HTPC Build Underway!

a1ex2001 · 19 May 2006 at 18:42

Finally got a spare couple of hours so I've just squashed my old 1.8GHz P4 into my shiny new Antec Aria and dug out the MCE2005 CD's wish me luck!

PS the Aria is tiny and a right pain to work in has to be the messiest build ever! I need quieter coolers now stockintel cooler and Radeon 9600Pro are just to noisy!

Logan09 · 19 May 2006 at 18:51

Good luck dude. HTPC builds are always awkward as the limited space in the cases makes it fiddly. As for a quieter cooler for the 9600, you might just want to consider going for a cheap card like the Geforce 6200 as they are passively cooled and can do HD decoding, and have component output.

squiffy · 19 May 2006 at 18:55

Tips for movie playback.

DVD player software (Power DVD, Theatertek)
FFDSHOW
AC-3 Filter
Winamp
OGG plugin for Media Player
Leave auto insert notification on.
disable defrag on idle (use tuneup utils)

Trying to figure out certain things in MC but don't think possible. :rolleyes:

a1ex2001 · 19 May 2006 at 19:14

Second CD is in, it's bit retro changing disks in an OS install (or a bit redhat 9 depending on your preference!) Not sure I'm ever going to get the sides on this thing! Looking forward to having my MP£'s and PIC's Easily (relatively speaking) available in the lounge!

p4radox · 19 May 2006 at 20:26

If you want a quiet Aria you may want to modify it a bit. Remove the noisy PCI blower, and replace the PSU fan with something else. Also consider modding a slow 80mm fan on a side panel. Have you got a Zalman 7000 on the CPU?

pcoltrane · 19 May 2006 at 21:03

the 9600pro is actually a great card for an htpc .. they are pretty low power - if you place the antec blower next to the radeon card it will be fine passive i am sure. It also does hardware acceleration too ... going for a 6200 would be a waste of money.

The zalman flower with the 92mm fan in the middle - i forget which model - is a good cpu cooler to use with the aria too. I'd say try those two tweaks and see whether it is an acceptable noise level for you. It won;t be silent (thats hard to do with an aria) but is should be quiet enough for most people.

a1ex2001 · 19 May 2006 at 23:10

the big noise make is definately the Intel reference HSF which is getting on a bit at about 4-5 years now, I fancy replacying that with the Zalman suggested as that seems pretty popular with Aria users and also seems compatible with a lot of CPU's so I could upgrade. I'm thinking I might just bolt and Aritc Silencer onto the 9600Pro they don't cost much and are supposed to be quite quiet, i'm not silence obsessed would just like something better than the current setup! Just copy 16GB of MP£'s onto it which is killing my LAN!

tim_enchanter · 21 May 2006 at 15:49

I would recommend getting an arctic silencer for that 9600pro, I sold mine recently but it was a great card and with the silencer exhausting the air directly out the rear that'll be a bonus for you over the likes of a Zalman. Thats assuming you have the space for the larger coolers on your gfx.

I also run a Zalman 7000 on my Opty and it fits nice and snug in my X-Qpack, good coolers.