HTPC Setup: Opinions

DiscoKandy · 27 May 2006 at 00:19

Hi,
Put together some specs for a HTPC box I plan on putting together for my dad. Anyone got any opinions or advice on the setup ? To be used on a 32" Panasonic HDTV, Relibilty and simplicity to operate being the key here. Will run on Windows Media Center 2005. Plan to get an extra 512Mb RAM and perhaps an aditional TV tuner at a later date. Will this setup be suitbale for scaling DVD's ?

Case
Antec NSK2400 £46.95 £55.17

Mobo
Asus A8N-VM CSM £47.95 £56.34

CPU
AMD Athlon 64 3000+Retail £61.95 £72.79

RAM
Crucial 512MB DDR PC3200 £24.95 £29.32

TUNER
Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T PCI £33.95 £39.89

HDD
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 200GB £53.95 £63.39

DVD
Samsung SH-W163 16x16 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer £24.75 £29.08

REMOTE
Microsoft MCE Remote £17 £20 Approx

£311 £365

Matt · 27 May 2006 at 00:36

Looks fine

Though another tuner would be a very good idea, and then the RAM/HDD later (you can never have enough HDD space on a media box

).

Fr0dders · 27 May 2006 at 00:37

id have the quieter samsung spinpoint S drive over the seagate tho. and its faster

but the seagate would be fine if you really wanted it

Matt · 27 May 2006 at 00:50

MrLOL said:
id have the quieter samsung spinpoint S drive over the seagate tho. and its faster

but the seagate would be fine if you really wanted it

I have 2x 160gb and 1x 250gb Seagates in my HTPC, and it's fine. I was put off by Samsung when i had 2 or 3 die within a few weeks

(probably a bad batch or something).

Fr0dders · 27 May 2006 at 00:53

ive had the same problem with seagates lol

2 failed on me and only ever bought 2

HD reliability is a funny thing.

squiffy · 27 May 2006 at 01:24

Desktop drives are fine, I'm 6' away from my HTPC with one WD 2500KS and silent enough, just can hear it, clicks are very low so don't hear them either (over a sound system) if it's 10' not going to hear it. I would get 1GB, remember onboard GFX uses system memory (I have it set to 64MB) Get faster CPU if possible, if scaling/using filters- have some CPU reserve.

Get the blue Zalman cooler for that mobo (in a hot case IC can get pretty warm) fits ok, mount like this (shorter fins on left/right side)

Zalman ZM-NB47J Northbridge Cooler (SY-007-ZA)

DiscoKandy · 27 May 2006 at 08:30

Is scaling/filtering DVD's an all or nothing process or can you increase the scaling/filtering quality based on your CPU etc ?