Kunal, looking to do this myself in 8-12 weeks.

Have been looking to get the Silverstone LC11 and also pondering one of the OriginAE cases.
Been looking to get either a Core Duo T2500 or E6400 been waiting to see the results of a test between the two both speed and power/heat.
Also thinking of getting the terratec card.

Theres a great dual core roundup at Xbitlabs that covers (in part) heat/power usage.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2duo-shootout.html

From hunting around and reading user comments, I wouldnt suggest the Terratec card any more, seems quite a few people on various boards have had several issues with it.

Ive also gone of the Dvico FusionHDTV Dual DVB-T.... one of the tuners go through USB, so once youve plugged the PCI card in youve got to wire up the USB either internally or externally for the second tuner. No point going for a solution like that when proper dual tuners are starting to hit the market with much smaller chips on board.

Such as the Hauppage Nova-T 500. Bit difficult to get hold off (only OEM for now), the only place you can nab one is through Scan who started to list it a few days ago, and who say theyll have a shipment next week.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=435230

Heres the datasheet for the card...

http://www.newmagic.com.au/support/Files/Hauppauge_MCE_NOVAT_500MCE_eu.pdf

Quote from: Kunal

Quote from: sexytwHave you thought about using an actual old amp or AV reciever as a case? In the July issue of Personal Computer World there was an article where they built a HTPC on a buget. They used an old AV reciever and it worked really well.

They are well ventilated, the older ones are big enough and a broken one can be picked up for < Ã,£20 or free.

A bit of dremmeling is needed for the motherboard backplate and a little bit of drilling for the motherboard mounts. But it all worked like a charm.

I cant find it online anywhere. IT was Personal Computer World July 2006, Build a Media PC.

Thats a great idea Would love something a bit retro  :mrgreen:  

I saw this as well, looked fairly easy, unfortunately I just threw out that magazine so I dont have it to send to you but if you contact VNU publications im pretty damn sure you can order a back issue of it

Ive been hunting for faulty/broken AV equipment, although a) I havent found much, b) what I have found isnt great

Ideally, Id like an old chunky power amp from the likes of Rotel or Arcam, as their kit looks fairly understated. Being a power amp as well, it wouldnt have any other buttons on the front. I could then cut a slot in the front for the DVD drive and itd be near perfect

Did the article mention any pointers on good places to source stuff like this? Ive placed a few wanted ads and been looking on eBay mostly.

Thats a point, need to place an ad here...

Not really, but Ebay, Gumtree, FreeCycle are the places Id look as well as free ads. Or browsing the AV Forums sales listings

Aye, been looking through AVForums daily. Hopefully somethingll turn up.

I think Ive hammered a spec out (keep in mind Ill probably buy/build this in late August or September).

Core 2 Duo E6400 (2.13GHz/2Mb) - Undecided on which cooler to go with, depending on height of the case I end up using.
Gigabyte GA-965-DQ6 - Review : VR-Zone
2 x 512Mb Crucial XMS2 DDRII-800
Hauppage Nova-T 500 dual DVB-T PCI
Seagate 7200.10 320Gb
Seasonic S12-430 PSU (or maybe an M12-500 if the new series is out by then and proves to be better/quieter)

Im not sure what to do about the graphics card though  :?  Originally I was planning on getting a 7900GT 256Mb VIVO, as they can be found for Ã,£160-180 ish now and fitting a Zalman VF900-Cu to keep it quiet. But the problem here is DirectX10. Essentially I want this system to be Vista ready (damn MS), and I dont really want to buy a graphics card that isnt DX10 compatible seeing as they should be coming out soon surely.

Anyone have ideas on when we can expect DX10 cards?

Processor aint all that important for a HTPC - my old one was an xp2500+ and played HDTV perfectly.

Make sure and get a proper home cinema soundcard - something like the HDA Digital X-Mystique. Proper dolby.

Quote from: BXGTi16VProcessor aint all that important for a HTPC - my old one was an xp2500+ and played HDTV perfectly.

Make sure and get a proper home cinema soundcard - something like the HDA Digital X-Mystique. Proper dolby.

From what Ive read on the AVForums BBC-HD DVB-T thread a bit of proccessor oomph is need for the trial signal to play properly. Either way its one of the lower spec 2mb L2 cache Core 2 Duos which come in for Ã,£180. Should take care of all my re-encoding needs as well.


Do you think I should go for such a sound card when the motherboard has the following onboard?

    * Intel High Definition Audio (Azalia)
    * Realtek ALC888 DD HD Audio CODEC
    * Supports Dolby Digital Live and DTS ES
    * Optical and coaxial S/PDIF

That HDA Digital X-Mystique looks interesting, not too expensive either.

what kind of software are you thinking of running ?

Ive thought a lot about buildint a HTCP, but Id really want one that I can take full control of from my seat on the sofa using a remote.. nice an simple point and click stuff.

it would be nice to be able to watch one channel and record another etc...  have things recorded and easily accesible so I can just tell it the programs I like, then watch them when I get a chance.

I built a silent (watercooled) system years ago for watching films on... but tbh I was never really that impressed with it.

Quote from: knightywhat kind of software are you thinking of running ?

Primary Windows MCE (XP then Vista). It comes with and can be controlled through a remote. Seems to work quite well from what Ive seen. TBH thisll be my starting point, once I get the system up and running Ill experiment with all the other packages out there; there really are loads of em!

Ive found the following site/forum to be useful in finding out about the various packages/apps out there;

http://www.htpcnews.com/

Read a few reviews of the HDA sound card, and while it does look fantastic the main/only feature Id need from it is already present on the Gigabyte motherboard - Dolby Digital Live encoding.

I hadnt really appreciated what that was before, but now Im definitely excited  

Mini-update.

After reading up on loads of different components, I decided on the spec I wanted to go for.... only problem is the motherboard I wanted wasnt even available yet! Luckily that all changed today. So heres my final spec for the HTPC, its all ordered, should have it all to put together for next weekend.

Antec Fusion HTPC case - The accoustic/thermal properties of this case are excellent, plus the 430w Antec NeoHE PSU that comes with is actually made by Seasonic. Thing is it only accepts MATX boards so I had to scrap the original plan of using the Gigabyte GA-P965-DQ6 - a shame, since its one of the best boards Ive seen in a while... not only did it have Dolby Digital Live, but also DTS Connect onboard! Never mind, ended up going for the....

Intel Media Series DG965OT - Just showed up as in stock today, its a ViiV compliant MATX board with DirectX10 compliant onboard graphics (Intel GMA X3000), that also does hardware HD processing, so itll do until G80/R600 turns up. It also has Dolby Digital Live onboard.

Core 2 Duo E6400 OEM

Zalman CNPS9500

Corsair XMS2-6400 2x512Mb

Western Digital WD5000KS 500Gb SE16 - Never bought a WD before, but after the great review it got over at SilentPCReview, I thought itd be ideal for the lounge, where it needs to be quiet.

And Ill be using the hauppauge Nova T-500 dual DVB-T controller that I already have.

Will post pictures of the build next weekend.

Are you not using any kind of additional graphics to the onboard?

Can I ask an extimate of the total cost of this system for you (in the DVB-T controller).

Looks like the top end of the scale for HTPCs, hope it goes together without problems!

Quote from: sexytwAre you not using any kind of additional graphics to the onboard?

Can I ask an extimate of the total cost of this system for you (in the DVB-T controller).

Looks like the top end of the scale for HTPCs, hope it goes together without problems!

Originally I thought Id go for something like the Nvidia 7900GT, but with DirectX 10 compatible cards only a few months away, I thought I might as well hold out. The onboard graphics use unified shaders which in part makes them DX10 compatible and also feature hardware HD processing, so it should have enough oomph to decode over the air HD singles plus handle Vistas top end display requirements. Nvidias G80 or ATIs R600, both being DX10 cards using unified shaders will hit the shelves before the year is out, so Ill upgrade to one of those when the times right.

The case, cpu, mobo, ram, cooler, hdd and tuner came to just over Ã,£700 including shipping. I suppose when I purchase a graphics card itll add another Ã,£150-200 to the cost, which sorta blows my budget of Ã,£750, another reason why I wanted to delay ordering the graphics card.

I put the system together a few weeks back, havent had time to reply though.

I knew the Zalman CNPS9500 wasnt going to fit, but I thought a bit of modding isnt a big deal as a directional cooler aimed towards the side 120s would work best. Its worth noting that from the top of the fans circumference theres a few mms clearance to the case lid! I found that this mod also requires some of the fin tail ends being snipped off, this is because when you bend them some interfere with the operation of the fan.

Heres pictures, before and after at different angles to give you an idea.




This system has me grinning a lot Both the 120mm fans and the CNPS9500s fan are running at 5v, so its near silent. The case is a dream to work with, so easy to organise, the cooling so well designed. The WD 500Gb is also excellent, very quiet for such a big drive.

The motherboard and Core2Duo performance is pretty astounding. It can deal with anything I can throw at it, and in a lot of ways matches the performance of my dual opteron. Idles at 32degC with load temps of 41DegC - pretty impressive with the fans all running at 5v. I realise without the graphics card its going to run cooler, but I dont think Ill have to up the voltage on the fans when I do install a card. Im going to wait for the ATI R600 and nVidia 8800 before deciding whether to go for one of those or a passive cooled 7950GT.

Onto actually using it as a media centre - I love it!  :mrgreen: The motherboard outputs using Dolby Digital Live, so now everything sounds great from Eastenders and the radio to Battlefield 2.

The latest Vista builds (5600 onwards) also work well, although Hauppage havent released a driver for the TV tuner which can actually scan and save channels. Once thats done I plan to switch over as the Media Centre that comes with Vista is far better.