I'm currently running a little Zotac Celeron/Ion box for my HTPC, but it gets a little overwhelmed when it's doing Sab post processing, so it will be getting relegated to the lounge for wife/xbmc duties.

I'm building up another from bits, roughly it's :

Currently Got
MSI Motherboard
Intel Core2Duo CPU
4GB DDR2 Ram
500GB Sata II hard drive

Planned Purchases
Black Gold Quad Tuner (Freesat/Freeview)
Gelid Syberian Cooler
Scythe Slipstream 120mm Fans x2

Unsure Purchases

Here's the bit I'm not sure about is the graphics powering the thing.
Do I go ATI or Nvidia?
The two I'm looking at are the Sapphire 6570 Fanless
and the Zotac Fanless GT430


I'm planning on running XBMC, Sabnzbd, Sickbeard, uTorrent, Couch Potato and Headphones on this system, running 24x7 connected to an Onkyo SR-TX308 Amplifier.  The TV will run 720p/1080i, and most of my media is 720p.

Is it just going to be a case of get either card, it'll be more than up to the job?

So long as the CPU is over 2GHz everything is looking good IMO.

I have an Nvidia 210 in my HTPC which are about 20 quid (you really don't need anything more tbh) and it handles 1080p fine.

Seeing you are getting a DVB card have a play with Mediaportal it is far better than XBMC imo

Quote from: Shaun on November 16, 2011, 23:39:45 PM
So long as the CPU is over 2GHz everything is looking good IMO.

I have an Nvidia 210 in my HTPC which are about 20 quid (you really don't need anything more tbh) and it handles 1080p fine.

Seeing you are getting a DVB card have a play with Mediaportal it is far better than XBMC imo

I'm not sure what ghz the chip is yet, I won a badly listed "Msi Motherboad and core2duo processer" for £20. 50 plus post.
With the graphics, and my wife has decided that she wants my desktop in the study so I may be wanting to do some gaming on this too.
If it's low ghz then I'll swap it out for the c2q 6600 from my desktop into this.
I'd rather have more power than I need than just enough.

Sent from my Iconia using Tapatalk

I went for the 6570, just placed my order.

Sent from my Acer Iconia A500 using Tapatalk

So, the near final spec is....

Intel Core2Duo 6600 (2.4ghz Conroe)
MSI 7277 Motherboard
4GB DDR2 Ram
AMD 6570 Fanless Graphics Card
Black Gold Quad FreesatHD/Freeview HD Tuner
500GB HDD

I'll be ordering a different DVD drive, as the one that's in there currently is some naff CD-RW
Would have ordered one today, but decided to replace the WINPOWER Psu with a 430w Corsair Builder v2.

Now pretty much built, recieved my Scyth 120mm fans, magnetic fan filter, silent cooler, graphics card and Blu Ray drive.



It's nearly silent.  Can't hear it above the noise of the Nas boxes.
Ordered some Akasa case dampning stuff from Maplin just to lower it a bit more.
Otherwise, I'm impressed!

Quote from: soopahfly on November 24, 2011, 18:30:07 PM
magnetic fan filter

is the filter any good ?

I could do with some on my water cooling rad... fans on 5v don;t blow enough to shift the dust so it just piles up

Seems good so far, nice fine mesh.
Not sure how much use it will be as I have unscrew the fascia to get to it.

Most bits from quietpc

Sent from my Acer Iconia A500 using Tapatalk

the software for tuner card.... can it run softcams like cccam?

I'm not sure, I was going to ask you about that

Quote from: soopahfly on November 25, 2011, 07:16:11 AM
I'm not sure, I was going to ask you about that

well... whats the software backend?

Dunno yet. It's not in Stock for a couple of weeks.
The drivers are bda supposedly.

i meant what you plan on using as software to receive channels.
been a longtime since I done sat on a PC - i use a dreambox now.

ProgDVB & MyTheatre was the main 2 all them years ago

Was planning on using xbmc with mythtv.
Tried using media portal, but it looks naff.

http://dolot.kipdola.com/wiki/Install_SASC-NG