Welcome To Australia's No.1 Media Center Community!
You Are Currently Viewing As A Guest - you'll need to register in order to participate in our community and make this annoying message disappear!
By registering you'll be able to post & reply to questions, set up your own image gallery & blog, communicate privately with other members, create & respond to polls, access downloads and other "members only" features.
Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so why not join our community today - you'll be glad you did!
For any problems with the registration process or your account, please contact support.
Intel e7300 c2d @2.66ghz
Generic 2gb DDR2 @ 800mhz
Western Digital 160gb 7200rpm
Nvidia 9600GT with silent heatpipe
LG 20x dvd rw
Aopen Cobra AW-870LP 7.1 sound card
Thermaltake DH102 with media lab
Antec 650W
Logitech Harmony 1000i
Vista Ultimate 32bit
Asus P5K-VM mATX
Hauppauge HVR-2200
A few questions with this one;
I'm pretty sure this is overkill, and it is expensive (at about $2100 from umart )...but I can't decide which bits don't need to be so powerful/expensive. Advice here would help
also, Media lab. Is it necessary? I have researched it a tiny bit but I am still not certain.
and any other general comments would be much in appreciated.
vielen dank im voraus!
__________________
Feel free to hit the 'Thanks' button if I have helped you! System:
Q9450@2.66ghz - 6gb @800mhz RAM - 1tb HDD - Radeon 4870 OC - LG226 22" - Logitech Z4 speakers - Thermaltake Centurion 5
most people don't use the Media Lab/VFDs in their HTPCs from what i've read.
it depends on the price difference.
Are you going to store recordings on this computer? if so, get a bigger HDD! you will go through a 160GB so quickly, and you can get 500GB drives for under $100!
The PSU is definenately overkill...a Corsair 430W, or 530W if you wanted to be sure, would be fine...and they are quiet!
Why are you getting the extra sound card??? What sort of sound system/TV are you connecting the system to? if you are using SPDIF, then just use the onboard SPDIF, no point getting a separate card.
and now, the Harmony 1000i. I admit, i'd love one...but i can't justify spending $400 on a remote control! so i bought a Clearance one from DSE for $40 (not the harmony)
If you are trying to cut back on money, drop the harmony and get a Microsoft Media Centre Remote and save up for the harmony if you still want/need it.
__________________
Dilithium -> A64 X2 4850, ECS 8200A, 2x1024Mb Crucial, Onboard GF8200, 1x80Gb Seagate SATA, 2x250Gb Seagate SATA II in Stripe, Pioneer 212BK, ThermalTake Tenor, HDA X-Plosion, DVICO Dual Tuner, Acer 32" 720p LCD
Trilithium -> A64 X2 4850e, ABIT Nforce Mobo, 2x2GB DDR2-800 Patriot, Sapphire HD2400XT, 160GB Samsung SATA, Pioneer K06 DVD Burner, Hiper Slimline Chassis w/Slimline CPU Cooler, Digital Now Tiny Twin Tuner, Sound Blaster USB, Hisence 42" 1080p LCD TV :):):)
The following Member(s) said "Thank You!" to pantonious for this information:
Intel e7300 c2d @2.66ghz
Generic 2gb DDR2 @ 800mhz
Western Digital 160gb 7200rpm
Nvidia 9600GT with silent heatpipe
LG 20x dvd rw
Aopen Cobra AW-870LP 7.1 sound card
Thermaltake DH102 with media lab
Antec 650W
Logitech Harmony 1000i
Vista Ultimate 32bit
Asus P5K-VM mATX
Hauppauge HVR-2200
A few questions with this one;
I'm pretty sure this is overkill, and it is expensive (at about $2100 from umart )...but I can't decide which bits don't need to be so powerful/expensive. Advice here would help
also, Media lab. Is it necessary? I have researched it a tiny bit but I am still not certain.
and any other general comments would be much in appreciated.
vielen dank im voraus!
I'm pretty sure that with the DH102 case, you don't get the option of the media lab... The media lab it comes with is essentially the screen with built in sensor for the included remote and the software. The remote they come with is actually pretty decent. Has a cursor on it that can swap from mouse to arrow key functionality. The touchscreen though is where you really need to raise the question. The 7 inch screen is the sole reason for the DH102 being double the price of the DH101.
The touchscreen acts like a second monitor that you set up as an extended desktop to allow different resolutions. Personally I think that the touchscreen is a bit pointless as how often will you use it? You would use a remote or wireless mouse and keyboard from your couch nearly all of the time so it becomes a bit redundant.
You would certainly be better off with a good on board video solution rather than a dedicated video card for temperature reasons. Unfortunately, if you want to stick with Intel, your options for good integrated video that will handle any media you throw at it is limited. The AMD or NVIDIA solutions for the AM2+ CPUs are currently the better options for HTPCs. The G45 chipset is the best one available for Intel processors, but still falls short of the might of the 780G and GF8200 chipsets.
The AOpen sound card is useless as nearly all modern motherboards have on board sound that is just as good if not better than most discrete sound cards. It will just take up more space in the case too which is what you want to avoid as much as possible in one of these systems.
Using a small hard drive for the OS though is not a bad idea. It is always safer to have your documents, media and other important files on a separate drive to your operating system and installed software. That way if you get any problems and need to reinstall, you will not lose any thing.
The following Member(s) said "Thank You!" to bobafett_h for this information:
I am very green at this so pls take my comments with a grain of salt. It might be handy to give us an idea of what you want to use it for exactly? Just HT duties or do you plan to do some big screen gaming
Like bobafett_h said the current king of the htpc mobo is the AMD 780G chipset. A very popular combo is the Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-DS2H with the 4850e low power cpu to also help keep the system cool. This combo can process 1080p with the onboard gpu and has a high quality 106dB SNR ALC889A HD audio chipset aswell with spdif digital out so no real need for a dedicated audio card either, and it supports 7.1.
There is a new 790 chipset but from what i can see its an ATX and the main differences are a higher price for SLI capability and more processing power neither you really need for a htpc and it uses exactly the same audio chipset.
Some of the HTPC cases will take a standard ATX motherboard (such as the Thermaltake DH101 and DH102), but even so mATX is generally a bit better for HTPCs as they leave you with a bit more room to keep the cables out of the way inside the case. There are a few 780G boards with SidePort memory available now which is a good option if you want just a bit more performance than the standard boards. Going with the 790GX would be good because of it's CrossFire for a good all around desktop PC or HTPC with the option to put in a good graphics card for big screen gaming...
Sorry for the wrong info guys. Thanks bobafett_h, thats what I was trying to say in my own inept way lol. That the 780 isn't the latest chipset but will do the job for a 1080p htpc and there is probably no real need for the newer chipset and can save some bucks unless you need the extra power for maybe things like some big screen gaming?
(not the harmony)
