HTPC advice

antrock101

antrock101

antrock101

Associate
Joined
29 Dec 2009
Posts
111
hey guys,

I'm building a HTPC out of my old hardware and mythbuntu. I was wondering if anyone could suggest a gfx and motherboard that will support sound to tv via HDMI, my current board, GIGABYTE GAM61SME-S2 doesn't seem to support this. The board has a AM2 socket processor and i'm running 4 gb of ram. I'm also looking for a supported remote control it seems my ebay Taiwan jobby is not doing the trick

PS have the price of hard drives shot up recently they seem a lot higher than they were?

Regards Ant
 
Radeon HD5450/6450 - will carry audio over HDMI and reduce stuttering when playing films at 23.976 fps (Blu-Ray rips etc).

Thread here regarding price of HDDs increasing. Now is not the time to buy a large storage drive. If you can wait then do so.
 
I have a HD5450, low profile, low power, passively cooled in my Media Center... It's great! Windows 7 is nice and snappy on it, Media Centre is smooth as is XBMC :)

Play's all media I throw at it perfectly, no matter what type or size of the file! Saying that, I think my largest is only over 8GB.

The biggest bonus for me is it being passively cooled, I like my Media Centre to be as quiet as possible! :)
 
I agree no noise is good, i'm going to go for a water-cooling cpu attachment as there very quite or a maybe a big heat sink cooler not decided although not a lot of space in that case
 
antrock101 said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-046-HS
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-020-OP

good call?

so annoyed about hard drive cost, I have about 100 dvds to rip onto it to recover my book shelf for.......books could have done with at least a 1 tb

might aswell get a blueray drive as this is costing a lot less than i thought
Click to expand...

Graphics card is exactly what you want :D

The case is fully your decision, I'm using a low profile one from many years back, so I can't comment on the case!
 
If you've not already bought that case, consider a Silverstone ML-03 or Vision Media Centre Case, both are around £50 and I think look better than the Opera case.
 
The Vision Media Case comes with a 250W PSU. The Silverstone doesn't (but looks ace)

You install the graphics card just like any other, but will need to let the software know that you want to output the sound over HDMI.

If you have a 3D tv / will be getting one then you will need a 6000 series AMD card to output the 3D content.
 
antrock101 said:
does it have a psu in that case i linked
Click to expand...

No the OcUK Opera Media Case - Black doesn't have a PSU.

antrock101 said:
also do i have to hook the gfx card up to the motherboard in any diffrent way for sound?
Click to expand...

No, just fits into a PCI-E slot.

*edit*

To slow.

Agree with R088ieS86, that the Silverstone does look a bit better although I've been quite impressed by the Vision Media Center one, it has a brushed aluminium surface. Main drawback is the included cheap and loud PSU in it and very limited cooling. If I could buy again, I'd go for the Silverstone one with a quality quiet PSU.
 
Last edited:
Seems you are correct. According to user reviews it does come supplied with a cheap and cheerful OcUK PSU but doesn't mention it on the title page. TBH I'd get rid of it anyway.

If you can up your budget a bit the consider the

Antec NSK 2480 MATX Desktop Case With 380W EarthWatts PSU
 
alll done and working, gotta say that opera case is good looking but it's a horrible build nothing fits. Only problem now is the noise from the cpu and psu fan's and suggestions on passive. Also how the hell do u take out the built in psu :S
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom