HTPC 1.0

First and foremost: Ive been meaning to do this for awhile now, but never found the time. The complete package was built based on a wonderful guide over at AVS.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14239742#post14239742

With Silence and pico-PSU fashions provided by
http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/

We start off with the Case, mine was purchased directly from Antec in there B stock. It is a Antec NSK2400. It is an identical case as Antec NSK2480 but without a power supply.



The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H
(NVIDIA 9400 mATX HDMI 8 channel LPCM)
*Went with the Nvidia 9400 cause I own a yamaha reciever and ATI has yet to fix it HDMI handshaking issue

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128363

Processor is a Core 2 Duo E5200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072

Cooled by a Mini Ninja
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article754-page1.html

Corsair 400CX as my PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008

*I have a picopsu sitting here on my desk, (for months) one of these days I will install it. They say its louder than a PSU cause of the fan on the adapter.

http://www.mini-box.com/picoPSU-150...91008fff5700f04f.e3eSch4MaN4Re34Pa38Ta38Och90

Review
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article601-page1.html

Software:
Just installed Win 7 pro RTM. I had XP Pro on there. I may end up going back if I have any XDVA issues.

Mediaportal
http://www.team-mediaportal.com/

Plug-ins
StreamedMP which contains, MovingPicture and TVseries
http://code.google.com/p/streamedmp/wiki/Gallery?tm=6


All controlled by a Harmony 720


I think that about sums it up. If anyone has any questions or any comments feel free to post or PM me. I plan on typing up a "how to" on how to configure MediaPortal with XDVA for most modern videocards.

I agree with LS - get some pics up! I'm on the verge of building an extremely similar unit - based on that same (extremely comprehensive!) guide @ AVS.

That motherboard is no longer available from Newegg or ZZF so I'm leaning towards the following build:

nMediaPC HTPC 1000B (I want to get the Antec Black Fusion but the strip of silver on the front bezel just looks bad to me and would not match all my other components in the rack).

ASUS P5N7A-VM

Corsair CMPSU-400CX

Core 2 Duo E5200

G.SKILL 2GB DDR2 PC6400

LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA Model iHOS104-06

I'd really like to know your thoughts on your build since mine would be so similar! I already have a 4TB WHS full of content waiting to be played on this unit. It will be connected to my Onkyo 805 receiver via HDMI (hoping it will pass LPCM without issue) and video then goes to my Epson 6100 projector and 120" screen.

I too plan to utilize Windows 7 and MediaPortal. I also have a Harmony 890 and Windows Media Center remote, looking to add an inexpensive wireless keyboard and mouse later on.

Mr. Chambers said:

I agree with LS - get some pics up! I'm on the verge of building an extremely similar unit - based on that same (extremely comprehensive!) guide @ AVS.

That motherboard is no longer available from Newegg or ZZF so I'm leaning towards the following build:

nMediaPC HTPC 1000B (I want to get the Antec Black Fusion but the strip of silver on the front bezel just looks bad to me and would not match all my other components in the rack).

ASUS P5N7A-VM

Corsair CMPSU-400CX

Core 2 Duo E5200

G.SKILL 2GB DDR2 PC6400

LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA Model iHOS104-06

I'd really like to know your thoughts on your build since mine would be so similar! I already have a 4TB WHS full of content waiting to be played on this unit. It will be connected to my Onkyo 805 receiver via HDMI (hoping it will pass LPCM without issue) and video then goes to my Epson 6100 projector and 120" screen.

I too plan to utilize Windows 7 and MediaPortal. I also have a Harmony 890 and Windows Media Center remote, looking to add an inexpensive wireless keyboard and mouse later on.

Click to expand...

I am very interested too. I have the same receiver and similar projector setup that I am looking into HTPC for. I have been very intrigued by the 5xxx video cards with the improved sound capabilities but I have not seen anyone putting them to work in a similar configuration to the one I have. It would be nice also to have an alternative monitor out so I do not have to fire up the projector if I am just listening to music, etc.

Mr. Chambers said:

I agree with LS - get some pics up! I'm on the verge of building an extremely similar unit - based on that same (extremely comprehensive!) guide @ AVS.

That motherboard is no longer available from Newegg or ZZF so I'm leaning towards the following build:

nMediaPC HTPC 1000B (I want to get the Antec Black Fusion but the strip of silver on the front bezel just looks bad to me and would not match all my other components in the rack).

ASUS P5N7A-VM

Corsair CMPSU-400CX

Core 2 Duo E5200

G.SKILL 2GB DDR2 PC6400

LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA Model iHOS104-06

I'd really like to know your thoughts on your build since mine would be so similar! I already have a 4TB WHS full of content waiting to be played on this unit. It will be connected to my Onkyo 805 receiver via HDMI (hoping it will pass LPCM without issue) and video then goes to my Epson 6100 projector and 120" screen.

I too plan to utilize Windows 7 and MediaPortal. I also have a Harmony 890 and Windows Media Center remote, looking to add an inexpensive wireless keyboard and mouse later on.

Click to expand...

it looks like another awesome build!! btw, it shouldn't have HDMI problem (but do use the older 185.85 driver instead of the newer 19x.xx as there's quite a bit report that 19x driver is problematic!).

Thanks LandShark - the only thing (from what I can tell) this won't be able to do is bitstream - however I'm not certain I could tell the difference between LPCM and bitstreamed audio anyway to be honest. I could always add a dedicated video card later to add this capability.

I'm also toying with the idea of adding HD TV-Tuners, but that down the road for sure!

[edit] Now I'm wondering if it would be wiser for me to simply take the old E6300 I have in my current desktop rig, throw it in the HTPC and get a newer/faster processor for my main rig. I don't do terribly too much gaming lately and my video card would likely be the bottleneck before my processor would.. I digress...

Mr. Chambers said:

Thanks LandShark - the only thing (from what I can tell) this won't be able to do is bitstream - however I'm not certain I could tell the difference between LPCM and bitstreamed audio anyway to be honest. I could always add a dedicated video card later to add this capability.

I'm also toying with the idea of adding HD TV-Tuners, but that down the road for sure!

[edit] Now I'm wondering if it would be wiser for me to simply take the old E6300 I have in my current desktop rig, throw it in the HTPC and get a newer/faster processor for my main rig. I don't do terribly too much gaming lately and my video card would likely be the bottleneck before my processor would.. I digress...

Click to expand...

For the most part, you dont need a huge and powerful processor. If you have a modern video card, or even the more modern onboard they can handle the XDVA and the processor just sits mostley idle. As of right now, you will only get LPCM but you will NOT notice a difference. For example with my old PS3. it could only do LPCM, but my new slim does bitstream. What does this do for me? Nothing other than light up the audio button on the reciever. It says for example instead of the "LPCM" light coming on, its say "DTS" for example.

Win 7 and mediaportal with "plugins" are working fine on my end. I dont use WHS cause I need somewhere to back up over 5TB cause WHS will format the drives. I just use a simple server using shared folders.

Thanks for the info jstutman. I actually placed my order for those parts this morning so we'll see what happens.

Pictures finally added. I will also be writing a article explaining the build involved with the htpc.