HTPC Spec

oafc0000

oafc0000

oafc0000

Associate
Joined
7 Aug 2003
Posts
152
Hi All

Been thinking about this for a number of months now and I think I have decided on what to get. Can you guys have a quick look and give me ** thoughts.

Key Requirements:

Decent output to standard CRT 32" TV & LCD/PLASMA in the future

Capable of handling HD content

Dual Freeview Tuner for watching and recording at same time

Do all the nice fancy things like upscaling of DVDs etc

Optical Output for the sound to connect to my home cinema system

Be upgradable to handle any future requirements without having to rip out the motherboard.

Games might be a requirement in the future but isnt right now.

Basically be able to do everything you might want to do with a HTPC.

Must be compatable with MCE 2005


My Spec:

CPU AMD 3200 OEM 64 bit
Case Silverstone LC10M
Motherboard ASUS A8R-MVP
TV Card Terratec 2400i DT MCE Edition
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 6200
Memory 2 x 512
Keyboard any cheap wireless
Mouse any cheap wireless
Remote Control Microsoft MCE Remote inc IR Reciver
HD Maxtor DiamondMax 200 Gig SATA II
Sound Card Terratec Aureon 5.1 PCI 6 Chan. Digital in/out soundcard
DVD Re-Writer 16x
PSU Any Silent 600w
Heatsink Zalman CNPS9500-LED Aero Flower (
WiFi Card Belkin Wireless Card

Total cost about £660

Cheers
 
TV Card Terratec 2400i DT MCE Edition

great card!

Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 6200

NVIDIA are the best for hd support but a vanilla 6600 may be able to run higher video resolutions more comfortably, drivers are just more media orientated. old ati cards better support crt tv's if all you have got is an rgb input.

lots of hd space is essential if you plan to record a lot of tv 160gb min imo, good bit of ram wouldnt hurt to 1gbs perfect.

my Zalman 9500 flower isnt that quiet
 
a 600W psu is overkill for all but the biggest, baddest, overclocked sli systems - so it'll be more than you need for that rig!

I suggest a Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply.
 
yeah, agree. maybe get a completly passively cooled psu for about the same price, yes less output with passives but its just not needed.
 
I run my undervolted passively cooled 146 at 2ghz in my htpc, and its plenty quick enough with directshow codec decoding/encoding video's, although it does have more L2 cache. theres no harm in running a faster cpu if you feel its necessary.
 
Hyper Type R PSU is one of the best youll get for around £60, look on 3DGM for a video review and although its not completely silent its very quiet. Ive got two in different machines first rate with a patented connection system so their also very tidy.

Low noise is one of the most important factors so also consider...

A good case (I recommend Silverstone)
Silent Graphics card NV6600 256MB is one of the best for approx £70

As an example my sig spec is about as loud as a Xbox/PS2 console only cooled with the CPU and PSU fans running fine with a 250FSB giving a cool 500MHz overclock. I very much recommend the Dual Core 3800 as it has so much potential in the overclocking department and is reasonably affordable.

Put the money into a good base spec perhaps even leaving the out the TV card for a bit if your budget is tight.
 
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