In need of some HTPC enlightenment

[wildheart]

Hi all, wondered if someone can give me an idea of the spec i would need when building a HTPC.

The intended purpose would be:
playing some games like pro-evo (its primary use would not be for gaming though)
playing blu-ray / HD movies
Watching / recording programs
streaming / playing various content

I will be probably be using Media Portal, for those that know it.

Basically the main questions i have about HTPC's are:

1. Would i need to go quad core?
2. What would be a suitable graphics card for 1080p output to an LCD TV?
3. Is it better to have content streaming from network attached storage than 1TB of HDD in the HTPC (im thinking for heat and noise purposes i want it to be cool and quiet )
4. I would be looking for a case that looks nothing like a PC and with the ability to use a remote any suggestions(the antec one looks ok)?
5. TV cards, Media portal recommends some but would i need 2 if i wanted to record 2 programs at the same time?

Thanks to anyone that can answer any of these question! Much appreciated.

p.s Oh and although i have been looking (really i have) there does not seem to be a dedicated area on OCUK to HTPC's? is it just me or would that be a good idea?

cheers all!

 

[BillytheImpaler]

1. No, you'd be better off with a faster dual core unless you have a multitude of tuners working. The E6750 seems good to me for gaming and HD playback.
2. Depending on how much you want to spend the ATi HD 2900 series, or perhaps the upcoming HD 3800. If gaming isn't a priority you could drop down to an HD 2600. I like the ATi range here since they have hardware accelerated H.264 decoding.
3. It is better to put the hard disks somewhere else. If you have just the one client 100 Mbit networking is just fine. If you start pushing beyond a three or four clients you might want to move to a Gbit network. Having the disks far away takes all the noise and heat whole freeing up more space in your case.
4. The Antec Fusion is a good choice, as are the various Silverstones, depending on your budget
5. No idea

 

[Teaf]

Hi all, wondered if someone can give me an idea of the spec i would need when building a HTPC.

I just built a friend one very recently so might be able to help you with your questions.

1. Would i need to go quad core?

No, the one I built had a E2180 at stock and played 1080p fine.

2. What would be a suitable graphics card for 1080p output to an LCD TV?

2400 XT is the lowest price card, but I would make sure you get one with a fan as I got one with a passive heatsink and it reached temperatures of about 85c idle.

3. Is it better to have content streaming from network attached storage than 1TB of HDD in the HTPC (im thinking for heat and noise purposes i want it to be cool and quiet )

Either is fine really. The one I built used an external hard drive with 25mb/s transfer rate fixed and we tried some high definition matroska content from it and there was no problems at all - this of course meant that he could have more space inside the machine as the HTPC cases can get kinda cramped.

4. I would be looking for a case that looks nothing like a PC and with the ability to use a remote any suggestions?

Antec Fusion V2 or a Silverstone LC20S-M. The Fusion does not have a remote but doesn come with a built in power supply, however only mATX motherboards. The Silverstone comes with a remote and card reader, but no PSU and can have full atx boards. The Silverstone is normally a little more costly as well. Personally I'd get an Antec Fusion and a Logitech remote that can turn the PC on and control all of it - also would control the TV, Xbox if you have one and so forth.

5. TV cards, Media portal recommends some but would i need 2 if i wanted to record 2 programs at the same time?

Hmm, I'm not sure 100% sure there. I guess using a dual freeview card such as the mid-range Hauppauge cards that are dual freeview would be fine. This works for recording one channel and watching another, but recording 2 at the same time I'm not sure if it does that.

 

[BillytheImpaler]

With my HTPC setup I have a client/server model. The server sits in the cellar holding all the hard disks and the capture cards. The client sits on the TV doing nothing but playback. I boot it from a 2 GiB CompactFlash card so it has no hard disks to make noise.

 

[wildheart]

Thanks for the response all!

With my HTPC setup I have a client/server model. The server sits in the cellar holding all the hard disks and the capture cards. The client sits on the TV doing nothing but playback. I boot it from a 2 GiB CompactFlash card so it has no hard disks to make noise.

Ah thankyou for bringing me onto that topic, another question i wanted to ask was about CompactFlash card/drives? I want it to boot up as fast as computerly possible (within a reasonable budget) Is a flash drive the way to go?

I currently have 2 10,000RPM raptors in raid 0 so faster booting that that would be nice i can probably get some boot speed specs from g00gle though but any thoughts are always welcome!

 

[BillytheImpaler]

No, it'll be a lot slower. Flash has a fairly low sustained transfer rate, on the order of 35-40 MiB/s for the best cards. RAID'ed Raptors will be more than twice as fast. It will be infinitely quieter though.

 

[wildheart]

No, it'll be a lot slower. Flash has a fairly low sustained transfer rate, on the order of 35-40 MiB/s for the best cards. RAID'ed Raptors will be more than twice as fast. It will be infinitely quieter though.

sorry i ment Solid State Hard Drive not CompactFlash card/drives. Would they be faster than a raptor setup?

 

[BillytheImpaler]

In a RAID, yes. But the price is ridiculous. You'd be better off booting from volatile memory which itself is not such a fantastic idea. A fast boot is a function of what it's doing while booting. I've gone through my init.d list and removed nearly everything. I go from power button to ready in about 15 seconds. For Windows I don't know how much optimization you can do.