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Building an HTPC

russianboy

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Storage 4 mixed up drives
Display(s) Acer AL2216W 22"LCD
Case Generic noname crap
Audio Device(s) Realtec AC'97
Power Supply 500 watt Ultra PSU
Software Win2k Pro, XP, Ubuntu linux, and Vista
What kind of hardware do you guys recommend?

My budget is...inconclusive, basically I want a decent system, and if that means $200 fine, if it means $600, fine. But I'd like to keep it under $500.

We are using a standard TV at the moment, but we are planning to get a 1080P soon.

Stuff we will be using it for:
recording of LOTS of movie/tv material
internet browsing
burning DVDs of movies
gaming
music listening.



We have a TiVo system right now, and Direct TV, if that helps.

We HOPE that we don't have to install vista on it, so I suppose we will go with XP media center for now (unless there is a good alternative)

We have a case ordered, with remote.
 

hat

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Motherboard ASUS P8P67 Pro :: ASUS Prime H570-Plus
Cooling Cryorig M9 :: Stock
Memory 4x4GB DDR3 2133 :: 2x8GB DDR4 2400
Video Card(s) PNY GTX1070 :: Integrated UHD 630
Storage Crucial MX500 1TB, 2x1TB Seagate RAID 0 :: Mushkin Enhanced 60GB SSD, 3x4TB Seagate HDD RAID5
Display(s) Onn 165hz 1080p :: Acer 1080p
Case Antec SOHO 1030B :: Old White Full Tower
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro - Bose Companion 2 Series III :: None
Power Supply FSP Hydro GE 550w :: EVGA Supernova 550
Software Windows 10 Pro - Plex Server on Dragonfly
Benchmark Scores >9000
overclocking?
what's your preference between intel/amd nvidia/ati
 

russianboy

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Processor AMD 3500+ Venice at stock
Motherboard ECS K8T890-A
Memory 1 Gb Corsair Valueram CAS 3
Video Card(s) Connect3d X800 GTO OC'd to 551.25/551.25
Storage 4 mixed up drives
Display(s) Acer AL2216W 22"LCD
Case Generic noname crap
Audio Device(s) Realtec AC'97
Power Supply 500 watt Ultra PSU
Software Win2k Pro, XP, Ubuntu linux, and Vista
I am an AMD/ATi guy, and I don't wanna bother with overclocking.
 
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Memory 32gb Corsair Vengeance RT 3600 cl16
Video Card(s) Zotac 3070ti Amp Extreme
Storage Samsung 980pro 1tb x2
Display(s) MSI MPG321QRF QD
Case Corsair 7000D
Power Supply EVGA 1000 P2
Mouse G900
Keyboard Corsair k60 RGB PRO
Software Win 11
amd 690g based boards are a good proposition for a htpc (if youre thinking onboard graphics that is), along with an energy efficient athlon (less energy use = potentially quieter)
can you find links to the case?, or at least some ideas of whats possible with it i.e. matx/full atx, low profile/full size expansion slots, oh and if a psu is included in the case, what wattage it is
 

russianboy

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Processor AMD 3500+ Venice at stock
Motherboard ECS K8T890-A
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Video Card(s) Connect3d X800 GTO OC'd to 551.25/551.25
Storage 4 mixed up drives
Display(s) Acer AL2216W 22"LCD
Case Generic noname crap
Audio Device(s) Realtec AC'97
Power Supply 500 watt Ultra PSU
Software Win2k Pro, XP, Ubuntu linux, and Vista

russianboy

New Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2005
Messages
1,799 (0.27/day)
Processor AMD 3500+ Venice at stock
Motherboard ECS K8T890-A
Memory 1 Gb Corsair Valueram CAS 3
Video Card(s) Connect3d X800 GTO OC'd to 551.25/551.25
Storage 4 mixed up drives
Display(s) Acer AL2216W 22"LCD
Case Generic noname crap
Audio Device(s) Realtec AC'97
Power Supply 500 watt Ultra PSU
Software Win2k Pro, XP, Ubuntu linux, and Vista

hat

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System Name Starlifter :: Dragonfly
Processor i7 2600k 4.4GHz :: i5 10400
Motherboard ASUS P8P67 Pro :: ASUS Prime H570-Plus
Cooling Cryorig M9 :: Stock
Memory 4x4GB DDR3 2133 :: 2x8GB DDR4 2400
Video Card(s) PNY GTX1070 :: Integrated UHD 630
Storage Crucial MX500 1TB, 2x1TB Seagate RAID 0 :: Mushkin Enhanced 60GB SSD, 3x4TB Seagate HDD RAID5
Display(s) Onn 165hz 1080p :: Acer 1080p
Case Antec SOHO 1030B :: Old White Full Tower
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro - Bose Companion 2 Series III :: None
Power Supply FSP Hydro GE 550w :: EVGA Supernova 550
Software Windows 10 Pro - Plex Server on Dragonfly
Benchmark Scores >9000

russianboy

New Member
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Processor AMD 3500+ Venice at stock
Motherboard ECS K8T890-A
Memory 1 Gb Corsair Valueram CAS 3
Video Card(s) Connect3d X800 GTO OC'd to 551.25/551.25
Storage 4 mixed up drives
Display(s) Acer AL2216W 22"LCD
Case Generic noname crap
Audio Device(s) Realtec AC'97
Power Supply 500 watt Ultra PSU
Software Win2k Pro, XP, Ubuntu linux, and Vista
uhh...what about the tuner card?
 
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System Name Compy 386
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Cooling Air for now.....
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Storage Samsung 990 2TB, 2 SP 2TB SSDs and over 10TB spinning
Display(s) 56" Samsung 4K HDR
Audio Device(s) ATI HDMI
Mouse Logitech MX518
Keyboard Razer
Software A lot.
Benchmark Scores Its fast. Enough.
Get a barebones system. Then if you want to store movies, a raid card and some 500Gb drives will store many. HD2600, sound and video, vidoe decode onboard.



I am going to try out Windows Home Server here in a few days hopefully and will report back as to it being shit, or the shit.
 
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Storage Samsung 980pro 1tb x2
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Case Corsair 7000D
Power Supply EVGA 1000 P2
Mouse G900
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Software Win 11
Well, as you're an amd fan then i'd definately recommend one of the 690g boards, as they have many good htpc features (theres a chipset overview here: http://www.hothardware.com/articles/AMDs_690GV_Series_Chipset_Preview_And_Performance_Testing/ ) also worth noting is most boards with this chipset have hdmi AND svideo tv-out.
Samsung hard drives are usually the quietest (general consensus and personal opinion), and LG optical drives are usually the quietest (just a personal opinion, though they're certainly a good deal quieter than Asus, NEC (sony/optiarc), Liteon and Benq)
And yes, xp media centre is the best choice, easier to kill drm with (im SURE this is important to YOU :laugh:)
If you did want a dedicated graphics card then i'd suggest a HD2400/2600 (depending what level of gaming you want of course), their t.v. out functions much better than nvidia's (i have an 8 series nvidia and still use my ati x1800 for t.v. out as its much better, in driver options and , more importantly, picture quality)
 
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Memory 64GB DDR4-3000
Video Card(s) 2 x 1080Ti @ Stock for the moment (40oC LOAD)
Storage 960GB Mushkin Scorpion Deluxe and 2 x 512GB M.2 SSD RAID0
Display(s) Dual Curved LG 34" Display
Power Supply EVGA 1600W G2
Software Windows 10
Benchmark Scores ALOT
no vista?! What about Vista Home Premium which has a built in media center? Much better than the XP media center :)eugh:)
 

EnglishLion

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Benchmark Scores See my OC Blog @ http://www.rowan-house.net/
I'm running an AMD X2 3600+ as the basis of my media centre - using XP media centre and I'm very happy with it. The 3600+ is cheap, runs cool and has plenty of power for a media centre. It also supports 'cool n quiet' which is crucial for a media PC, you want to hear those movies over the fan noise I presume!
 
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Memory 32gb Corsair Vengeance RT 3600 cl16
Video Card(s) Zotac 3070ti Amp Extreme
Storage Samsung 980pro 1tb x2
Display(s) MSI MPG321QRF QD
Case Corsair 7000D
Power Supply EVGA 1000 P2
Mouse G900
Keyboard Corsair k60 RGB PRO
Software Win 11
no vista?! What about Vista Home Premium which has a built in media center? Much better than the XP media center :)eugh:)

this is russianboy were talking here, and media centre has less (and easier to disable completely) DRM
 

EnglishLion

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Storage Samsung 320Gb SATA2
Display(s) Samsung SM206BW 20" Widescreen TFT 1680x1050
Case Coolermaster Centurion 532
Audio Device(s) On board AC'97
Power Supply Hiper Type-R 580W
Software Windows Vista Home Premium
Benchmark Scores See my OC Blog @ http://www.rowan-house.net/
In fact I can recommend all the components in my system - see my sig
 
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ya Vista needs one arm and a leg and 16 brains to open a notepad:roll:
 

russianboy

New Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2005
Messages
1,799 (0.27/day)
Processor AMD 3500+ Venice at stock
Motherboard ECS K8T890-A
Memory 1 Gb Corsair Valueram CAS 3
Video Card(s) Connect3d X800 GTO OC'd to 551.25/551.25
Storage 4 mixed up drives
Display(s) Acer AL2216W 22"LCD
Case Generic noname crap
Audio Device(s) Realtec AC'97
Power Supply 500 watt Ultra PSU
Software Win2k Pro, XP, Ubuntu linux, and Vista
make that 32 brains, 1 gb is not enough to open firefox without something crashing on my pac :p
 
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