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dicecca112

Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2004
Location
MA, USA
I'm looking to build an HTPC, basically a TiVo

I want it silent or as close as possible

budget is 600-700$

Last TV Tuner card I used was 3 yrs ago, so I'm new to this. I have a Logitech Harmony 550 Remote, so I don't need one of those just a way to control the TiVo with the remote. Not opposed to a Linux MCE program as long as its guaranteed to work. If not I'd go with Windows Media Center

Would like to hook this to my stereo. All it has is RCA connections.
 
In that range a TiVo is what I'd get. But anything 2 GHz and higher should do just fine.
 
BTW: I have two things to say...
As a TiVo user I can say it rocks.
As a one time HTPC builder I can say it sucks when things go wrong.
 
the thing with a Tivo is that I can't store my music on it. And I don't want to pay for the monthly fee.
 
I would recommend to get a low power cpu like those low wattage amd, that 55w x2 3500+? or something like that?? (gosh, can't believe I say amd :eek: ) or a low end C2D cpu.

a gig of ram, get a tuner card (something like HVR-1600 or even a used PVR-150 will do), a passive HD2400XT, just use onboard sound, case of your choice, and use the rest of the money to get the biggest HDD you can afford.

yeah, $600-700 would get you a pretty decent htpc!
 
hehe AMD, that's a dirty word. I suppose I should choose a CPU and Case before I think cooling huh
 
cooling? I don't recommend (why would you need to?) overclocking an HTPC.
Unless you want silent...
 
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well on the Intel side the stock cooler is not quiet. I was thinking a cooler with a large slow RPM 120mm fan. Unless AMD has a nice quiet stock fan
 
My last opteron stock HS was pretty quiet if you put qfan on about 50-55C
 
zalman 9500 @ low is very quiet (near silent imho). but again, depends on what kinda case you are getting first before you go look for cooling solution. but when you are shopping for case, be sure to keep cooling in mind!! 'cos a htpc case could gets VERY HOT (even w/ low power parts, and especially when using passive cooling parts)!!
 
I think my HTPC cost me in the $800 - $900 range. I used alot of stuff that I already had on hand, so it is hard to know for sure.

I used this case in black. It comes with two fans in the back which were a bit too loud for me. No problem, I just modded the wiring on them to run on 7v. Problem fixed. I added two Ultra 80mm fans in front, one of them blows right onto the passive video card in PCI-E slot. The case can hold 92mm fans in front, but I had the 80mm Ultras on hand already. I removed the USB/audio front ports and installed a 64 in 1 card reader. I wanted to use a Zalman 9700 since I had it on hand already, but it didn't fit in the case. Too tall by an 1/8 of an inch!! With this case your CPU cooler cannot stand more than 5.25 inches from top of CPU. I got a Zalman 9500 (approx 5" tall) and set it to silent in BIOS. You can barely hear this PC even when you walk right past it. The only tough spot to work on in this case was where the HDD cage and PSU back up to each other. With the fan in front of the HDD it sticks out of the back of the cage alot. A modular PSU really proved to help here. The rest of the case was a breeze. LOTS of room under mobo for routing wires. The worst thing is the BRIGHT blue power LED on it. Next time I am inside this case I will disconnect it, it is annoying!!

I stuck in a Corsair HX520 PSU...nice and quiet. I used 2 x 1GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 running 1:1 with FSB. Intel E6600 OC'd to 2.57 and undervolted at 1.175. Stays right around 30C for normal use and 39 or so under heavy load, which is irrelevant since the most load it will ever see is about 11% when playing .x264 movie from HDD.

I use one Maxtor 320GB HD and will add more as needed. I made three partitions on the drive...one 10GB partition for OS and apps...one 3GB partition for paging file...and the rest for storage. The case holds six HDD's, but I cut up one of the HDD cages for better air flow, so I can only have three unless I put one in the unused 5.25 bay. Mobo I had on hand was P5B Dlx WiFi. I removed the WiFi card and ran a 25ft cat6 cable to my router.

I got this video card and so far I am very happy with it. It runs constantly at 40C. Not OCd at all. I don't know really what is an acceptable temp for vid card. I do not yet have a tuner card as I am waiting for a card that can capture in true HD format using QAM tuner.

All of this is attached to my Olevia 237T LCD running at 1360x768 resolution. I used the HDMI for the vid card and disabled the audio for it. I got an Auzen X Plosion for sound and use the SPDIF to my Logitech Z5500 Digital speaker system.

Oh... the price that I estimated did not include the LCD or the speakers, just the HTPC itself.
 
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