HTPC build help?

IrishMetalhead

yep it does according to the sapphire webiste:
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?psn=000101&pid=299&lid=1

Solitaire

I'm surprised... it has poor onboard sound though

IrishMetalhead

yea but dedicated sound cards go for less than 50 quid these days (cheaper than decent graphics card) plus i say the audio thru the hdmi would more than do till you get one

superneat

Here is a basic build with plenty of room for expansion.


Mobo has 6 x sata 6gbps, Radeon HD 4290, 1x eSATA,
1 x DVI
1 x D-Sub
1 x HDMI
1 x S/PDIF Out
2 x PCI-Express 2.0 x16
1 x PCI-Express x4
1 x PCI-Express x1
2 x PCI

Add wireless or whatever else, if needed. Psu will be generic but as a media pc that won't be under load 24/7 (i hope), it sould be fine.

Case details http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/chassis/detail_overview.aspx?id=en-us0000167

AlmightyCushion

superneat wrote: »

Here is a basic build with plenty of room for expansion.


Mobo has sata 6 x sata 6gbps, Radeon HD 4290, 1x eSATA,
1 x DVI
1 x D-Sub
1 x HDMI
1 x S/PDIF Out
2 x PCI-Express 2.0 x16
1 x PCI-Express x4
1 x PCI-Express x1
2 x PCI

Add wireless or whatever else, if needed. Psu will be generic but as a media pc that won't be under load 24/7 (i hope), it sould be fine.

Case details http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/chassis/detail_overview.aspx?id=en-us0000167

I'd spend more on the case and psu. At €30 you know that psu will be awful.

superneat

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

At €30 you know that psu will be awful.

Awful like most generic psu's sold in pre built systems off the shelf? Sure it is, but most of those last around 2 years in pc's that are on 12 hours a day.

Budgets create compromises...
I have never bought a psu that cost less than 60 yoyo's for use in one of my systems but i've seen others use no name brands without issues.

I did see a great offer on ebuyer of a coolermaster case&psu bundle for cheap but not much on pixi.

zuroph

i've no problem relying on hdmi sound for time being, have no external sound system and as you say, once i want to get one i can expand with a sound card too.

zuroph

Can someone explain to me the difference buying a seperate PSU would make? is it easy to swap for the one that comes with the case?

IrishMetalhead

yes there dead easy to swap out and the advantages are less power consumption which makes it more efficient and saves abit on the esb bill and they tend to last alot longer and can handle alot more strain

zuroph

was putting together the Intel build, and came across another problem..

the wireless card is PCI.. however, as seen from the pics here http://www.cowcotland.com/articles/image7128.html

the PCI slot would fall under the PSU, and be unuseable..

Would using a usb adaptor be fine for now?

superneat

That case has three low profile, pci expansion slots. How would it fall under the psu?

IrishMetalhead

seen that case before in a review theres a small gap under the psu you the last expansion slot to go under so there for unusable but if your concerned about the wi-fi card then just get a wi-fi usb key there no advantages or disadvantages between both internal and external for wi-fi trust me

zuroph

superneat wrote: »

That case has three low profile, pci expansion slots. How would it fall under the psu?

the asus Mobo has from left to right pcie16 pcie1 pcie1 pci

IrishMetalhead

i wouldn't worry about it your mobo will defo fit that case just need to make sure you get a low profile wi-fi adapter or a usb one

IrishMetalhead

ohh sorry didn't notice the pci layout on the board then defo go with a usb card there just as good as a pci one anyway

zuroph

is there such a thing as an internal card that I could attach to the internal usb slots? meh, I'm stressing too much about it all now! think this will be my build, loved that box the minute I saw it.

IrishMetalhead

nah don't think there are any not a bad idea tho.
only other advice i can give you is to spend an extra €9 and get this board instead:

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4626436/art/asus/p7h55-m-pro-1156-socket-h.html

plus the board has better onboard audio =]

zuroph

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

nah don't think there are any not a bad idea tho.
only other advice i can give you is to spend an extra €9 and get this board instead:

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4626436/art/asus/p7h55-m-pro-1156-socket-h.html

plus the board has better onboard audio =]

nice one, thatd work nicely. otherwise the same board, just a diff layout on slots, and better audio?!

marco_polo

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

yes there dead easy to swap out and the advantages are less power consumption which makes it more efficient and saves abit on the esb bill and they tend to last alot longer and can handle alot more strain

Not to mention that noise levels can sometimes be a real issue with cheap Generic PSU as well, which is not what you want in a HTPC.

zuroph

hmm.. i do have an old usb wifi key upstairs.

zuroph

marco_polo wrote: »

Not to mention that noise levels can sometimes be a real issue with cheap Generic PSU as well, which is not what you want in a HTPC.

something I could swap out down the line though, if the noise was annoying me?

zuroph

benefits in upgrading to this from the pentium?
http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4452320/art/intel/core-i3-540-3-06-ghz-4-mb.html

marco_polo

zuroph wrote: »

something I could swap out down the line though, if the noise was annoying me?

Absolutely no problem yes.

IrishMetalhead

zuroph wrote: »

benefits in upgrading to this from the pentium?
http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4452320/art/intel/core-i3-540-3-06-ghz-4-mb.html

for media use not alot the only difference between the pentium and the i3 is that the i3 has hypter threading so it has 2 logical cores aswell as 2 physical which is great for gaming and video editing but tbh i don't see how it would benifit ya for media use =/

ThomasAlan

Zuroph, how did you get on with your PC build? I'm interested to know because I hope to do something like this myself. Which build did you choose?

zuroph

not done yet, been waiting for the pay cheque next week to fund. Thinking Im going to sell the ps3 to fund too.

zuroph

NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooo!! My case is gone off pixmania!!!! :eek:

Carter P Fly

I have an antec fusion remote black HTPC case, a gigabyte-g41-lga775 m-atx mobo with 4 gig of DDR3 ram and a pentium D processor, I run sound and video through a Radeon HD5400 over HDMI to my TV. I get satellite though this using a hauppauge nova S2 tuner card.

It runs win7 ultimate 64 off a solid state disk.

I store all media on a seperate pc connected over a gig lan.

Im adding in a dreambox to decrypt sky so I can run that through the Windows media center EPG using DVB link software and a hauppauge HVR 1100 to get terrestrial tv.

tman

Carter P Fly wrote: »

I have an antec fusion remote black HTPC case

Was looking at one of those on OC the other day, looks quite nice but they're bloody pricey!
I'm considering putting 4GB memory and a C2D that I have lying around to use soon and making myself a HTPC, so will be coming back here for some advice no doubt!

Carter P Fly

Origionally I had a all my stuff in a old lenovo mini tower that was stuffed behind the TV cabinet with just the IR reciver off the hauppauge card positioned for remote and that worked wee but I kinda wanted to show it off when I was happy with it and the Antec remote black looks the buisness in my unit!! But yea, at circa euro 140 plus shipping not a cheap pc case by any standard nor is it petite, being about th size of a mini tower on its side.