Well guys, along with my new main system (see my other post) I'll be building an HTPC to connect to my projector (Panasonic AE500 on a 100" 16:9 screen), and sound system (AUS$6000 worth of B&W speakers/sub connected to a Yamaha amp/reciever). So this is what I've come up with. I'm really new to the HTPC scene so if I need anything else to connect it to my setup please let me know:
Case: Antec NSK2400 with included PSU (I would swap for a Seasonic S12 but is the added cost really worth it?)
Case fans: Both antecs replaced with 120mm Nexus real silent at 5v (or do you think I need to have them higher for better cooling?)
Motherboard: Asus M2NPV-VM micro atx am2
CPU: AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core 4000+
CPU cooler: waiting on Am2 compatable coolers to arrive in aus
Memory: 2*512mb dual channel kit Crucial ballistix PC6400
Hard Drives: 2*750GB Seagate 7200.10 in RAID0 (will cooling be adequate?)
Graphics Card: Asus X1600XT Silent VIVO
Sound Card: Creative X-Fi Xtrememusic
Capture Card: Hauppauge PVR-500
DVD burner: Pioneer DVR-111d black
DVD Rom: Sony 16/48 black
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre Edition 2005
Remote: Microsoft Remote for MCE (hopefully I'll be add its controls to my universal remote)
Keyboard: Microsoft Wireless keyboard for MCE
Mouse: Microsoft wireless Notebook laser mouse 6000
Advice on building an HTPC system that's quiet
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Does a HTPC really benefit anything from dual core? I mean, there's just one movie or song playing at one time.
You don't need RAID from performance perspective, a single hard drive is more than fast enough for movie/music playback or tv capture. It's allways a simpler system without.
You want bit-perfect digital output of sound, right? Well, Terratec Aureon 7.1 PCI can do that for you with half the price of your creative. You can't really improve on bit-perfect output, can you?
You don't need RAID from performance perspective, a single hard drive is more than fast enough for movie/music playback or tv capture. It's allways a simpler system without.
You want bit-perfect digital output of sound, right? Well, Terratec Aureon 7.1 PCI can do that for you with half the price of your creative. You can't really improve on bit-perfect output, can you?
It does seem a bit overspecced for an HTPC machine, do you have other aspirations for it?
I would tend to agree on the dual core processor, dont think that it is required for MCE.
The RAID though I would say yes to. If you wish to increase the number of TV shows you can record at the same time...AND.... wish to access your recorded TV from other systems in the house. The Raid will make sense.
I thought you had digital TV available in Aus? If so why not use it?
TV card wise I am using the K-World DVBT 100 card (Also known as Tevion, V-stream and several others) I have also an ASUS 7131 card. Both are good performers though I would rather have had 2 k-worlds. MCE wont allow it though for some reason.
The K-world card is certainly cheap most places.
I would tend to agree on the dual core processor, dont think that it is required for MCE.
The RAID though I would say yes to. If you wish to increase the number of TV shows you can record at the same time...AND.... wish to access your recorded TV from other systems in the house. The Raid will make sense.
I thought you had digital TV available in Aus? If so why not use it?
TV card wise I am using the K-World DVBT 100 card (Also known as Tevion, V-stream and several others) I have also an ASUS 7131 card. Both are good performers though I would rather have had 2 k-worlds. MCE wont allow it though for some reason.
The K-world card is certainly cheap most places.