BUILDING THE PERFECT SILENT HTPC (2013)
I’ve been an online lurker of A/V websites for a long time now and about a half a year ago, I decided it was time to build my own HTPC – but not just any HTPC, the perfect silent HTPC. I apologize if another article of this nature has already been written and I’ve been fairly light on technical information here, so if you would like to see more, let me know and I will be more than happy to adjust it accordingly.
For all the community has done for me over the years, I figured it was time to give back and share what I’ve learned through this process. This article was written based on my own experience building a silent HTPC and breaks down the challenges and thought processes I took to get there. It was frustrating for me trying to find information online because it seemed like no one was building the exact HTPC I was trying to build. I figured if I was looking for that information, there was probably someone else who was too.
If you just want to see my build, scroll down to “MY SETUP.” You’re welcome.
For those that do read on, I promise it won’t be time wasted.
My full current setup
THE CHALLENGE:
Build a powerful HTPC that looks good, runs cool, can play games, and is powerful enough to run madVR on high quality without dropping frames. Great! Not that hard right?
Oh, but there’s one more thing… It also has to be completely passive cooled with NO fans (not even case fans) and has to have no moving components whatsoever (except for the Blu-ray drive).
Keep on reading to see if I succeeded.
BACKGROUND:
Why build an HTPC in the first place?
Simple: I’m an audio and video nut. I’ve been in the pursuit of the best audio and video quality possible at a (fairly) reasonable budget (so no $10,000 reference components here). I also wanted a device that has a huge amount of flexibility, both in the formats that can be played, but also in the types of things I can do (like play games).
Now keep in mind that I’m bit of an exception to most people. I am not terrible interested in the best streaming device that lets me connect to a million different video and audio streaming services. I DO use these services, but I am much more concerned with the quality of my local files (my 1080p video collection and FLAC music collection). If all you want is a great media streaming device, look at an Apple TV or Roku, or even a Raspberry Pi using XBMC. But if you fall into my camp, keep on reading.
With that, let’s look at all the devices that I’ve tried…
WHAT DEVICES HAVE I USED FOR VIDEO PLAYING/STREAMING?
PS3 running PS3 Media server or Plex:
Xbox 360 running Plex:
Apple TV Jailbroken running XBMC and Plex:
Pivos XIOS DS Media Play!:
WD TV Live Streaming Media Player:
ASUS O!Play:
It was after this that I decided that no media streamer had a powerful enough processor to handle what I wanted it to do and finally gave in to building an HTPC.
Now what you’ve been waiting for.
MY SETUP:
For those of you that don’t give a crap about my ramblings and just want to know what components I used to build it. Here it is.
Home Theater Components:
·
HTPC Components (Prices in CAD):
Software:
WHY SILENT?
For those that are looking at this article thinking “You could have built an awesome HTPC with way less headaches by just using fans/watercooling. What’s wrong with you?” Let me explain:
THE BUILD
I’ve built lots of computers before so everything was pretty straight forward. If you want a walkthrough on putting together your own PC, Google it and you’ll find lots of information; I’m not covering that here. The challenge I had was passive cooling the video card. The guys down at my local computer store told me that it was impossible to get a moderately powerful NVIDIA GPU passive cooled in my HTPC. Challenge accepted.
Side note: The reason I went with NVIDIA is so that I could use CUVID (explained later) and because I have heard some rumors that NVIDIA cards produce higher IQ than their AMD counterparts (it also runs DDR5 memory which AMD doesn’t do) (Edit: This is incorrect, both cards run GDDR5 memory). This is a whole other discussion and many forums can be found debating this at length. I have no proof whether or not this is true, I am simply stating the reason I went with NVIDIA.
One of the big problems I had was with the Arctic Cooling GPU heatsink. It is rated to work on cards up to a 650Ti, but the heatsink itself is too large for almost any HTPC case (it will hit the top panel of the case). The only logical solution was to bring it home and bend it…
I did the bending carefully on the curb outside my house, bending it a little bit at a time with a block of wood and a hammer as to not damage the heat pipes. I made sure to bend it away from the card so that it would actually pull the heat further away from my CPU inside my HTPC (considering there are no case fans). I think you’ll agree that the result was great and I managed to avoid damaging the heatpipes in the process.
GPU: I ended up going with a GTX 650 instead of a GTX 650Ti because of heat. The 650 has a TDP of 64W while the 650TI has a TDP of 110W. Higher power = more heat and I was a little worried about heat dissipation in an HTPC without any case fans. That’s why I ended up going with the GTX 650.
CPU: The selection of the i7-3770T again had to do with heat and power. It has a TDP of 45W in an incredibly powerful CPU.
PSU: The KingWin power supply was selected because it is a passive PSU with a platinum power rating. The more efficient the PSU = the less wasted energy that is converted into heat.
IR Trigger: If you are unsure of what the SIMEREC PCS-2 is, it is a device that allows you to turn your HTPC on and off using a media center remote (or any universal remote). Yes… you heard me right. I spent ages trying to find a solution to this problem and this little guy is it. And it works perfectly. Note: You do have to splice a cable onto the live wire coming from your power supply (see pictures) and you do have to drill a hole in your case for the IR receiver (which is different than one you can use to control the HTPC with a media center remote. Other than those little caveats, it works brilliantly).
IR Trigger Installation: Live Splice
IR Trigger Installation: IR Receiver
Full SIMEREC Installation
Hole drilled for SIMEREC IR Receiver
All Components Installed
SOFTWARE:
I use JRIVER MEDIA CENTER (and plugins) as my main player that pulls content over my network stored on my QNAP NAS. I’m sure most of you are familiar with Jriver, but for those who aren’t, it began life as one of the reference PC audio players that audiophiles flocked to and it eventually worked its way into the videophile world. With Jriver MC 18, MadVR – one of the best rendering engines available (although, heavy on the GPU) – is now built-in. I will explain how I have streamlined my media experience in Jriver below.
Plugins:
Jriver Setup:
I’m not going to go into a detailed setup because I have not had enough time to play with all the various settings. There are really good articles on setting up MadVR and LAV Filters here ( http://www.homecinema-hd.com/intro_en.html ) here ( http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=516729 ) and here ( http://azurehakua.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/mpc-hc-lav-filters-xy-vsfilter-madvr/ ). You’ll notice that many walkthroughs are using MPC-HC as their media player. I have used it and it is a fine piece of software (although very basic) that delivers excellent video quality. The main reason for my selection of Jriver Media Center is because of the good library management tools and the excellent iOS app available.
What I do want to tell you about is how I have set up zones so that video files get played through HDMI with bitstream pass-through, while audio files play through my external USB connected DAC.
To accomplish this, I set up two zones inside of Jriver media center and created custom rules (by right clicking the zones) that make any video file play through my “Movie” zone and any audio file play through my “Audio” zone. With the “Movie” zone, it was set up to bitstream audio through HDMI to my receiver while the “Audio” zone was set to use my USB DAC to play music (connected through RCA to my receiver). On my receiver, I simply set one preset as “Movie” using HDMI for audio and another preset as “Music” using RCA analogue pass-through. Easy as that! Now whenever I play an audio file, it automatically uses my “Audio” zone in Jriver and plays through my DAC to my receiver. If I then switch to a video file, it stops any audio playing and uses HDMI to bitstream the audio. Perfect!
Because I went to great lengths to not ever have to use a keyboard, the last piece of the puzzle was to launch right into Jriver. I set up my HTPC to boot into windows (without the login screen) and I set Jriver to launch on startup. Additionally, I set Jriver to launch into Theater View on launch. Now when my PC starts up, it goes straight to the desktop, Jriver launches automatically and launches right into Theater View which I can easily navigate with my Harmony Remote.
BENCHMARKS:
Below I've started compiling some benchmarks so you can get an idea of the performance of the machine. If there is a benchmark you'd like to see, let me know and I will do my best to add it.
Boot Time (To Desktop):
Windows Experience Index (yes, I know it doesn't mean much, but it's a benchmark nonetheless):
3DMark Score:
(To be updated)
HEAT/POWER:
Below are some preliminary load tests. Please note that due to the nature of this PC being passive cooled, ambient temperature has a greater effect on the internal component temperatures. You'll be happy to know that the current ambient temperatures I tested in are quite high (~23-24 degrees Celcius, or ~73-75 Farenheit for you Americans
).
Prime95 test with 8 threads at 100% load for 22 hours and 42 minutes
Result:
Idle Temps
Results:
1080P HD Movie Playback (H264 - MPEG-4 AVC, 23.97 fps, Planar 4:2:0 YUV 10-bit LE, 16bit flac @ 48000 Hz, subs on)
Results:
Gaming (Final Fantasy 14) for ~1 hour
Results:
WISHLIST:
Despite the fact that I am extremely happy with my HTPC (I often wonder why I didn’t build it sooner), there are a few items that I want to add. Here is the list:
Outlaw Audio Model 7500 Amplifier ( http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/index.html )
Streacom FC10 Fanless Chassis ( http://www.streacom.com/products/fc10-fanless-chassis/ )
SOtM tX-USB (PCI) ( http://www.sotm.sonore.us/ )
Wyred4Sound DAC-2 ( http://www.wyred4sound.com/webapps/p/74030/117839/457975 )
D-Sonic M2-1500M Mono Amplifier ( http://www.d-sonic.net/products/mono/ )
CLOSING REMARKS
I’ve been using my HTPC almost every day for the past few months now and I’ve been thrilled with the Video/Audio quality and ease of use. I have also had no problems whatsoever with my HTPC – no resets, blue screens, overheating etc. With both my Media Center IR receiver and the SIMEREC IR mod, I now have a complete home theater system that only requires my Harmony 880 universal remote to control it. Literally EVERYTHING works without having to touch my HTPC or a keyboard. I sit down, turn on everything with my Harmony remote preset, and do all my navigating with the same remote. When I’m done using my HTPC, my Harmony remote shuts down my entire system (including my HTPC), all without having to get up (laziness level: GOLD). This is exactly what I wanted it to do when I set out on this build and I think I’ve succeed.
Hopefully you have found this article helpful. I’ve put a lot of time into researching and building the perfect HTPC at a reasonable price and I think I’ve mostly succeeded – at least until I try and tackle this build in one of the Streacom cases, but that's a whole other can of worms. For now, I finally have a media player that does everything I want it to do while providing reference-grade image and sound quality. What more could you possibly want!
![]()
If you have any comments or questions, I would love to hear them and I will hopefully update this article accordingly. I hope you enjoyed reading through this and at the very least learned a little something in the process. Now it’s finally time to sit back and enjoy my setup!
Update: My next project is already in the works. I have a Streacom FC5 EVO WS ( http://www.streacom.com/products/fc5ws-evo-fanless-chassis/ ) on order and I’ll be trying to get all of the components used in this build (maybe even better) inside this chassis. Stay tuned!
Cheers!
BUILDING THE PERFECT SILENT HTPC (2013)
I’ve been an online lurker of A/V websites for a long time now and about a half a year ago, I decided it was time to build my own HTPC – but not just any HTPC, the perfect silent HTPC. I apologize if another article of this nature has already been written and I’ve been fairly light on technical information here, so if you would like to see more, let me know and I will be more than happy to adjust it accordingly.
For all the community has done for me over the years, I figured it was time to give back and share what I’ve learned through this process. This article was written based on my own experience building a silent HTPC and breaks down the challenges and thought processes I took to get there. It was frustrating for me trying to find information online because it seemed like no one was building the exact HTPC I was trying to build. I figured if I was looking for that information, there was probably someone else who was too.
If you just want to see my build, scroll down to “MY SETUP.” You’re welcome.
For those that do read on, I promise it won’t be time wasted.
My full current setup
THE CHALLENGE:
Build a powerful HTPC that looks good, runs cool, can play games, and is powerful enough to run madVR on high quality without dropping frames. Great! Not that hard right?
Oh, but there’s one more thing… It also has to be completely passive cooled with NO fans (not even case fans) and has to have no moving components whatsoever (except for the Blu-ray drive).
Keep on reading to see if I succeeded.
BACKGROUND:
Why build an HTPC in the first place?
Simple: I’m an audio and video nut. I’ve been in the pursuit of the best audio and video quality possible at a (fairly) reasonable budget (so no $10,000 reference components here). I also wanted a device that has a huge amount of flexibility, both in the formats that can be played, but also in the types of things I can do (like play games).
Now keep in mind that I’m bit of an exception to most people. I am not terrible interested in the best streaming device that lets me connect to a million different video and audio streaming services. I DO use these services, but I am much more concerned with the quality of my local files (my 1080p video collection and FLAC music collection). If all you want is a great media streaming device, look at an Apple TV or Roku, or even a Raspberry Pi using XBMC. But if you fall into my camp, keep on reading.
With that, let’s look at all the devices that I’ve tried…
WHAT DEVICES HAVE I USED FOR VIDEO PLAYING/STREAMING?
PS3 running PS3 Media server or Plex:
- For the longest time, I was running PS3 Media server and using that to stream my 1080p content from my main PC to my theater. It has been really great to me, with quite good image quality (one of the best for a streamer) but I have a couple caveats. The problem is that PS3 media server on HQ is a bandwidth hog, couldn’t pass through DTS audio to my receiver, and still transcodes and compresses the signal.
Xbox 360 running Plex:
- Plex is an awesome app for transcoding video, but as you know, as soon as you transcode something and send it over a network, you add compression to the mix. Did I end up using it for long? Nope.
Apple TV Jailbroken running XBMC and Plex:
- With 2 nd generation Apple TV’s selling at double their retail value and everyone telling me how awesome it works, I had to try this. I think airplay is awesome so I went and Jailbroke my Apple TV to try and stream my media collection and… Well, some of my high bitrate files bogged down XBMC. A jailbroken Apple TV is great for a lot of things, but this isn’t one of them.
Pivos XIOS DS Media Play!:
- A tiny, Android powered, XBMC running media device capable of playing almost any video file you can possibly throw at it! My search for the most capable and flexible media player was finally over… This was going to be the last device I ever needed! After 10 minutes of using it, I was ready to throw the f*cking device through a window. I’m going to go out and say that this is one of the single most idiotic media players ever created. It’s a BETA product at best, and an effing joke of a product at worst. If you are the type of person who wants to plug in a mouse and keyboard to a media streaming device and have a setup process that is about 100 times more complicated than installing XBMC on a raspberry pi, all for okay video for the 50% of the time it actually works, then by all means, buy one. Now go away and bang your head on a wall some more.
WD TV Live Streaming Media Player:
- What do you do when you are frustrated, out of options, and just want a media player that plays all your files? You buy the 3 rd highest ranked media player on amazon (third to the two ROKU players which are more for streaming than playing file formats). I figured I couldn’t go wrong here; this thing HAS to work… Then I loaded up a high bitrate FLAC encoded MKV and… it didn’t play the file. Un-fricking-believable. The whole side of the box covered in a list of supported formats and it MAYBE played 70% of my media files. That is unacceptable. It was taken back the next day.
ASUS O!Play:
- I do not have direct experience with this device, but I took a few files that the WD TV couldn’t play and gave it to my buddy that has an ASUS O!Play. The only thing that’s important is that it could not play any of the files (or it did so with unwatchable visual artifacting).
It was after this that I decided that no media streamer had a powerful enough processor to handle what I wanted it to do and finally gave in to building an HTPC.
Now what you’ve been waiting for.
MY SETUP:
For those of you that don’t give a crap about my ramblings and just want to know what components I used to build it. Here it is.
Home Theater Components:
- Receiver: NAD 747
- TV: Toshiba Regza 46”
- Power Cleaner: Belkin
- Front Speakers: Tekton SEAS Pendragons
- Center Speakers: Totem Rainmaker
- Rear Speakers: Totem Rainmaker
- Subwoofer: Totem Thunder
- Speaker Cables: Black Cat Morpheus & Monster Speaker Wire
- Headphone Amp: Little Dot MK III Tube Amp
- Headphones: AKG Q701
- Remote: Logitech Harmony 880
- NAS: QNAP TS-869 Pro
·
HTPC Components (Prices in CAD):
- Case: Silverstone GD08 ($159.99)
- Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V ($134.99)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-3770T Processor (8M Cache, up to 3.7GHz) (~$300)
- CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-C12P SE14 (with the fan removed) ($69.99)
- GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 650 SuperClocked 1GB ($119.99)
- GPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 PLUS Passive VGA Cooler ($29.99)
- RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance LP DDR3 1600MHz CL10 Dual Channel Kit ($169.99)
- Hard Drive: Crucial M4 256GB SSD (~150)
- Power Supply: KingWin Stryker 500-Watt ATX 500 Fanless Power Supply STR-500 ($169.99)
- Blu-ray Player: ASUS BC-12B1ST 12x Blu-ray Combo Drive (OEM) ($69.99)
- IR Trigger for ON/OFF: Simerec PCS-2 (~$50)
- IR Reciever and Remote Control: HP USB Microsoft MCE IR Remote Control Kit (~$20)
- OS: Windows 8.1 Pro
- External DAC (Digital Analogue Converter): HRT Music Streamer+
- RCA Cable: Chord CrimsonPlus Interconnect
- Power Cable: NAIM Audio Power Cord
Software:
- JRiver Media Center 18
WHY SILENT?
For those that are looking at this article thinking “You could have built an awesome HTPC with way less headaches by just using fans/watercooling. What’s wrong with you?” Let me explain:
Water pumps/fans cause vibration which can affect components inside the computer as well as the high end audio/video components that are in the same media cabinet. There are two sides to this, with people believing that small vibrations will have no effect on a digital/analogue signal while others believing that it does. This is not the place for that argument – much has been written on this subject elsewhere. Just know that I fall into the former camp.- The HTPC is in my bedroom and I don’t want to hear fans if I leave it on
- I don’t want to have to clean dust out of my HTPC regularly (if ever)
- I don’t want ANY noise while listening to music/watching videos (yes, I know it’s negligible, but it’s still there)
- Finally, it is badass turning on a computer and only hearing a small “click” followed by dead silence… AWESOME.
THE BUILD
I’ve built lots of computers before so everything was pretty straight forward. If you want a walkthrough on putting together your own PC, Google it and you’ll find lots of information; I’m not covering that here. The challenge I had was passive cooling the video card. The guys down at my local computer store told me that it was impossible to get a moderately powerful NVIDIA GPU passive cooled in my HTPC. Challenge accepted.
Side note: The reason I went with NVIDIA is so that I could use CUVID (explained later) and because I have heard some rumors that NVIDIA cards produce higher IQ than their AMD counterparts (it also runs DDR5 memory which AMD doesn’t do) (Edit: This is incorrect, both cards run GDDR5 memory). This is a whole other discussion and many forums can be found debating this at length. I have no proof whether or not this is true, I am simply stating the reason I went with NVIDIA.
One of the big problems I had was with the Arctic Cooling GPU heatsink. It is rated to work on cards up to a 650Ti, but the heatsink itself is too large for almost any HTPC case (it will hit the top panel of the case). The only logical solution was to bring it home and bend it…
I did the bending carefully on the curb outside my house, bending it a little bit at a time with a block of wood and a hammer as to not damage the heat pipes. I made sure to bend it away from the card so that it would actually pull the heat further away from my CPU inside my HTPC (considering there are no case fans). I think you’ll agree that the result was great and I managed to avoid damaging the heatpipes in the process.
GPU: I ended up going with a GTX 650 instead of a GTX 650Ti because of heat. The 650 has a TDP of 64W while the 650TI has a TDP of 110W. Higher power = more heat and I was a little worried about heat dissipation in an HTPC without any case fans. That’s why I ended up going with the GTX 650.
CPU: The selection of the i7-3770T again had to do with heat and power. It has a TDP of 45W in an incredibly powerful CPU.
PSU: The KingWin power supply was selected because it is a passive PSU with a platinum power rating. The more efficient the PSU = the less wasted energy that is converted into heat.
IR Trigger: If you are unsure of what the SIMEREC PCS-2 is, it is a device that allows you to turn your HTPC on and off using a media center remote (or any universal remote). Yes… you heard me right. I spent ages trying to find a solution to this problem and this little guy is it. And it works perfectly. Note: You do have to splice a cable onto the live wire coming from your power supply (see pictures) and you do have to drill a hole in your case for the IR receiver (which is different than one you can use to control the HTPC with a media center remote. Other than those little caveats, it works brilliantly).
IR Trigger Installation: Live Splice
IR Trigger Installation: IR Receiver
Full SIMEREC Installation
Hole drilled for SIMEREC IR Receiver
All Components Installed
SOFTWARE:
I use JRIVER MEDIA CENTER (and plugins) as my main player that pulls content over my network stored on my QNAP NAS. I’m sure most of you are familiar with Jriver, but for those who aren’t, it began life as one of the reference PC audio players that audiophiles flocked to and it eventually worked its way into the videophile world. With Jriver MC 18, MadVR – one of the best rendering engines available (although, heavy on the GPU) – is now built-in. I will explain how I have streamlined my media experience in Jriver below.
Plugins:
- MadVR (comes with Media Center)
- LAV Filters
- madFLAC
- Reclock Update: This is no longer used in my system due to Bitstream complications
- AutoFrequency
Jriver Setup:
I’m not going to go into a detailed setup because I have not had enough time to play with all the various settings. There are really good articles on setting up MadVR and LAV Filters here ( http://www.homecinema-hd.com/intro_en.html ) here ( http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=516729 ) and here ( http://azurehakua.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/mpc-hc-lav-filters-xy-vsfilter-madvr/ ). You’ll notice that many walkthroughs are using MPC-HC as their media player. I have used it and it is a fine piece of software (although very basic) that delivers excellent video quality. The main reason for my selection of Jriver Media Center is because of the good library management tools and the excellent iOS app available.
What I do want to tell you about is how I have set up zones so that video files get played through HDMI with bitstream pass-through, while audio files play through my external USB connected DAC.
To accomplish this, I set up two zones inside of Jriver media center and created custom rules (by right clicking the zones) that make any video file play through my “Movie” zone and any audio file play through my “Audio” zone. With the “Movie” zone, it was set up to bitstream audio through HDMI to my receiver while the “Audio” zone was set to use my USB DAC to play music (connected through RCA to my receiver). On my receiver, I simply set one preset as “Movie” using HDMI for audio and another preset as “Music” using RCA analogue pass-through. Easy as that! Now whenever I play an audio file, it automatically uses my “Audio” zone in Jriver and plays through my DAC to my receiver. If I then switch to a video file, it stops any audio playing and uses HDMI to bitstream the audio. Perfect!
Because I went to great lengths to not ever have to use a keyboard, the last piece of the puzzle was to launch right into Jriver. I set up my HTPC to boot into windows (without the login screen) and I set Jriver to launch on startup. Additionally, I set Jriver to launch into Theater View on launch. Now when my PC starts up, it goes straight to the desktop, Jriver launches automatically and launches right into Theater View which I can easily navigate with my Harmony Remote.
BENCHMARKS:
Below I've started compiling some benchmarks so you can get an idea of the performance of the machine. If there is a benchmark you'd like to see, let me know and I will do my best to add it.
Boot Time (To Desktop):
- 23 Seconds
Windows Experience Index (yes, I know it doesn't mean much, but it's a benchmark nonetheless):
- 7.3
3DMark Score:
(To be updated)
HEAT/POWER:
Below are some preliminary load tests. Please note that due to the nature of this PC being passive cooled, ambient temperature has a greater effect on the internal component temperatures. You'll be happy to know that the current ambient temperatures I tested in are quite high (~23-24 degrees Celcius, or ~73-75 Farenheit for you Americans
).Prime95 test with 8 threads at 100% load for 22 hours and 42 minutes
Result:
- MAX CPU Temp: ~94 degrees Celcius over 22:42 hours. No shutdown, no blue-screen.
- Max Idle GPU temp with CPU at 100% in the same case was ~58 degrees Celcius
- Note: Let's not mince words, 94 degrees is hot, really hot. But the important thing is that it ran throughout the whole test without so much as a hiccup.
Idle Temps
Results:
- CPU Temp: ~45 Degrees Celcius
- GPU Temp: ~41 Degrees Celcius
1080P HD Movie Playback (H264 - MPEG-4 AVC, 23.97 fps, Planar 4:2:0 YUV 10-bit LE, 16bit flac @ 48000 Hz, subs on)
Results:
- Max CPU Temp: ~42 Degrees Celcius
- Max GPU Temp: ~79 Degrees Celcius
Gaming (Final Fantasy 14) for ~1 hour
Results:
- Max CPU Temp: ~87 Degrees Celcius
- Max GPU Temp: ~101 Degrees Celcius
WISHLIST:
Despite the fact that I am extremely happy with my HTPC (I often wonder why I didn’t build it sooner), there are a few items that I want to add. Here is the list:
Outlaw Audio Model 7500 Amplifier ( http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/index.html )
- 200 Watts per channel in to 5 channels. This will take the place for all my channels right now and once I add mono’s for my front LR speakers, it will take the duty of powering the remaining speakers
Streacom FC10 Fanless Chassis ( http://www.streacom.com/products/fc10-fanless-chassis/ )
- If the 250W power supply ever comes out, this is the case I’m buying hands-down. It’s beautiful, it’s passive cooled, and all my components should work in it.
SOtM tX-USB (PCI) ( http://www.sotm.sonore.us/ )
- This is literally a PCIe card with USB ports. It is designed to reduce noise for the digital, clock and USB power circuits. This is what I would connect an external DAC to
Wyred4Sound DAC-2 ( http://www.wyred4sound.com/webapps/p/74030/117839/457975 )
- One of the holy grails of usb DAC’s. There are gleaming reviews all of the internet, but one of my favorites is over at 6moons ( http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/wyred4/dac.html ).
D-Sonic M2-1500M Mono Amplifier ( http://www.d-sonic.net/products/mono/ )
- Eventually I want to drive my front speakers with mono amplifiers (I have new speakers on the way). These D-Sonics are some of the most powerful, yet well reviewed Class-D amps there are. Once again, check out 6moons for an awesome review ( http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/dsonic/1.html ).
CLOSING REMARKS
I’ve been using my HTPC almost every day for the past few months now and I’ve been thrilled with the Video/Audio quality and ease of use. I have also had no problems whatsoever with my HTPC – no resets, blue screens, overheating etc. With both my Media Center IR receiver and the SIMEREC IR mod, I now have a complete home theater system that only requires my Harmony 880 universal remote to control it. Literally EVERYTHING works without having to touch my HTPC or a keyboard. I sit down, turn on everything with my Harmony remote preset, and do all my navigating with the same remote. When I’m done using my HTPC, my Harmony remote shuts down my entire system (including my HTPC), all without having to get up (laziness level: GOLD). This is exactly what I wanted it to do when I set out on this build and I think I’ve succeed.
Hopefully you have found this article helpful. I’ve put a lot of time into researching and building the perfect HTPC at a reasonable price and I think I’ve mostly succeeded – at least until I try and tackle this build in one of the Streacom cases, but that's a whole other can of worms. For now, I finally have a media player that does everything I want it to do while providing reference-grade image and sound quality. What more could you possibly want!
If you have any comments or questions, I would love to hear them and I will hopefully update this article accordingly. I hope you enjoyed reading through this and at the very least learned a little something in the process. Now it’s finally time to sit back and enjoy my setup!
Update: My next project is already in the works. I have a Streacom FC5 EVO WS ( http://www.streacom.com/products/fc5ws-evo-fanless-chassis/ ) on order and I’ll be trying to get all of the components used in this build (maybe even better) inside this chassis. Stay tuned!
Cheers!
