New to HTPC (sorta)

Theocnoob said:

PS While im not looking ot bust the bank I'm looking for the best Quality I can get not worried much about the cost.

-You want silence or as near as possible

My response is based on the above so we're going with the very highest range of components. If you want to trim it can be done, of course.

Your CPU will be more than sufficient for your needs.


My suggestion

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112147
Lian Li HTPC case, $200

I couldn't find any boards in the higher end that I like in stock at newegg for 775 after a quick search. If you could find something like a P5Q-E or Pro, that'd be great. Gigabyte also makes great boards. Those two are people's usual favorites. I have a P5Q-E that I've had for two years and I'm very happy with it. Make sure to go with a P45, ICH10R as you don't need any extra SLI/Crossfire abilities and it's a good solid chipset. Those are the north and south bridges, respectively, and one of the last-gen 775 chipsets.


Aaaand now I can't get into the newegg server...

Sorry the rest of this will be linkless..

If you ever want to change from the bose companion 5 to a non-usb speaker system, get an Auzentech Meridien soundcard. The V2 just came out. Spectacular and IMO untouchable in it's price range for analog out.

An 8800 will perform all of the tasks that you require. It'll be quite cheap right now as well. The later G92 core versions (8800GTS512, 8800GT) should honestly be good enough. Just make sure you're decoding blurays in hardware.

Given that your budget is 'whatever works', and that you need a better powersupply, why not get something like a Corsair HX850? It has way more power than you currently need, so if you ever wanted to move to a much more powerful PC you could, and it's modular, so you don't have extra un-necessary cables in your machine. Or even go to the Corsair top end fully modular PSU's. Why not?

Silence wise I would go for something like a Noctua flat body rather than tower style cooler as their fans are the quietest per RPM that I have heard so far. They're brown, but you won't notice that. I would say get something like a Corsair H70 and you won't need to run the fans high at all but where would you mount the radiator on that HTPC case and have it look nice... I don't know.

If you just use all noctua fans on every available fan mount in that case and run them all on low you won't hear much of anything.

Personally if I were to build an HTPC right now I'd use an ITX or micro ATX board but you didn't mention that so I just went with ATX.

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thobel said:

I'm more concerned with the 8800 GT not being DX11 etc. Does it do hardware acceleratoin for blueray? I know almost nothing about Home theater so I just want to make sure it will play blueray and all with no stutters etc.

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Maverick0984 said:

You don't need hardware acceleration with that CPU. Unless you are going to be doing tons of encoding, that CPU is way overkill. I would suggest a much lower powered CPU which would be easier to keep cool.

Well I have the CPU laying around seems like a waste to buy a new one and throw a QX9650 in a closet?

TBH, I would get a mATX board with HDMI out that bundles the 5.1/7.1 in with the HDMI and a middle of the road dual core.

For a home theather setup would you suggest a onboard sound solution?

There isn't really a reason for a discrete graphics card unless you are doing very specific things.

Netflix, WMC, Music, Blueray etc no gaming or anything on this box

What are your uses?

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TheQuadFather said:

you will have a difficult time cooling that QX9650 silently, best of swapping it out for a dual of low power quad as already mentioned, if your stuck on keeping it ask some questions in the cpu area about undervolting and underclocking, that will help you lower your cooling needs meaning you can keep your cooler/fans on low speeds hope this has helped a tiny bit

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deathman20 said:

That CPU is waaay overkill for something like this. A lower powered quad or maybe even a dual core with a GPU dedicated for Blu-Ray decoding would do the trick. Even some newer lower powered GPU's will do the trick for decoding 1080P and be quiet.

yeah for the GPU I guess I'm looking for something that will last awile I'm not so worried about sound over hdmi since I use optical at the moment. In the past I would use my old gaming cards to upgrade my other pc's I have 3 GTX 280's 3 GTX 480's and soon 3 GTX 580's non of them seem right for a HTPC

As for the power supply, with a low powered system, that you want quiet and to keep still cool, a 400W PSU will probably be way more than enough to do it. Got a Corsair 400Watter in my server and its quiet, runs nicely and still even then its way overkill for the rig. The rig in my sig pulls 90W full tilt at the outlet, otherwise its typically in the 40-50W range.

Oh and sell that CPU and put that toward the cost of the HTPC.

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thobel said:

Undervolting/clocking would be an option I figure at stock with a H70 Temps would be fine at acceptable noise.



I think the current PC with the Qx9650 (Dell XPS 420) has like a 400-450 PS Anyone know if its a normal PS or some nutty Dell setup?

I never sell my stuff tried one time I got calls from people asking if I would trade for a wedding dress, Some clothes all kinds of crazy people no one wanted to just pay for it and if they did they offered $20 when I was asking $200 I rather throw it in the closet and then to the garbage every 2 years or so.

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deathman20 said:

People here on the forums would likely buy it. Selling stuff on here is the best and safest way to trade items IMO.

As for the PSU it might be a custom dell one. I know they use to have special motherboard power layouts, though not sure if it still exists.

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