Question regarding AMD Fusion and HTTPC setup?

[pathfinder2]

Hi guys, Any and all advice or knowladge would really help me. Iv been on a quest to build a decent media PC of which i can watch my videos, listen to music ect. anyway i wanted to ask the community as im not well informed on all of the softwear thats available out there and would like to hear some opinions as to what you would install and use with the equipment i have.

Okay so i have a

Gigabyte GA78LM-S2H - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128408
Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 PCIe 2.0 x16 Graphics Card
AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT12864AA800

And i have this-
Antec Mult-Station Premier Deluxe IR receiver and remote -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999193

I also have the following tv tunners however i have a sattalite dish, so i found it kinda hard to use when i had the 1850 installed, maybe the usb one would work out better? Or maybe i dont need them installed at all?

Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1850 (updated version of 1800) MCE Kit 1128 PCI-Express x1 Interface
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116015&cm_re=wintv-_-15-116-015-_-Product

Hauppauge 1192 WinTV-HVR-1950 Hybrid Video Recorder USB 2.0 Interface -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116029&cm_re=wintv-_-15-116-029-_-Product

And i can either install windows 7 64bit, vista 64bit or windows XP media center? Right now i have windows 7 installed

And as for the remotes i have, i have the windows vista remote that came with the TVtuner, and i have the remote that came with the antec media station...i also have a logitech 610 which i have yet to figure out...id like to not have to use a mouse or keyboard at all.

I guess im really confused as to which softwear would work out best...iv heard allot about the AMD Fusion, and i have Imedian and IMon softwear that conrotles the remote....but again i am hopeing to get some advice from some of the knowladgable kind folks here at toms hardware. Really any and all information will help!

Thanks!
Eddie

 

[batuchka]

Hmm AMD Fusion is the next gen chip which has an Evergreen class GPU on the same die as the CPU in a single package. AMD calls it an APU or Accelerated Processing Unit ^^ Here is a demo of it actually running AvP game
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/15536/amd_s_world_first_fusion_apu_demonstration_at_computex/index.html

Fusions aside: based on your needs my $0.02

Best go with DDR3 platforms for fresh builds as the sun has gone down on DDR2 platforms.

Based on your needs and my personal experience i would hit a better IGP chipset than that 760G u picked out as it is actually on Radeon 3000 which lacks the UVD or Universal Video Decoder of say 785G? So if u want USB/SATA III look to hit an 880G mobo else 785G is fine as well

With no discrete and with a wee bit of undervolting (i'd hit a Rana 440 actually) these builds can be very light on the pockets, low on power consumption and cool/silent running i find

Hope my input was useful and cheers ^^

 

[pathfinder2]

Hmm AMD Fusion is the next gen chip which has an Evergreen class GPU on the same die as the CPU in a single package. AMD calls it an APU or Accelerated Processing Unit ^^ Here is a demo of it actually running AvP game
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/15536/amd_s_world_first_fusion_apu_demonstration_at_computex/index.html

Fusions aside: based on your needs my $0.02

Best go with DDR3 platforms for fresh builds as the sun has gone down on DDR2 platforms.

Based on your needs and my personal experience i would hit a better IGP chipset than that 760G u picked out as it is actually on Radeon 3000 which lacks the UVD or Universal Video Decoder of say 785G? So if u want USB/SATA III look to hit an 880G mobo else 785G is fine as well

With no discrete and with a wee bit of undervolting (i'd hit a Rana 440 actually) these builds can be very light on the pockets, low on power consumption and cool/silent running i find

Hope my input was useful and cheers ^^

Thank you for your response...however i already have this setup and would like to use what i have...I do have 4 gigs of crucial pc6400 ddr2 800mhz for ram installed with a 64bit windows 7 installed...i am not a gamer at all and feel this set up should be plenty fast? I also have not desire to play blueray, id simply like to figure out the best software combination that would allow me to browse and play my media with a remote control and not have to worry about a mouse or keyboard.

Now if you truely feel it necessary i could use my other build if you think it would perform better than what im using now? Here is the other build

Intel i7 860
Asus P7P55D-E Pro
4 gigs of DDR3 corsair XMS
and i have 2 decent graphihcs cards i could use

Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 PCIe 2.0 x16 Graphics Card
OR
PNY GeForce 9800 GT Video Card - 1024MB GDDR3

and a corsair 720watt cpu

But again i think the amd build should be efficiant for what id like to do, im just lost as to what softwear is best to use, ya know?

Any thoughts would be great!

 

[batuchka]

Well if u already have these h/w then it's more than what i would do for a non blu-ray media rig hehe Cheers

 

[pathfinder2]

Well if u already have these h/w then it's more than what i would do for a non blu-ray media rig hehe Cheers

Hi, Thank you...but can you tell me exactly what you would install in the way of softwear? Again i do own the Antec veris premier, take a look at the links below, the second one is the the antec website.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999193

http://store.antec.com/Product/accessory-veris_media/veris-premier/0-761345-30126-8.aspx

So being i have this and the remote im really trying to find the best easiest softwear that would allow me to browse for videos stored on my HD and also look for tv shows on whatever websites that offer them?

I do have 3 diffrent TV Tuner cards, but i have a satalite dish and iv been told they dont work well with the dish...so my main goal is to have all of my media stored internally and be able to watch/FF/RW/Pause via any remote controlle and not even have a mouse or keyboard nearby...ya know?

Iv been hearing allot about this new amd Fusion?

Thanks again for any ad all opinions and suggestions

 

[rwpritchett]

So being i have this and the remote im really trying to find the best easiest softwear that would allow me to browse for videos stored on my HD and also look for tv shows on whatever websites that offer them?

Check out Media Browser to organize/launch all of your locally stored media. Get Hulu for TV streaming and use this plugin to integrate it into Media Center.

I do have 3 diffrent TV Tuner cards, but i have a satalite dish and iv been told they dont work well with the dish...so my main goal is to have all of my media stored internally and be able to watch/FF/RW/Pause via any remote controlle and not even have a mouse or keyboard nearby...ya know?

Getting satellite to your HTPC will require an IR blaster or hauppauge HD-PVR setup. It's a bit complicated, I suggest you read up on it.

 

[cmcghee358]

Windows 7 Media Center works perfectly fine for my HTPC.

My HTPC specs are under More Information>Member Configuration.

I also use a 785G motherboard with DDr2-800 RAM I cann'd from my desktop.

 

[lugalbanda]

www.avforums.com has a great deal of useful information about software that you could check out

Here's one link: http://www.avforums.com/forums/home-entertainment-pcs/1166028-guide-setting-up-htpc-after-fresh-win7-install-mediabrowser.html

 

[pathfinder2]

Check out Media Browser to organize/launch all of your locally stored media. Get Hulu for TV streaming and use this plugin to integrate it into Media Center.

Getting satellite to your HTPC will require an IR blaster or hauppauge HD-PVR setup. It's a bit complicated, I suggest you read up on it.

Hi there, thanks for your kind and helpful suggestions, i have heard about media browser and hulu but not that plug in..i will give them a try for sure...Now as far as using a TV tuner I do have three diffrent ones, maybe you can suggest which one if any would work? Two of the tuners did come with that wire whch i belive is called the IR blaster..howver im just not sure how to get it working and which remotes to use...again thank you...any and all comments and suggestions are appreciated! Here are the tuners i own..

Hauppauge 1192 WinTV-HVR-1950 Hybrid Video Recorder USB 2.0 Interface
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116029

Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1850 (updated version of 1800) MCE Kit 1128 PCI-Express x1 Interface

i also have a VisionTek TV Wonder 650 PCI HDTV Tuner

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815129004

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116015