Hi all, first post here...
I'm speccing up a HTPC to replace my rapidly ageing shuttle SN41G2 and would appreciate some feedback and advice on my proposed setup
I want to be able to encode dvd's, record digital TV and game on it ocassionally. It must not have any LED fans or other major light sources and obviously must be resonably quiet. I want a rock stable setup as this will be a 24/7 machine. Oh and it must be an AMD dual core system as AMD is what I know best and the Graphics card has to be ATi.
My proposed spec at this time:-
Silverstone LC17 Case ?
Abit KN8 SLi Motherboard (Need the 3.2v VDIMM)
Opteron 165 dual core s939 CPU
Zalman 7700 Cu CPU Heatsink or Thermalright XP120 + a low speed fan?
ATi X1800XL + Zalman VF700 Cu cooler
2 x 512Mb Mushkin BH-5 - will switch 2 x 1Gb GSKill ZX Series later on
2 x Samsung Spinpoint 250Gb Hard Drives
X-Fi Xtreme Music Soundcard
Tagan Easycon 530W modular PSU
Pioneer DVR-110 DVD Writer
Microsoft MCE Keyboard & Remote
Terratec 2400i DT MCE Edition PCI-E Digital TV card
mCubed T Balancer SL4 Automated Fan controller
My main stumbling block is what fans would be best, I almost ordered SilenX case fans but I have some reservations about their claimed cfm and db ratings. Are Acoustifans a viable alternative or is there another manufacturer that makes nice quiet fans that I should be looking for?
The Terratec 2400i dual digital tuner is the only PCI-E digital tv card I could find and I have had little success looking for any reviews of this card, can anyone point me in the direction of a good round-up review of digital tv cards or re-assure me as to whether the terratec card is any good?
I've also been toying with the idea of using a Lian Li PC-7 SE Plus case rather than the Silverstone LC 17. I figure that the 120mm intake/outtake fans of the Lian Li may be more condusive to running quietly than the 2 x 92mm & 3 x 80mm out/intakes of the Silverstone. The problem is I just love the HTPC look of the silverstone. Any opinions on this?
Thats where I'm up to at the minute and would be grateful for any input on my selections thus far.
Thanks.
Proposed HTPC build... Feedback
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Good luck finding reviews on digital tv cards... I was searching this week and i have to say they are thin on the ground. Let alone round ups of cards.
The general concensus seems to be that because the Mpeg2 stream is set by the manufacturer, the quality is more down to the software decoding than the manufacturer of the card.
However I'm not so sure that this is the case. I have gleened from the mce forums that the major issues are..
How sensitive they are to marginal signal strength.
How quickly they change channels.
How much hassle do they give you with MCE.
To answer the first point, most reviewers just dont have a test setup that can give quantitive results.
Second... The Avermedia system gets positive feedback in the forums, although theoretcially any card with the same decoder should give similar results...
Third... In the mainstream forums like XPMCE the shortlist seems to be any card that falls into microsofts approved list. the black gold seems to have a good following (untll rollup 2). The Ausie forum members seem to use a bit more variety of cards including some that are not MS recommended. I have been playing with a Kworld DVB-T100. Seems to change channels quickly (compared to my sony STB) and with the right advice is reasonable to install to MCE. I'll confirm this though when I get its twin brother working... Not sure wether its just tough to get 2 working or wether I have a duff card.
Sorry I cant be of more help but I have been trying like yourself to get good info and it's frustrating. If you get anywhere please post your results. If I were to wish for anything it would be a good roundup.
On the other hand me and google dont get on, so perhaps others will be more skilled at finding this elusive roundup?
The general concensus seems to be that because the Mpeg2 stream is set by the manufacturer, the quality is more down to the software decoding than the manufacturer of the card.
However I'm not so sure that this is the case. I have gleened from the mce forums that the major issues are..
How sensitive they are to marginal signal strength.
How quickly they change channels.
How much hassle do they give you with MCE.
To answer the first point, most reviewers just dont have a test setup that can give quantitive results.
Second... The Avermedia system gets positive feedback in the forums, although theoretcially any card with the same decoder should give similar results...
Third... In the mainstream forums like XPMCE the shortlist seems to be any card that falls into microsofts approved list. the black gold seems to have a good following (untll rollup 2). The Ausie forum members seem to use a bit more variety of cards including some that are not MS recommended. I have been playing with a Kworld DVB-T100. Seems to change channels quickly (compared to my sony STB) and with the right advice is reasonable to install to MCE. I'll confirm this though when I get its twin brother working... Not sure wether its just tough to get 2 working or wether I have a duff card.
Sorry I cant be of more help but I have been trying like yourself to get good info and it's frustrating. If you get anywhere please post your results. If I were to wish for anything it would be a good roundup.
On the other hand me and google dont get on, so perhaps others will be more skilled at finding this elusive roundup?