Building my first HTPC

[uli2000]

I think I'm finally gonna do it. Ive been talking about building a HTPC for a while now, but it seems like everything's just falling together and now's the time to do it. I want to build something mostly for hd-dvd/bluray playback (looking at the LG combo drives). I have satellite and a dvr, so I dont need dvr capabilites, but would like to stream music and movies to this box from my other computers as well. As of right now, all I have is 4x1gb sticks of ddr2 667mhz ram. Ive seen a couple of mATX mobos that have 4 ram slots, but it looks like for the most part, its 2 slots for most boards. Is shelling out extra for the 4 ram slots going to help with the high def playback, or can I get by using 2gb only? Also, I was looking at boards based on Nvidia 630i chipset/7100 integrated graphics w/ hdmi out. Would this suffice for hi-def material? As for the audio, any way to either stream pcm/trueHD/DTS MA thru HDMI? If not, is there any sound card that can decode the newer high def sound formats and pass them thru 6 or 8 channel analog outs to my reciever? What would you reccomend as the best os for a htpc? Windows XP MCE, Vista HP/Ultimate, some form of linux?

Cliffs:

Want to build a HTPC.
Which mATX board to get?
Can I pass/decode TrueHD/DTS MA?
Which OS?

TIA

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: uli2000
I think I'm finally gonna do it. Ive been talking about building a HTPC for a while now, but it seems like everything's just falling together and now's the time to do it. I want to build something mostly for hd-dvd/bluray playback (looking at the LG combo drives). I have satellite and a dvr, so I dont need dvr capabilites, but would like to stream music and movies to this box from my other computers as well. As of right now, all I have is 4x1gb sticks of ddr2 667mhz ram. Ive seen a couple of mATX mobos that have 4 ram slots, but it looks like for the most part, its 2 slots for most boards. Is shelling out extra for the 4 ram slots going to help with the high def playback, or can I get by using 2gb only? Also, I was looking at boards based on Nvidia 630i chipset/7100 integrated graphics w/ hdmi out. Would this suffice for hi-def material? As for the audio, any way to either stream pcm/trueHD/DTS MA thru HDMI? If not, is there any sound card that can decode the newer high def sound formats and pass them thru 6 or 8 channel analog outs to my reciever? What would you reccomend as the best os for a htpc? Windows XP MCE, Vista HP/Ultimate, some form of linux?

Cliffs:

Want to build a HTPC.
Which mATX board to get?
Can I pass/decode TrueHD/DTS MA?
Which OS?

TIA

Budget!

You never listed.

Okey for me HTPC by definition mean:
1. Very quiet
2. Runs very cool
3. Little to No overclocking to keep temps, and down and also preserve quiet.


I have built several HTPC's. Some passive some with active. I even have one thats small uses the new Socket P merom processor, T7300. Run entirely on passive, and is super quiet.

Also i really dont see the point in 4gigs on this htpc if your running xp. Only X64 bit os's can support 4gigs.

So relist your budget and we'll start yelling components!

 

[uli2000]

lets say on the budget side, less than $500 (not including the hd-dvd/BR combo drive, and hopefully the memory I allready have I can use). I was thinking of using a e2160 as the cpu. Ive got a sff case in mind (ultra microfly that can usually be found on sale) but Im not opposed getting a 'real' htpc case.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: uli2000
lets say on the budget side, less than $500 (not including the hd-dvd/BR combo drive, and hopefully the memory I allready have I can use). I was thinking of using a e2160 as the cpu. Ive got a sff case in mind (ultra microfly that can usually be found on sale) but Im not opposed getting a 'real' htpc case.

the microfly will work. You can also use a scythe ninja mini, and put a low cfm 92mm fan on it.

Just make sure you dont intend on doing any heavy overclocking, and you can keep the system really quiet.

The board, which were you looking at? For hard drives, i recomend samsung's. There not the fastest, but certainly the quietest.


Personally im in love with this case as my next project.
http://www.directron.com/inovyb.html

The circle middle part lights up like this:
http://www.directron.com/inovypink.html


It only fits 1 optical, but the real beauty of it, is that its small and fits a full size atx board. Also fits a standard PSU. Put yates 80mm on the rear and it should be a real quiet performer.



Also just to note: You will need a C2D @ 2.0ghz to run 1080p H.264 Codec on HD smoothly. OR to run BlueRay. The only way around this would be the G92 GPU's which have hardware decoding. But that would mean the videocard alone is more then 1/2 your budget. :X

So i recomend you stepping up to its bigger brother the E2180

 

[mcveigh]

your receiver can't do SPDIF? I'd look at an M-audio revolution 5.1 then. I've had great success with my 7.1 (I am using SPDIF out though)