My HTPC died! New Build Time!

Stereodude · Oct 21, 2009

So I went to power up the HTPC tonight and it was dead. It wouldn't POST. No beep codes. I tried clearing the BIOS nothing worked. I pulled it from the case, stripped it down to the bare minimum and still nothing. I tried another power supply with no luck. Tried it without the RAM, etc, etc, etc. I somehow got into the BIOS one time but it wouldn't POST after I exited the BIOS.

I think it's either the mobo or the CPU. Unfortunately this is my only AM2 based system, so I have no way to test them and narrow it down.

FWIW, I would rather just buy an Intel 775 mobo and processor instead of pouring more money into this thing. I'm thinking E5200 + some mobo. It needs to support DDR2, be fanless, and have a PCIe x16 slot.

Suggestions?

ddrueding · Oct 21, 2009

The question I would be asking, since I am in exactly the same situation (mine died yesterday), is: Is there an onboard video solution out there that can handle 1080p and good surround audio via HDMI? Socket 775 would be great, but the ability to have no cards whatsoever really appeals.

I'm just about to start my search...

Stereodude · Oct 21, 2009

Probably GF9300/9400 IGP based mobos.

Stereodude · Oct 21, 2009

Right now I'm leaning toward

EVGA 113-YW-E115-TR LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 730i HDMI ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Pentium E5300 2.6GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor

ddrueding · Oct 21, 2009

That does look good. Do you know if the 9300 can handle audio over HDMI?

Mercutio · Oct 21, 2009

I don't think it does; the nVidia IGP behaves a lot better with my Auzentech cards, whereas the ATI hardware that does support audio over HDMI does act horribly with my chosen sound hardware.

I use an MSI nVidia-based Intel board for my HTPC builds.

Stereodude · Oct 21, 2009

ddrueding said:
That does look good. Do you know if the 9300 can handle audio over HDMI?

It should. The reviews on Newegg also indicate that it does.

Stereodude · Oct 21, 2009

Guess I have it down to these three motherboards.

Newegg Comparison

I would have rather had the Gigabyte that's been discontinued though.

Mercutio · Oct 21, 2009

Stereodude said:
It should. The reviews on Newegg also indicate that it does.

OK, if it does, at least you can properly shut the damned thing off if you don't want it, unlike on ATI cards.

ddrueding · Oct 21, 2009

Shutting it off is not a concern for me. I want it to work. One of the good things about digital audio is that I no longer need to worry about the quality of the hardware, either it works or it doesn't.

ddrueding · Oct 21, 2009

Stereodude said:
Guess I have it down to these three motherboards.

Newegg Comparison

I would have rather had the Gigabyte that's been discontinued though.

The ASUS seems to have better features, and it is smaller, but I'm alergic to ASUS. The DFI has the newer video, but I don't know how much better it is.

Stereodude · Oct 21, 2009

ddrueding said:
The DFI has the newer video, but I don't know how much better it is.

For a HTPC it's no better. The people on AVSforum said the stock cooling on the ASUS isn't very adequate for a lower airflow (aka quiet) HTPC and it runs very hot. If that's the case and I need to slap an aftermarket cooler on it, I might as well get the cheaper non-passive Zotac. I already have a Thermalright HR-05 IFX from the dead HTPC I can just re-use.

Stereodude · Oct 21, 2009

Well, I ordered the Zotac + E5300, and I paid the $30 for overnight shipping.

udaman · Oct 21, 2009

ddrueding said:
Shutting it off is not a concern for me. I want it to work. One of the good things about digital audio is that I no longer need to worry about the quality of the hardware, either it works or it doesn't.

ddrueding said:
The ASUS seems to have better features, and it is smaller, but I'm alergic to ASUS. The DFI has the newer video, but I don't know how much better it is.

Stereodude said:
For a HTPC it's no better. The people on AVSforum said the stock cooling on the ASUS isn't very adequate for a lower airflow (aka quiet) HTPC and it runs very hot. If that's the case and I need to slap an aftermarket cooler on it, I might as well get the cheaper non-passive Zotac. I already have a Thermalright HR-05 IFX from the dead HTPC I can just re-use.

Stereodude said:
Well, I ordered the Zotac + E5300, and I paid the $30 for overnight shipping.

U didn't read the Apple Fanboi thread on the new MacMini on avsforums SD, still got yer blinders on I see

Geez man, just get a Mac already!

MacMini, 9400, silent and smaller than all above...goes well with Audi style wise

Kanex Mini DisplayPort Adapter To HDMI 1080p Video w/ Digital Audio

Apple Refreshes the iMac, Mac mini, and Apple Remote | eHomeUpgrade

How bout that 'magic mouse', bet Merc's gonna luv that!

Apple Revamps Mac Mini, Adds Mini Server - Reviews by PC Magazine

Still don't like the KB's w/o num pad, super sucky, zero tactile feel...I hate them, worse than laptops, well laptops in the drive to be thinner & thinner, also now have super sucky KB's

^course it won't run the 4k Sony:

Sony preps 56-inch, 4K resolution monitor | Electronista

Santilli · Oct 21, 2009

Where's the popcorn icon when I need it???? Merc: What board are you using?
David, what are you considering?

ddrueding · Oct 21, 2009

Where do I put my 6 2TB drives and SSD in a Mac Mini, Uda?

Stereodude · Oct 21, 2009

Can I play back Blu-Ray and HD-DVD with a Mac Mini?

Mercutio · Oct 21, 2009

Last I heard it's not possible to play commercially produced BD titles on a Mac; there's no playback software.

Stereodude · Oct 21, 2009

Mercutio said:
Last I heard it's not possible to play commercially produced BD titles on a Mac; there's no playback software.

I know. That was intended to be a shot across the resident raving Apple lunatic's bow.

ddrueding · Oct 21, 2009

Just ordered the ASUS...we shall see.

Stereodude · Oct 21, 2009

Traitor!

ddrueding · Oct 21, 2009

...and an E8300, and 4GB of RAM

Should be here Thursday.

Stereodude · Oct 22, 2009

What do you use your HTPC for that you need an E8300 for? I would have bought a less powerful CPU than the E5300, but you just don't save any money.

ddrueding · Oct 22, 2009

It is used to encode my DVDs and music, but is also my wife's workstation (I'm teaching her Photoshop

)

Stereodude · Oct 22, 2009

So, should I attempt to warranty the old motherboard to Gigabyte? I bought it in Dec/2006 It seems very unlikely that an undervolted AMD 4200+ X2 processor died.

Mercutio · Oct 22, 2009

Yes, if only because someone would probably be very happy to have an AMDx2/4200.

The women's shelter where I take old equipment is grateful for anything newer than a Pentium 2.

Stereodude · Oct 22, 2009

Turns out the warranty on Gigabyte motherboards is tied to manufacturer date, not purchase date. It was made Week 47 2006, so I have about 1 month left.

Stereodude · Oct 22, 2009

I really want to find someone local who will let me borrow an AM2 processor so I can absolutely confirm it's the motherboard before I start the RMA process.

Mercutio · Oct 22, 2009

I'd say there's about a 99% chance it's the board, and would simply RMA the board. If they told me it wasn't broken, you're just out the $10 it cost to ship.

I've seen a CPU die without a thermal event exactly once, ever.

Stereodude · Oct 22, 2009

Mercutio said:
I'd say there's about a 99% chance it's the board, and would simply RMA the board. If they told me it wasn't broken, you're just out the $10 it cost to ship.

Good point.

I wonder if they keep new 3 year old boards around to send out as replacements... :scratch:

ddrueding · Oct 22, 2009

I've only RMA'd boards shortly after purchase, so I don't know. You could get a spiffy new-ish remanufactured AM2 board...

Stereodude · Oct 22, 2009

I can only hope. I hated that piece of crap board. It had so many quirks.

ddrueding · Oct 22, 2009

Still installing the OS, so I'll have more comments later. For now, I can tell you that the northbridge cooling on the ASUS board is not adequate for low-airflow machines. It is even less adequate if you leave the "ASUS" brand shiny metal plate that covers most of the fins on the northbridge. If you fail to notice the thin plastic sheet protecting the shiny metal plate, than you have a very hot northbridge that smells bad. This is the kind of crap that I hate ASUS for. Well, this and never releasing stable and feature-complete BIOS. Well, that and having weird quirks like having a 4-channel SATA controller capable of RAID and routing port 3 to an eSATA header, while leaving the JMicron 2-port controller on the motherboard.

Let's just say if this doesn't go smoothly, I already have a nice shiny Intel 775 board sitting on my desk.

Mercutio · Oct 23, 2009

... or my personal Asus favorite, a BIOS-mandated and uncustomizable shutdown when the system temp hits 50C.

Which is really easy to get if you have a decent video card.

Stereodude · Oct 23, 2009

The Zotac came with active cooling, which seemed adequate, but not up to my silent standard. I pulled it off and put my Thermalright HR-05 IFX (running passive). Updating the firmware on my 30GB OCZ Vertex was a total pain in the butt, but that's got nothing to do with this motherboard. That's OCZ's fault. They're a bunch of thoughtless brain dead idiots. Prior to the V1.10 firmware you could only flash it from in Windows from an Intel ICH SATA controller (only ports 1-4) in IDE mode. Which of course means your boot volumes can't be on the ICH controller. That rules out my desktop. Thankfully my server in the basement has an ICH SATA controller with no drives on it.

The only negative is that I can't get the board to run 4-4-4-12 timing on my DDR2-800 memory regardless of how high I set the voltage in the BIOS. Other than that it's been ok so far.

Stereodude · Oct 23, 2009

Well, I'm pretty impressed with this system. The HDMI audio is nice. It's a tad quirky having to change audio modes to get PCM for Blu-Ray, but overall I like it.

ddrueding · Oct 23, 2009

I would also like to congratulate ASUS for disabling Hyperthreading by default and burying it 3 levels deep in the BIOS.

Stereodude · Oct 24, 2009

But the E8300 doesn't have hyper threading? :scratch:

ddrueding · Oct 24, 2009

I actually got E7500s instead. Looks like they don't have it either? How out of touch am I?

Stereodude · Oct 24, 2009

A far as I know, none of the Core processors have had Hyper-Threading. That went away when dual core processors showed up.

My HTPC died! New Build Time!

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