HTPC Clean slate - Micro ATX motherboard recommendations

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mattyboy2

84 posts

Master Geek

#25683 28-Aug-2008 23:20

Hi all,

I've been lurking here for a couple of weeks and this is my first post.

I want to build a FreeviewHD & (later) Bluray HTPC. I plan on starting out slow and building it up as my time & budget allow. I currently have a 37" Samsung TV (1080p) with a FreeviewHD settop box, but I want to move to an HTPC to allow recording, timeshifting and to archive all my DVDs.

For me the most important features are noise (quiet), power usage (low), and size (not too heavy or big - I may move overseas so will take the HTPC with me).

Today I made my first decision and bought my case; I bought an Antec Minuet 350. I looked long and hard at the Antec Fusion but decided it was a bit too big and a bit too heavy, and I got sold on the Minuet's www.80plus.org sticker on the box of the case. Not sure if that's just marketing or means something. I paid $150 from XP computers in Newmarket.

When I get a TV card I'll get a Hauppauge 2200 as that seems to be the most recommended card around here.
Question: if I record analogue TV (e.g. Prime) using this card, does the card have hardware encoding? MPEG2 or MPEG4? Or will the CPU do that?

So my next step is the motherboard. Intel or AMD I don't care, whichever is quietest and uses the least electricity. I figure that since noise and power usage are important I'm better off with a motherboard with decent enough integrated graphics. Will I need something with H264 or will the Hauppauge take care of that? Or should I just get a grunty CPU? Or not worry about the integrated graphics and buy a good enough video card. Again, please bear in mind fan noise and power usage requirements.

Thanks for your advice.

-Matt

kiwijunglist

2981 posts

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#160620 29-Aug-2008 08:58

HVR2200 has onboard analog (MPEG2) decoding so you are fine.

Hauppauge will not take care of H264, This is done either by onboard hardware acceleration (UVD) or via cpu.

A common recommendation is microATX GA-MA78GSM-S2H (aka 780G Motherboard chipset) this is a very good motherboard and rates really highly on a lot of forums. However the onboard ATI HD3200 is not very compatible with interlaced freeviewHD. This means that although it does 720P FreeviewHD very well, and plays 1080P mkv movie files, it has picture glitches with interlaced freeviewHD ie TV3 (which is 1080i) and C4, TVNZ6,TVNZ7. Therefore you might be better of going for a MB with onboard nvidea UVD.
I suggest you use google and check out sites like avsforums,silent pc review, etc.. as they have all the reviews. I think you should avoid buying a video card if possible if you are going with a microatx case.

If you decide to get Gigabyte GA-MA78GSM-S2H make sure you get rev 1.1 (as opposed to rev1.0) which has a bigger heatsink on the integrated graphics chip. All new stock should be rev1.1

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

Regs

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Snowflake

#160661 29-Aug-2008 10:28

kiwijunglist:
I think you should avoid buying a video card if possible if you are going with a microatx case.

while that would seem to make a lot of sense, i noticed that the heat lebels in my case have gone *down* since adding a seperate video card - 8400GS with heatsink. Prior to that i was using the onboard 6150 GPU. Just because its onboard doesnt mean its cooler :)

(in fact the seperate card probably moves the heat further from the CPU and memory and allows more airflow over the hot parts)

Sales Engineer
Snowflake
www.snowflake.com

about.me/nzregs
Twitter: @nzregs

kiwijunglist

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#160684 29-Aug-2008 11:28

i was thinking more along the lines of a sperate video card takes up additional realestate and things may be quite tight inside a microATX case. Agree that a seperate video card would probably have a larger heatsink with better access to circulating cool air. However integrated video maybe cheaper, more free room in case therefore better air flow in some mATX cases, more spare slots.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

JaBZ

404 posts

Ultimate Geek

#160712 29-Aug-2008 13:03

Get the Intel DG45ID
No external graphics card needed no extra heat or noise since it's onboard.

My opinions and ideas expressed in posts are solely my own and do not reflect the views of my employer in any way..

mattyboy2

84 posts

Master Geek

#160742 29-Aug-2008 15:15

JaBZ: Get the Intel DG45ID
No external graphics card needed no extra heat or noise since it's onboard.

Cheers for the suggestion. I'll investigate that one. Not sure if that integrated video works under linux / mythtv though?

I was hoping to use mythtv (yes I'm aware the 2200 isn't supported yet) as that would save me money on the OS.

-Matt

openmedia

3334 posts

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#160778 29-Aug-2008 17:32

mattyboy2:
JaBZ: Get the Intel DG45ID
No external graphics card needed no extra heat or noise since it's onboard.

Cheers for the suggestion. I'll investigate that one. Not sure if that integrated video works under linux / mythtv though?

I was hoping to use mythtv (yes I'm aware the 2200 isn't supported yet) as that would save me money on the OS.

-Matt

Linux will work on this intel board if you get a very very new distro like the Alpha of the next Ubuntu release. You won't get hardware accelerated H.264 playback though.

And yes the HVR 2200 are sadly not supported (yet) under Linux.

Steve

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

eXDee

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#160780 29-Aug-2008 17:33

Linux And/Or MythTV doesn't support Freeview HD at all no matter which card you have. It only supports standard freeview satellite.

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mattyboy2

84 posts

Master Geek

#160797 29-Aug-2008 20:24

eXDee: Linux And/Or MythTV doesn't support Freeview HD at all no matter which card you have. It only supports standard freeview satellite.

Oh. Thanks for that - guess it's gonna be Windows and MediaPortal then.

openmedia

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#160804 29-Aug-2008 21:00

eXDee: Linux And/Or MythTV doesn't support Freeview HD at all no matter which card you have. It only supports standard freeview satellite.

Actually it does support freeview|HD. The patches went in recently c/o the local MythTV community. The issue is it doesn't work "out of the box" with any of the major distributions yet.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

aucklander

477 posts

Ultimate Geek

#161246 1-Sep-2008 12:56

the mobo I have (see signature) has only 2xPCI, and one of them is unuseable due to the video card heatsink. So I have one PCI port only... for the TV card.

I would like DVB-S and Analogue tuner added...
If I get a 2200 card for the PCI-e slot, it does not have DVB-S.
If I get the 3000, it has it all, but it is PCI, so I need to get rid of the Nova-T... and take a loss...
If I want to add wireless, I have to use USB...
If I want to use PCI risers, I have to order them from USA... (couldn't find flexible PCI risers here so far)... like this!.

if uATX form factor is not important, I would say more PCI slots is better.

mobo Intel DH55PJ, RAM: 4GB RAM, Nova-T 500 HD + Avermedia Trinity tuner card, Geforce 520 video, 120GB SSD Sandisk + 640 WD + 1000SG, Win7 Home Prem 64-bit, Media Portal 1.15.0; BTC 9019URF Cordless Keyboard, Panasonic 55" (HDMI cable), HTPC Case Silverstone Grandia GD05B.

mattyboy2

84 posts

Master Geek

#161923 3-Sep-2008 18:46

Thanks for the advice. I've just received my Asus P5Q-EM motherboard (Intel P45 chipset) and RAM and HDD should be arriving tomorrow. The build begins...

-Matt