HTPC Spec check

Furton

Furton

Furton

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Going to order my self a HTPC in the next week and have come up with the following spec.

Abit AN-M2HD nForce 520 Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4000+ 2.10GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail
Antec Fusion Black HTPC Case - 430HE Watt PSU
Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-4200C4 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT12864AA53E)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS)
Pioneer DVR-212D 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS)
Terratec Cinergy 2400i DT DVB-T TV Tuner (PCI-Express) - Retail
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788)
Zalman CNPS7500-CU CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)
Netgear WG311 54Mbps Wireless Desktop PCI Network Adapter

A few questions though.

Are Seagate Hard Drives still the quietest (been away for a year so out of the loop really)
Eventually I'll get a HD-DVD/BD player, will the CPU be powerful enough to decode HD content so I can make use of the HDMI output of the board?
Is the Zalman a pretty quiet HS or are there quieter ones?

It's mostly going to be used to record free view channels, play ripped content and watch TV.
 
The seagate drives will be fine, althought I think the samsungs are quieter. That CPU will be ok, but an intel core2 will be faster and cooler (therefore quieter), the rest looks good though
 
Get an "Energy Efficient" AMD, they're even cooler than the Intels. I have an EE X2 3800+ in my HTPS and it's most excellent. Even at 100% load under Folding@Home it rarely reaches more than 10 C over the ambient temperature. It has no problem with decoding high def. material even with aggressive codecs like H.264. It's a better choice IMO.
 
At stock along with a decent midrange GPU you probally wont notice much difference with the CPU. Im hoping to upgrade my HTPC next year when the EF Phenoms come out next year ( early next year )
 
BillytheImpaler said:
Get an "Energy Efficient" AMD, they're even cooler than the Intels. I have an EE X2 3800+ in my HTPS and it's most excellent. Even at 100% load under Folding@Home it rarely reaches more than 10 C over the ambient temperature. It has no problem with decoding high def. material even with aggressive codecs like H.264. It's a better choice IMO.
Click to expand...

What about viewing 1080P material?
Also what video card are you using and are you overclocking?

Depending on whether your video card is assisting in the decode process, on 1080p material, you should be getting skipped frames. Some people who own E6300 C2D cpus sometimes struggle with 1080p material (with no video card assisting). And the E6300 eats any AMD cpu for breakfast. ;)

If its for HTPC, I wouldnt go the AMD route. I would stick with Intel as you have headroom when decoding even the most highest bitrate 1080p videos. You will have the assurance that you wont get any skipped frames. AMD will be a compromise. If funds are tight then fair enough, but if you can afford a C2D CPU, thats what I would get.

Of course, this is just my opinion. :)
 
AMD has the best HTPC boards. I'm not overclocking. I have 1 x 1 GB PC2-4200 installed. My motherboard is an Asus M2NPV-VM with integrated nVidia 6150 graphics. It's a purpose-built HTPC board and it does accelerate the playback of some popular codecs, including the much-lauded H.264. It handles 1080P without breaking a sweat, with about 60% of one core consumed.
 
If on a low budget, AMD is the only way especially considering prices & features of mATX mobos! Was just checking this out, i.e. good onboard GFX, HDMI with HDCP, etc :eek:

Hope Vista 64-bit won't give you problems with drivers, etc :confused:
 
BillytheImpaler said:
AMD has the best HTPC boards. I'm not overclocking. I have 1 x 1 GB PC2-4200 installed. My motherboard is an Asus M2NPV-VM with integrated nVidia 6150 graphics. It's a purpose-built HTPC board and it does accelerate the playback of some popular codecs, including the much-lauded H.264. It handles 1080P without breaking a sweat, with about 60% of one core consumed.
Click to expand...

That is impressive. Obviously the 6150 gpu is doing a lot of the decoding.

Have you tried running 720p or 1080p material encoded in x264? This will force all the work on your cpu as there is no gpu currently around that can assist in its decoding. One of the problems with open source codecs.
 
Perhaps I'm a bit confused here, but isn't H.264 the format standard (H.264/MPEG-4 AVC), and x264 simply a GPL'd software library for encoding data into the H.264 format?

Also, what does being free software have to do with not having hardware support?

But, to answer the question, yes, it runs just fine as I mentioned above. :)
 
Last edited:
hp7909 said:
If on a low budget, AMD is the only way especially considering prices & features of mATX mobos! Was just checking this out, i.e. good onboard GFX, HDMI with HDCP, etc :eek:

Hope Vista 64-bit won't give you problems with drivers, etc :confused:
Click to expand...

Looks like you have made your choice. Obviously, your budget is dictating this. However, dont believe that HDCP is such a big deal. First off no titles are currently forcing HDCP compliance (from what I know). On top of which, for a HTPC, running a non compliant HDCP system isnt a problem, as you can already use a program called AnyDVD-HD to bypass that. In future, Im sure there will be many free programs available for you to bypass that annoying feature that is HDCP.

On the subject of HDMI, you can buy DVI to HDMI cables and DVI to HDMI adaptors. I have these. Of course you will lose the ability to run video and sound through a single cable (something that HDMI can do, but DVI will require you to have an additional cable for sound).

EDIT: do you intend to watch downloaded HD material from the net?
 
BillytheImpaler said:
AMD has the best HTPC boards. I'm not overclocking. I have 1 x 1 GB PC2-4200 installed. My motherboard is an Asus M2NPV-VM with integrated nVidia 6150 graphics. It's a purpose-built HTPC board and it does accelerate the playback of some popular codecs, including the much-lauded H.264. It handles 1080P without breaking a sweat, with about 60% of one core consumed.
Click to expand...

That's the reason I chose the Abit board, on-board graphics with HDMI output, saves having a separate GFX card hence less heat generated.

Have you tried it with a HD or BR disc yet? If so what's the playback like?
 
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