Kirth's First HTPC Build

Kirth Gersen · 1 Apr 2009 at 09:08

I thought I would document my experience with this build so far. As I have used some fairly typical recommended components, I will not go into the details of the build particularly (plenty of examples out there), but highlight the pitfalls and surprises that I encountered.

My objective was to build an attractive, quiet HTPC that, would fit in with my other AV kit (an aging but reliable Marantz SR4200 Receiver). Parts would be high quality, but not bleeding edge. Primary uses are Blu Ray/DVD movie viewing, recording TV, playing music, backup of data from my study PC and occasional internet access. The result should be child and wife friendly.

Components

Antec Fusion Remote HTPC Case
Asus P5N7A-VM Motherboard
E2160 CPU (1.8 Ghz) – reused
Scythe Shuriken Cooler
2 Gb OCZ PC6400 DDR2 RAM
Corsair VX 450W ATX Power Supply
Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB Hard Drive
LG Combination Blu Ray/HD Drive – reused
Hauppauge Nova TD 500
Belkin F5D7001UK 125Mbps Wireless Desktop PCI Network Adapter
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32Bit. Media Center would be my core application.
KeySonic 540BT Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard
Belkin Bluetooth Dongle
Panasonic TH-50PZ80B - 50" Widescreen Viera 1080P Full HD Plasma TV

Positives

+ I have built a number of PCs in the past, and the HTPC build went without a hitch (that’s actually a first). All parts fitted well and worked well. The Antec Fusion case is well thought out, with plenty of places to thread cables through so as not to clutter the main motherboard compartment.

+ SD Picture quality is good. As expected, given the size of the screen, not quite as sharp as my previous 32” Panny CRT, but very livable.

+ HD quality is absolutely outstanding. The best way I can describe the difference is that it feels like a true cinematic experience. Using Power DVD 7.3 and patch for 5.1 surround sound on the LG Blu Ray player, I haven’t come across glitches or slow downs. The integrated Geforce 9300 GPU is up to the challenge.

+ Similarly, music playback is better than I had hoped through the integrated audio. I don’t feel a need to invest in a dedicated sound card yet. For the first time, I can now listen to my entire digital collection through my Marantz/Kef/MJA Acoustic Sub setup, without faffing around with memory sticks, and cutting CDs and the like. Bliss.

+ Media Center. What a revelation. Never used it before. Yes I know its MS, but it really is a slick front end. Still can’t get over pausing live TV .

+ Surfing the internet one side of the screen while watching a sizable TV image on the other. SWMBO thinks it is distracting… it must be a man thing.

Issues

- Don’t forget to install the mobo drivers. I did and had 2 hours of panic due to no audio from the mobo, no video in Media Center, and only 1280 resolution on the TV. Once drivers were installed – all issues went away.

- The HTPC regularly reboots by itself. I had noted that the GPU temps were ridiculously high, and have since discovered that this is a known problem with this mobo. Options are to plug in the side fans (which I had not bothered to set up to keep noise to a minimum), or replace the chipset heatsink. Thoughts?

- Remotes. The Antec case has a somewhat confusing IR power cabling set up which I have not quite figured out. Once sorted, I have yet to decide on the remote situation. With such expensive, pretty kit, I don’t want a host of remotes, so it is either live with my trusty but tacky “6 in 1” One For All 6 or buy the over the top Harmony 1 which I have fallen in love with . Suggestions, alternatives?

- Start up from sleep seems slow to me. I thought it would be a few seconds, but it feels like more than 30 seconds. Is this normal? Tips and hints for quicker startups. This one is important.

- I can’t figure out how to resume from sleep back into the freeview channel that I was viewing before sleep. It always resumes to the Media Center front end end. Help? At the end, I want to switch it on like it is a TV – ie directly into full screen freeview, and switch off (sleep) like a normal TV. Then only come revert to Media Center/Vista when I want to do something non TV oriented (10% of activites). Anyone achieved this state of Nirvana?

- No firewire on the mobo. Blast. Strange omission for such an HTPC dedicated mobo. I guess you can’t research absolutely everything. I was especially hoping to plug in my camcorder into the firewire port at the front and transfer. Does anyone know of a PCIE 1x firewire card (I’ve used up the PCI slots), with some sort of internal connection that I connect to from the front?

- Having problems getting the CPU fan to slow down from startup with Speedfan. Anyone know of a better solution or an idiot proof speedfan guide?

- I bought the Bluetooth version of the Keysonic remote keyboard as I had heard that the IR was version was pants. Well the Bluetooth version is pants also. I have to situate the Bluetooth dongle in a USB port at the front of the case (ugly) to get reasonable connectivity from just 3 meters away. Sticking it in a port at the back fails most of the time. I thought bluetooth was it was supposed to be multi-directional? The dongle is supposed to be good for 10 meters, is it the keyboard? Thoughts? Note, when it works, the keyboard is actually discretely small, and living room friendly.

I’ll get some pics up when home on Weds night.

Virdi · 1 Apr 2009 at 09:35

Very nice - Thanks

Pics?

Kirth Gersen · 1 Apr 2009 at 09:48

Virdi said:
Very nice - Thanks

Pics?

tonight. Working away from home

bam0 · 1 Apr 2009 at 12:51

On the sleep thing you sure it's sleeping and not hibernating? Also make sure it's going into S3 sleep, lower power usage and turns the fans off. The waking back into freeview I've never actually wanted tbh, since most of the time you'd want to change the channel from what you were last watching does it really matter that much? I'm hoping you have a proper MCE remote as it has hot buttons for the guide screen or going straight to live tv.

Kirth Gersen · 1 Apr 2009 at 13:11

Definitely sleep not hibernate. Sleep is the default in Vista I believe, and I haven't made any changes to it.

So far, SWMBO has given a fairly negative response to the project, so I want to provide the same user experience for her as simply turning on the TV. Being a total Luddite, she won't use it for any of the other facilities, so as far as she is concerned, I've just complicated the process.

No I don't have the MCE remote. They are not readily available are they. See musings on remotes above. Either current tacky number or Harmony 1 are current options.

Dangerous Dave · 1 Apr 2009 at 13:15

I have that motherboard and the GPU does run hot if there is no forced airflow over it. I have a free standing 120mm fan in the case blowing slowly across the GPU and into a Scythe Mini cpu cooler and its keeps the GPU temps at 50c and the E6600 CPU at 40c this is the only fan I have in the case other than the PSUs. The system has never hung or rebooted itself with this cooling.

I would make sure the BIOS is up to date as the last couple of updates have speeded up the post checks allowing it to boot quicker from a full power on. If coming out of resume however my system takes about 2-3 seconds from power on to display Media Centre front page so unsure how yours is taking 30 seconds unless you have it on S2 resume where it has to load the memory from the HD before the system is ready. I use S3 resume where the memory is kept powered up all the time so the system resume instantly. You should set Vista to sleep in the power options if you want S3 resume. You can also download a small app called Media Standby Tool (MST) that will set all the options for you.

It is not possible to resume media centre straight into displaying a TV picture you may be able to do it with a 3rd party application however I have never seen one.

I use Microsoft and Logitech bluetooth keyboards both have excellent range I can use them from other rooms with out a problem.

EDIT read your second post regarding Vista resume I would use MST in your case to see if it resolves the issue.

Kirth Gersen · 1 Apr 2009 at 13:23

Some excellent advice there - thank-you. I will check out the BIOS and MST.

Katoom · 1 Apr 2009 at 17:19

With mine i go to Advanced power settings, set it to sleep after 45mins, not hibernate, make sure it's 'allowed to sleep' when sharing media and change the power button to 'sleep'.
You can have it boot straight into Media centre using the settings within M/C.

Install Media Browser and Weather plug-ins. Happy days.

Kirth Gersen · 2 Apr 2009 at 08:53

As promised - some pics:

The gear just waiting to be unpacked next to old TV:

The installed PC. Hmm wires. Still it was an easy build. Really no problems other than not understanding where to attach the IR Power Switch wires. Very confusing and poor documentation from Antec on that one.

So for those about to build a Fusion Remote, it works like this:

1. You will note that there are 2 Power Switch wires coming out from the front of the case. One is Black and White (the case Power Switch), and the other is Black and Red (the Remote/IR Power Switch).
2. If you want to use the Veris remote properly with the case, you will need to install both.
3. Attach the IR cable (red/black) onto the normal mobo Power Switch pins.
4. Attach the Case cable (white/black) onto a couple of hard to spot pins right on the edge of the front of the case behind the VFD panel.

The lounge pre new build:

Kirth Gersen · 2 Apr 2009 at 09:01

The lounge post build. The TV doesn't look so big from the picture, but that's just the camera lens playing tricks. It's big. Still I think it works (not a great pic due to the flash). The ridiculously priced oak/glass cabinet (£350) fits in with the rest of the decor methinks:

HTPC all fired up:

The AV stack. Looks good with my Marantz IMHO:

cram · 2 Apr 2009 at 09:14

I'd try and get those speakers up off the floor if I were you.

Kirth Gersen · 2 Apr 2009 at 09:16

cram · 2 Apr 2009 at 09:23

Ideally front speakers should be at ear height pointing towards the main listening area. Two of the speakers seem to be pointing in one direction with the front right pointing in another direction. Also you have each speaker placed on to a different type of surface which in theory has a slight effect on the sound generated by each one. Have a look on the dolby site for more info on speaker positioning

btw used to have exactly the same CRT TV - it weighed a ton.

Kirth Gersen · 2 Apr 2009 at 09:39

cram said:
Ideally front speakers should be at ear height pointing towards the main listening area. Two of the speakers seem to be pointing in one direction with the front right pointing in another direction. Also you have each speaker placed on to a different type of surface which in theory has a slight effect on the sound generated by each one. Have a look on the dolby site for more info on speaker positioning

btw used to have exactly the same CRT TV - it weighed a ton.

Wot - stick the eggs on poles and stuff? Obviously haven't met my wife

Sounds fine enough to me on the ground TBH.

cram · 2 Apr 2009 at 13:14

if you're happy with it then that's fine

b|gf|sh · 2 Apr 2009 at 15:13

Nice HTPC build Kirth :cool:

Just ordered a new Asus P5N7A based HTPC rig too, so looking forward to getting that setup at the weekend

Would recommend giving MediaPortal/XMBC a go on your HTPC though, a lot more impressive than Media Centre, although they do take a lot of configuration/messing about...

Kirth Gersen · 3 Apr 2009 at 18:53

b|gf|sh said:
Nice HTPC build Kirth

Just ordered a new Asus P5N7A based HTPC rig too, so looking forward to getting that setup at the weekend

Would recommend giving MediaPortal/XMBC a go on your HTPC though, a lot more impressive than Media Centre, although they do take a lot of configuration/messing about...

Enough messing about at the moment but, may investigate MP at a later date.

The Asus seems a good board so far except for the hot GPU/rebooting problem, and lack of firewire.

Kirth Gersen · 3 Apr 2009 at 19:08

Update on my issues list.

- The HTPC regularly reboots by itself. I had noted that the GPU temps were ridiculously high. Now in a catch 22. I've got the fans going and it seems stable, but too much noise. Seriously considering replacing the Antec Tricools with something quiet like Sythe S-Flex Ultra Quiets.

- Remotes. The Antec case has a somewhat confusing IR power cabling set up which I have not quite figured out. Once sorted, I have yet to decide on the remote situation. Fixed the IR Cables, but the Veris remote is still poor and am researching a good learning remote like the harmony 1

- Start up from sleep seems slow to me. I thought it would be a few seconds, but it feels like more than 30 seconds. Have installed MST, and that seems to have reduced time to 20 secs. When I say 20 secs, I mean time to get sufficeintly booted and tuner ready to do anything. Still too slow. This is my major issue. What are other people's time from resume to viewing?

- I can’t figure out how to resume from sleep back into the freeview channel that I was viewing before sleep. Still unsolved, but no major issue.

- No firewire on the mobo. Does anyone know of a PCIE 1x firewire card (I’ve used up the PCI slots), with some sort of internal connection that I connect to from the front? Still looking

- Having problems getting the CPU fan to slow down from startup with Speedfan. Anyone know of a better solution or an idiot proof speedfan guide? Solved

- I bought the Bluetooth version of the Keysonic remote keyboard as I had heard that the IR was version was pants. Well the Bluetooth version is pants also. I have to situate the Bluetooth dongle in a USB port at the front of the case. Looking into suggesting of a USB extension cable from rear to front hidden under the PC

Dangerous Dave · 3 Apr 2009 at 21:05

Kirth Gersen said:
Update on my issues list.

- The HTPC regularly reboots by itself. I had noted that the GPU temps were ridiculously high. Now in a catch 22. I've got the fans going and it seems stable, but too much noise. Seriously considering replacing the Antec Tricools with something quiet like Sythe S-Flex Ultra Quiets. I have a Noctua NF-S12 fan sitting right next to the GPU heatsink held in with cable ties blowing across it into the CPU cooler. With the fan running at 600rpm it is silent and keeps the temps very low. I find that a free standing fan away from vents etc is the best solution to reduce noise.

- Remotes. The Antec case has a somewhat confusing IR power cabling set up which I have not quite figured out. Once sorted, I have yet to decide on the remote situation. Fixed the IR Cables, but the Veris remote is still poor and am researching a good learning remote like the harmony 1 The Microsoft remote is on a well known auction site for around £15, I use a Harmony 895 and it works very well trying to resist the urge to upgrade this to a Harmony 1 !

- Start up from sleep seems slow to me. I thought it would be a few seconds, but it feels like more than 30 seconds. Have installed MST, and that seems to have reduced time to 20 secs. When I say 20 secs, I mean time to get sufficeintly booted and tuner ready to do anything. Still too slow. This is my major issue. What are other people's time from resume to viewing? I timed mine with the same TV card as you it took 22 seconds to display a freeview picture from resume. I think the main issue is the Nova500 is a USB device and controller on a PCI card which Vista needs to discover after resume before it will operate. I have a native PCI satellite card in my other HTPC and it can display a picture from resume in 11 seconds. I would be suprised if you can get a resume to TV picture in under 10 seconds even my old sky+ box is around 10 seconds to a picture.

- I can’t figure out how to resume from sleep back into the freeview channel that I was viewing before sleep. Still unsolved, but no major issue. One thought is you could programe a Harmony remote to go straight to Live TV this would allow you to hit one button to power the TV, Amp, HTPC and then put it back into Live TV

- No firewire on the mobo. Does anyone know of a PCIE 1x firewire card (I’ve used up the PCI slots), with some sort of internal connection that I connect to from the front? Still looking

- Having problems getting the CPU fan to slow down from startup with Speedfan. Anyone know of a better solution or an idiot proof speedfan guide? Solved

- I bought the Bluetooth version of the Keysonic remote keyboard as I had heard that the IR was version was pants. Well the Bluetooth version is pants also. I have to situate the Bluetooth dongle in a USB port at the front of the case. Looking into suggesting of a USB extension cable from rear to front hidden under the PC You could try another Bluetooth dongle with the keyboard as it may be this that is less sensitive rather than the keyboard

Kirth Gersen · 4 Apr 2009 at 09:09

Thanks for the ideas DD, much food for thought.