Buying Media Center Parts - Advice please :-)

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hairy1

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#188107 7-Jan-2009 21:30

I got the Corsair 450W VX Series PSU Ultra-quiet with 120mm double ball-bearing fan.

I can say it is extremely quiet.

Cheers,

Matt.

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Snowflake

#188124 7-Jan-2009 23:21

paul151:

Just looking at your specs .. does the e4600 cpu and 2 gig ram work fine for you?

It seems a number of threads which list specs of HTPC systems have higher mem and cpu grunt.

I'm not trying to be rude so please don't take it that way, rather wondering if I was to build a HTPC system if the higher powered processor and more than 2 gig of ram is really needed?

I see you are using MCE2005? Have you used MCE on Vista?

I'm planning on using Win 7 MCE when it becomes available.

I successfully installed Win 7 Beta on a machine with an Athlon 3500+ cpu, 1GB ram, a gigabyte 8400GS graphics card and twin nova-s-plus dvs cards. All my music, divx/xvids, dvrms/wtv files, mts h.264 files and the freeviewHD samples played perfectly. The h.264 stuff was using <7% cpu and i didnt see any artifacts or stutters. the divx/xvids used a bit more cpu and the mpeg2 stuff used the most at about 70%.

At this stage it seems pointless upgrading either my CPU or my memory but i will reassess when the final win7 is released.

If i did upgrade memory and cpu it would only be to assist in transcoding the mts files from the camcorder to other fomats (e.g. for emails or facebooks or for ppl without h.264 acceleration)

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paul151

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#188147 8-Jan-2009 08:58

Regs:
paul151:

Just looking at your specs .. does the e4600 cpu and 2 gig ram work fine for you?

It seems a number of threads which list specs of HTPC systems have higher mem and cpu grunt.

I'm not trying to be rude so please don't take it that way, rather wondering if I was to build a HTPC system if the higher powered processor and more than 2 gig of ram is really needed?

I see you are using MCE2005? Have you used MCE on Vista?

I'm planning on using Win 7 MCE when it becomes available.

I successfully installed Win 7 Beta on a machine with an Athlon 3500+ cpu, 1GB ram, a gigabyte 8400GS graphics card and twin nova-s-plus dvs cards. All my music, divx/xvids, dvrms/wtv files, mts h.264 files and the freeviewHD samples played perfectly. The h.264 stuff was using <7% cpu and i didnt see any artifacts or stutters. the divx/xvids used a bit more cpu and the mpeg2 stuff used the most at about 70%.

At this stage it seems pointless upgrading either my CPU or my memory but i will reassess when the final win7 is released.

If i did upgrade memory and cpu it would only be to assist in transcoding the mts files from the camcorder to other fomats (e.g. for emails or facebooks or for ppl without h.264 acceleration)

What mobo do you use and are use running sata drives?

Thanks for the info - very helpful.

I suspected as much.

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Nety

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#188177 8-Jan-2009 11:02

paul151:
On the basis of those comments I'm wondering if picking up a 8600GT would be a good buy price/performance wise if they are now being left behind.

Depending on the pricing both the 8500 and 8600GT's are still worth picking up as long as the pricing is right. At the end of the day they both play blu ray's and any other HD material perfectly. Going with anything higher is just a waste unless you intend to game.

It is not like we are going to be seeing higher levels of HD recordings in the forseeable life of any media centre built today. As long as the video card can play 1080p then you are set.

There was a statement earlier saying that a 7600GT can play blu ray. I would put a couple of conditions on that statement. First you would need a fairly high end CPU which would tend not to be the case with that video card + the picture would not look as good as a later model card as the CPU would have to do a lot of the decoding.

Personaly I would say you would want to have the 8500GT or higher if you want to play blu rays. Not sure what the ATI model would be.

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

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#188197 8-Jan-2009 12:48

Nety:
paul151:
On the basis of those comments I'm wondering if picking up a 8600GT would be a good buy price/performance wise if they are now being left behind.

Depending on the pricing both the 8500 and 8600GT's are still worth picking up as long as the pricing is right. At the end of the day they both play blu ray's and any other HD material perfectly. Going with anything higher is just a waste unless you intend to game.

It is not like we are going to be seeing higher levels of HD recordings in the forseeable life of any media centre built today. As long as the video card can play 1080p then you are set.

There was a statement earlier saying that a 7600GT can play blu ray. I would put a couple of conditions on that statement. First you would need a fairly high end CPU which would tend not to be the case with that video card + the picture would not look as good as a later model card as the CPU would have to do a lot of the decoding.

Personaly I would say you would want to have the 8500GT or higher if you want to play blu rays. Not sure what the ATI model would be.

Thanks for the info Nety :-)

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mattie47

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#188218 8-Jan-2009 15:20

UPDATE: Have bought WD CAVIAR SE16 640GB and ATHLON64 X2 5200+ BRISBANE 2.7GHZ :-) Now am just down to the GFX card and PSU. Will wait for case etc before i get the PSU but regarding GFX Card am thinking of getting this (EN9400GT SILENT/HTP/512M)

Just ONE Question though - Will I be able to do sound over an HDMI cable with this card? I'm not completly sure how this works...

Thanks,

Matt

tkr001

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#188229 8-Jan-2009 15:49

mattie47: Just ONE Question though - Will I be able to do sound over an HDMI cable with this card? I'm not completly sure how this works...

No you won't. It doesn't output HDMI only DVI which is video only. You can get a DVI to HDMI adaptor but you will still only get video output.

dolsen

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#188247 8-Jan-2009 17:05

mattie47: UPDATE: Have bought WD CAVIAR SE16 640GB and ATHLON64 X2 5200+ BRISBANE 2.7GHZ :-) Now am just down to the GFX card and PSU. Will wait for case etc before i get the PSU but regarding GFX Card am thinking of getting this (EN9400GT SILENT/HTP/512M)

Just ONE Question though - Will I be able to do sound over an HDMI cable with this card? I'm not completly sure how this works...

Thanks,

Matt

Not with that card, I don't believe. You could with this card, however, it's far too expensive for a htpc. I'm trying to find a cheap, silent card that will allow 5.1 over the dvi / hdmi or hdmi connection.

On some dvi cards - there is a spdif input header that you can put 5.1 audio over, and, using the (usually) included dvi - hdmi adapter - you receive audio over the dvi/hdmi connection. Sadly, the cheaper asus silent gfx cards do not seem to include this functionality.

What I've found is,
A cheap, fan card.
An expensive, fan-less card,
but, not a cheap, fan-less card :-(

Note - for this audio you are limited to a max of 5.1 I believe, TrueHD/DTS-HD can not be passed by this method.

1gkar

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#188280 8-Jan-2009 19:33

paul151:
1gkar: It appears that 85/8600GT cards are fast becoming obselete. I use an Asus EN8500GT silent graphics in my main HTPC but they are no go if you intend to do ANY gaming, at all. Not something I would recommend for your HTPC, but each to their own. Evne the 8600Gt are not overly great at rendering games. You could look at this.

As for PSU, both my ones are also not available: Enermax Noisetaker II 420w which is very quiet & has a cool-down cycle after turning off your HTPC. Silverstone, Seasonic, Antec are all very efficient brands, but they do cost. If you just go with any old PSU, be aware the cheaper models tend to have a bit of noise associated with them: cheaper bearings, etc.

Regarding your concern about graphics cards & Blu-ray, basically, anything above a 7600GT model can playback Blu-ray. If it says HDCP compliant you will be okay. Ideally. it should have an HDMI connector, which you will note the 9400GT linked does not. But I use a DVI>HDMI dongle to my 32" LCDTV. I run my sound co-ax through a receiver, though.

Hi 1gkar

On the basis of those comments I'm wondering if picking up a 8600GT would be a good buy price/performance wise if they are now being left behind. My comments was only based off the Pricespy page indicating that 85/8600GT cards were being phased out & the linked 9400GT card was cheaper than what I paid for my 8500GT cards -one in my main HTPC & one in my client machine.

I'd be planning just to use my system as a HTPC.

Just looking at your specs .. does the e4600 cpu and 2 gig ram work fine for you? Very much so. Bearing in mind, I am using the MCE variant of XP so it requires less RAM than Vista. But vista, according to people like mcraenz is superior for rendering H.264 decodes because it ustilises EVR instead of VRM9.

It seems a number of threads which list specs of HTPC systems have higher mem and cpu grunt. The benefit of higher a CPU is it requires less time to transcode (ie. convert from FreeviewHD to a compressed format using an app like Handbrake) movies & recorded programmes.

I'm not trying to be rude so please don't take it that way, rather wondering if I was to build a HTPC system if the higher powered processor and more than 2 gig of ram is really needed? On the latter, if using Vista: yes. Please remember that I've had my rebuilt HTPC since mid-'08, so CPU prices have come down. It is best still to buy what you can afford without going overboard.

I see you are using MCE2005? Have you used MCE on Vista? No.

I'm planning on using Win 7 MCE when it becomes available.

Haven't done any research whatsoever on the OS at this point.

Silverstone LC14 HTPC Case/Intel E4600 CPU/GA-EP35-DS3 MOBO/Asus EN9500GT graphics/2GB RAM/total 2TB HDD space/HVR-2200 & 2X 150MCE tuner cards/LG GGC-H20L BD Drive/MCE2005/Mediaportal/TVServer 1.1.0Final/LG 55"3D LED-TV/Denon AVR-1803 receiver/X1 projector

Nety

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#188287 8-Jan-2009 20:34

dolsen:
Not with that card, I don't believe. You could with this card, however, it's far too expensive for a htpc. I'm trying to find a cheap, silent card that will allow 5.1 over the dvi / hdmi or hdmi connection.

On some dvi cards - there is a spdif input header that you can put 5.1 audio over, and, using the (usually) included dvi - hdmi adapter - you receive audio over the dvi/hdmi connection. Sadly, the cheaper asus silent gfx cards do not seem to include this functionality.

What I've found is,
A cheap, fan card.
An expensive, fan-less card,
but, not a cheap, fan-less card :-(

Note - for this audio you are limited to a max of 5.1 I believe, TrueHD/DTS-HD can not be passed by this method.

The last comment is correct in fact there are only a couple of soundcards that are supposed to have support for TrueHD/DTS-HD and they seem to still be "beta" with people having very mixed results.

The 5.1 via spdif is a bit of a pain for instance my XFX 8500GT does do it but not only did it only get a passing mention on the box (nothing on the web site) but when I asked XFX they told me the header was reserved and was not for spdif passthough (this was after I had already set it up and proved it worked).

Only way to be sure is to get someone with the same card that had done it to confirm.

Also there seems to be this misconception that you have to have a video card with HDMI to get spdif passthough. This is FALSE. Although DVI standard does not support sound they have "bolted" sound passthough on to DVI.

Regs

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Snowflake

#188309 8-Jan-2009 23:14

paul151:
Regs:
paul151:

Just looking at your specs .. does the e4600 cpu and 2 gig ram work fine for you?

It seems a number of threads which list specs of HTPC systems have higher mem and cpu grunt.

I'm not trying to be rude so please don't take it that way, rather wondering if I was to build a HTPC system if the higher powered processor and more than 2 gig of ram is really needed?

I see you are using MCE2005? Have you used MCE on Vista?

I'm planning on using Win 7 MCE when it becomes available.

I successfully installed Win 7 Beta on a machine with an Athlon 3500+ cpu, 1GB ram, a gigabyte 8400GS graphics card and twin nova-s-plus dvs cards. All my music, divx/xvids, dvrms/wtv files, mts h.264 files and the freeviewHD samples played perfectly. The h.264 stuff was using <7% cpu and i didnt see any artifacts or stutters. the divx/xvids used a bit more cpu and the mpeg2 stuff used the most at about 70%.

At this stage it seems pointless upgrading either my CPU or my memory but i will reassess when the final win7 is released.

If i did upgrade memory and cpu it would only be to assist in transcoding the mts files from the camcorder to other fomats (e.g. for emails or facebooks or for ppl without h.264 acceleration)

What mobo do you use and are use running sata drives?

Thanks for the info - very helpful.

I suspected as much.

I have an ASUS A8NVM-CSM which came with an onboard nVidia 6150 GPU. Seeing as the 6150 did not do h.264 I got the 8400GS card to play with.

Yes, i am running SATA drives - but if i did it again i would either go with an SSD disk or network boot option and stick all the disks in a windows home server or iSCSI server. The HDD's are the noisiest part of my HTPC and they generate a fair amount of heat too.

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Antzzz

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#188483 9-Jan-2009 23:42

dolsen:
Not with that card, I don't believe. You could with this card, however, it's far too expensive for a htpc. I'm trying to find a cheap, silent card that will allow 5.1 over the dvi / hdmi or hdmi connection.

On some dvi cards - there is a spdif input header that you can put 5.1 audio over, and, using the (usually) included dvi - hdmi adapter - you receive audio over the dvi/hdmi connection. Sadly, the cheaper asus silent gfx cards do not seem to include this functionality.

What I've found is,
A cheap, fan card.
An expensive, fan-less card,
but, not a cheap, fan-less card :-(

Note - for this audio you are limited to a max of 5.1 I believe, TrueHD/DTS-HD can not be passed by this method.

How about this card:

http://www.xpcomputers.co.nz/views.asp?hw_id=4448

Palit 9400GT fanless, $99 + GST... Heatsink fits in a single slot as well - barely though, I wouldn't put a full height PCI card in the adjacent slot.

Only problem is while it has a SPDIF input, there is no documentation on it which comes with the card, and it doesn't come with the cable either.

Managed to get a cable for it (from XP Computers as well, cost me $6), and after talking to Palit tech support (who were very helpful and quick to respond!) found that J8 nearest the bracket is the SPDIF connector, and the pin nearest the bracket is the ground pin. Cable I got was wired the other way round but reversing it at the MB end fixed that problem... So now have sound going thru a DVI - HDMI cable into my Sony LCD.

Note that if you get this card DO NOT CONNECT J5 - it is for a fan (odd as the card doesn't have one!) and it will blow up the sound chip on your motherboard - don't ask how I know this... Suffice to say it was a slightly costly exercise finding this info out!

dolsen

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#188612 10-Jan-2009 17:40

Antzzz:

How about this card:

http://www.xpcomputers.co.nz/views.asp?hw_id=4448

Palit 9400GT fanless, $99 + GST... Heatsink fits in a single slot as well - barely though, I wouldn't put a full height PCI card in the adjacent slot.

Thanks for the info. Have ordered one as it looks to be just what I'm after.

It's great that the heat sink only takes up one slot, it means I get my spare pci-e slot back (perhaps another hvr-2200)...

Antzzz

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#188614 10-Jan-2009 17:45

dolsen:
Antzzz:

How about this card:

http://www.xpcomputers.co.nz/views.asp?hw_id=4448

Palit 9400GT fanless, $99 + GST... Heatsink fits in a single slot as well - barely though, I wouldn't put a full height PCI card in the adjacent slot.

Thanks for the info. Have ordered one as it looks to be just what I'm after.

It's great that the heat sink only takes up one slot, it means I get my spare pci-e slot back (perhaps another hvr-2200)...

No worries. As I mentioned in my post keep in mind the card doesn't come with the SPDIF cable, you'll need to get it seperately if you want to use it. And connect it carefully!

Also keep in mind you don't want to put a full height card in front of the heatsink - it gets fairly warm and there is virtually zero airflow with a full height card there...

PM me if you want any more info on it!

paul151

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#188624 10-Jan-2009 18:48

Antzzz: Note that if you get this card DO NOT CONNECT J5 - it is for a fan (odd as the card doesn't have one!) and it will blow up the sound chip on your motherboard - don't ask how I know this... Suffice to say it was a slightly costly exercise finding this info out!

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