New HTPC build

starscream

starscream

starscream

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Hi guys,

I am a bit out of touch with consumer stuff, so can you give this the once over and make sure nothing is out of place? This will be for a HTPC - I already have a TV card and MCE remote

1 x Antec Fusion Case 430W
1 x Abit FATAL1TY-F-190HD 775
1 x Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Retail
1 x OCZ 2GB PC2-6400 Platinum Rev 2.0
1 x Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO
1 x NEC 18x DVD-RW RAM SATA Black
1 x 500GB Samsung SATAII 16MB

I'm planing on using the HDMI socket from that motherboard into my plasma, although I could also use the VGA. My screen does 1080i but not 1080p so am I OK to assume I don't need a seperate video card as the onboard should suffice?
 
All parts are compatible as far as I am aware although I might change the OCZ Ram to Geil PC6400 C4 as it is cheaper and will work just as well. I don't know if the Arctic Freezer will fit into the case, I assume it would but you might want to check just in case and there are significantly better coolers available but then they do cost around twice the price. :)
 
Thanks. As it is a HTPC and I wont be overclocking or anything, noise is the most important factor. Can you recommend something nice and quiet that will fit the case?
 
Why not get a 2160 or even 2140 instead of the E4300? Even cheaper still and probably run even cooler. Might be able to UNDERvolt them.
 
starscream, I'm also thinking of very similar build to the one you specced with the same motherboard and case. It too will also be hooked to a plasma, so I'm hoping I could also save money without the need for a separate graphics card.

When you get it sorted, please post back and let us know how you get on with it. :)

Am I right in assuming that if I install sound card into this motherboard, I will no longer have room to install a TV-Card?
 
No probs. Will hopefully have the stuff and build on Tuesday.

There is only 1 normal PCI slot, so unless you used a USB TV card, you couldn't find both. There are however 2x PCI-e x1 ports. I'm a little out of touch, but I don't think these are massively supported at the moment and I'm not sure if there are any sound cards or TV cards that are PCI-e x1.

That said, the onboard sound has optical out and 7.1 sound, so it should be good enough for me :)
 
Have built all this up now. I did have 1 problem which was with the RAM. When used in dual channel, i would get blue screens whilst installing vista. If I used just one channel it was fine though.

I then increased to voltage of the DRAM a little to 2.0 and that has fixed it. I will run memtests later to verify though.
 
Don't go underboard with the CPU, as that's used for video decoding, unless your HTPC is just a downloader/music server.

You don't need 2GB of RAM, my HTPC is using 500MB and that's with Slimserver running (uses 80MB of RAM)

I would get the cheaper NSK2400, ok it's plastic front instead of metal, but the VFD serves no purpose and it's a extra £50 or so.

Onboard into 1080P works fine on my 6150 MATX board.
 
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I got a fairly decent proc/ram with mine as I am using it for decoding as well, but it certainly is nippy darting round media center :)

This is an upgrade from an athlon xp2500 with 1 GB ram which was really struggling. It's nice and quiet as well.
 
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