Quote:
Originally Posted by philzgr8
Hey Mero, without wanting to sound argumentative I have to disagree about the number of drives and about the video card.
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Hey we're not arguing, we're debating.
And besides, it's a nice way to kill time before my lunchbreak.
Quote:
Originally Posted by philzgr8
Personally I don't believe you need anything special in a video card for a HTPC. Remember it's not for gaming so if it's MCE compatible and can be configured appropriately then it should do but my feeling is if you're talking Vista you need to look at ATI due to the incompatibilities and shortcomings of Nvidia for now.
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Well I definitely won't argue, I mean debate, about the NVidia drivers; the problems there are well known. However, the low end 8000 series cards are great value cards for HD playback. The 8500GT cards for example go for sub $200, have HDCP, and do 100% of the H.264 decode (and likewise for other codecs). You can also get passively cooled 8500GTs. So if we're talking about an "ultimate" HTPC, which in my mind would definitely mean H.264 playback of high bit-rate 1080p content, then the 8000 series should be seriously considered IMO. However, I do agree that most folks don't need it just yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by philzgr8
Further I would say that as a HTPC for MCE you don't need mountains of disk space as you would be way better to store media on a NAS or other box to avoid the overheating and noise problems commonly associated with multiple drives.
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Yeah fair call there. I considered the NAS route for myself, and it's definitely appealing, but that meant getting budgetary approval for two boxes in one go. Anyway, I think it gets back to that phrase "ultimate HTPC" again: HTPC plus NAS might be a better overall solution but if someome is building just the ultimate HTPC, I think 500Gb is too little.
Yeah you're right about the HD noise, but SPCR's figures are so low that all of the different noise types should be inaudible from across the room. Should.