advice needed - first time HTPC build

A

alex.angel

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Nov 18, 2004
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I'm looking for comments & money-saving advice on my proposed HTPC build. Once I finalize the hardware selection I'll be ordering it at the end of the month.

Silverstone SST-LC16B-M $269
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L $99
POWERCOLOR 26XT512M/D3HDMI Radeon HD 2600XT 512MB $129
Xion Supernova 600W modular psu $119
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz $189
Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 $49.99
2x WD 750GB SATA HDDs $309
LG dual format HD-DVD / Bluray reader & DVD-RW $299



Some rationale:

-that's one hella expensive case, and cramped as hell, but it has IR, fits 6 drives (2 new WDs, an existing 750GB WD I have, and a Seagate 500GB I have, with room for future expansion, and has cooling where I need it (drives, cpu).
-the 2600XT is a lock given its video decoding abilities, and this one's short enough to fit in the case (170mm I believe, limit's 200mm)
-2GB should be enough. I'll be running XP on this box with only 3 apps: media portal, utorrent, and remote desktop server. Media portal will use the retail hd/bluray player software's decoders to enable video processing to be offloaded to the vidcard
-I hardly need a quadcore to play back HD content, so a 2.66 dualcore ought to be enough
-are there any "skinny" micro-atx mainboards I can get to more easily fit the cramped confines of this case? It's not length that's the problem - it's width.
-the Xion power supply is modular which will help somewhat (since there will be NO space to dump extra cabling)

What do you guys think?

Also I need advice on:
-what soundcard to use (or to use one?)
-whether to use the onboard AC3 on the radeon vidcard (over hdmi)
-i need to know if there's a way i can do DTS5.1 realtime encoding of all media playback sources to send over the radeon HDMI link or soundcard link
-whether a RAID controller is a good idea

Incidentally, the audio/video output is going to a Panasonic 42" 1080p plasma and one of those sound "bars". Yes I know not exactly audio nirvana but apartment conditions dictate size of audio system ;)
 
Looks like a solid build to me.

Motherboard is a good choice, coaxial out for audio. Works great in my setup out to HK AVR247.
I would probably use a small HDD for the HTPC itself, and use the 750GB as storage drives.
I would build a "spare parts" server instead of stuffing drives and massive power into an HTPC case, but thats my opinion. How much data are you storing? DVD's? etc.
Some people might say NVidia cards, I do, but to each his own. (8800GT's are great)

See my setup for some ideas/info. http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1252288
 
I went for the Sapphire HD2600XT because it uses the GDDR4 memory it is something to look at but it only has 256 on board ram check it out. How about a TV Tuner card. I also have the 6750 and it is super fast at video and encoding. Good Luck with your new build.
 
I think people are recommending a sound card if you're going to be playing Blu Ray or HD-DVD. But that's dependant on your requirements. I'm going for the Auzentech Prelude and hoping they make good on their promise to have a 1.3 HDMI expansion port in Q2 2008 so I can get Dolby TrueHD through HDMI without doing analogue (details below). If you don't care about Dolby TrueHD through digital cables, then you can get the Creative X-Fi. If that's not important, or your sound system isn't that good, then onboard sound can potentially suffice.

Also, I haven't heard much about the Xion PSU. Perhaps it's good. But I do know that the Corsair hx520 PSU is good. It's very quiet, and a proven performer with modular cables.


------------------
http://www.auzentech.com/site/company/press.php

• Press Release - 01.06.2008
AUZENTECH Demonstrates World's First HDMI X-Tension Board at CES


A sample of HDMI X-Tension benefits are listed below:

* A single HDMI cable can be connected with External devices like Digital TV or Receiver
* High compatibility with various external/internal devices by multi-Input selection (4 input).
* Compatibility with Desktop/HTPC/Slim PC (with Standard/LP bracket)
* Supports the next generation of Audio format (Dolby True HD/DTS HD)
* Swift and stable hardware installation without any installation of related software.
* Wide connectivity using the SPDIF Combo Output port.*
* Support for HDMI 1.3 and earlier receivers

* The SPDIF Input port on the Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 is not available with Auzen X-Tension HDMI1.3.

Release of the HDMI X-tension is planned for Q2 of 2008
 
I've heard some good things about sound bars, or "digital sound projectors" as Yamaha likes to call them. They may not be as good as physically having 5.1, much less 7.1 speakers, but I understand that the high end sound bars do a decent job of it, and I can understand why people would go for these if space or lifestyle is an issue.

The good ones can be quite expensive, but wouldn't you need an amplifier/receiver to get the best out of it? (I'm not too sure here, but I'm getting an Onkyo 605)
 
I can give you a few pointers on saving money, I guess.

--Like you said, that is one extremely expensive case. There's *gotta* be a cheaper case out there. I second vischo's idea of building a spare parts server that you can put elsewhere. By eliminating the lots-of-drives requirement, you may open up other case options and knock your price down significantly.
--You don't need 2GB of RAM. Yeah, it's dirt cheap, so there's not much savings there, but if you go with a less expensive brand and only buy 1GB, that'll save you some.
--With the acceleration from the video card, I don't think you'll need such a speedy CPU. Remember, the CPU will mainly be handling OS and interface stuff, along with the transcoding work. If you can live without having your recording transcoded immediately, you can save a bunch by getting a slower CPU. That will also help with heat and noise, BTW.
--A 600W PSU is enormous overkill. I'd be surprised if your components could draw more than half that at full load--including hard drive spinup! Yes, modular PSUs are nice, but once you have the machine built and sitting under your TV, it doesn't make much difference. A decent 400W PSU will give you plenty of power and save you a bunch of cash.

One other thought--you might want to consider getting a video card with a passive cooler. It will cut down on the noise level (important for a HTPC), and you won't need to worry about fans or heatsinks getting gummed up with dust.
 
Good advice all-round.

slightly lower cpu makes sense, but E6600s are more expensive than 6750's, due to their OC popularity. External server makes sense, but I don't have the space for one (small apartment, no desire to run lan cable). Passive vidcard makes sense as well, but lack of space an issue, for this case atleast.

I found the case for only $180 on Frys :)
 
alex.angel said:
slightly lower cpu makes sense, but E6600s are more expensive than 6750's, due to their OC popularity. External server makes sense, but I don't have the space for one (small apartment, no desire to run lan cable). Passive vidcard makes sense as well, but lack of space an issue, for this case atleast.

I found the case for only $180 on Frys :)
Click to expand...
You don't have to settle for slightly lower CPU. You can settle for a lot less CPU if you have the GPU acceleration. I recall reading somewhere that (at least on the nV side) an 8600-class card cuts down on the CPU load by more than half. My supervisor at work just built a HTPC with an AMD X2 5000 and a HD2400-something, and it handles HD content just fine. Heck, you could save a bundle by getting a cheap AMD CPU and decent motherboard (with the digital sound out you need).

One more thought: I don't know how much of your current hard drive space you have filled, but it might be better to wait on purchasing the new drives. If you're running out of capacity now, then just buy one drive now, and purchase another one when you need it. Not only will it save you money now, but the same capacity will be cheaper when you need it.

It sounds like this will be a dedicated HTPC. Is that right? Do you have another rig for gaming/internet/whatever else? (The reason I ask is that the second rig could become the file server/backend for the HTPC--just a thought.)
 
Mohonri said:
I can give you a few pointers on saving money, I guess.
--You don't need 2GB of RAM. Yeah, it's dirt cheap, so there's not much savings there, but if you go with a less expensive brand and only buy 1GB, that'll save you some.
Click to expand...

Unless you want to run Vista and the excellent Windows Media Center; which, I highly recommend.

Mohonri said:
--A 600W PSU is enormous overkill. I'd be surprised if your components could draw more than half that at full load--including hard drive spinup! Yes, modular PSUs are nice, but once you have the machine built and sitting under your TV, it doesn't make much difference. A decent 400W PSU will give you plenty of power and save you a bunch of cash.
Click to expand...

I agree here as well, I am barely running 400W PSU in both my Server (8HDD's) and my HTPC. However, I do love modular.

Mohonri said:
One other thought--you might want to consider getting a video card with a passive cooler. It will cut down on the noise level (important for a HTPC), and you won't need to worry about fans or heatsinks getting gummed up with dust.
Click to expand...

This is important; after building mine, I would make some serious changes. Try to build your HTPC as an "appliance" (small, quiet, etc) rather than some monster PC box with top tier HW.

Trust us when we talk about storage and servers and such. We have HTPC's, we have music collections, we have DVD's; you are not going to want to store 3TB of that kind of data in your HTPC for many reasons.

If you can, build a spare parts server; if not, start with your storage drives in your main PC and share them out......... until you run out of actual space in your case.

DVD Rips: 7GB each
Music Collection (MP3s): 50-200GB
Recorded TV: 3GB/hour of SD (best quality in MCE)

Also, I agree; buy HDDs as you need them. 500GB drives last quite a while for me; then I go and buy another and when 750GB or 1TB drives come down to a reasonable price point for me, then I'll start buying those.
 
Some rebuttal and other thoughts:

-going with a significantly slower cpu: I've only seen testing benchmarks of cyberlink's hardware assist with recent CPUs playing HD-DVDs and/or Blu-ray discs. I've seen the compatibility list on cyberlink's website, but I'd like some headroom for future 'non-hardware-assisted' codecs y'kno?
-going passive on the gfx card: great in theory, however the ones I've seen all add to the card's overall length, killing my case selection
-going with an 'appliance' style box & keeping a file server: starting to give that some real consideration.
-going with a lower power psu: if i keep this case modular's vitally necessary so I kinda have to veto this, unless I can find a modular 400W psu.

Right now my only computer is a dying laptop with a pair of 750GB external drives that are almost full.

The inherent problem with building out two machines is this: I live in an apartment with limited space. Relocating a machine to cut down on the noise is sort of impossible. The machines will most likely be in a wood a/v cabinet with tinted glass door anyway. Also, having extra machines adds to the heat, noise, and cost.

I'm starting to think that an A/V style case isn't entirely necessary and that a 4U could do the job, since the machine could be behind tinted glass anyway.

About drives:

I can fill them as fast as I get them with content. That's sort of the problem. I could fill a terabyte drive in a day.
 
@vischo--alex.angel said in the first post that he/she'll be running XP, so 1GB--heck, even 512MB--ought to be enough.

@alex--You make a good point about wanting a better CPU to handle future non-GPU-assisted codecs. However, since that's in the (probably distant) future, I'm still in the "save the money now and get a faster/cheaper/cooler chip later" camp.

RE: modular PSU-- :D Nobody says you can't take a lower-power PSU and make it modular!

I like the 4U case idea. It would give you plenty of room for several hard drives, enough extra space to stash extra PSU cables, enough room to get a passive video card. And it's a lot cheaper. You'd have to do something about a VFD if it's that important to you, as well as the remote receiver. Just make sure you have the room in your cabinet.

Back to the two-machine idea: A second machine doesn't have to be noisy or hot. All it has to be is fast enough to serve up HD content. That doesn't take much. A Pentium 3 can do that. You can pick up a super-cheap P3 machine, load it to the gills with SATA controller cards and drives, and set it wherever you want.
 
A note on that case. The newer video cards (I have the HD3850) are very long. You might have problems fitting one in your case with the 5.25" drives there. Just a word of caution.
 
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