[Scallica]

Hi Everyone,


I am planning on building an HTPC which will be a HD-DVR (50%), Blu-Ray Player (25%), and gaming system (%25). Here are the parts that I have selected:


SilverStone LC-20 HTPC Case

ASUS P5N-D Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Duo Quad Q6600 2.4Ghz Processor

Diamond Radeon HD 3650PM All-in-Wonder Video Card/Tuner

Pioneer 2202B Blu-ray Drive

Crucial Balistix Tracer 4GB PC2 6400 RAM

Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000 RPM drive (OS, Apps, Games)

Western Digital Raptor 300GB 10,000 RPM drive (DVR, Ripped DVDs)

Seasonic M12II 500W Modular Power Supply

Windows Vista Ultimate Edition 64-bit


What are your thoughts?

 

[phantsam]

You could save a few bucks and just go with the standard Ballistix. The tracers are cool but if your case doesn't have a window it's kind of pointless.

 

[hobojoe_2006]

Instead of that 300GB Raptor for storage you could go with a 1.5TB for $60 cheaper (going by newegg prices)...


Playing recorded tv and ripped dvds doesn't really need the extra 2800 RPM

 

[Scallica]

Excellent suggestions. Thanks.

 

[Scallica]

I finally ordered the components. Here is what I settled with:


Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775

2 x OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Memory

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel

ATI Radeon All-in-Wonder 3650HD 512MB Video Card

SeaSonic M12 SS-600HM 600W ATX12V V2.3 Modular Power Supply

Pioneer Blu-Ray Reader 12X DVD±R DVD Burner SATA BDC-2202B

Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Sony 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive

nMEDIAPC ZE-C68 All-in-one USB 2.0 Card Reader

Rosewill RCX-Z300 92mm Ball CPU Cooler

Scythe S-FLEX SFF21D 120mm Case Fan

Microsoft MCE Remote

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit


Instead of paying $150 for the Silvertek LC-20 HTPC case, I found a spare empty tower in the closet which I spray painted black and will install into my rack laying on its side.

I have two spare 32GB 10,000rpm drives that I will use as a boot drive in RAID-1.


What do you think? I can't wait to fire this baby up. I will post pics soon!

 

[soarertt]

The Q6600 was a poor buy. It's old technology. The E8400 is cheaper, newer, and out performs it. I also hope the PSU is 80plus to keep the inside case temps down. Most HTPC cases don't vent as good as the standard ones. A standard PSU at 500 watts can put out 200 watt's more heat into the system compared to a 500w 80plus. All your system needs is a 380w 80plus, and that only puts out 75w of heat. With your configuration you're only going to be using 150-200w of power. If your 600w PSU is not rated 80plus, it's going to put out around 300w of heat. Burn baby burn!

 

[Scallica]



Quote:
Originally Posted by soarertt /forum/post/15597813


The Q6600 was a poor buy. It's old technology. The E8400 is cheaper, newer, and out performs it. I also hope the PSU is 80plus to keep the inside case temps down. Most HTPC cases don't vent as good as the standard ones. A standard PSU at 500 watts can put out 200 watt's more heat into the system compared to a 500w 80plus. All your system needs is a 380w 80plus, and that only puts out 75w of heat. With your configuration you're only going to be using 150-200w of power. If your 600w PSU is not rated 80plus, it's going to put out around 300w of heat. Burn baby burn!

The Q6600 is not THAT old. Besides, the E8400 is not a quad core, and I wanted a quad core

Yes, the PSU is 80 plus. I wanted to be sure I had plenty of power if I added additional drives.

 

[soarertt]

That's true, it isn't quad core... but it's also as a whole slower and runs hotter then a cheaper E8400. It's your agenda if you want to pay more for a hotter slower CPU just to say you have a quad core

lol

 

[lifespeed]

Sorry to see I am a bit late to stick my nose into your build.

I also do HTPC and gaming (no PVR, tho) as well as processing of RAW digital camera photos. I have a Q6600 as well. Apparently it can be overclocked to 3 GHz on a good motherboard (I have done so on occasion), but cooling can be marginal as I don't have room for a monster cooler in my case. The quad-core is invaluable for heavy processing tasks like remuxing BD to MKV, or processing digital photos.


However, I have often wished for more clock speed. The price on Q9550 and Q9650 have come down, these would really be better choices for a quad core. If you can, buy yourself some clock, memory, and front-side bus speed with a newer generation of processor in a 45 nm process.