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Upgrade my HTPC or not?

T

TheDrake

Senior member
Well I am in a delima right now. I recently sold my laptop as there has not been any need for it so I was planning on building a cheap ole desktop for my room, but I was thinking about upgrading my HTPC and using the components I wont use to build the PC for my room.

My current setup with my HTPC is:

Antec 900 w/ Corsair 520W power supply
Asus P5B Deluxe w/ e4300 processor OC'd to 3.2Ghz
COOLER ZALMAN|9700
2x1GB DDR2800
Nvidia 8800GTS 640MB
Sound Blaster Augidy 2 Platiunum eX
DVD+/-RW
HD-DVD drive (reader only)
2x500GB WD 7200rpm RAID 0
Windows XP Pro


I was planning to keep the Corsair 520W, Geforce 880gts, and HD-DVD drive if I do a upgrade on the HTPC. I do have a spare Radeon X1950 Pro laying around I can throw into the PC for my room. I do the occasional gaming, photo/video editing, music, movies, etc... Do you think that my HTPC would be worth upgrading at this point in time?

The only real quirks I have with my current setup is the case does not match anything else in my Home theater other than the fact that its black, the Sound card does not support 7.1, and no blu-ray playback ability. I was looking for a more Home Theater look case but there just doesnt seem to be any feasible options out there, they all are pretty ugly or just cost too much (Has to be black to match HT). I am really only looking to spend $1k for an upgrade on the HTPC. Any opinions, advice, and options would be most appreciated, thanks!

BTW, I have been building PC's since '99 so picking components, OC'ing, building is not new to me at all.
 
Originally posted by: Roguestar
Blu-ray schmu-ray. Grab yourself a something like this case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811129030
And something like this motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131178
and just re-use all the other stuff you've got, assuming the graphics card will fit.

And perhaps a cheap sound card for 7.1 audio.
Click to expand...


The case didnt seem to get too many great reviews...
Not sure about the 8800GTS if it will fit in there either...
Any specific suggestions for a 7.1 card thats good for gaming?
 
The case isn't that bad to work in. I've built several HTPCs in it and the only issue I have with it is that it only has 2x 3.5" bays for HD. As for sound cards, if you are going to pipe it out via digital, then it really doesn't matter what sound card you get since the signal is going to be unchanged from the original source. If you are going out via analog, then a high quality DAC is a must if you want great sound (providing you have a nice set of speakers/amp already).
 
Originally posted by: Keitero
The case isn't that bad to work in. I've built several HTPCs in it and the only issue I have with it is that it only has 2x 3.5" bays for HD. As for sound cards, if you are going to pipe it out via digital, then it really doesn't matter what sound card you get since the signal is going to be unchanged from the original source. If you are going out via analog, then a high quality DAC is a must if you want great sound (providing you have a nice set of speakers/amp already).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I am slowly replacing my Onkyo HTIB one speaker at a time. Have the sub already replaced and the front left and right speakers, will eventually do the Center and I may never replace the surround speakers since they arent as important as the front stage. Its going to be all DIY as well so sound quality will be important and I eventually hope to cut out the receiver and use the HTPC to route everything.

I was also looking at this case:
http://www.frozencpu.com/produ...inum_Case_-_Black.html


Love the look of it, but havent seen many reveiws on it and its a little pricey as well.
 
Originally posted by: TheDrake
Originally posted by: Roguestar
Blu-ray schmu-ray. Grab yourself a something like this case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811129030
And something like this motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131178
Click to expand...


The case didnt seem to get too many great reviews...
Not sure about the 8800GTS if it will fit in there either...
Click to expand...

That case is fine. The two bad reviews were from problems with the LCD display, but I'm sure Antec's warranty would be able to deal with that problem. The case can fit any mATX board with any video card - provided the cooling on the video card doesn't extend past the card.

As for the motherboard, I wouldn't get that particular board. I'd get the Asus P5E-VM HDMI. You'll be able to keep your CPU overclock with it. I'm not sure the Zalman 9700 will fit that Antec case, but I know that the Scythe Mini Ninja works great in it. This board has 8 channel HD audio.

I'm not too sure what you'd need for Blu-ray beyond the drive and software.
 
Thats a interesting motherboard. Would I technically even need a video card with that board? Would it be able to display HDCP content?
 
What's wrong with a good old Ultra Micro Fly in black ?? It fits larger PSUs and video cards, so have you looked at that as an alternative ?
 
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