HTPC set up

[Strongbow]

I'll soon be in the market for getting myself a decent HTPC system as the one I'm using at the moment sounds like a jet plane and is in a tower case when I really should have one that fits in with all my A/V components!

The cases that have come out this year are starting to look the business so I think it'll soon be time to make a decent one.

I've seen some extreme ones with touch screens (probably not needed but they look cool) such as the OrigenAE x15e and the Silverstone LC18. Then there's the fanless systems from Zalmann that could be just the thing, or I could just go for a low noise design and go for something like the decent Silverstone LC16M.

Has anyone got any guidance on what's good and what's not?

[drezha]

Unfortunatly I went the same route as you appeared to have done to start. Mine's in a full ATX case and sounds like a jet plane in formation with others :roll: (and thats the case fans :( The PSU is near silent :cry: )

If I was to make another, I'd get myself a Shuttle box for it. I hear they're fairly quiet. :)

[Strongbow]

I've got my next HTPC spec'd out - I just need the final nod from the 'Boss Lady' (I'm still at the justification stage!) and I'll hit the order button, haven't gone for AMD as I can get a higher spec (I know ...I know!) for the same price and this monster needs to at least spend a couple of years under the TV...


Asus P5W64-WS Pro Intel 975X (Socket LGA775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB)
Zalman CNPS9500-AT Aero Flower (Socket 775) CPU Cooler
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-6400C4 TwinX (2x1GB)
Linksys WMP54GR Wireless-G PCI Adapter with RangeBooster
Hauppauge WinTV HVR-4000 Freeview/Digital Satellite TV Tuner
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk
Zalman HD160 Home Theatre PC Enclosure - Black
2x Samsung SpinPoint T HD501LJ 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
1x Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache
EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS SuperClocked 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 Soundcard
Zalman ZM600-HP Heatpipe Cooled 600W Modular PSU
Pioneer DVR-212 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)

[Strongbow]

Well I gave the 'Boss Lady' a bottle of wine and strategically timed the question. I hit the order button before she thought anymore about her answer. :icon_razz:

So tomorrow I will have a large box of the following components to play with...


Enermax Noisetaker 600W EG701AX-VE(W) SFMA ATX2.0 SLI Compliant PSU
Samsung SH-183LBEBN 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM
Terratec Cinergy 2400i DT DVB-T TV Tuner (PCI-Express)
Netgear WG311T 108Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter
Zalman HD160XT-B Home Theatre PC - Black
Zalman CNPS9500-LED Aero Flower (Socket 939/754/478/775) CPU Cooler
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
1 x Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM
2 x Samsung SpinPoint T HD501LJ 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro ULTIMATE SILENT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
2 x OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-8500 1066MHz Reaper HPC Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2RPR10662GK)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.67GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Gigabyte GA_P35_DQ6 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 MotherboardI'm already acting like a kid in a toy shop! :icon_lol: ...can't wait (seriously, I couldn't even wait for the new ATIs that came out today :icon_rolleyes:)!

[Lagu]

A nice setup but Vista??? I should stick with XP Pro because Vista has too many children´s disease. I don´t know what others as run Vista has for experience.

I have Intel Conroe E6600 (LGA775) and it is a powerful peocessor but E6700 is a bit better.:icon_wink:

[Strongbow]

I know what you mean Lagu but this system is being built solely as an HTPC and the mediacenter in Vista is rocksolid (so I'm told! ...I'll tell you again tomorrow after it hangs :icon_wink::icon_lol:). There won't be any other apps on it apart from BOINC!

I thought long and hard about the 6600 v's 6700 and I came to the conclusion that uk£50 for a little more oommphh was worth it even if it was only slight. The Quads on the 'other hand' weren't, so I'm waiting for AMD's puppies before buying any 4 core stuff!

I'm very excited about the memory, hopefully should be able to push that further somewhat... http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-088-OC

[drezha]

Thats a fairly expensive hard drive you went for:icon_lol:
For a HTPC, I would have gone for quantity over speed but then thats me...
EDIT: Doh, just seen you got Tb worth of storage drives:icon_rolleyes:

Vista was quite nice for HTPC when I tried the beta. :) I did like you could burn an .avi back to DVD from windows with no extra software. Whereas I downloaded some program via Synaptic on Ubuntu to do it (DeVeDe). Never did find another program on Windows that would do so.

E6700 should serve you well :)

I solved my HTPC trouble. I sold it.:icon_lol:
I now use this.
http://www-static.cc.gatech.edu/~ranma1/img/xbox.jpg

Modded with an excuter 2.6 chip, 80Gb HD and running Xbox Media Center I may add ;)

[Strongbow]

Well I spent a night last week building the monster! very happy! apart from two things...

Vista x64 - I can sum Vista up in a sentence : "Are you really sure you're sure?" - what is that all about, I just want to run an application, why prompt me? it gets very annoying, if anyone knows how to turn that feature off then do let me know!

Having problems with it resetting itself once a day or so, trying to track it down. Probably due to temp as it seems to reset when it gets hot! ...testing it today with fans at 100% in a fairly warm room, plenty of ventilation this time though so I'll see how it goes! ...I can hear the fans at 100% but it's not too bad! Got one of the heat sensors properly monitoring the GPU this time instead of the drives :icon_rolleyes::icon_redface:

I OC'd it to 3.8Ghz with no probs (processor at 36C and still had more to go) but I have dropped it right back to 2.67 due to reset issue (reset issue still present at 2.67). The processor is now at 30C which is fine. I certainly rate the Zalman flower as a CPU fan. I have a feeling that it is the ATI card even though that has a decent Zalman fan on it as well!

Once I have the reset issue sorted I'll get the thing crunching as it has way too much ooommmpphh for just TV :icon_redface:

[drezha]

Well I spent a night last week building the monster! very happy! apart from two things...

Vista x64 - I can sum Vista up in a sentence : "Are you really sure you're sure?" - what is that all about, I just want to run an application, why prompt me? it gets very annoying, if anyone knows how to turn that feature off then do let me know!

Cant you turn UAC off in the control panel?

[Strongbow]

I hope I can, I'll have a go at the new UI and seek out the "stop pestering me" switch! :icon_rolleyes:

[gatekeeper53]

Are you sure it's not your Northbridge heating up?

[Strongbow]

Well I found the "stop pestering me" check box and rebooted and I now feel much better!

It didn't reboot once yesterday and the room was sweltering due to the sudden heatwave! ...knocked all the fans speed down to 40% this morning and the system is still fine. So I'm putting it down to airflow - as it was probably blowing out one end and sucking it all back in at the other!

I did some minor cable management as well, it's a big case but there's lots of brass fans, pipes, and super sized heatsinks all over the place so it's a bit tight in there already!

I'll leave it a day or so, then ramp up the clock again to find a comfortable pace and then get this beast crunching for me!

[Strongbow]

Are you sure it's not your Northbridge heating up?

...it has a fair sized northbridge heatpipe coming off it and more brass than a Salvation Army band... http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rid=138918