My attempt at a HTPC......

adk highlander

adk highlander

Sith Lord
I've been in the tech business for 10 years and am mainly a web programmer and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) manager. I have done many upgrades and part replacement but I have never built a computer from the ground up. I have looked at most of the companies that specialize in HTPC's and decided that 3000+ was a bit much for what you are getting.

So I have set out to create an HTPC that will be able to be a DVR a whole house music/movie source, Blu-ray player, minimal gaming and most importantly quiet.

Here is my list of hardware purchased so far:

Case: Moneual Lab MonCaso 902 (like the 932 but two-tone) 7"lcd
MB: ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.6GHz
Ram: 4GB Corsair XMS2
Video: MSI 2600XT GDDR4 512MB DVI HDMI
CPU cooler: Zalman CNPS9500
Optical: Pioneer Blu-Ray drive BDC-2202
HD: Western digital 500GB Sata
PS: Zalman ZM460B
OS: Vista Ultimate

Whats left:
TV tuner: Something by Hauppauge PVR-150?

My reason for this thread is two fold.

First I would like comments from anyone both on any experience doing this of build or questions on the parts I have chosen. I am willing to list where I bought and how much I spent to those who are interested.

Second I will update the thread as the build progresses and list the issues that arise and any other occurrences that may be of help to others down the road.

All I have in hand now is the Motherboard and some of the RAM. I expect to have the rest of the parts by early next week and will start the build at that time.

If anyone is using a PC for home automation (lighting, heating etc.) please let me know what softare/hardware you are using and your thoughts.

My dream for all this is have a one stop shop for all my music, home movies and pictures to all my video and audio sources through my house.

Thanks in advance for all comments.

Cheers.
 
adk highlander

adk highlander

Sith Lord
Ahhh yes you noticed. I have so many options here and I am going to experiment with two things to start. One will be using the integrated sound which is 7.1 with mini-jack analog outputs. The other is the Video card has built in sound as well to be able to use an HDMI out to get 1080p video and Dolby Digital and DTS.

What I am hoping is in the near future someone will come out with a card that will do the uncompressed PCM via HDMI or analog outs that will support PCM, Dolby HD or DTS HD.
 
jinjuku

jinjuku

Moderator
Ok, are your mainboard chipset and video card passively cooled?

You are looking to go fanless where ever possible. I would dump the Zalman and put that money toward a Thermal Take Ultra 120. This heat pipe solution can cool your processor without a fan.

I don't think that you would need 4GB of RAM for a HTPC. 2GB should be more than adequate.

Good choice on the CPU btw. The PSU should be quiet as well. On the hard drive front I prefer Samsung, they have low acoustical and thermal footprint. Western Digital should fit the bill also. On the TV tuner I went with the Hauppauge External USB TV/FM tuner. I figured one less component in the machine generating heat. You could also look at the HD Homerun. It is a network based tuner. I will in the near future go with this solution. You can put that puppy anywhere :)
 
jinjuku

jinjuku

Moderator
Ahhh yes you noticed. I have so many options here and I am going to experiment with two things to start. One will be using the integrated sound which is 7.1 with mini-jack analog outputs. The other is the Video card has built in sound as well to be able to use an HDMI out to get 1080p video and Dolby Digital and DTS.

What I am hoping is in the near future someone will come out with a card that will do the uncompressed PCM via HDMI or analog outs that will support PCM, Dolby HD or DTS HD.

I believe the ATI Radeon 2900 will do audio over HDMI. I would use the TOS/Link optical cable instead of the analog out. This should give you all your audio options with less cable clutter. The receiver will decode the stream and give you your surround modes. 7.1 receivers will take your 5.1 and convert to 7.1 I believe (same if you had a 9.1 or 11.1 receiver).

Edit: I double checked and it will do 5.1 over HDMI. Might have to pick one up for myself...
 
Last edited:
adk highlander

adk highlander

Sith Lord
Ok, are your mainboard chipset and video card passively cooled?
My main board is passively cooled but my video card does have a fan that I can control. I can also control my CPU fan, and my case fans.

I would dump the Zalman and put that money toward a Thermal Take Ultra 120. This heat pipe solution can cool your processor without a fan.
Hmm. I read a few reviews and the Zalman was rated very quiet and I found that many of the passively cooled power supplies had issues under load. My basement gets a bit warm during the winter and I want to be able to control the cooling of the unit if necessary. I am working on a way to cool my rack in the future.

I don't think that you would need 4GB of RAM for a HTPC. 2GB should be more than adequate.
I had already bought 2 GB and then when I went to get the processor NewEgg had a deal for 30 bucks off and there was a mail in rebate for 40 on the ram.:D

Good choice on the CPU btw. The PSU should be quiet as well. On the hard drive front I prefer Samsung, they have low acoustical and thermal footprint. Western Digital should fit the bill also. On the TV tuner I went with the Hauppauge External USB TV/FM tuner. I figured one less component in the machine generating heat. You could also look at the HD Homerun. It is a network based tuner. I will in the near future go with this solution. You can put that puppy anywhere :)
I went with the 5200 due to its lower voltage. The western digital is supposed to be quiet but if I don't like it I will look into the Samsung.

I will look at the HD Homerun idea. I am not familiar with it at all. Thanks.
 
adk highlander

adk highlander

Sith Lord
I believe the ATI Radeon 2900 will do audio over HDMI. I would use the TOS/Link optical cable instead of the analog out. This should give you all your audio options with less cable clutter. The receiver will decode the stream and give you your surround modes. 7.1 receivers will take your 5.1 and convert to 7.1 I believe (same if you had a 9.1 or 11.1 receiver).

Edit: I double checked and it will do 5.1 over HDMI. Might have to pick one up for myself...
Sorry should have added this to my previous post.:rolleyes:

Both the 2900 and the 2600 will do audio over HDMI but the 2900 uses and older chip set that does not fully support UVD.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3000

The newest 2600's are supposed to have a newer chip and as new drivers develop it will fully support UVD. I am ok with blu-ray and the present set of drivers with this config.


I was hoping initially that the analog out would send the uncompressed PCM from blu-ray but that does not seem possible yet. So I will probably do the Toslink for now as you have suggested to at least get full EX 6.1 when available over the 5.1 that the HDMI will permit.
 
jinjuku

jinjuku

Moderator
Hmm. I read a few reviews and the Zalman was rated very quiet and I found that many of the passively cooled power supplies had issues under load. My basement gets a bit warm during the winter and I want to be able to control the cooling of the unit if necessary. I am working on a way to cool my rack in the future.
I was only talking about the CPU cooling. Not the power supply. I think the power supply is a good choice.


I had already bought 2 GB and then when I went to get the processor NewEgg had a deal for 30 bucks off and there was a mail in rebate for 40 on the ram.:D
Nope, can't pass that up... make sure to check out www.thegreenbutton.com have fun. I just wish they would unleash managed copy for HD-DVD. I hate swapping disc's to watch a movie. I just want a video library I can button through.
 
M

MDS

Audioholic Spartan
The western digital is supposed to be quiet but if I don't like it I will look into the Samsung.
I've had every major brand of drive and at the moment I feel that the Seagate in my main computer is the quietest ever. The Maxtors in the second computer are mostly quiet but make a racket under heavy load. The WD drives I've owned were about the same as the Maxtor.

Next generation...it all changes and the one that used to be the quietest is now loud and annoying. It's a crapshoot really if the main goal is silence.
 
adk highlander

adk highlander

Sith Lord
Thanks. I know that my previous workstation Dell Precision 650 was very load and the SCSI drives made a huge amount of noice. I went by a few reviews and price to come to my decision of the WD drive.

I should know by next week after I start the build.:rolleyes:
 
jinjuku

jinjuku

Moderator
I've had every major brand of drive and at the moment I feel that the Seagate in my main computer is the quietest ever. The Maxtors in the second computer are mostly quiet but make a racket under heavy load. The WD drives I've owned were about the same as the Maxtor.

Next generation...it all changes and the one that used to be the quietest is now loud and annoying. It's a crapshoot really if the main goal is silence.
Yep it can be a crapshoot. I have a Seagate 320 GB 7200.10 and it would too noisy for HTPC use.

Storagereview.com is a good place to get updated on the latest HD offerings. Please keep us posted on your build:)
 
Last edited:
adk highlander

adk highlander

Sith Lord
The Build

I am finally getting around to writing up my thoughts on building this machine. I would say overall it went better than I expected but I did run into a few issues along the way.

My first comment is to go through all of your parts and make sure you have all of the cables, adapters and most recent drivers (don't be lazy, download them from the internet before you start.) Also I would read the manuals (yes I know who reads manuals) to make sure you understand how the mother board is laid out and where all of your connections are. I had the pleasure of not having a manual for my case so that made a few things more interesting but, more on that later.

The case that I chose is the Moneual MonCasa 902. This model has a built in ir sensor, 7" lcd, application controls and volume control all on the face plate. I chose this model over many of the other lcd panel cases because I liked the looks of the panel in the center of the case. The case also has very good air flow and is all aluminum. Very solid case and the finish was excellent. I found no blemishes or any other quality control issues.

<p>The first pic is the front of the case before I have started.<br />
</p>
<p>As you can see from this pic the DVD-rom is mounted below the panel. With this type of layout you need to install it before the motherboard and other internals are mounted. This is where I had my main issue for the night. Once I installed the DVD-rom and installed the power wires and the sata cable I started to begin to mount the motherboard and noticed that there was not enough space for the DVD cables to be mounted in that configuration. I tried putting the board in and then hooking up the cables but the interface for the floppy was directly in the way. Fortunately after taking a break to think and try other configurations I found a power connector that was small enough to fit and if I use a sata cable with a 90 degree bend and run the cable under the board I was just able to fit everything properly.<br />
</p>
<p>I next mounted the motherboard and spend about 15 minutes making sure I understood each case connection and planned my wire management. I installed the processor at this point as I felt I had the most room to maneuver and did not want to bend any of the pins. I started by bringing all the wires to the right side of the case and running them along the side of the mobo. I made the usb, audio, panel and 1394 connections.<br />
</p>
<p>Next came the hard drive mounts, RAM and the power supply. The hd mounts also each have an 80 mm fan. I only connected the fan on the side where I mounted my hard drive.<br />
</p>
<p>I finished making all my power connections, installed the video card and cleaned up all of my wires. I was a bit disappointed in that my cpu cooler came with a broken mount so I had to use the stock one. I have emailed Zalman to get a replacement but have not heard anything back yet. Here is the final layout of the internals. I am getting a PVR card and possible a new sound card depending on how I like the HDMI sound.<br />
</p>
<p>So at this point I have been working for about 3hrs. which I fell is good as I have been taking my time and trying to do things only once. Even though it was 11 p.m. I decided to do all of my bios and OS installs as well. Surprisingly this went every well. Everything was good in the BIOS and believe it or not Vista ultimate installed in less that 30 minutes!<br />
</p>
<p>So after Vista was up I was feeling all full of myself I went to bed thinking that I had done all the hard parts. Well I was wrong. I spent almost the entire day Saturday getting the touch screen drivers and the iMon software/hardware to work. I was really hoping I would be able to use the tablet PC functions of vista for the touch screen. This however would not work as the screen registered backwards (left was right, right was left) and I could not reconfigure it no matter what I tried. I finally did get a drive to work and I moved on the the ir sensor and panel buttons. This is where the manual for the case would have been handy. After an hour or so searching the net about the iMon software I found a schematic of their hardware installation guide. Now I see that what I thought was an extra wire for the mobo power was actually an adapter to send power to the front panel. Once I installed this everything work great.</p>
<p>The other big bummer was the software for the Pioneer Blu-ray drive. Apparently "some" computers have issues and do not recognize the drive as pioneer and will not install the software. So now I am waiting for Pioneer to send a new disk so I can watch Blu-ray movies.</p>
<p>All in all I have been quite pleased with the outcome. The unit is quiet and has been running very cool. The two rear fans hook directly to the power supply which does not allow me to control the speed. I am going to replace these with models that will attach directly to the mobo and I can use it to control the fan speeds. I watched Sin-city and it upscaled to 1080p and looked as good as my A2 upscaling to 1080i. Dolby Digital came through loud and clear but I want to really take my time and see if I can hear any difference between it and the A2. This weekend I will move my music and hopefully check out a Blu-ray disc. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the comments and sorry about the spelling in my earlier posts.:rolleyes:</p>

I will also post updated pics of it when I get it in my rack. It really looks good with the MPS-1 due to the brushed aluminum on the sides of the front face plate.:D
 
Last edited by a moderator:
jinjuku

jinjuku

Moderator
That is one (Hillary) Swank looking case... To bad I am a cheap bastard. What is the noise output of that beast like?
 
adk highlander

adk highlander

Sith Lord
Thanks.

Well compared to the workstations that I normally use it is very quiet. It is a little louder than the A2 which for one fan makes quite a bit of noise. I think that once I get the better cpu cooler installed and case fans that I can control the speed it will be even better.
 
adk highlander

adk highlander

Sith Lord
I guess if you think about it you may be onto something. Moneaul wants about 5 grand for what I built and I did it for about 1850 including the pvr card. A little labor and it is easily half the price.:)

Now if there was only the time to do it.:rolleyes:
 

Latest posts

newsletter

  • RBHsound.com
  • BlueJeansCable.com
  • SVS Sound Subwoofers
  • Experience the Martin Logan Montis
Top