Another HTPC Thread

[timwhit]

I'm getting close to ordering the parts for a HTPC build.

I already have an Antec NSK2480. So, that's the case I'll use.

Other parts I'm considering:

Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9400
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Samsung Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB
LG Black LG Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM

The review of that Gigabyte board look good. There are several people that say that Blu-Ray/1080p playback has no problems. I looked at SSDs for the drive, but I'd rather have the space to store ripped DVDs and other media. Plus, I can use it as a backup for my other computers. The overall price of $524.95 seems kind of steep, but I don't really know what I can cut. I may cut the Blu-ray drive, as I don't really rent videos. If I want one in the future I can always order one later and it will almost certainly be less money at that point.

Comments?

 

[LiamC]

What about a TV Tuner for recording FTA?

 

[Stereodude]

The E8400 is unnecessary. The E5200 will work just fine for you and save you some money. You also don't need 4GB of RAM although I realize it isn't expensive.

Are you trying to make this PC silent? If so, I'd look at a SSD and put the storage somewhere else on your network. Also, what OS do you plan to run?

 

[Mercutio]

The one I built for my father a couple months ago used the MSI version of that Gigabyte board, a Via Envy HT sound card, an LG HDDVD/BDROM drive, a 500GB Samsung boot drive and two HD103UJs for video storage, a Motorola Bluetooth dongle and a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard for PS3.

I went with Vista because of the font scaling support, and I used an E2200 CPU, which is a dual core Celeron. In purchasing it, I was thinking more about noise and heat than processing horsepower.

My brothers bought my dad a nice Samsung HDTV to go with it.

First thing we watched when we hooked it all up was Iron Man on BluRay. The GF9400 + E2200 was fine for keeping up with BluRay. We did have some weirdness on Wall-E with the sound being out of sync.

That said, the E8400 is a fantastic processor.

 

[Stereodude]

We all must have very different ideas of silent. I don't see how you can put multiple 3.5" HDs in a PC and call it silent. Under some conditions (no audio playing + quiet house) I can hear the highly praised (for being quiet) 40GB Toshiba 4200RPM 2.5" laptop drive in my HTPC. I currently have a SSD on the way to replace it.

 

[Mercutio]

We all must have very different ideas of silent.

In my home and in my parents' home, computers are situated such that noise is largely baffled and unnoticeable. Normally, the only thing that makes enough noise to be problematic is the optical drive, but that's only an issue for a few seconds when a movie starts playing.

And I can hear most set-top DVD players anyway. And a Nintendo Wii is obnoxiously loud to me.

I'm not going to bother to pursue total silence in any case. I can't do anything about the noise that things like my fridge make, and in the summertime I can't do anything about noise from outside. There's an acceptable noise ceiling, though, and as long as things are below that, I'm fine.

 

[timwhit]

What about a TV Tuner for recording FTA?

Nice idea. But I generally just torrent whatever I want.

 

[timwhit]

The E8400 is unnecessary. The E5200 will work just fine for you and save you some money. You also don't need 4GB of RAM although I realize it isn't expensive.

Are you trying to make this PC silent? If so, I'd look at a SSD and put the storage somewhere else on your network. Also, what OS do you plan to run?

Point noted. I'll plan on the E5200, that's a pretty good savings over the E8400.

 

[timwhit]

We all must have very different ideas of silent. I don't see how you can put multiple 3.5" HDs in a PC and call it silent. Under some conditions (no audio playing + quiet house) I can hear the highly praised (for being quiet) 40GB Toshiba 4200RPM 2.5" laptop drive in my HTPC. I currently have a SSD on the way to replace it.

If it's too loud, I will replace the Samsung drive with an SSD and move the drive to my other computer. However, 1TB for $100 is too hard to pass up.

This will also only be on a wireless network, so I want to have enough local storage to keep a bunch of DVD images on there.

 

[Stereodude]

If it's too loud, I will replace the Samsung drive with an SSD and move the drive to my other computer. However, 1TB for $100 is too hard to pass up.

That's what I said when I got my 1.5TB drives for ~$100.

This will also only be on a wireless network, so I want to have enough local storage to keep a bunch of DVD images on there.

Wireless will be very likely be fine for DVD images. HD playback will be iffy (depending on signal strength and other factors).

 

[timwhit]

That's what I said when I got my 1.5TB drives for ~$100.
Wireless will be very likely be fine for DVD images. HD playback will be iffy (depending on signal strength and other factors).

Signal strength is most likely quite low. The wireless router is in the very back of my condo and the HTPC will be all the way in the front. I haven't measured how far it is, but I would guess it is around 60 ft, plus there are some walls it will have to travel through. With a Dell laptop the strength is pretty low, but it's usable most of the time. My plan is to just move all my DVD images to the new box, which will have the added benefit of freeing up some space on my main computer.

 

[ddrueding]

Does the wireless card for the HTPC support an external antenna? Sticking a small directional out there could make quite a difference. I stream x264 HD over 802.11n wireless quite often.

 

[timwhit]

Does the wireless card for the HTPC support an external antenna? Sticking a small directional out there could make quite a difference. I stream x264 HD over 802.11n wireless quite often.

I was planning on using a LINKSYS WMP54G that I have sitting in a box.

 

[ddrueding]

That looks like a good card, but it doesn't say what type of wireless connector it needs. This looks like it would be compatible.

 

[Stereodude]

Nice idea. But I generally just torrent whatever I want.

That's an easy way to do it, but the picture quality isn't as good. There's nothing quite like the pristine 1080i broadcast (aside from Blu-Ray and HD-DVD).

 

[timwhit]

That's an easy way to do it, but the picture quality isn't as good. There's nothing quite like the pristine 1080i broadcast (aside from Blu-Ray and HD-DVD).

Yeah, but that's a lot more work. Torrents are commercial free too.

 

[timwhit]

Also, what OS do you plan to run?

Missed this before. I'm planning on running XP, will there be a problem with this?

 

[Stereodude]

Missed this before. I'm planning on running XP, will there be a problem with this?

Don't think so. My HTPC runs XP just fine, but XP and ATI's driver writing incompetence preventing a Radeon HD4550 from delivering 7.1 LPCM audio under XP. The nVidia IGP's don't have the same problem.

 

[Stereodude]

Yeah, but that's a lot more work. Torrents are commercial free too.

My recordings become commercial free too after I edit them with the misnamed HDTVtoMPEG2.

 

[MaxBurn]

Missed this before. I'm planning on running XP, will there be a problem with this?

Should be great for torrents and DVD's, I am highly disappointed in media center myself. It baffles me why I can't play something in media center when media player will play the item. It's like your one step away from awesomeness and just completely fail every time I see the one or more codecs can't be found message.

 

[Stereodude]

I like Media Player Classic Home Cinema myself.

 

[LiamC]

+1 for Media Player Classic Home Cinema and the K-Lite Codec Pack (thank you Mercutio)

 

[timwhit]

If I run XP as the HTPC OS, does it make more sense to use the 32 bit or 64 bit version? I would assume 32 bit, but let me know if there are any benefits/detriments to running the 64 bit version.

 

[Stereodude]

I would run 32-bit. Application compatibility is a big unknown (to me at least) under 64-bit. I can't think of any benefit you'd get from running XP 64-bit.

It seems like all potential pitfalls with no benefit.

 

[MaxBurn]

+1 to the K lite pack, it's pretty good.

I would also stay with 32bit under XP. If it were vista I would answer different though.

 

[timwhit]

I ordered all the parts minus the Blu-ray drive. If I have a need later to add that hopefully the prices will have come down.

I'll post back when I have it assembled.

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[Handruin]

Did you opt with the Intel E5200? I saw this post and thought to try one in a build that I'm working on for a friend. I'm curious what your impressions are on the CPU once you get it (assuming you went with it).

 

[timwhit]

Did you opt with the Intel E5200? I saw this post and thought to try one in a build that I'm working on for a friend. I'm curious what your impressions are on the CPU once you get it (assuming you went with it).

Yep, that's what I got. I'll let you know what I think.

 

[timwhit]

I got the shipment yesterday and did the build last night. Went pretty smoothly, other than installing the Intel HSF. I though I cracked the board trying to install it, but it worked fine afterwards.

Everything seems to be working as I expected. Though the speeds I get with the LINKSYS WMP54G are abysmal. I think I was averaging about 3Mbps while doing a copy last night. This is hooked up to a Linksys WRT150N, but the router is about 60-70 feet away and there are walls in the way. I ordered a ENCORE ENLWI-N. I'm hoping this will increase my speeds, but who knows.

The other problem is that router doesn't have removable antennas, so I can't even install high-gain antennas. If anyone has any ideas to increase the speed of the wireless connection?

 

[ddrueding]

The antenna I suggested earlier would attach to the WMP54G, not the WRT150N. Getting the antenna out from behind the computer would be the biggest help, IMHO.

 

[timwhit]

The antenna I suggested earlier would attach to the WMP54G, not the WRT150N. Getting the antenna out from behind the computer would be the biggest help, IMHO.

Well, I also want to get 802.11n speeds if possible too. Plus the new card was only $25.

Can anyone tell if that Encore adapter has a standard antenna connection, in case I want to add an external antenna?

 

[ddrueding]

From the images I've been able to look at, it looks fairly normal. Just be sure you can change the setting to favor a single antenna, or you will need 3 directionals

 

[timwhit]

From the images I've been able to look at, it looks fairly normal. Just be sure you can change the setting to favor a single antenna, or you will need 3 directionals

I think I will just have to wait and see. This is all rather hypothetical at this point.

Another option I am considering is to install DD-WRT on the router and boosting the wireless signal power. Is this possible? If so, is it recommended?

 

[ddrueding]

Another option I am considering is to install DD-WRT on the router and boosting the wireless signal power. Is this possible? If so, is it recommended?

I've done it a couple times. On the firmware version I was using (some time ago), it actually mentioned having to cool the chip (case mod and heatsink) above a certain power setting. There were pictures, but I never bothered. The things are cheap enough that if it cooks in a year I'll get another. IIRC, it never did fail.

 

[timwhit]

I've done it a couple times. On the firmware version I was using (some time ago), it actually mentioned having to cool the chip (case mod and heatsink) above a certain power setting. There were pictures, but I never bothered. The things are cheap enough that if it cooks in a year I'll get another. IIRC, it never did fail.

I think I hate wireless networking. There really is no good way for me to run cat-5 though, so this is my only option. I will just hope that the new card solves my problem.

 

[ddrueding]

Wireless is nice when it is easy, but when problems arise, it quickly becomes black magic.

 

[Stereodude]

Another option I am considering is to install DD-WRT on the router and boosting the wireless signal power. Is this possible? If so, is it recommended?

I prefer Tomato over DD-WRT, and I had problems boosting the power previously. My router got rather flaky until I set the power back to the default.

 

[Stereodude]

Wireless is nice when it is easy, but when problems arise, it quickly becomes black magic.

You struck on my reason for installing 22 CAT6 runs in my house right after buying it.

 

[Fushigi]

I think I hate wireless networking. There really is no good way for me to run cat-5 though, so this is my only option. I will just hope that the new card solves my problem.

HomePlug Powerline (Ethernet over power) may be another option for you. I'm using these and they work well enough. The 'target' end is in my master bedroom where it feeds a cheapie switch that provides Ethernet to my BD player and Dish DVR. Neither supports WiFi & there is no Ethernet in the house other than my den & the basement. I haven't measured bandwidth but it does fine streaming Pandora. In theory 200Mb bandwidth but that's aggregate for however many connections you run (much like WiFi's bandwidth is aggregate, not per endpoint); the units themselves seem to auto-config at 100Mb. Configuring the encryption is a no-brainer; very easy.

It does cost a bit more than WiFi adapters but if the wireless isn't cutting it, these might be worth trying.

 

[timwhit]

Fushigi, could you run a speed test somehow? I don't foresee buying these, but I will keep it in mind if the WiFi idea fails.