htpc ?? would this work?

[VINKRILLZZ]

im looking to build a htpc that will just be for playing 1080p movie files...thru hdmi on my panny 58" plasma...

i have a couple questions

1. do i need a video and sound card if my mother board has hdmi out....and is the onboard geforce 9400 enough to play hd 1080p

2. is there things in my setup i dont need....this is gonna cost 1000$ was looking to spend less....any suggestions would help..

3. would i get audio thru the hdmi out also ?


this is the setup i came up with...

Antec Black Aluminum / Steel Fusion Remote Black Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9400 HDMI Micro ATX
Intel Core 2 Duo E7300
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB)
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
LITE-ON Black 6X Blu-Ray DVD ROM & 16X DVD±R DVD Burner SATA
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1

any good ..... too much ... not enough ???...


thanx in advance for helping

 

[JAG87]

Hi,

1. You don't need anything, the motherboard outputs both video and audio through HDMI. What you need to worry about is the connection for setting it up, you will have to use either VGA or DVI before the drivers are installed. The 9400 is plenty to playback 1080 24p. Hook yourself up with PowerDVD 8 and MPC HC with dxva.

2. I think you have chosen your parts very well. Not too fond of the case you picked, but hey its subjective. You can actually drop the CPU to E5200 and save a few bucks, the difference will be negligible.

3. You will get audio through HDMI. Beware though, Dolby TrueHD and DTS MA bit streams will not pass through. I am pretty sure you can decode them to multichannel PCM with PowerDVD and then shoot them out through HDMI to your receiver. The result should be identical.

You've done good homework mate, good job!

 

[VINKRILLZZ]

thanx for the input.......any suggestions on a better case.....that comes with a remote....i hear some after market remotes are a pain to install and dont work to great,.....could be wrong....

 

[The Boston Dangler]

check this site out.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/

right now, newegg has the lg blu ray player/dvd burner for $15 more than the lite-on. for your consideration, it's a proven product and it has 4MB cache instead of 2. maybe that matters, maybe not.

i hope you're not paying more than $40 for DDR2 800

i didn't notice a power supply listed...shame on you. 300 - 350W seasonic power supplies are available for $30 - $50. 300W is more than enough.

the wd caviar black 1TB is $120. for $15 less, the wd green 1TB EACS is much quieter. i suggest using 2 hard drives if you can - 1TB for storage and a small one for C:

vista ultimate is a waste, unless you specifically need it. i'm pretty sure you don't. vista home premium OEM (32 or 64 bit) is $99.

that case is ok. as an alternative, i like silverstone cases a lot. this is the case i'm currently using, but in black. the silver one is on sale for $150.

to save a few more bucks, i'd consider an AMD-based machine. i don't know if the newest ATI chipsets support hdmi to the same degree as the 9400. if they do, then the experience will be the same as an intel chip.

good luck!

 

[heyheybooboo]

Are you using a receiver?

If all you want to do is play h.264 Blu-Ray you would be better off just buying a stand-alone player.

 

[VINKRILLZZ]

STAND ALONE PLAYER ??? IM NOT TRYING TO PLAY BLU RAY DISC....I HAVE ALL MY BLU RAYS ON HARDRIVES....FILES...

 

[JAG87]

Start by looking at Silverstone cases. You don't want Antec believe me, most overpriced junk I have ever worked in. Check out Lascala, Crown and Grandia cases, pick whatever suits your micro ATX setup best and appeals to your eyes the most.

I would also want to make this as quiet as possible, so look at Thermalright for a passive cpu cooling solution (watch the height, make sure it fits the case).

I'd also get a small SSD, while putting the 1TB HDD in your main computer (the one you use for all your legal downloading and ripping), and just mapping it as a network drive. But that's me.

I also agree with Dangler, if you must put the 1TB in the HTPC at least get the caviar green, it's much quieter and makes less heat.

I'd also get the LG GGC H20L BD/HDDVD, just so you have option to pop in a friends HD DVD should you ever want to. Not like PowerDVD is gonna play it anyways..lol..groan.

For OS, what I can tell you is that with Ultimate + vLite you can make an ISO of any version you want, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, their N variants. My x64 Ultimate SP1 ISO is only 1.4GB, so for me it's irrelevant

Last but not least, my idea of an HTPC PSU is the Silverstone Nightjar, 300w should suffice. Of course they are pricy, if you wish to spend less and make more noise go ahead, I'm not spending your money for you. Cheers.

PS. you might want to drop the caps, some are sensitive about it.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: VINKRILLZZ
STAND ALONE PLAYER ??? IM NOT TRYING TO PLAY BLU RAY DISC....I HAVE ALL MY BLU RAYS ON HARDRIVES....FILES...

Why are you then buying a ""LITE-ON Black 6X Blu-Ray DVD ROM"" ??

 

[VINKRILLZZ]

im not ... i took it out to cut cost but originally i was just putting it in because for 100 dollars it makes sense....but being i have a ps3 and that it is going to cost more than i thought i took it out for a 25 dollar dvd burner....

 

[VINKRILLZZ]

thanxs allot for the input im gonna look into the silverstone....and i was accually thinking about the network....cause i do have a monster computer in my office with 2 tb quadcore and all the good stuff.... just never did it was a lil nervous about it.....never seen it accually work....i hear its easy thou....

oh and sorry about the caps