[Phrenetical]

OK been a while in posting the finished the finished results of my Filserver/HTPC rig, mainly because iv had a few expensive set backs or havn't been happy with the quality of the rig up until now.

HTPC 1.0 was

CPU: 3.0c @ 3.4
Ram: 768mb genric ddr's (non dual)
MB: GB 8IK1100
Cooler : Gigabyte 3D cooler
Optical: DVD writer cd burner combo drive black.
HDD's : 80gb os + 1*200gb, 1*250gb

Sound: generic sound card with 5.1
TV: Fusion Lite HDTV tuner with remote
Display: 19' crt + Optoma SVGA DLP HDTV projector (3200$ AU) <-- the big part was this, dual display was cool


* Now the sad story, after about 6 months it became unstable, the CPU had to be clocked back to stock.
* non dual channel ram sucked
* 500GB was filled up in under 5 months from downloads and CD;s
* Generic sound card couldnt do 5.1 properly, sounded terrible

***** 3200 projector was destroyed by a cockroach which crawled into the power supply and fried the unit only 3 months out of warranty.

how random is that?



Fileserve/HTPC 2.0

CPU: 3.0c @ 3.15 stable
Ram: 2*256 genric ddr's (dual)
MB: GB 8IK1100
Cooler : Gigabyte 3D cooler
Optical: DVD writer cd burner combo drive black.
HDD's : 80gb os + 1*160gb, 1*250gb, 1*300gb, 2*320gb = 1.33 TB

Sound: Creative audigy 7.1 - 5.1 speakers and kickass sub with remote
TV: Fusion Lite HDTV tuner with remote

Display: Proview 22" widescreen LCD, 5ms, 85/85 viewing angle (499 AU) <-- this thing is kick ass


Piccies of finished HTP 2.0

Desktop:
http://www.theshadownest.com.au/link...top_active.jpg
http://www.theshadownest.com.au/link...top_closed.jpg

Setup:
http://www.theshadownest.com.au/links/htpc_1.jpg
http://www.theshadownest.com.au/links/htpc_3.jpg
http://www.theshadownest.com.au/links/htpc_2.jpg


Im totally stoaked with this setup now, no worrying baout replacing a 600$ globe in DLP projector, no huge CRT!, great sound, plenty of space for the moment. and the new lcd is absolutly amazing for HDTV and movies etc...



The pc is silent as a ghost also, thats good for having 6*80mm fans, 6*hdd's, 1 dvd burner and everything else in it. The case is totally maxed out, but i have managed to keep air flow pretty darn good.

Temps 30 idle 38c load, HDD's all below 40c the ones at front with 2*80mm fans over them are about 30c

HDD's are 2*sata, 3*IDE, 1*optical dvd, 1*external IDE <-- maxed MB capacity cept for another external.

[Phrenetical]

I should also note, this is all powerd by one Antec Blue 480W PSU

Was unstable in my main rig while overclocking past 3.6 on the pressy, but apparently handles this setup perfectly.

Vid card is a radeon 9000 pro2 128mb ddr, so you definently dont need kick ass video cards for HTPC's this guy handles everything i do to it just fine. No noise either.

[Seven]

Very very nice.

By the way, what desktop mods are you using? The interface is quite meaty, but also very very clean. I approve.

Can you take an exterior shot?
7

[Phrenetical]

Sorry what do you mean by exterior shot bro?

No desktop mods, as in installing anything. I use the old, 'uxtheme.dll hack with SP2. if you dont know what i mean, you basically get the proper uxtheme.dll from web, boot to safe mode, replace it, reboot, now you can install a rnage of themes without SP2 having a fit.

The theme is called Graphite, i got it ages and ages ago, try googling it else if you really want it i can post a link to it from my site for a while.

The desktop is a modded picture. the original is form a guy named steve truett, www.stevetruett.com then click wallpapers.