Build Help on Audiophile HTPC

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godbero

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Feb 5, 2013
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Hello,

I would like some help building my next PC. It is probably closest to what’s called a Home Theater PC (HTPC) here on the forum, but I’m going for more. I want to combine an audiophile level music player, with a great movie player, and maybe a DVR too. I think these should all work in the same box.

Design Ideas

HTPC
The usual goal for an HTPC is sufficient performance to play 1080p content, but with minimum power consumption, and no noise. I would assume we want to upgrade this to 4k content now. Although onboard graphics might be able to do this, a graphics card would allow an easier upgrade to a higher video standard when it comes and I would need HDMI output for the A/V receiver. A good Blu-ray drive is needed for playing back commercial disks and allowing this unit to replace my Blu-ray player. Both the graphics card and Blu-ray drive need to be very quiet and not cause any interference with the sound. I’m aiming at "Oppo Blu-ray player" quality with attached storage (I wonder what brand drive they use?)

DVR
I assume besides the software (I have MS Media Center) all this requires is a TV-tuner card.

Audio
The guys over at ComputerAudiophile.com have these ideas about great sound.
• Absolutely silent = No moving parts, fanless servers, no spinning hard drives
• Low heat and Low power = because of the no fans above
• Capable of great sound = Play 16/44.1, 24/44.1, 24/88.2, 24/96, 24/176.4, 24/192 and DSD all bit perfect; no interference from PSU or other parts

My desire for a Blu-ray drive already gives me one moving part, but I would like to minimize moving parts and noise. I like the idea of a audio component size case, like a DVD player or receiver, which is full-size and should help with cooling.

Here are the specs for the Computer Audiophile server as a starting point. They say the motherboard choice was based on a 7 year support lifespan. I can see the benefit of that, since I have a 7 year old computer that is hard to support, but I’m looking for a balance of price versus performance. The same can be said for the power supply. Is this what it costs for clean power?

I have Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit with Media Center for this build. Planning to output to a HD-TV and not planning to play games on this system. I would love to stay under $2,000.

All suggestions and ideas welcome. Thank you in advance for any help in finalizing my build.

Motherboard: Supermicro X10SLH-F
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C220/X10SLH-F.cfm

Case: Streacom FC10
http://www.streacom.com/products/fc10-fanless-chassis/

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1241 v3 (BX80646E31241V3)
http://ark.intel.com/products/80909/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-1241-v3-8M-Cache-3_50-GHz

RAM: Crucial (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Server Memory (CT2KIT102472BD160B)
http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/ct2kit102472bd160b

SSD: Samsung 850 Pro 128GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-7KE128BW)
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/ssd850pro/overview.html

HDD: Seagate Desktop HDD 6TB 6Gb/s 128MB Cache 3.5-Inch HDD (STBD6000100)
Seagate Desktop HDD 6TB 6Gb/s 128MB Cache 3.5-Inch HDD (STBD6000100)

PSU: HDPlex Linear Power Supply in combination with the HDPlex 250W Internal DC-ATX PSU
http://www.hd-plex.com/fanless-ATX-power-supply

Music App: JRiver Media Center
http://www.jriver.com/

USB Card: SOtM tX-PCIexp
http://www.sotm.sonore.us/SOtM3.html#6

SATA Filter: SOtM SATA power filter
http://www.sotm.sonore.us/SOtM3.html#3

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/612-computer-audiophile-pocket-server-c-p-s-v4-pipeline/
 
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sadams04

sadams04

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Nov 23, 2010
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Remove the stock 120mm fan from the case for zero moving parts except for the HD and optical drive.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690S 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($217.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Zalman FX100 Fanless CPU Cooler ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97N-Gaming 5 Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($148.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($101.87 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Green 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive ($135.04 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 750 2GB Video Card ($126.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF Stacker 915F Mini ITX Tower Case ($64.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series Fanless 460W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular Fanless ATX Power Supply ($116.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($50.98 @ Newegg)
Other: Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250(WinTV-HVR-2255) Media Center Kit Dual TV Tuner w/ IR Remote PCI-E x 1 ($119.99)
Total: $1201.80
 
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Cristi72

Cristi72

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Jun 25, 2014
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Hello,

What amplifier + speakers are you want to use with your system? Because using the TV as the final link in the audio chain is not gonna work, as you've spent a lot of money for virtually no benefits.

Also, be aware that you'll need a very good USB DAC, as the USB card you listed above is just an USB signal filter, it doesn't have any audio capabilities.
 
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godbero

Honorable
Feb 5, 2013
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Thanks sadam04 for your build, which I will review. The PCPartPicker I didn't know about, and should help me keep things compatible. Do you think your PSU is as clean as the one in the Computer Audiophile build (which they call CAPS Pipeline and I will call Pipeline in future posts)?
 
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G

godbero

Honorable
Feb 5, 2013
11
0
10,510


Hello Cristi72,

You are correct. I am not relying on the TV for sound. I am at the beginning of a long rebuild of my Hi-Fi system and this is the CD-Player replacement (and DVD, DVR, etc.). I currently have a Yamaha A/V Receiver and 5.1 speakers. Mine is old enough that it doesn't have DAC's built in, so I will need an external DAC for this receiver. The new receivers have the DAC's built in.

Once I get the digital music (and video) device built, I will decide whether to upgrade the receiver or speakers next and where the DAC will live.

What do you think about the motherboard service-life? The Computer Audio guys were using server MB's because they said they would be supported for 7 years (and maybe have less built-in things to interfere with sound). Would the Gigabyte gaming MB work as well?

Thanks for your help.
 
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sadams04

sadams04

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Nov 23, 2010
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The fanless X-Series from Seasonic is as good as you can get. You won't find a higher quality power supply.
 
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Cristi72

Cristi72

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Jun 25, 2014
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They may be right, as such server- or workstation-grade motherboards are built to last and are less prone to electromagnetic interferences. Using ECC memory is also helping, minimizing the possibility of a computational error. However, the missing link in such an error-free system is a SAS hard-disk, which will assure your data remains in best shape for prolonged periods of time. Unfortunately, SAS devices are not compatible with SATA ports, so Supermicro X10SLH-F is not the way to go. In my opinion, you are making a compromise which can lead to data degradation (you won't want that, especially if you have lots of high-quality audio tracks or movies), and the signal quality is the first reason you are building your HTPC using server-grade components.

Of course, if your budget will never allow you to go for an audiophile amplifier + speaker setup (an entry-level setup can easily go beyond 5000$), you can use a desktop-grade motherboard, a more affordable non-ECC memory and a SATA HDD; the use of a Xeon is still advisable because they have high heat-tolerance and the possibility to cope with high CPU usage for prolonged periods of time (in an HTPC is not a problem I guess).

Regarding the 7-year support, it may be a far-fetched assumption, as Win10 and newer Intel CPUs are coming and all resources will be transferred to the newer systems. Nonetheless, you will be able to use your system as long as the components last, there is no reason to always have the latest BIOS version or software (especially the OS or drivers). If it ain't broke, don't fix it :)
 
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