1st HTPC Build

npfman

npfman

npfman

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23 Jul 2011
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63
Hi peeps,

Newbie here, looking to build my 1st HTPC, been doing quite a bit of research so far and been reading through a lot of threads!.

I'm looking to build a HTPC for Windows 7 64bit and XBMC with the Aeon skin, it will be used for 1080p MKV's and MUST be able to bitstream HD Audio to my AV Reciever. The HTPC will also be used for web surfing and ripping the odd dvd and bluray.

This is what i am looking at going for so far, i want a quiet system (know the hard drives wont make it silent) but still.

Mobo/GPU - Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3 Zacate with HD6310 iGPU - AMD Fusion (ITX) - £119.98 inc VAT

CASE - Silverstone Milo ML03B Micro ATX, Black, Slim/HTPC Case with USB3 w/o PSU (ATX) [/URL]- £47.98 Inc VAT

BLURAY Drive - Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) - £46.98 inc VAT

SSD - OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) [AGT3-25SAT3-60G] - £89.99 inc VAT

3.5" Drives x 2 - Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD204UI) - £119.98 inc VAT

PSU - Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 ATX '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) - £36.98

RAM - OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) - £23.99

Plan on using this with a Apple Wireless keyboard and Logitech Harmony One Remote

What do you guys think, will this be a good enough system, i dont want any stuttering or anything and want it quiet, what fans etc do people reccomend, do i have enough RAM?, been a long time since i built a PC 6-7years~

Cheers peeps

Nick
 
Last edited:
Hi,

Sorry about that!, ive removed it now, ive changed it to a 60gb SSD too, wasnt thinking right!. I have a NAS enclosure kicking about but it wasnt that quick when i tried it, would it make much difference to the overall noise if i have the 3.5" in the case?. Ill have a look at them cooling fans, would this setup be good enough for the Aeon skin?

Cheers for the quick reply

Nick
 
Excellent!, Thanks very much for the replies, i was reading about the new LLano setup, looks good, will i have to get a cooler for it though?

I have an Onkyo 606 AV Reciever so being able to Bitstream DTS audio via HDMI is a must!, have a 5.1 system with various speakers, wharfedale monitors, yamaha front speaker and mission rear speakers with a mission sub.

Use my PS3 at the moment, vob the mkv files and save them on the hard drive, DTS is fantastic but its not bitstream as its an old fat PS3.
 
I'll have to have a think about all this, will these all be able to Bitstream HD Audio out of the HDMI cable or will i need a soundcard?
 
Excellent, thanks again for the replies, the most helpful forum yet, might go for the LLano setup, what coolers do you guys reccomend, should i get some arctic silver 5 too?


l have found my NAS, its a D-Link DNS-323, would be a bit slow wouldn't it running the 2 drives in RAID 0 for 1080p MKV's though? 33mbps read speed, I have a Gigabit network.
 
Excellent, thanks again, i think ill go for the llano setup, try the drives in the NAS, if its slow and stutters ill put the 3.5" drives in the silverstone case, my files are about that size too.

Nick
 
Which case has only space for 1 3.5 drive?

Thats what i was worried about with a NAS, i stream mkv's from my ps3 at the moment and they stutter, dont want anything like that with a HTPC.

Think i am going to go for the LLano setup with the scythe cooler, can anyone reccomend a case that will fit this setup with a 2.5" SSD, 2 3.5" hard drives and a Bluray 5.25"?, what cases you peeps have?

Thanks again

Nick
 
Last edited:
Hi again,

Ive decided to go for the LIAN LI PC-C37 case.

It will take 1 x 3.5" drive and 1 x 2.5" drive and i will use the 5.25" space for another 3.5". with some brackets obviously.

Only thing im unsure about is whether to go for the Llano or Zacate setup, both can bitstream DTS to my reciever (i think!), but can both take advantage of XBMC's dxva?, all i want is smooth 1080p mkv playback, no stuttering and smooth XBMC Aeon use, what would be the advantages over going LLano rather than Zacate?

Llano:-

Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H AMD A75 £85.20 inc VAT

Scythe Shuriken BIG Quiet Low Profile CPU Cooler £31.99 inc VAT

AMD Llano A6-3650 2.60GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor £84.98 inc VAT

over the Zacate setup:-

Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3 Zacate with HD6310 iGPU £119.98 inc VAT


Cheers

Nick
 
Hi peeps,

Got it altogether and setup, cant believe how quiet it is!, quieter than my tv!. Its like lightning too.

Got XBMC installed, only got one problem, cant get anything other than 2 channel stereo output from HDMI!

In the windows control panel sound settings it says i can get DTS etc in the supported formats when i choose optical out but when i go to HDMI output it just says 2 channels and HDCP not supported, i have tried updating the driver but it still says the HDMI controller is microsoft

Is this a driver issue? I have that realtek HD audio manager too, and that wont let me do it either.

Bit worried!

Cheers

Nick
 
Installed the latest Realtek drivers and got it to say HDCP supported on HDMI, but it still says only 2 channel and no DTS support like it does on optical.
 
Its ok i fixed it!, it was a setting on my amplifier, i had to turn off 'Audio TV Out', i think Windows was seeing my TV Speakers rather than my 5.1, all sorted now, cheers everyone for their help. Im sure i will be back soon with more teething problems!.

ps I have installed HippoRemote on my iPod touch for use as a remote, is this good enough or does anyone know any better?

Cheers again

Nick
 
I will get some pics as soon as, got XBMC installed and most of its working. Got the XBMC commander app too and its class, really pleased with my whole setup!

Only thing is that i have about 60 'DTS' mpg files that i converted with mkv2vob previously so i could play them on my ps3 (no mkv support), all my new MKV files play DTS fine, but whenever i try to play one of the mpg files all i get is static, is this a codec issue?, dont really fancy ripping 60 films again!
 
Cured the mpg static!, installed latest version of ffdshow and set HDMI passthrough.

Another seperate problem now, getting a slight stutter during 1080p playback in XBMC, have dxva2 enabled, processor is sitting at 10-20%, but getting this really annoying stutter, only with 1080p quality mpg/mkv'!
 
Last edited:
Cured the stuttering i have set the video options in XBMC to

Allow DXVA2 - On

Adjust display refresh rate to match video - On

Sync Playback to display - On

and it cures the stuttering, also disabled dynamic contrast within ATI Catalyst control centre

Problem now is when i set 'Adjust display refresh rate to match video' to On, i get the 24P picture to my tv but theres a big black 2 inch border around the video!, its that or disable it and get choppiness and 60Hz!
 
The menu etc fits the screen but when you goto watch a video you get the border since changing the setting.

My current spec is

AMD A6-3650 LLano (ATi Radeon 6530D)
Gigabyte GA-75M-UD2H


HDMI Out to Onkyo TX-SR-606 AV Reciever and from that to my Panasonic G20B

Running Windows 7 64Bit and the latest Catalyst Control centre and 11.6b Hotfix
 
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