superczar
Skilled
Here is where the whole quest started:
Here is what I ended up doing, and when I totalled up the expenses, it was far less that what I had though I'll end up spending, hence the title
I am posting this since this may serve as a decent HTPC build guide for others
CPU : E2160 - A decent and amazing VFM CPU..chosen for its low TDP , power consumption and price
I havent been able to tax it over 40% on any HTPC application as yet which means this may be the perfect HTPC CPU (given its low power consumption)
MoBo: a nf7050 LGA 775 Mobo. I got one from Zebronics, thanks to Rahul, though others may be better off picking an equivalent Asus/Jetway/Biostar for better support
RAM 2 Gigs is the minimum needed these days so picked a basic Transcend 2GB stick. Saiyan recommended 2X1 GB (for dual channel) but since I was working off a micro-ATX mobo, I decided on a single stick to retain the flexibility to add more RAM if needed
GPU Picked a 8600GT, though a 8500GT will do as well. Ati cards are difficult to get hold of in Chennai.
I was apprehensive about a 8600GT since Ati AVIVO (on the HD 2xxx/3xxx series) is supposed to handle HD better than nVidisa's purevideo HD (from the info floating around on various forums)
Thankfully, the new 169.25 forceware drivers from nVidia have resolved Purevideo HD issues and a nvidia 8500/8600is as good a buy as any other for HTPCS apps now
HDD Using my existing HDD and ODD though the new single platter 320/500 from Seagate are supposed to run cooler & quieter than the older ones.
The raptors are not suited for a HTPC if you are picky about noise.
CPU Cooler I couldnt find any low CFM CPU coolers in Ritchie so postponed it for later..seems like I'll not be needing it anymore though..read on for why
Casing I was planning to pick a Antec NSK 2400 which (thankfully) wasn't available
After some bit of looking around, Kamal (Delta peripherals) recommended a Zebronic Pro Cube Cabby which we ended up picking
All I can say is it turned out to be an excellent buy
It is essentially a SilverStone Sugo SG01 (black) clone
There are two chambers inside with the 1st chamber swivelling away to reveal the lower chamber for the Mobo
The top chamber takes the HDDs (In a removable bracket), the PSU and the ODD
Thw lower chamber takes the Mobo/CPU/Cards
The lower chamber has low CFM inlet and exhaust fans while the upper chamber has one low CFM inlet
The chassis damping is very good and the notorious Intel Fan on the E2160 cannot be hard from outside :O
The only noise that the system now makes is the PSU fan which I guess I will replace with a low CFM one
As for the looks, it's subjective, but I find it OK..It doesnt look great, neither does it draw attention to itself on account of ugliness
In any case, it gels much better with my Marantz Amp and AVR as compared to any ATX tower
Sound My Existing M-Audio USB board
Software
I was planning to use Vista but the M-Audio card still has only beta Drivers for whicih in which SPDIF passthrough is broken so I am using XP
Video : After much troubleshooting, I was able to enable near flawless 1080p videos at CPU utils as low as 20-25% and 720p at 10-15%
The playback software being used is MPlayer for Windows and the GFX drivers are nvidia Forceware 169.25
The audio output for movies is SPDIF passthrough for AC3/DTS and PCM 2-channel 24bit for regular
Audio My favorite UI for audio is iTunes and my favorite player for SQ is Foobar in ASIO mode
I am getting the best of both worlds with iTunes as the front-end using foobar as the background player (Using Multi-plugin)
Phew...bored of typing...I'll add pics and TV setup details later
Here is what I ended up doing, and when I totalled up the expenses, it was far less that what I had though I'll end up spending, hence the title
I am posting this since this may serve as a decent HTPC build guide for others
CPU : E2160 - A decent and amazing VFM CPU..chosen for its low TDP , power consumption and price
I havent been able to tax it over 40% on any HTPC application as yet which means this may be the perfect HTPC CPU (given its low power consumption)
MoBo: a nf7050 LGA 775 Mobo. I got one from Zebronics, thanks to Rahul, though others may be better off picking an equivalent Asus/Jetway/Biostar for better support
RAM 2 Gigs is the minimum needed these days so picked a basic Transcend 2GB stick. Saiyan recommended 2X1 GB (for dual channel) but since I was working off a micro-ATX mobo, I decided on a single stick to retain the flexibility to add more RAM if needed
GPU Picked a 8600GT, though a 8500GT will do as well. Ati cards are difficult to get hold of in Chennai.
I was apprehensive about a 8600GT since Ati AVIVO (on the HD 2xxx/3xxx series) is supposed to handle HD better than nVidisa's purevideo HD (from the info floating around on various forums)
Thankfully, the new 169.25 forceware drivers from nVidia have resolved Purevideo HD issues and a nvidia 8500/8600is as good a buy as any other for HTPCS apps now
HDD Using my existing HDD and ODD though the new single platter 320/500 from Seagate are supposed to run cooler & quieter than the older ones.
The raptors are not suited for a HTPC if you are picky about noise.
CPU Cooler I couldnt find any low CFM CPU coolers in Ritchie so postponed it for later..seems like I'll not be needing it anymore though..read on for why
Casing I was planning to pick a Antec NSK 2400 which (thankfully) wasn't available
After some bit of looking around, Kamal (Delta peripherals) recommended a Zebronic Pro Cube Cabby which we ended up picking
All I can say is it turned out to be an excellent buy
It is essentially a SilverStone Sugo SG01 (black) clone
There are two chambers inside with the 1st chamber swivelling away to reveal the lower chamber for the Mobo
The top chamber takes the HDDs (In a removable bracket), the PSU and the ODD
Thw lower chamber takes the Mobo/CPU/Cards
The lower chamber has low CFM inlet and exhaust fans while the upper chamber has one low CFM inlet
The chassis damping is very good and the notorious Intel Fan on the E2160 cannot be hard from outside :O
The only noise that the system now makes is the PSU fan which I guess I will replace with a low CFM one
As for the looks, it's subjective, but I find it OK..It doesnt look great, neither does it draw attention to itself on account of ugliness
In any case, it gels much better with my Marantz Amp and AVR as compared to any ATX tower
Sound My Existing M-Audio USB board
Software
I was planning to use Vista but the M-Audio card still has only beta Drivers for whicih in which SPDIF passthrough is broken so I am using XP
Video : After much troubleshooting, I was able to enable near flawless 1080p videos at CPU utils as low as 20-25% and 720p at 10-15%
The playback software being used is MPlayer for Windows and the GFX drivers are nvidia Forceware 169.25
The audio output for movies is SPDIF passthrough for AC3/DTS and PCM 2-channel 24bit for regular
Audio My favorite UI for audio is iTunes and my favorite player for SQ is Foobar in ASIO mode
I am getting the best of both worlds with iTunes as the front-end using foobar as the background player (Using Multi-plugin)
Phew...bored of typing...I'll add pics and TV setup details later
