About to purchase HTPC - Would appreciate some advice

Dodge777

Dodge777

Dodge777

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22 Jun 2004
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Location
Hampshire, UK
Hello all,

On the brink of building the following HTPC:
Antec Fusion Remote HTPC Case
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.40GHz
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX mobo
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel
Scythe Shuriken BIG Quiet Low Profile CPU Cooler
Corsair Builder Series CX 500W ATX Power Supply
LiteOn iHBS112 12x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Sound Card
"Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache (x 2)
TP-Link 300Mbps Wireless-N USB Adapter

Note that I'll either use the on-board GPU or a spare radeon HD 4770 which I have lying around. I may also add a tv card but not yet decided on that. Is there anything else I might have missed?

The other issue I have relates to the sound. In the summer I'll invest in a full blown sound system (i.e. amp + separates) but until then, I don't know whether I should put up with the sound from my tv or invest in an interim solution (e.g. £100ish such as the AE Aegos). If I do get the speakers, then I assume that I won't need a soundcard since I can just hook up the speakers to the tv and passthrough the sound from the pc to the tv (and subsequently the speakers) via HDMI?

Would be grateful for your advice.

Many thanks.
 
Good advice - I was thinking that the CPU might be overkill. I might scale it down to a Phenom II Dual Core 3.40ghz.
 
If its just for films and what not (not games), then you could just stick to Dual Core, 2Gb ram and tone the motherboard down to a cheaper one.

If you get a GPU like the HD5450 or HD4350, both of which can be found passively cooled, then you hav GPU acceleration which will take a huge load of the CPU.
 
Thanks. Indeed it will be used primarily for HD video with a bit of Internet and such so will drop CPU to an Athlon tri-core. Will also add an HD5450. I assume any of those listed on OCUK will do the trick?

Also any advice regarding the sound?
 
Use hdmi audio. Also, use your tv speakers untill you get your proper external ones, don't bother with an interim solution, put that cash towards the amp + speakers.

5 series do 7.1 pcm/bitstream without a problem. So you're covered there too.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I can see none of the 5400 series have an hdmi out port, so I would have to connect it to tv via a dvi-to-hdmi cable which doesn't carry sound?

Would I be better served by one of the 5500 cards which actually have an HDMI port in the card, e.g. The sapphire cards?
 
If i was making a new HTPC now, I'd seriously look into the new Fusion motherboards - Radeon 6xxx graphics, Dual Core - and your whole system including drives etc would max out at about 40W. But if you plan on doing transcoding/ripping, then get a proper CPU.
 
ive got that case for mine, if your putting a graphic card in then you will only have 1 slot spare, unless you want to put a card directly under the graphics cooler, effectively blocking the fan intake, and it does get toasty in there, you will be lucky to fit a big card in it anyway, I couldnt get my 8800gts in it
 
Dodge777 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I can see none of the 5400 series have an hdmi out port, so I would have to connect it to tv via a dvi-to-hdmi cable which doesn't carry sound?

Would I be better served by one of the 5500 cards which actually have an HDMI port in the card, e.g. The sapphire cards?
Click to expand...

If they don't have a HDMI port, they ought to come with an adaptor to give you HDMI. The official ATI ones will give you audio, everything else won't.


As a personal thing, I'd always buy the absolute best CPU in your budget. If you start trying major upscaling, DNR or similar, then you'll be grateful for the extra CPU horsepower eventually. Graphics cards are less important if you're not gaming, but more things are starting to take advantage of the graphics power these days, for example the MadVR renderer.

I'd also try and go as close to passive as possible. Passive on the graphics card is easy enough with the right model, and the CPU cooler looks OK, although I'd probably have gone with something with a 120mm fan @5v.
Basically, if there's fan noise, you will hear it. Turning up the volume is one way to combat this, but I reckon it's much better to go preventative.

-Leezer-
 
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