Unveiling: My 2 New Media Centres

[pantonious]

Ok...A little while ago i decided i would upgrade both my HTPCs for a few reasons.
1. My 'Dilithium' HTPC had a mainboard die. (ECS 8200A..failed BIOS update )
2. My 'Trilithium' HTPC didn't seem to quite handle BluRays 100%...would get an occasional stutter.

Now that i have Vista Reinstalled on both of them and setup (mostly) i thought i'd post about them.

This thread will be a WIP. I have pics and stuff i can upload too

First, the new specs...

Dilithium - Bedroom HTPC which runs a 32" 1366x768 LCD
AMD 4850e
2x1GB DDR2 800 4-4-4-12 Crucial Ballistics
Gigabyte MA78GM-US2H Motherboard (780G chipset)
Pioneer 215 SATA DVD Burner
DVICO Dual PCI Tuner
HDA X-Plosion Sound Card
ThermalTake Tenor Black Desktop Case
Hiper slimline CPU Cooler
Hiper 580W PSU

Trlithium - Family Room HTPC which runs a 42" 1080P LCD + Bluray
AMD 4850e
2x2GB DDR2 800 Patriot
DFI Lanparty JR 790GX Motherboard
Pioneer K06 slimline Slot DVD Burner
Pioneer BluRay Rom in External USB+SATA enclosure
Digital Now Tiny Twin Tuner (best tuner E-VER!)
Hiper Slimline Desktop Case + PSU
Hiper Slimline CPU Cooler

Now, i have a Domain setup at home (mostly cause i want to learn about it more, since we run one at work) and when i set it up i decided most of my computer names would be substances from SciFi shows...mostly star trek :P got Omega, Chronoton, Energon, Corbomite, Dilithium and Trlithium. Since then a few more have come in, but the name describes what they do...ie, ITX PC that runs a touchscreen LCD to remote control Trlithium + run a Disk Stakka is called Harmony (cause its a remote control? get it? :P)

I have a HTPC "user" which has limited permissions so that it can't (hopefully) mess up the systems too much. Also, Group Policy/Domain allows me to run a WSUS server to hopefully save on Downloads and try to my most of my settings automatic when i reinstall windows. works, mostly...

[pantonious]

ok, i'll start with Dilithium.

I had a thrown together HTPC after the motherboard died (old MSI motherboard, old video card) but it was hot and noisey.

Took everything out and started to install my new Gigabyte motherboard...OH NO!
See, the ThermalTake Tenor has a door over the 5.25" drive bays. There is another little door on that door for the bottom 5.25" drive bay. I prefer to use that for my DVD burner. If you do that, you need a motherboard that is 22cm deep, otherwise the motherboard and DVD Drive hit. And ofcourse the Gigabyte is 24cm deep.
So, moved my DVD Drive up one bay and got everything else installed.

Now, this machine runs Vista Home Premium, so no Domain, which means no WSUS however, i was able to tattoo the Registry with the WSUS key, and now it connects to my WSUS server. YAY

Rest of the install went pretty smoothly. HD TV working fine, having tried bluray yet, but i think i will soon.

Will Post pictures of this machine when i get home today.

[pantonious]

reserved again!