HTPC?

Qwikslver said:
The 4200 is more than powerful enough for your needs. Just get the cheapest dual core you can find. Although an Athlon II 435 is around R700 and you get 3cores.
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Thanks for your replay.
however, I did not specify my needs.....so you didn't answer my question.

if i got for the Asus MB , i would like to be able to play some games.

at the moment, it seems like i will get the zotac, so i'll use it as an htpc only.
 
remus786 said:
do you think i can add a sound card to remedy the digital sound issue or does the board fall short? i have the Samsung Omna HD so im not too sure if salling clicker supports symbian, il check it out. The Logitech Di Novo Mini is an awesome piece of tech but expensive, for now im testing out Ultra VNC to remote onto the main screen and use it to control the HTPC.

is there anything else that im missing other than a case?
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Sure you can add a sound card - no problem! Yeah looks good to go.
 
remus786 said:
Hi Guys, you chaps seem clued up and i didnt want to start a new thread.. what would i need for a basic HTPC? I currently have a few spare parts lying around and would like to use this instead of investing in new components. I have:

Intel Dual Core E5400 2.7ghz
4gigs DDR2 800 Ram
Gigabyte g31m Mobo (Microatx)
450w PSU
8600GT HDMI Graphics
LG DVD Writer

I need a HTPC case and anything else to enhance the experience here.. I also have a Pioneer LX 60 Amp and run my sound via the analogue stereo headphone jack. Do i need a sound card for digital audio?

Again apologies for the hijack.. your knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
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The Case I got was Cheap and does the job.. it also look very similar to a av revciever Coolermaster elite 360 (R285)
 
Rudimental said:
Ahh, sorry:

motherboard

case

Oh, and here is a review of the motherboard, where you can see all the features, since they aren't listed on Prophecy, and you can probably find it elsewhere, just used Prophecy as a first stop.
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mmm not a to bad looking case. That thing next to the cdrom almost looks like a ir receiver. Nice in terms of putting in more than one HDD.
Also wouldn`t mind blu ray drive prices coming down a bit...

rsd said:
They have a new special - R3399 for this:
http://www.zotacusa.com/zotac-mag-hd-nd01.html

Just went and picked one up in Claremont. Very very good deal - has everything I need. Can always add a slim external dvd writer down the line if I feel the need.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!
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Wow that is nice, b.e.a.utiful i would love one of those next to my 42' LCD. Can one manually change 160GB the HDD to a TB ?

Silly question, but how do you connect the 'Onboard 8-channel Digital Audio' to your media theater system ? if you just have
an amp with 5.1 speakers etc.

Also how well does it run games? Will you be able to play some not so demanding stuff?
 
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Yeah sure you can upgrade the hard drive! Or just get an external USB HD. As for gaming - it kind of sucks because of the Intel Atom processor. The nVidia ION graphics are decent, though. Forget about any new games, but older less demanding games will run fine.
 
does it take 3.5" drives? how many drives 1 or 2? this would be ideal for me, but i have 2x1TB drives 3.5" that i could use if it fits in there.
 
I would be intrested to see if boxee tv is gonna be well priced and available here...

There seems to be a generic thing of only bringing one set of audio RCA stereo jacks, why :confused:
mmm... HDMI only with RCA stereo :wtf:
With the optical audio out I must be missing something
 
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ingeon said:
I would be intrested to see if boxee tv is gonna be well priced and available here...
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Looks cool, but I've tried out their software a while ago, not very good. You need a fast internet connection for most of it to work well. Media Centre software like MediaPortal works much better.
 
I'm investigating building a similar media player htpc setup. I'm busy at work until July, but then will have some time on my hands to do a bit of experimentation.

The Zotac boards are really expensive though, and the cases available in SA are a bit ****e for HTPC usage imo.

I found this board as another option for the Zotac board: http://asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=xrR7wto9Z5BL42aU
Sells for around $160 in the US.
I'd like a case like this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/APEX-MI100-BLAC...ultDomain_0?hash=item35a245d5a4#ht_5117wt_939
I'd like to fit a Blu-ray drive and a reasonably sized hdd.

I'm looking at XBMC and Boxee as software solutions, running over linux.
 
rsd said:
They have a new special - R3399 for this:
http://www.zotacusa.com/zotac-mag-hd-nd01.html

Just went and picked one up in Claremont. Very very good deal - has everything I need. Can always add a slim external dvd writer down the line if I feel the need.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!
Click to expand...

Any feedback on this? I'm thinking of getting one and would like to know if you think it was good value for money.
 
ingeon said:
mmm not a to bad looking case. That thing next to the cdrom almost looks like a ir receiver. Nice in terms of putting in more than one HDD.
Also wouldn`t mind blu ray drive prices coming down a bit...



Wow that is nice, b.e.a.utiful i would love one of those next to my 42' LCD. Can one manually change 160GB the HDD to a TB ?

Silly question, but how do you connect the 'Onboard 8-channel Digital Audio' to your media theater system ? if you just have
an amp with 5.1 speakers etc.

Also how well does it run games? Will you be able to play some not so demanding stuff?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the delayed, waiting for a new phone line :) PM me with specific questions if you want me to get back to you quickly.

The CPU is not really up to standard for gaming. I'm very happy using it with XBMC and Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit flies on it. I have it connected to my amp via SPDIF / digital optical audio / toslink (different names for the same thing).
 
hschutte said:
Any feedback on this? I'm thinking of getting one and would like to know if you think it was good value for money.
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I am waiting for mine...should take a week or 2 (:-( !)
Will post some feedback once i get it
 
A little off the OP's question but, I would suggest XBMC for media that is not streamed. If you have the time build it from scratch in your favorite linux distro, but you can just click and go in windows. Currently running (and just set it up this weekend) the following with XBMC:

Ubuntu (tried mint but couldn't get the XBMC build to run) on an old AMD64 3500+ with 2 gig ram. Also has a 6800 with DVI out (got a dvi to hdmi cable). I am yet to try 1080p video but any 720p vid i have thrown at it runs smooth. I rate the chip won't handle full HD tho. I have the coolermaster 360 case (linked somewhere above) and its quite nice. Its the smallest case i could find that takes a full ATX (if you do go full atx please realize it is VERY difficult to fit everything in there). Got the machine booting and starting XBMC immediately and have it shutting down thru XBMC. Quite cool. Looking to get some sort of remote, but since this has been a VERY budget build (me mainly recycle stuff i have lying around) I am not looking to spend more than 200 to 250. I do have a bluetooth dongle, so that might be an option.

Found this very cool post online where this guy guides you through a HTPC setup, incl all the hardware he bought. He seems to have gone XBMC as well.

http://lifehacker.com/5391308/build-a-silent-standalone-xbmc-media-center-on-the-cheap

I like the little ION machine he bought, and its quite cheap in the US.

You can also use the machine for streaming (XBMC might be able to handle that as well).
 
I sent this to hschutte in a PM as a response to his question about how the Zotac Mag is working out for me. Thought I might as well post it here for others' benefit:

I'm very happy with it. There was an issue with HDMI hot swapping. I.e. pluggin in/unpluggin an HDMI cable while the pc is on, but I updated to the latest BIOS version and that sorted it out. (Let me know if you get one and need to do this, as I had to find the flash software separately as a result of my operating system)

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit on it and it works flawlessly. Gets a good score on the build in benchmark thing, except for the CPU, but that's not a huge surprise.

I'm running XBMC on it and have it connected to a 32" samsung LCD. Works perfectly and outputs the native resolution of the LCD. The wireless networking seems to work well, optical digital audio is good.

If I had to find something wrong with it I would say the fan can get a bit loud at times when you are doing CPU/ graphics intensive stuff. Small package so nowhere for the heat to go I guess.

If I was presented with the same choice again I would buy it without a second's hesitation. It's perfect for what I'm doing with it. (HTPC)
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