new build to work with ONKYO TSXR 608

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supasparky

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#74526 1-Jan-2011 12:40

i'm looking at doing a new htpc build based on
an I3 530/gigbyte gah55m-usb3 board
samsung spinpoint f3 1TB drive
4 gigs of kingston ram
hauppauge tuner card (2250?)
maybe a blue ray drive, not sure which one
Windows 7

this will feed into my ONKYO reciever via HDMI.
the main purpose of this system will be music and media with a bit of email/skype thrown in.
i am looking at using XBMC at the moment but could be convinced otherwise.
it will all be controlled via my Logitech 785 remote.

QUESTIONS:
will the on board graphics be ok ? we don't have a HD TV at the moment but it'd be good to have the ability to use it in the future.

Could i output at a lower resolution and get the onkyo to upscale it instead?

how would this setup be at recording to channels at once onto the samsung HDD in terms of stutter free operation?

anyone had issues with this or similar setups?? any other suggestions?

Cheers in advance

MickeyD

97 posts

Master Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#423211 1-Jan-2011 17:56

I have a similar setup, but went it a Core i5 661 and the Asus P7H55-M/USB3. I'm using two Blackgold BGT3595 tuners, Western Digital WD20EURS AV-GP HD for recording and an OCZ Vertex 2 90Gb SSD for the operating system, 8GB of Ram, and an LG BH10LS30 blu-ray writer, running Windows 7 (64 bit). I've got an Onkyo TX-SR876. However, I'm using a 15 year old 22" CRT TV - with plans to upgrade to an HDTV sometime in the future. To be honest all the ram and the twin tuners is overkill.

If the most graphics intensive task is for TV, the on board graphics should be fine. When I was setting my system up there were a number of people who bought similar motherboards but didn't read that you need integrated graphics on the CPU for the motherboard video out to work. I see that the i3 530 meets those requirements though. You shouldn't need the Onkyo to upscale the video, and I'm not sure why you'd want to as the image won't be as good as if you just use a higher resolution output from the PC.

How do you connect your receiver to your TV? If you're using an analog signal (ie S-Video or RCA) the Onkyo won't output an incoming HDMI signal via its analog output. To get around this initially I added an Asus EN8400GS with s-video out, but that card produced a lot of heat and I didn't want the sound of my system fans to detract from my TV watching, so I bought an external VGA to S-video converter box. If your receiver is connected to the TV via HDMI then this won't be an issue. Hopefully you've got some good airflow as the Onkyo itself is hot enough to fry eggs. Now that I've removed the extra video card the system runs between 42 and 60 degrees.

I've never experienced any stutter with recording two channels at once. With my setup it should be able to record 4 DVB-T streams (using Windows Media Center) but I've only ever tried two. (It's still very new and I don't get as much time to play with it as I'd like). Memory wise, when recording one channel and watching another it reports using less than 2 GB. I've never tried using XBMC but I can't imagine it'd be more resource intensive than Windows Media Center. Perhaps others can comment. I went with a Western Digital AV-GP WD20EURS 2TB drive instead. Although it's another $80 or so, you may find that you soon fill 1 TB with your music and recordings (HDTV broadcasts use approx 5GB/hr).

I like the idea of the Logitech remotes, but my case came with Philips RC197 remote that you can reprogram the volume buttons to control the receiver. Long term I plan to play around with IR trans and a serial cable to get the PC to directly control receiver. If I get time. Otherwise I'll keep it simple and go for a Logitech remote too. Can you reprogram the remote that comes with Hauppage card?

I hope some of that helps.

supasparky

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#423230 1-Jan-2011 20:09

thanks for that.
yes i'm just using component into the tv at the moment but i'll probably work out some adaptor out of the PC in the mean time. maybe from the vga/dvi outputs instead. Ive been promised a new TV and floorstanding speakers next year when we sell the house. :) so just getting the htpc sorted as my xbox is on it's way out at the moment.

PANiCnz

990 posts

Ultimate Geek

#423232 1-Jan-2011 20:10

8gb is massively massively overkill especially with XBMC, its recommended for the Live version you can get away with 1gb. Many on the XBMC forums even go to the extreme of suggesting you reduce the ram and put the money towards a small SSD e.g. 40gb to install the OS to. You only need a second larger drive if you intend to store media locally.

Support of the integrated Intel GPU in the i3's is hit in miss under linux (e.g XBMClive) but should be ok under Windows, but I'd add at least 2gb of memory under Windows, its a resource hog.

I've tried both XBMClive, and XBMC under Windows and find the Windows version a giant pain in the butt to configure. If you get the right XBMClive image it boots and works right out of the box.

If you go the XBMClive route then grab a entry level nvidia graphics card such as the GT220 or GT430 (if you want future support for 3D). Make sure you get one with active cooling, the passive cards are very HOT.