HD HTPC recommendations & build thread

[suniil]

CPU is EE version, and lot of US forum members are using AMD for HD HTPC. Some of them uses the same mother board with onboard video & sound. Works flawless (no frameloss) with both bluray and HD DVD @ 1080i.

Still i miss 5.1 / 7.1 LPCM over HDMI, which was my main target

how much heat (and in turn noise) does the AMD produce compared to a c2d?

i know you cant do much about it now since you have the mobo being shipped, but if its a htpc you're after, surely you're going to want low heat = fan not on much = low noise.

[suniil]

Nice idea, will work on that!

a seagate 320gb cuda's are quiet you could raid 0 and get a slight performance boost and 640gb storage.....

[this_is_gav]

Just make sure you have a backup solution... 320gb is a lot of data to lose... 640gb (through just the 1 drive dropping out) would be catastrophic.

[suniil]

right! i cannot imagine losing all my HD / bluray movie rips

Just make sure you have a backup solution... 320gb is a lot of data to lose... 640gb (through just the 1 drive dropping out) would be catastrophic.

[SiM]

a seagate 320gb cuda's are quiet you could raid 0 and get a slight performance boost and 640gb storage.....

The latest seagate model 7200.10 has been a bit dodgy for some beware. Also now it seems that 500GB are more efficient to buy that 320GBs....

Still i miss 5.1 / 7.1 LPCM over HDMI, which was my main target

I think the next range of graphics cards will be doing this - as well as almost 100% of 1080p h.264 decoding for Bluray and hddvds

[menthel]

Raid 0 in an HTPC? Bad idea all around.

[dave87]

Raid 0 in an HTPC? Bad idea all around.

Indeed. I'd be looking at RAID5 if you want speed & data security. But then you'd need at least 3 drives, which is extra heat, and a decent controller, which costs money.

I'd be tempted to suggest a separate machine somewhere else in the house with all of the hard disks in it, and a gigabit link between the two. That way your HTPC can be nice and silent, and your data can be secure, and accessed all around the house.

[Skinleech]

Hi all.

My HTPC has a small case with limited space for cabling etc, mainly as I'm now using a Scythe Ninja cooler in fanless mode. As such, my cables run over the A2 and B2 RAM sockets. I have 2x512 DIMMs which were in A1 & A2, but due to the cabling, they are now in A1 and B1.

The problem is the PC only sees 512mb now - any way round this, bar putting a 1gb stick into to A1 DIMM?

Thanky kindly!

[dave87]

Are you sure its plugged in properly? Its odd for it to not recognise DIMMs whichever slot its been put in...

[suniil]

menthel / dave87 : thanks

[Skinleech]

suniil - sorry to hijack your thread. I actually meant to post this as a new thread. Silly me didn't.

Are you sure its plugged in properly? Its odd for it to not recognise DIMMs whichever slot its been put in...

Yeah, am pretty sure. It's possible that some of the cabling is putting pressure on it though, and maybe forcing it somewhat I guess. I'll investigate and see.

[lanceuppercut]

suniil - sorry to hijack your thread. I actually meant to post this as a new thread. Silly me didn't.



Yeah, am pretty sure. It's possible that some of the cabling is putting pressure on it though, and maybe forcing it somewhat I guess. I'll investigate and see.

try putting the stick that doesnt get recognised in the slot that does pick it up, and vice versa.

on my p5b, i had the memory in both yellows, but the ninja's fan got in the way and i didnt want the fan resting on the memory, so moved them both to black.

[suniil]

no worries mate, carry on!

suniil - sorry to hijack your thread.

[saltynay]

With hd rips I would say 4x500gb in raid5 it will cost alot in the short term but your data will be secure and enough space for about 100 full blue ray disks without processing. If your technically minded then you may want to think about a custom case for the wow factor it isnt to hard to find templates for everything e.g. atx mobo, psu sizes, hdd cages, 5.25" racks.

Matt

[suniil]

finally everything put together and works as expected!

720p, 1080i HD Rips. - 50% CPU utilization (no shuttering, ice age II / Serenity / Minority report III)
1080p RIPS - 80% CPU (very minor shuttering, tested with Happy feet, batman begins)

I've used haali media splitter, CCCP codecs running on Vista home premium

pics below

[SiM]

Nice! Congrats, looks like it was a success!