Build Thread

[FNG212]

A search didn't turn up too much about build threads regarding HTPC.

What hardware are most of you running? Mainboard/Processor/Ram, Hard-drives? ROM drives? Video/Sound cards? How do you run it to your display?

Are there other forums that would be better for this?

 

[s162216]

Personally I am running:

• An ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe Motherboard
• An AMD Athlon XP-M 2500+ CPU
• 1GB of DDR 400 RAM
• Onboard Nvidia Soundstorm Audio (Each boards digital output tested and fine tuned by Dolby Labs for the best digital sound and with Dolby Digital Live so I can use my reciever with games etc as well, best soundcard EVER IMO)
• A Gainward 7800GS+ AGP graphics (Only 1 of 1000 made, one of the fastest AGP cards ever made, actually a 7900 core)
• An Avermedia Analogue TV card that I use for Video Capture to play consoles on my computer via S-Video or composite.
• A Seagate 250GB EIDE/PATA Hard Disk
• A Sony DVD RW

I am using a Philips 200WSF8/00 1680 x 1050 LCD 20.1" LCD screen currently, which I connect to using DVI. For the sound I connect to the reciever using S/PDIF.

I know most of the stuff in my HTPC is about 5 or 6 years old, but its the best of the old so to say. It plays games up to 2007 perfectly as well as great looking DVD and excellent audio.

Computer Forums has a small section on HTPC's, you might want to look there.

 

[FNG212]

Do you rip DVDs to your computer? If so what software do you use?

 

[alexwakelin]

I've heard good things about handbrake for ripping dvd's. What HTPC hardware you need is pretty dependent on what you want to do with it. I use mine for blu-ray playback, and a bit of gaming and web browsing. Mine is:

AMD athlon x2 2.9ghz
ASUS M3A motherboad
2gb corsair DDR2 1066 ram
Nvidia 9600gt video card
LG blu-ray drive

I connect my htpc to my 37" lcd tv via a dvi to hdmi cable, audio is handled by a soundblaster audigy 4 sound card and optical cable.

You'll want a quad core if you're going to be ripping dvd's, you'll need something like an ASUS xonar sound card if you want to get audio over hdmi.

 

[s162216]

I tried using handbrake but it never worked for me - it would always get halfway through and then crash. I tend to use Magic DVD ripper. Its shareware but reasonable and you get to adjust all the options. It also can rip DVD's to mobile devices which is useful.

You don't really need a quad core to rip DVD's, it justa takes slightly longer. I can rip a 2 hour DVD in aboout 8 hours using my Core 2 Duo 1.6 Ghz dual core laptop, which is actually slower than my 6 year old single core HTPC, which has unfortunately been down for the past few months.

Personally though I prefer not to rip DVD's and just leave it as a physical disk. Nvidia Purevideo or the equal ATI technology (can't remember what its called) will offload the mpeg 2 pipeline to the GPU and improve it.

 

[GlocksRock]

what software are you guys using that it takes you that long to rip a dvd? I can rip a dvd in about 15 mins or less using either my 2.2 ghz. Core 2 Duo, or my 3.0 ghz. Pentium D.

 

[s162216]

What I am talking about are 100% full quality mpeg2 rips. My laptop is woefully underpowered anyway, I usually only use it for surfing the internet and doing documents, but I hav no choice at the moment but to use it because of my main HTPC being down.

 

[FNG212]

Glock: What software do you use?

 

[GlocksRock]

ripit4me, which uses a combination of dvddecrypter and dvdshrink, but with newer discs, I also may have to use anydvd in the background. I sometimes also use dvdfab platinum.

 

[jinjuku]

I tend to build HTPC using an all AMD platform.

I use the 45Watt TPD Athlon X2's and the 78X (780/785) based mainboards.

I have started using 2.5 laptop hd's and putting a network attached storage box elsewhere on the network. The laptop hd's are affordable and tend to run dead silent.

Next up is something like the Antec earthwatts PSU or Nexus.

Put on a 3rd party heatsink like the Scyth Ninja series on the processor.

This solution will be quiet and easily stream DVD (DTS/Dolby Digital). You can then add a card like the Asus XONAR HD and move up to Blu-Ray with a sub $100 Blu-Ray drive.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I also recommend using the AMD Motherboards & CPUs.

I'm an idiot and I used the Intel stuff. It performs well but at the cost of increased heat and fan noise.

I recommend using an ATI Radeon HDMI graphics/sound card that does NOT have a built-in fan.

You don't need TrueHD & DTS-HD because DD & DTS are just fine. So you don't need the additional Sound card. One ATI Radeon card for both video & audio is just fine.

Get a PCI-WiFi card.

Get one SATA 7200RPM 1TB HDD (like Seagate Baracuda or WD Black).

Get a BD or BD/HD DVD ROM.

4 - 8 GB or RAM.

It would be more expensive, but getting a fanless chassis with heatsinks would be cool.

Software:

Vista64
Virtual Clone Drive
PowerDVD9
AnyDVD HD
DVDFab6
ImgBurn

 

[GlocksRock]

My Radeon 4350 has a fan, but it runs so quiet I can't even hear it, it's not a high end card, but plays blu-rays just fine. A PCI-WiFi card is fine, but a hardwired gigabit NIC would really be the way to go, especially if you want to stream something from somewhere else on the network. But if anyone is looking for a wireless G pci card, let me know, I have one that I barely used that I'll sell for $10, it's a Trendnet card and it works great.

This is my video card, and I think it's probably the absolute best budget HTPC card out there.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125251

 

[s162216]

I also recommend using the AMD Motherboards & CPUs.

4 - 8 GB or RAM.

I would also use AMD stuff as it uses a lot less power and as so produces less heat. Plus it is much cheaper than for example an i7 for what a HTPC does.

Using more than 4 GB of RAM actually does nothing for a PC unless you are running a 64 bit operating system - it is just a waste of money otherwise.

My Radeon 4350 has a fan, but it runs so quiet I can't even hear it, it's not a high end card, but plays blu-rays just fine.

Its not actually the graphics card that does the most work for playing blu rays, its the CPU decoding it and the graphics card either supports it or offloads it from the cpu depending on what it is told to do although only a couple of cards actually have the option to entirely offload it.

Unless you have watercooling, I would reccomend just using the stock cooling if it is enclosed and the cooling takes up a slot or if not just get a decent cheap cooler - you honestly are not going to hear it that much anyway.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Using more than 4 GB of RAM actually does nothing for a PC unless you are running a 64 bit operating system - it is just a waste of money otherwise.

Yeah, I'm using 8GB RAM for my Vista64 system and 4GB RAM for my Vista32 systems.

I think the key is to keep it simple, functional, cool, & quiet.

Graphics - MSI Radeon HD4350 (no fans - uses heatsink thermal solution = quiet)

CPU/MB - AMD Dual Cores (less power and quieter)

CPU cooler - I would get an aftermarket CPU cooler that is more effective in cooling the CPU and keeping it quieter than the OEM CPU cooler/fan. For example, my Cooler Master V8 keeps my CPU a lot cooler and quieter than the Intel one.