HTPC build

dokko

dokko

dokko

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Hi guys, this ones for the old man as he's just bought himself a new HDTV, and now is thinking of a HTPC instead of buying a new HD-DVD & speaker package.

He was looking at £300 for one of those, but i was hoping to see what he could get for about £500 in terms of a HTPC.

I've never built one or seen one so have no idea what are the most quiet parts around.

It need to be quiet, stylish, HD-DVD, with great sound.

No OS needed.

I have an old system that maybe used for parts.

It has an 1800xp, a 80GB IDE HD, 1GB 2700 mem, with a Ti4800 128mb AGP MSI gfx card + MSI KT4 mobo.

The case is rubbish, PSU noisy, and i'm not sure how much the components about are adding to that noise. Its all got stock fans, so if there fans out there to make those parts run quiet, and would be worthwile keeping, please let me know.

Cheers.
 
Ok, bit slow on a Sat, nee worries, so been trying to work it out myself.

CA-060-AN Antec Fusion HTPC Case - 430HE Watt PSU (CA-060-AN)
£97.99 £97.99
HS-008-ZA Zalman CNPS7000B-ALCU Ultra-Quiet CPU Cooler - Retail (HS-008-ZA)
£14.99 £14.99
SY-007-ZA Zalman ZM-NB47J Northbridge Cooler (SY-007-ZA)
£3.95 £3.95
SY-002-VT Vantec Iceberq4 Pro CCB-A4P VGA Cooling kit with blue LED (SY-002-VT)
£5.95 £5.95
SC-043-CL Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - OEM (SC-043-CL)
£49.50 £49.50
CD-044-NE NEC AD7170A 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-044-NE)
£19.95 £19.95
SP-000-AE Acoustic Energy Aego M 2.1 Speakers (Black) - Retail (SP-000-AE)
£69.95 £69.95
KB-072-LG Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail (KB-072-LG)
£17.99 £17.99
Subtotal £280.27
VAT £49.05
Total £329.32

With the parts listed above, would this all go together?

Basically i need a socket A CPU fan (quiet as poss) a ti4800 fan, again quiet, the Zalman for NB can be passive and with that case, quietness should be achived.

Good soundcard, set of speakers and a wireless keyboard and mouse.

This should be a complete HTPC with the DVD.

But i cannot find any HD-DVDRW's?

So which is the quietest DVDRW out there? I picked the NEC at random just to price up.

Cheers for any imput on this lads (and gals)
 
Make sure the mobo is mATX. You're better going for that ZALMAN cooler. Also what else are you planning on doing with it? If it's only HDDVD/DVD playback you might be better with a dedicated system.
 
HD-DVD isn't out yet for the pc. Just standard DVD at the mo. Go for one of the big names, like Pioneer or NEC. I have 2 Pioneer DVR111BK's in my pc.

Couple of possible issues, will the Zalman cpu cooler fit in that case with everything else installed your best bet is probably second hand for a Socket A cooler, got to the members market and if you don't see anything in the for sale section post in the wanted section. They often come with thier own coolers, check out Antecs website for details.
A wireless Keyboard and mouse could cause problems when you are setting it up. Windows can't see them with out the drivers. So you may need yours to get it up and running.
 
Last edited:
I would buy the cheaper NSK2400, if you use volume control you don't need the front dial or even the VFD (you have the remote and LCD to do that)

You also need a remote, ie Microsoft MC remote £20
Check that 1800 CPU will playback HD material, no point using it if it's incapable of doing so. Shouldn't have problems with SD material, AVI's
and DVD's. You'll also going to scale to 1366x768 so that will put more demand on the CPU. Personally I wouldn't use those components as HD is very demanding. 80GB is paltry if he plans to store music/record TV shows.

I would not buy a X-Fi, get M-Audio 2496 as those drivers are ASIO compliant and M-Audio sound better for 2 channel (analogue outputs)

I believe the LG's are quiet. The Pioneer 111 aren't quiet drives.
 
deadeyedic30 said:
A wireless Keyboard and mouse could cause problems when you are setting it up. Windows can't see them with out the drivers. So you may need yours to get it up and running.
Click to expand...

I have never had that issue with a mouse, its literally plug and play, no drivers needed just like a standard mouse.


Just a question why are you so set on HD DVD? I suppose with a HTPC you can also fit in a blu ray player when needed too.
 
Well he's just bought a HD-TV, so wants a HD-DVD to go with it, then to get HDsky for xmas.

Is the HDDVD that much better?
 
Any links to where you can buy an HD DVD and speakers for £300? I didn't think they'd been officially released here yet? Although I've seen ordinary DVD players with HDMI and video upscaling mistakenly referred to as HD DVD..

By the looks of it some of the HD-DVD players are pretty much HTPC's anyway. The Toshiba HD-A1 player runs off a P4 processor and has a Linux based OS - http://geekswithblogs.net/lorint/archive/2006/04/21/75795.aspx
 
Papa Lazarou said:
Any links to where you can buy an HD DVD and speakers for £300? I didn't think they'd been officially released here yet? Although I've seen ordinary DVD players with HDMI and video upscaling mistakenly referred to as HD DVD..

By the looks of it some of the HD-DVD players are pretty much HTPC's anyway. The Toshiba HD-A1 player runs off a P4 processor and has a Linux based OS - http://geekswithblogs.net/lorint/archive/2006/04/21/75795.aspx
Click to expand...



Since you said that i've pulled up what this thing is:

Samsung HTQ100

I think your right. I've checked a few places and it doesn't mention it being a HD-DVD player.

It may have that upscaling thing though.

But on the advert from Costco, it clearly labels it a HD-DVD player.

So god knows where that leaves him now.
 
From the sounds of it you may have upscaling regular DVD's and HD-DVD/Blu-ray mixed up. Upscaling isnt proper HD. HD-DVD and blu ray are the next gen formats for proper HD. You can get Blu ray players for the PC now but youll have to wait for HD-DVD PC players, just dont liik at the price. ;)

EDIT, yes you were. :)
 
Amp34 said:
From the sounds of it you may have upscaling regular DVD's and HD-DVD/Blu-ray mixed up. Upscaling isnt proper HD. HD-DVD and blu ray are the next gen formats for proper HD. You can get Blu ray players for the PC now but youll have to wait for HD-DVD PC players, just dont liik at the price. ;)

EDIT, yes you were. :)
Click to expand...

Yep, its deffo upscaling, old man aint buying it though, he's not happy :)

Anyway is the samsung HTQ100 any good for what it is?

£250, is there any home cinema in a box better for the price?
 
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