Help with HTPC

yfas29 · 23 Feb 2007 at 01:54

Hi all, I'm currently thinking about building a HTPC system out of some spare parts I have and would appreciate some help please. The parts I have are:

Foxconn s939 nforce4 mobo with onboard geforce 6150 graphics and audio.
Athlon X2 3800+
1 gig corsair DDR 400
160gig sata hdd
16x dual layer dvd/rw

I have been looking at the Enlight EN-7473 Media Center Case which I can get for £22, and would like your opinions on this case. Or if anyone knows of a decent low cost HTPC case please feel free to share it with me! [Smile]
Also could you reccommend a decent Dual tuner tv card. I am on a very tight budget so I can't afford a graphics card at the moment so I'm going to have to go with the onboard for now. I won't be playing games on this system so I would like to know if the 6150 would be good enough for general tv and video, also would I be able to get Hi def from the onboard graphics.
I have seen some media centre pc's with scart output and was wondering what I would need to buy to have scart output and where could I get it from?
And lastly is there anything else you would reccommend I add to the above spec, and should I go with XP mce or vista for the OS.

Sorry if it seems like I'm rambling but there is just so much choice out there and my head is in bits :confused:

Banzai_Joe · 23 Feb 2007 at 09:32

ditto....all the above. I wanna know too!

squiffy · 23 Feb 2007 at 10:08

Antec NSK2400, £55 with a PSU.
I would choose XP Home or Pro with Media Portal
Onboard 6150 is fine for HD material, I have the same chipset and played back 1080p on a 1080p with no problem (3700+ SC) since yours is dual core it'll help for H264 as that is quite CPU hoggy.
Can't help with TV tuner or SCART, but S-Video can be used, I doubt you'll notice the difference on a small screen CRT.

XP MCE and Vista MCE aren't that great HTPC front ends.

You will also need IR receiver/remote.

EvilGrin · 23 Feb 2007 at 11:45

squiffy said:
Antec NSK2400, £55 with a PSU.
I would choose XP Home or Pro with Media Portal
Onboard 6150 is fine for HD material, I have the same chipset and played back 1080p on a 1080p with no problem (3700+ SC) since yours is dual core it'll help for H264 as that is quite CPU hoggy.
Can't help with TV tuner or SCART, but S-Video can be used, I doubt you'll notice the difference on a small screen CRT.

XP MCE and Vista MCE aren't that great HTPC front ends.

You will also need IR receiver/remote.

I presume you used a DVI to HDMI adapter to output 1080p from the onboard 6150? Can you recommend any decent DVI cables + adapters?

squiffy · 23 Feb 2007 at 12:22

I used a DVI to HDMI cable, not a adaptor. As for brands I just bought the cheapest DVI-HDMI cable I could find. £5 all in. No different in picture quality to a £80 cable.

yfas29 · 23 Feb 2007 at 13:45

Sorry I should have mentioned that I want to connect the PC to a 50" LCD HDTV. The tv has HDMI, VGA, DVI, S-video and a whole host of other inputs, but I'm not sure which one to go with as the 6150 hasn't got a DVI output.

EvilGrin · 23 Feb 2007 at 15:13

yfas29 said:
Sorry I should have mentioned that I want to connect the PC to a 50" LCD HDTV. The tv has HDMI, VGA, DVI, S-video and a whole host of other inputs, but I'm not sure which one to go with as the 6150 hasn't got a DVI output.

The 6150 doesn't have onboard DVI? Hm. Well if you're 100% settled on that board VGA is your next best option I believe (unless there's a proprietary component out from the motherboard). However, if you want total HD futureproof, you need a HDCP compliant output from the graphics onboard or card, therefore it'll have to be DVI/HDMI.

squiffy said:
I used a DVI to HDMI cable, not a adaptor. As for brands I just bought the cheapest DVI-HDMI cable I could find. £5 all in. No different in picture quality to a £80 cable.

Did you have a different board with same chipset but with onboard DVI?

squiffy · 23 Feb 2007 at 15:23

Onboard 6150 does have DVI, I think I would know as I used my MATX 6150 onboard to a Sharp 42" XD1. Unless I dreamed it all up. Although I have heard of couple of boards that lack DVI. But mine does have it (Asus A8N-CSM)

yfas29 · 23 Feb 2007 at 15:52

squiffy said:
Onboard 6150 does have DVI, I think I would know as I used my MATX 6150 onboard to a Sharp 42" XD1. Unless I dreamed it all up. Although I have heard of couple of boards that lack DVI. But mine does have it (Asus A8N-CSM)

I have the Foxconn 6150K8MA-8EKRS which definately dosen't have DVI.

EvilGrin,
What is proprietary component out?

EvilGrin · 25 Feb 2007 at 09:52

yfas29 said:
I have the Foxconn 6150K8MA-8EKRS which definately dosen't have DVI.

EvilGrin,
What is proprietary component out?

Its a dongle that comes with some graphics cards that looks a bit like an s-video connection but with more pins, but its for attaching a cable that allows output via component.