First Time HTPC build

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Dodger21

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Wannabe Geek

Topic # 30429 8-Feb-2009 00:43

Hey, I'm looking to build my first media centre. I'm trying to make it reasonably cheap and will look to upgrade in the future.

Currently im thinking:

CPU: Core2Duo E7400 2.8ghz
GFX: Spare 7800GTX i have around
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-945GCM-S2L mATX
RAM: 4GB SuperTalent DDR2
HDD: 1TB Western Digital Caviar GreenPower

They are the core components, it will basiclly serve HD content to my tv and im curious as to whether it could easily handle 1080p videos. From what i could find there was mixed reports on if the 7800GTX(non-512mb version) could hardware decode H.264 and if so would the processor be able to software decode it fine?

Also i will eventually buy a blu-ray drive, will i also need other components to accomodate this or will the current build suffice?

Thanks for any help!

davidcole

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Reply # 194705 8-Feb-2009 08:33

I thnk your video card is a little light for Freeview|HD or 1080p.

But as you said you're trying to do it cheaply. I ran a little x550 card for about 18 months to watch xvid, record and playback SD (Analogue and DVB-S). Worked great for that.

Then once I upgraded my TV, I went out and bought an 8600gt video card. But that was my intention right from when i built the system.

So build your system and get it going, then later on upgrade the parts when you see what becomes important about how you use it. Blueray? Recording? Xvid? Music? Depending on which of these become the most important will depend on which parts you upgrade.

Also start simple and slowly add funtionality, there are a lot of moving parts to a PVR.

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sbiddle

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Reply # 194707 8-Feb-2009 09:14

That GFX card will not handle H.264 decoding. You need a minimum of a series 8 card (with the exception of some 8800 models that don't do H.264).

If you've just using it for a PVR then 4GB RAM is also complete overkill but with RAM being so damn cheap at present that's obviously not an issue for you.

Software decoding of H.264 really is a waste of time. Your CPU may handle it but a GPU does a far better job.

Dodger21

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 194711 8-Feb-2009 09:47

I'm not too concerned with tv recording atm, as there isn't really all that much on nz tv. I guess eventually i may look to hook it up to the sky box to record rugby and the like. And yes the 4Gb of ram is beacuse its cheap haha.

I might look at the 8600gt or at an upgrade sooner rather than later then. As I understand it blu-ray drives will eventually require (or already do?) the HDCP? So i guess i better factor this into such an upgrade.

Thanks for the input

Johnk

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Reply # 195389 11-Feb-2009 20:37

im jumping in on some ones post again sorry
but was wondering if can get any advice/changes on what i was planning to put together,this will mainly serve has playing dvds/BR, and watch/record freeviewHD
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+, dual core, socket AM2, 2.6GHz MB: Gigabyte GA-M61PME-S2 RAM: 2GB DDR2-800 PC2-6400 SDRAM x 2 HDD: Western Digital 7200rpm 750GB SATA x 2 GFX: GeForce 9400 GT 512MB PCI-Express OPT: LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray and DVD reader, SATA OPT: Pioneer DVR-212 Dual Layer Serial-ATA DVD Writer TV: hauppauge winTV-NOVA-T-500 CASE: silverstone GD1B-MXR
will be runing windows vistaHP, i really have no idea what kind of PSU i will need, how many watts would you recomend?
thanks

davidcole

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Reply # 195454 12-Feb-2009 08:11

I would verify that video card does what you want it to - there's a thread on here that lists the x.264 capabilities of the various cards.

Power supply I run a 550w AcBel. But then again I don't really care about noise Also my hardware is generally smaller I have 2 hard drives 1 optical and 3 tuner cards. And figure I have more than enough power for that.