HTPC Build - Comments and Criticisms Please

jkulas

jkulas

jkulas

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Been nailing down my components for a while, and I think I've finally got enough information to run it by you knowledgeable lot ;)

* I want it to go under the TV as a media box with internal storage capacity, so I need it to be able to support two 3.5" hard drives.
* I would also like to be able to include a TV tuner at some point so that it can be used as a PVR box.

At the moment I am planning on using XBMC, probably using the live CD, which is based on stripped down version of ubuntu, but I am also open to the windows route. Since it is going under the TV it needs to be quiet, and it will be on most of the time so I would like it to use as little power as possible. I am also planning to run SickBeard and sabnzb on the box.

Case: OrigenAE HTPC S10V
Mobo: ZOTAC IONITX-F-E Atom N330
RAM: 4GB DDR2-800 (will look for some low-ish power stuff)
Media: Sony BDROM slimline laptop version (since it needs to be slot loading)
Storage: 2x WD 2TB Greens
picoPSU 150w

I had the idea of using this setup from initially looking at the M10 case, but it doesn't have enough space for onboard storage, and I really don't want to use a NAS type box if I can help it. The M10 uses the pico 150w psu so I wanted to use that in the larger S10V case to save on noise.

I have a few questions about this proposed solution:

* Will the Zotac ITX board fit in the microATX case? I have read the mountings are the same.
* Will I be able to run the above on the picoPSU 150w, so that I won't need an actively cooled psu in the box?
* Will I have enough power to add a TV Tuner card at a later stage?

I have also read that the atoms struggle with proper hi-def stuff, so if this becomes a problem, I will be adding one of the broadcom crystalhd cards to the onboard mini-pci slot in place of the wireless card. Can you see any issues which may arise from that?

If anyone can advise me with any aspect of this build I would greatly appreciate it.

Cheers.
 
the itx board will fit in a matx case, i have my 9300 itx in a sugo sgo3, the pico 150w shoud be more than enough to power that setup and you should be able to add your tv card later without problems.
the ion chipset gfx will cope with hd content and blurays as long as you are not adding post processing effects.
i have never used the crystalhd card so can't comment on any problems with that.

as you are using a matx case why not just get an amd matx board and one of the 45w low power cpu's ?
at the end of the day with the atoms you really have to remember that even the dual core ones are only about as powerful as a p4 1.8ghz.
 
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Thanks very much for the reply chipps, to answer your question its mostly about power and noise. I would like this to sit under the TV and run the media centre/PVR without me having to worry about the heat/noise produced.

I have seen the crystalhd cards demoed on netbooks which struggled with video playback, and the difference is night and day, for £40 or so that seems like a no-brainer if I find I need a bit more clout.
 
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they can just play them and no more, as soon as you start adding noise filtering or edge smoothing to them they can start to have trouble.
 
with an atom there's not much to pick up the slack with :(

even with the e2180 on my 9300 itx as soon as i add a couple of filters it can struggle and drop frames :(
 
chipps101 said:
with an atom there's not much to pick up the slack with :(

even with the e2180 on my 9300 itx as soon as i add a couple of filters it can struggle and drop frames :(
Click to expand...

That's exactly what the crystalhd card does, and I don't intend on doing any post-processing so sounds like it will be ok without one. My main concern was the power consuption with the 2 full size hard drives, but if you are sure the 150w will be enough I will get this project moving :D
 
jkulas said:
My main concern was the power consuption with the 2 full size hard drives
Click to expand...

I think the average 7200 rpm drive uses about 6-8 watts these days, really don't think it'll be a killer.

And bear in mind Tom's Hardware were building mITX media PCs with i3, i5, and Phenom chips that didn't top 100W at the wall. Be surprised if an Atom build cracks 70, really :)
 
does the crystalhd do anything more than a cheaper passive graphics card say at the botom of the ati range (hdmi, hdmi audio, vidieo accel etc).

for tv freeview usb tuners are pretty handy and most hauppauge units are well supported on linux deriviatives and seem to wake up properly from standby,

you really need a remote control for a media box

4gb memory is a luxury, 2gb would do

Im not hot on non windows software but does your prefferred software decode blu ray with hardware acceleration ?
 
RAM is so cheap at the moment that it would be a bit of a false economy to go for 1GB DIMMS I think. I'm assuming that you can run 64bit OS on the atom, but now that I think about it, I haven't actually checked. Any ideas?

The S10V case comes with the whole VFD IMON malarkey, and a remote which is capable of powering on the device, and is compatible with lcdproc etc in linux.

I was planning on using the xbmc live build, which is basically a stripped down ubuntu but I was wondering myself if it supports blu-ray playback. I don't currently have any drives that I can test it with, anyone know?

The crystalhd card basically offloads from the cpu, but as far as I've seen so far the ION does a great job of that itself. Check this out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98iYnuT7y-c
 
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