HTPC build

[dokko]

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.

 

[dokko]

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)

 

[dokko]

Thanks for the rpelies lads, checking out all the info now.

Ta.

 

[dokko]

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?

 

[dokko]

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

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.

 

[dokko]

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.

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?