Vet my HTPC spec - help me get the price down!

james.miller · 2 Mar 2008 at 11:59

well, the fans at the front actually fit to the drive cages so in that sense yes, thats the biggest. ive no doubt a bit of modding will get a 120mm in, the case is tall enough for it. after all, the powersupply is mounted sideways and it fits fine along with its 120mm fan. i've actually been thinking about this myself

SiD the Turtle · 2 Mar 2008 at 12:09

Thanks, one more question for you: the case is apparently 17cm high- I'm guess that is from the top of the case to the bottom of the feet. How much usable room does it have for a HSF? I'm mulling over different HSFs and the Arctic Freezer 7 looks good, but it is almost 13cm tall.

james.miller · 2 Mar 2008 at 12:17

i cant measure it right now, but i can tell you that coolers like the scythe ninja, thermalright 120ultra and the tuniq tower are definitely too tall. if i get time later on ill whip the tape measure out for you

SiD the Turtle · 2 Mar 2008 at 14:36

Righty ho, here is a slightly updated spec:

Including the case, it would be £567, which is a lot better.

Still tossing up the power supply as if it's not modular I may be tight on space for the excess cables and still not sure on the HSF.

badbob · 2 Mar 2008 at 14:38

From my experience the Samsung drives are quieter..although I have not used the new WD drives, just the 2500KS/3500KS.

I recommend XP Home + Media Portal, over Vista's HTPC front end.

SiD the Turtle · 2 Mar 2008 at 14:41

Never tried them to be honest, in the past I've had Maxtors, Seagates and Western Digitals, and the WDs were the most reliable of the lot. Call it brand loyalty

badbob · 2 Mar 2008 at 14:44

I cannot hear my two Samsungs from 1' away when accessing...which is pretty important in a HTPC. The WD do make a fair bit of clattering, I moved a 2500KS from the HTPC because no matter what I did to the drive, you could hear it chugging away.

SiD the Turtle · 2 Mar 2008 at 14:54

I'll do some research on them.

SiD the Turtle · 2 Mar 2008 at 18:24

You were right about the Samsungs, seem to be marginally better performance but a lot quieter. Here is my final, final spec:

Opinions? Going to order tonight.

I'm not sure about the fan on the Ninja, but I also don't think I need both front 92mm fans, so I'll swap it out if the HSF fan is too noisy.

Pulse · 2 Mar 2008 at 18:29

whats the need for the that particular motherboard? (i may have missed the reasoning)

SiD the Turtle · 2 Mar 2008 at 18:34

Pulse said:
whats the need for the that particular motherboard? (i may have missed the reasoning)

On board video, which narrows it down to two mATX motherboards, this Asus and one of the Gigabytes. I'd prefer the Gigabyte (used Gigabytes before, like their quality) but reviews I have read say the Gigabytes on board nVidia graphics are sub-par (for video playback, you can forget games here) and its missing a coaxial digital out, which I would need as the optical out as the Xbox is tying that connection up.

addylad · 2 Mar 2008 at 18:37

SiD the Turtle said:
Righty ho, here is a slightly updated spec:

Including the case, it would be £567, which is a lot better.

Still tossing up the power supply as if it's not modular I may be tight on space for the excess cables and still not sure on the HSF.

Why not just get one 750gb drive? Saves pennies and can be partitioned (plus its bigger by 130gb).

badbob · 2 Mar 2008 at 18:38

I'd just use included fans for now, if you find them noisy 7v mod them.. £30 saving just there.

Pulse · 2 Mar 2008 at 18:47

also why are you getting a bigger PSU than what you need? also if you got a P31 board and then a low-end GFX it would take A LOT of strain off the CPU, thus making it quicker..

james.miller · 2 Mar 2008 at 18:48

SiD the Turtle said:
Righty ho, here is a slightly updated spec:
image removed
Including the case, it would be £567, which is a lot better.

Still tossing up the power supply as if it's not modular I may be tight on space for the excess cables and still not sure on the HSF.

a modular supply will help you a LOT with this case. the connector end of the psu is directly opposite the left hand hdd caddy, and with a few hard drives in there it gets a bit tight even with a modular psu and only one or two cables used. i cant imagine id actually fit a non-modular and its cables in mine witout having the cables all over the case

badbob · 2 Mar 2008 at 18:50

I'd go for a fast CPU with onboard, for now. Since certain 1080p files won't be accelerated with a 2600 Pro. But if he gets a slow CPU and slow videocard (2400 is a bit basic for Blu-Ray support) then bit stuck.

430W is fine for a HTPC. The Fusion has a PSU so I guess he could stick with that one. As mentioned the Samsungs are queiter HD.

SiD the Turtle · 2 Mar 2008 at 19:03

Pulse said:
also why are you getting a bigger PSU than what you need? also if you got a P31 board and then a low-end GFX it would take A LOT of strain off the CPU, thus making it quicker..

As james.miller pointed out the gap between the end of the PSU and the front HDD is tiny, so modular will make things easier. True, it is far too much power for what is in the box.

Regarding graphics, the 2400 is better than integrated by far, but when it comes to Blu-Ray/HD-DVD the reviews I have read state that it struggles. Thus I'd have to get a 2600, then it'd have to be silent as its a HTPC, then I'd buy a Blu-Ray drive and the cost snowballs again.

I'm not shooting you down here, I like all of the input as it gives me alternatives I didn't consider, spec-ing these things is a minefield.

badbob said:
430W is fine for a HTPC. The Fusion has a PSU so I guess he could stick with that one. As mentioned the Samsungs are queiter HD.

I'm getting a Silverstone LC17, not a Fusion. To many negatives with the Fusion I found.

Lastly, I'll reqoute my latest spec as it's on the previous page now:

SiD the Turtle said:

Pulse · 2 Mar 2008 at 19:06

SiD the Turtle said:
Regarding graphics, the 2400 is better than integrated by far, but when it comes to Blu-Ray/HD-DVD the reviews I have read state that it struggles. Thus I'd have to get a 2600, then it'd have to be silent as its a HTPC, then I'd buy a Blu-Ray drive and the cost snowballs again

i thought you abandoned this idea as in your own last spec you only had a DVD-RW, which i thought couldn't read HD-DVD or blu-ray.

SiD the Turtle · 2 Mar 2008 at 19:10

Pulse said:
i thought you abandoned this idea as in your own last spec you only had a DVD-RW, which i thought couldn't read HD-DVD or blu-ray.

Yeah, so really no need for a 2400 I would have thought?

Edit: oh are you saying regardless of Blu-ray go for a 'real' graphics card over integrated?

badbob · 2 Mar 2008 at 19:12

Nowt wrong with NSK2400/Fusion...does the job. You could just get a used cheap basic card, I'm using a ATI X300 for the HTPC and works fine. Saves using shared RAM, had some problems with tearing.

Ideally would want a case with P182 sides, so it reduces the noise a bit.