HTPC 3D?

gazo7000

gazo7000

gazo7000

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Joined
24 Apr 2007
Posts
122
hi guys, I'm new at HTPC builds and always wanted one. I'm buying a new Sony tv soon with 3d and Sony 3d glasses.

I want to build a HTPC with 3D? but not sure what's going to be the best components for me? Not really bothered about the price, as long as its not as expensive as a gaming rig. Mainly the reliability and won't need upgrading for awhile.

the case I'm thinking is the: Moneual MonCaso 320
Link: http://moneualusa.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=158&Itemid=159

I'm not bothered if the components won't fit, I'll just choose another case :)

And lastly, I would like it as quiet as possible?

Cheers

Gaz
 
Woah, nice case.


i'd be looking down the line of these to start:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus AMD E35M1-M PRO AMD Hudson - micro ATX £109.99
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £59.99
1 x OCZ Vertex 2 50GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTX50G) £59.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £23.99
Total : £265.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).



The onboard HD6310 has 3D support, and the whole motherboard is fan less. SSD for OS / media program of choice (no moving parts so quiet aswell)

Retail Blu ray drive so you get the playback software included.

I have missed out a PSU because its up to you how quiet you want the system.
You could get a Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 which operates relatively quiet, and isn't too hard on the wallet. Or you could look @ the seasonic X range - which OcUK don't stock. They do a 400W completely fanless PSU which is also completely modular so you only use the cables you need.

If you want to rip disks to this HTPC then you'll need some mechanical drives for space - but at the moment prices are sky high due to the floodings in Thailand, and could stay this way to the new year.
 
Cheers R088ieS86 and Cleanthes.

I was assuming i needed a graphics card for 3D but guess not?

for being quiet, I'm not worried about hearing some fans, I just didn't want it super loud.

I'm looking to get a few mechanical storage drives with large capacity. And the OS is going to be a Linux version of XBMC.

I would also like to use it for a Retro arcade machine? not a big deal if I can't.
 
I was assuming i needed a graphics card for 3D but guess not?
Click to expand...
You right in thinking that, but the board has an APU under that huge heatsink (a mix of cpu and gpu), which is has a 6310 graphics chip it it.
Any 6000 series AMD graphics chip or 500 series nVidia chip can process 3D video.

Hmmm there are a few thread around with people saying they have contacted ASUS with issues running linux on this board and it isn't supported.

Might have to think of another setup for you.
 
well i don't have to use Linux. its only because the XBMC Live is Linux based.

I do have OSX Snow Leopard that I can't use on my gaming rig (unsupported card :( ). Could that work?
 
Thats fine, as like you said its based on an ubuntu build.
I thought you were going for linux OS then install xbmc so you could use it for other tasks.

Ignore the bit at the end of my last post then. The build will run fine.

Only annoying part is adding media files to your HDDs as you don't have an OS to do it.
I still haven't found a way to do it through live.
Someone else might have found a way or there might be a plugin by now.

If OSX is going spare it might be a better plan, that way you can manage files aswell. Although you will need to source a bootloader to install it.

Guessing you'll be using the xbmc plug-ins to play your retro games then. nice.
 
Cool cheers for the help.

I've already got the OSX installed on my gaming rig but graphics is unsupported. So really, I got no use for it atm.

I'm not quite sure about the SSD. I've got one and use it for windows. If i was going to use it for the HTPC, I doubt it would be worth it for just the OS? I understand it will boot faster but is it really worth £60?

If I do go with using OSX, is everything compatible? I've always wanted OSX so I can finally develop something for the iPhone.
 
The next issue, OSX is designed for intel CPUs. So in short it could work, but I can't guarantee it. I haven't played about with Apple stuff for a while.

I suppose You could have a few options.
1.
If you want to run the htpc on a linux OS and gaurantee compatability then its an intel nvidia build. their open source drivers are supported a lot better:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus P8H61-I Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £64.99
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £59.99
1 x OCZ Vertex 2 50GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTX50G) £59.99
1 x Intel Pentium G620 2.60GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £52.99
1 x OcUK GeForce GT 520 1024MB GDDR3 Low Profile PCI-Express Graphics Card £35.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £23.99
Total : £309.34 (includes shipping : £9.50).



OcUK don't stock it but ASUS do a passively cooled GT 520 to reduce noise if you go this way.

2.
Keep the original build, run xbmc live on it and store you media on another PC / media server and stream it over a network.

3. Get a copy of windows and forget about compatability issues. lol.

Pretty sure I've probably given you more questions than answers. sorry.
 
LoL this is getting more and more complex.

ok, originally I thought I would be happy with the XBMC Live version, but if I can have a build that will run nicer/smoother on another OS then I would rather have that option.

I don't want to stream the media over the network. Reason why I'll be getting multiple HDDs to store everything.

Same with going for the cheap option. I'm not bothered spending more if another board/cpu is going to be better, more reliable. Originally I thought I was needing a i3 cpu.
 
Well running windows will make your life a lot easier. You can manage files, run emulators for reto games a lot easier and have no driver issues meaning you can pick any hardware combo you like.

The Zotac boards are quite expensive for the task of a htpc, even though that is one of the main uses of the Zotac Z68ITX-B-E Supreme.
If you were to be running other programs on it other than blue-ray play back they might be a consideration.

If you added windows to the 1st spec you will absolutely fine, then its just up to you which PSU you go for.
 
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