My HTPC, the egg is assembling the order.

[accidentalsuccess]

Many of you might just think that this is a little overboard. However, it is KEY to have dual cores so that the conversion of VHS to DVD can be continued while actually using the DVR functions. At least, I feel that way. Also, the bang/buck is pretty good. . . I forsee this being a nice rig for a LONG time.

So, here we go:

Case: Antec SONATA II (450 w PS)

ECS KN1 SLI (for an extra 15 bucks I went with SLI. . .just in case ).
AMD 3800x2
1 gig ram
connect3D X800GTO (maybe it'll unlock w/o artifacts. . .I'm on the fence about trying)

have on hand: Hauppage 150, Hard drives, speakers, tv, etc.

The ECS is a fantastic MB for a HTPC because it has both optical and coax digital out. (IMO). I know this is a BIG overkill on the processor, but I am guessing that the x2 3800 will be fine with windows 2010 or so, at least. I'm not overclocking and the ECS KN1 series has shown to be rock solid at stock speeds (per reviews at [H] and elsewhere). My k7s5a (i believe) w/ a 950 AMD chip was a ROCK before I broke it inserting an extra 512 of ram (yup, almost broke another board then I filed down the ram PCB).

Comments?

 

[IDversusEGO]

your right, most will say overkill, but you will usually see less problems from too much hardware than not enough. seems like some primo stuff to put into a case that has had several heat complaints for 24/7 operation. you didn't mention the CPU cooler and I am assuming that the PSU is the antec brand.

 

[accidentalsuccess]

at stock i don't think heat will be a big problem. I plan on giving windows64 a whirl when it comes out on this machine, and as I said above. . .dual-core is pretty much mandatory if you want to burn DVD's while recording.

I plan on upgrading the fans in the case.