Decided! HTPC/Media Server build

[FNG212]

Thanks Jin,

This is pure media, no games.

Has anyone experimented with a "living room box" and a central data storage? Possibly NAS style? I don't mean to be throwing more ideas into the mix just curious, something I saw over on HTGuide.com

What is the advantage to waiting for the new mainboard vs current ones that may drop in price when the new ones come out?

 

[fightinkraut]

OK so what I'm hearing is that my current rig is a bit overkill.

Current suggestions are AMD Athlon X2 + new ATI mobo with Raedeon 53xx

I'm hearing that this is lower power and more "video-centric" design. Am I missing anything?

Why AMD vs Intel?

The AMD + 53xx recommendation allows you to bitstream HD audio, but you haven't specifically stated if you'd like that...you'd be fine with a lower end gpu depending on what you're doing.

Regarding the central storage, I use my HTPC solely for playback, I keep all my files on my main pc in the office. I use a powerline adapter for streaming, never had a problem, even with bluray rips.

 

[itschris]

The AMD + 53xx recommendation allows you to bitstream HD audio, but you haven't specifically stated if you'd like that...you'd be fine with a lower end gpu depending on what you're doing.

Regarding the central storage, I use my HTPC solely for playback, I keep all my files on my main pc in the office. I use a powerline adapter for streaming, never had a problem, even with bluray rips.

Wait... what? Do all the 5xxx radeon cards have HDMI and bitstream DTS-MA and True-HD? I thought just the higher end ones like the 57XX and the new 56XX. If the new MB's that are coming out will have this chipset on them, what would be the advantage of having an MB with a seperate radeon card?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Wait... what? Do all the 5xxx radeon cards have HDMI and bitstream DTS-MA and True-HD? I thought just the higher end ones like the 57XX and the new 56XX. If the new MB's that are coming out will have this chipset on them, what would be the advantage of having an MB with a seperate radeon card?

Yes, All Radeon 5 series will have TrueHD and DTS HD bit-streaming...
BUT Value models 55xx,54xx and 53xx have not been officially introduced yet..
For now your best bet is 5670 which sells for $99

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics-100287VGAL/dp/B0033WSDNI/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1263858922&sr=8-1-fkmr1

The dedicated card will probably be more powerful for games, as integrated gpus typically very limited - less pipelines/smaller memory bandwidth/shared memory ddr2/3 is slower then Gddr5

 

[FNG212]

I like the idea of on-board support instead of the add-on card. I do not have a receiver that can play any of the higher end codecs anyway, but that is on the short list of replacements.

On that note, I would prefer not to spend the 2-3x extra to get a receiver that does upconverting/upscaling; I have seen cards/boards that support that, how does that change the build prospects? It's not terribly important since most content is coming in HD anyway. Just curious

 

[FNG212]

OK thanks for all the ideas guys. I have to regroup and pick a direction.

 

[itschris]

OK thanks for all the ideas guys. I have to regroup and pick a direction.

There comes a point what I just call analysis paralysis. It's where you become so concerned that you're gonna pick the wrong or "not best" component with the result being that you don't move forward at all.

I've had an acute case of that the past few weeks with this stuff. Just when you think you got it down and you're ready to pull the trigger, you either read something, find something, or hear something that causes you to second guess what you've decided or worse... you realize you totally had it wrong which just makes the whole feeling worse. I think I'm finally starting to get over it and I'm ready to confidently make some purchases,

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[sholling]

Thanks Jin,

This is pure media, no games.

Has anyone experimented with a "living room box" and a central data storage? Possibly NAS style? I don't mean to be throwing more ideas into the mix just curious, something I saw over on HTGuide.com

What is the advantage to waiting for the new mainboard vs current ones that may drop in price when the new ones come out?

I prefer local storage because their is less delay but have tried both. The keys are a fast enough network and a fast enough NAS. My DLink DNS-321 won't serve up flacs fast enough to give me stutter free play. On the other hand I can connect to my main PC (sitting next to the DNS-321) and play flacs and DVD rips just fine across 802.11n. However I'm finding that 802.11n doesn't keep up with BD rips.

I recently picked up one of the discontinued Intel/Fujitsu NAS boxes that are being blown out cheap ($135). They are kind of wonky and support is non-existent but if you have the techie background to get one working they have the speed. I'm just waiting on getting together more money to populate mine with 4x 1.5TB drives (4TB in RAID5) and get it going.

What I do is store music locally and synchronize them with a central storage source. That also gives me a backup.