when two displays are connected.

But wait, you say now it's the same but I just sawanother post of yours on another thread where you say (I quote):

"If you use HDMI audio, avoid a GeForce card (supporting only S/PDIF pass-through over HDMI). The onboard graphics HD 3200 does not have enough stream processors for proper post-processing for SD, and HD interlaced contents (mostly HDTV programs). My recommendation is

- Radeon HD 4550 or
- Radeon HD 4670 (HIS H467QT512P, H467QS512P or PowerColor AX4670 512MD3-P [you have to buy the ATI DVI-HDMI adapter])"

So I don't get it... if you're saying there that stream processors are important for SD post processing, how come you tell me I won't see much difference between the 4550 and the 4670, when the former has only 80 stream processors and the latter has 320 ?
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post #4644 of 18891
12/5/08 at 9:06pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by walterg74 View Post

But wait, you say now it's the same but I just sawanother post of yours on another thread where you say (I quote):

"If you use HDMI audio, avoid a GeForce card (supporting only S/PDIF pass-through over HDMI). The onboard graphics HD 3200 does not have enough stream processors for proper post-processing for SD, and HD interlaced contents (mostly HDTV programs). My recommendation is

- Radeon HD 4550 or
- Radeon HD 4670 (HIS H467QT512P, H467QS512P or PowerColor AX4670 512MD3-P [you have to buy the ATI DVI-HDMI adapter])"

So I don't get it... if you're saying there that stream processors are important for SD post processing, how come you tell me I won't see much difference between the 4550 and the 4670, when the former has only 80 stream processors and the latter has 320 ?

Differece between HD 3200 (GPU integrated in 780G chipset) and HD 4550 is:

- The number of stream processors: 40 vs. 80.
- Video memory of HD 3200 is non-local; it has to communicate with the system memory through HyperTransport bus, that is slower than the local memory bus.
- HD 3200 is a generation old in architecuture.

As a result HD 3200 is poor in post-processing. It's just a theory. But if you run HQV Benchmark, you will see the difference immediately. My comparison between 4550 and 4670 is also based on HQV Benchmark.
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post #4645 of 18891
12/5/08 at 10:21pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlienAgenda View Post

With that said and XBMC's preceived limitations with H.264 playback what player would recommend with preferred codecs to launch using XBMC's newly integrated lauchplayer option to allow users to pick their own players.....

Check this post (hopefully the compatibility issue of XBMC with MPC-HC be fixed soon), and this post for CPU usage.
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post #4646 of 18891
12/6/08 at 5:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

GeForce 9300/9400 (and 8200/8300) is the only solution for perfect 24p and 7.1 LPCM right now. Playing BD movies is perfect. HD & SD deinterlacing and cadence detection are perfect too. However SD detail enhancement and HD & SD denoise are weak. See this post.

As of today, are these still the only good solutions for 24p? Also, to know if I should really care about this, besides the graphics component in the HTP, what else should I have in order to be worried about weather 24p will work for me or not? (i.e. what media uses 24p, what rquirements does the image display need to have to show 24p correctly, etc)
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post #4647 of 18891
12/6/08 at 9:43am
Ditto what Walterg said... is the GeForce solution better than the HD 4870 for 24p?
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post #4648 of 18891
12/6/08 at 9:46am
These are a few of the motherboards I can get for the HTPC, can you tell me if they should do fine? I would ad an HD4760 card to it:

Asus P5kpl-am
Ga-g31m-s2c

Gigabyte Ep35-ds3l
Asus P5ql-em

Would you recommend any of those? (or avoid any for some reason?)
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post #4649 of 18891
12/6/08 at 9:50am
Renethx,
Thanks for the great Thread you put together. I have been wanting to build my own HTPC for a long time now. I am ready to dive in. Newbie but I am sure I can do it. Now for a couple newbie questions. I am debating between your High-End Intel/Intel versus the Premium Intel/Intel. Im sure theres more power, but on a newbie scale can you give me an example(s) on somethings that would be noticed. And my last question(a least for the time being) on the Premium system, I dont understand why there would be one or two graphics cards. I appreciate any of your help! Thanks
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post #4650 of 18891
12/6/08 at 12:31pm
I'm wanting to convert my DVD's to a smaller file size for HDD storage. Are there any recommendations for dvd to mkv conversion?
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