HTPC Build Suggestions

[potatomanakaspud]

Hey guys so i was thinking of building a media centre to hook up to a 42" plasma it scales to 600*800 really well its only does 480p... i know the shame of it. anyway i am currently using a 5 year old laptop and it seems to be struggling for life these days so i was thinking htpc to replace it... but something nice and cheep... im in ireland so newtegg and all those nice cheap sites are kinda out for me so im not sure price wise how my budget would convert to dollars
My main concern is hidef video playback i do intend to get a 1080p tv at a later date and would not like to have to upgrade my htpc again. i have a seperate gaming rig but the odd mmorpg would be fun on a big tv so thats kind of my requirements regular smooth video playback and enough background processing to continuously download torrents... oh and silent if possible
im hoping thats what the rig below will do any thaughts???
i have wireless mouse and keyboard too


ABIT NF-M2 nView, nForce430+GeForce 6150 ,Socket-AM2,m-ATX,GbLAN, Firew, PCI-Ex16

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0GHz Socket AM2 1MB, BOXED w/fan

Antec Fusion Media Center Case, Aluminum front bezel, w/430W PSU

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Eng OEM DVD 64bit

OCZ Gold DDR2 PC6400 2048MB KIT, w/two 1024MB PC6400 XTC,CL4-5-5-15, Rev2

Samsung DVD±RW burner, SH-S182D, 18x, Dual, DVDRAM 12x, White OEM

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM

 

[akhilles]

Thumbs up.

The Antec HTPC case is very good. If you haven't used an Antec case, you'll be in for a treat. I actually enjoyed putting together my Sonata2 PC. While the bundled 430w psu may sound smallish, it's of high quality & made by Seasonic:

http://www.sysopt.com/features/cases/article.php/12024_3624281_3

The onboard 6150 video is probably the best right now. D-sub & DVI outputs. You just have to get a DVI-TO-HDMI adapter to hook it up with your TV, assuming the TV accepts HDMI. If not, you may have to find a component connection.

Depending on what kind of MMORPGs you play, the 6150 video may be underpowered for this task. Especially when you upgrade to a 1080p HDTV. Surely, the 6150 is fine for 2D & movie playbacks.

 

[jaguarskx]

Do you intend on using your HTPC to play Blu-Ray and HD-DVD?

If so then your proposed HTPC is sorely underpowered. The following article from Anandtech.com basically recommends a Core 2 Duo E6600 CPU and somewhat powerful video card, like a 7600GT. nVidia cards that are slower than the 7600GT do not come with "Pure Video" for the best possible video quality on nVidia cards; you would need to purchase "Pure Video" seperately if it is possible.

The AMD equivalent to the E6600 is the Athlon X2 5200+.

Anandtech Article: HD Video Playback: H.264 Blu-ray on the PC

 

[madmurph]

And while Jag likes the nVidia stuff (Hey, Jag. Just kidding -- I've seen you promote ATI, too), an X1950Pro card will have it all over that 7600GT -- better picture for video display, but a little more expensive. As the article he posted says (Dude, nice to see you posting the article I've been pushin', ), if you're considering HiDef in the future, you're going to need an HDCP ready card. Here's the list (another link for you, Bud):

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1071342

You're also going to have a bunch of posters telling you to get a DX10 compatible card, and that you should wait until the 8600 series gets released:

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/info-86oo-series-nv-ftopict226755.html

All ^^^reasonable considerations.

Don't see any kind of TV Tuner/Capture device on your list, either.

And finally, IMHO, that case leaves a lot to be desired. It is not on a par with Antec's tower offerings. At one time I considered it for my own build, for the same reasons expressed by the ^^posters, but when I went and looked at one in person, I thought the build quality seemed cheap, and the face is busy. Plus, at that price, you are limiting yourself to a mATX motherboard, which I realize you are considering for your build, but eliminates any chance of changing in the future, should you decide you want to go full ATX. You should also consider the height -- are you going to be able to fit a full height video card in that case? If not, that's another limitation for future upgrades. Finally, you're stuck with Antec's power supply, which at times in the past, has left a lot to be desired.

For the sake of comparison, take a look at this case, which is almost the same price, U.S., as the Antec, but will take a full-size ATX and full height and length video cards, and you can put any (high quality) PSU in it, you like. (I know you said no NewE$$, this is just for reference:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112128

 

[jaguarskx]

... if you're considering HiDef in the future, you're going to need an HDCP ready card.

Thanks, I forgot to mention that.

Blu-Ray and HD DVD requires a video card and an HDTV that has HDCP support.

For strict HiDef video playback nVidia cards are better because they allow for lower CPU usage making it less likely for dropped frames to occur.

 

[madmurph]

... if you're considering HiDef in the future, you're going to need an HDCP ready card.

Thanks, I forgot to mention that.

Blu-Ray and HD DVD requires a video card and an HDTV that has HDCP support.

For strict HiDef video playback nVidia cards are better because they allow for lower CPU usage making it less likely for dropped frames to occur.See your "Hi" and raise you a a "Def"

on the X1950Pro, from The Guru of 3D:

...the card is more than just an item to play games with. It's also a media encoder and accelerator as well. This means your CPU does not have to decode a HD movie, nope your graphics card will do that for you and with the new AVIVO functionality you can bet it's at very high quality. The card is H.264 at 1080P ready. Fantastic stuff if you decide to hook up the card to a HD screen for example, that's magic on your screen man. Also good to know is that this card is HDCP ready

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/414/12/

and our own Tom's Hardware:

Purevideo does surpass Avivo in the final score, but either one is a fine choice for DVD playback with all of the important bases covered: noise reduction, pulldown detection, detail enhancement and de-interlacing.
...Purevideo does surpass Avivo in the final score, but either one is a fine choice for DVD playback

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/09/avivo-vs-purevideo/page14.html

Eye of the beholder.

 

[potatomanakaspud]

Hey guys thanks again for all the advice... at the moment im not too sure on the hddvd or blue ray choice... i was kinda thinking either an xbox 360 or ps3 might cover that but at the moment i think ill pass...(have you seen the price of blue ray and HD DVD drives???)

the tv at the moment has no hdmi but im sure that will change in a few months time but dvi and vga are fine for now...

there were no video capture devices mainly to reduce the price i used to have one a few years ago and it was really crap quality im sure they have gotten much better since then but i can always add later if needed

I am still leaning towards the htpc form factor dont particularly need a tower beside my tv ive got 1 of those already

I was also thinking the gaming part is probably a no go any ways i hardly get time to do any even with my old gaming rig so it will purely be for multimedia purposes
Oh yeah the hdmi not a big deal i prefer to have the dvi to the tv and optical audio going to my
Logitech Z-680 5.1 Channel THX-Certified Speaker System

I realise upgrading is limited with this rig but the system can take a full sized x1900 so i should be able to upgrade the graphics if i do decide to go hddvd or brdvd possibly even direct x 10 in the summer or after that some time and yes at that point upgrading the power supply will also be necessary but i dont think the micro atx factor should be too much of an issue one graphics card maybe a capture card and that should do it

I assume that a suitably powerfull graphics card can run hd disks eliminating the need for stronger processor as well... would i be right??

 

[Surferosa]

The Antec case is a beauty. The only thing Im not over impressed by is the vfd- it only uses half of the available panel on the case. The packaged software isnt too brillant either- so Im going to have a look for some different software ro run it. Otherwise, the case is excellent.. very nice finish, cool and quiet.

Ive put in my 3+ year old rig (P4 3.2, 1gb DDR, 7800GS AGP, x-fi ext music) together with WinMCE, Asrock P4VM890 and a Hauppauge Win TV Nova-T 500. Does everything I need a media centre to do and gives me another 2-3 years life out of a P4.

But, the best part is I can spend surplus funds on a new gaming rig, which is getting a complete C2D 8800 overhaul (finally!). Happy days..

 

[akhilles]

Yep, like they say about purevideo & avivo, it means the video card takes the load of playing hd videos from the cpu. So it doesn't matter whether it's a p4 or c2d or am2.

I strongly suggest you take a look at any of these:

http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1585&l1=3&l2=101&l3=496

The 1st is M2A-VM HDMI - HD-DVD/BD ready. D-SUB, DVI, HDMI, SPDIF, etc. etc. all included.

The M2NPV-VM has D-SUB, DVI, S-VIDEO, COMPONENT, SPDIF, etc.

That'll save your money from buying an adapter.