building a HTPC

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Joined
21 May 2009
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12
hi all,

i'm going to be building a HTPC using this case:

Antec Fusion Remote HTPC Case - Black (No PSU) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-091-AN - £120.74

and was wondering if you could help me in deciding what I need to get

potential mobos:

Asus P5QL-EM Intel G43 Micro-ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-305-AS - £86.24

OR

MSI M3-F Intel G31 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-114-MS - £38.98



Processor

intel Core 2 Duo E7400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.80GHz (1066FSB) - Retail - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-271-IN - £113.84

or one to suit micro atx board powerful enough for bluray and vista home premium

RAM

Corsair XMS2 DHX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX Dual Channel (TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-184-CS - £37.98


I already have a LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray Reader & HD-DVD ROM Serial ATA Drive - Retail - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-074-LG&groupid=701&catid=10&subcat=

and an admittedly quite poor Sapphire RADEON HD 2400PRO -512 MB - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-11...H6NS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1242916783&sr=8-1


Please can you let me know what you think of the motherboards, if there's a better intel one you can recommend (has to be micro ATX) and advise what sort of processor I should go for? this will be a media centre. I have a couple of spare SATA II HDDs that can go in here

I need min 4x SATA ports and 4gig of decent DDR2 RAM to start, think the Corsair XMS2 would do the trick. Would also like on-board sound, anything 5.1 or above is good for me

Also, can anyone recommend a quiet PSU?

It won't be used for any serious gaming, just running vista home premium 32bit and, maybe in the future, running a dual tuner TV card

the above are only suggestions, but I would definitely like to stick with this case - unless there's a better fetured one for the price!!

budget is flexible

many thanks
 
No, i would actually go with the Asus and a BeQuiet psu if you can afford it.

I'll dig up a thread for you to look at - someone has successfully passive cooled the E5200 using that case...
 
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Yep, very good - and no you wont need any more power. And i agree with the MB choice - it's what i plan to get.

Ok, here’s the thread – link.

And it’s fobose's setup that has used a scythe mini ninja without a fan. Below is a quote form the thread:

I used a E5200 and a scythe mini ninja. One of my temp sensors are stuck on my CPU (at 55c), but the other core idles at 36-37c, and load temp after 30mins of everest stability test it gets to 44-45c. I think the mobo temp is always around the 34c mark.

Read the whole thread it has some great ideas for free OS's too.
 
do you think the scythe is better than the zalman?
I've just sprung for home premium, though I did consider mythbuntu for a while

thanks for the speedy help!
 
do you think the scythe is better than the zalman?

It's a preference thing really - i want a totally silent system - or as near as damn it - so that's why i mention the scythe.

It might be a slight risk - but you could always add a fan if it got too hot.

Having said that - the other guy in that thread is very pleased with his zalman - so swings and roundabouts.
 
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hi again

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-003-OB

just seen this, how good is it versus the board, cpu and ram above? would this work well for an HTPC?

finally, does anyone know how quiet the fan in this kit is?

all n00by questions, I know, but I'm quite skint at the mo and am trying to make this project cheaper

----------

alternative would be to build a media server PC to keep in the other room and use my xbox 360 to stream everything to my TV in the lounge that way. If I were to do this, how fast would I need it to be? would like to be able to put a TV tuner card in there at some point

many thanks in advance

R
 
the zalman fans are not the best but they do get very quiet if you further reduce the volatage (2 fanamtes) and they help with mobo component cooling. My scythe shuriken HTPC cooler was worse than the zalaman due to a poor tone on the fan..

Higher spec board than g31 is worthwile though perhaps not as high as the G43. Look for useful feaures such as firewire and only buy integrated graphics if you think you may use it.AMD equivalents are very good htpc material. Mobo cominations and cpus much cheaper.

A g43 or amd 700 series shuld be good enough to dispense with the 2400 for blu ray.

sometimes getting the hardware support on these systems to work requires trying different decoding software

I agree a cheper cpu would be more appraite for a HTPC, overspecing just waste money and genrates heat.

The antec micro fusion 350 is low profile but does come with a psu (not silent but not too bad)

Give serious consderation to the antec cases without the vfd etc much cheaper and smart as well, vfd's get very little use in my units usually unless your keen to montior the hardware.
 
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