newbie build, help please

Wizard

hi there guys,
i recently got a new pc so gonna use my old packard bell for htpc in sitting room,
its a p4 3.4 with 1024ram and 250gig hd,
its based on a uatx motherboard and has basic sound and graphics cards,
i have been looking on komplett and saw some cases all suiting atx boards, are these suitable for my uatx ?
also could you recommend some sound and graphics cards ?
mostly gonna use it as storage my music collection so digital output for sound would be ideal and also may use as pvr for bbc freeview sky box so what graphics/tv would be best suited ?
sorry if i rant on a bit guys but really new to this and would greatly appreciate any help you can offer,
thanks in advance guys

8T8

uATX = microATX for some reason that alternate name got cooked up why I dont know but it did.

Anyway mATX cases are available which are often smaller than the full size ATX cases but if a case can hold an ATX motherboard it can take a mATX board but not the other way round.

Here are some links to look over though be aware of the expansion options, many of the very small mATX cases are limited in what they can accommodate for example adding in devices via the PCI, AGP or PCI-E bus.
Komplett HTPC cases
Quiet PC
Pixmania - they have a lot of Silverstone cases who specialize in HTPC stuff.

Graphics wise, anything basic will do does this machine have an AGP or PCI-Express graphics port ?

What kind of digital out optical or coax does your sound system use ?

By freeview you mean the free channels you get over satellite off the Sky box and not the DVB-T UK Freeview system (digital TV) ?

aidan_walsh

uATX = microATX for some reason that alternate name got cooked up why I dont know but it did.

Its because the letter u is the closest representation of the lowercase Greek letter Mu, used to represent the term "micro" in scientific notation.

8T8

Cool thanks for the info, the Wikipedia mATX entry is surprisingly missing that nugget of info.

Wizard

thanks a million for your reply guys,
my motherboard has an agp slot,
and my home cinema set up will be using a digital cable toslink i think,
sorry for sounding stupid again but am i right in thinking that any of those cases for atx boards will suit my set up ?
i know my motherboard is smaller than atx but would it still be ok in those cases or should i go smaller ?
and yes i would be watching the bbc channels using a seperate sky digital box, is mostly for using as pvr for ch4 and ch5, can use sky+ for everything else

8T8

Any case ATX to mATX will work with your setup, now the mATX cases are much more low profile so they look more the HTPC part than the bigger ones. But the full ATX HTPC cases have much more expansion capabilities.

As an example take a look at this mATX case & ATX case from Silverstone, so from that I think you get the idea.

Now assuming your going with a full sized ATX HTPC case that makes things very simple just think of it as a regular old desktop PC case & that's all there is really to it.

{Note my picks are from Pixmania.ie for the simple reason Komplett is out of stock or doesnt have the parts which offer you the best value for money}

For graphics you have two choices;

Choice 1 is this X1300 GPU for €100 which has ATI AVIVO video decoding technology which enchances the image quality of DVDs, the decoder comes free with the graphics card.

Choice 2 is the cheaper option that forgoes the above for €30 this FX2000 will do the job fine but you need to supply a DVD decoder.

For sound you need a card with the Toslink connection so on a budget buy I would go for this €45 Hercules 7.1 sound card it is based on the very good VIA Envy chip and comes with a Toslink output.

Low end Creative Audigy or X-Fi sound cards would also do if you got the official adaptor from Creatives own website otherwise be prepared to spend money just to get the I/O panel on the higher end models which has the Toslink connection.

As for TV tuner we'll have to go back to Komplett for those if using MCE then you need MCE compliant tuners, the best one image quality wise are no longer available (ATI 550 Pro) so I'm not sure whats the next best but I hear positive things about Avermedia but not verified that myself this one comes with FM radio, composite and s-video inputs.


{If you wanted to do away with the Sky box altogether there is a patch for MCE that enables DVB-S support allowing you to use a digital satellite tuner card within MCE you would get the optimal image quality and access to the FTA channels, not sure about EPG though as I have not tried it myself only read of others doing so, other media center software betters supports this tech like Media Portal or GB-PVR}

Wizard

hi again and thank you so much for your detailed reply,
i have been checking on pixmania and i think i am going to go with your suggestions,
sound card looks spot on for what i want,
as for the graphics card, what type of decoder would i require or is there a card there for around that sort of money with it included ?
or am i best to go for that card for 30euro and get decoder elsewhere ?
i was looking at http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/157078/art/pixmania/radeon-9600-pro-advantage.html, would this be suitable ?
sorry for bad link,
tv card i will go with your choice also,
and finally i forgot to mention earlier in my post that my current pc has on board sound and graphics but has spare agp and pci slots so i am assuming i can use these for new tv,graphics and sound cards and not use on board ?
as you can see i am not the most informed on these issues and i really do appreciate your patience and time on helping me out,
many many thanks again

8T8

The X1300 graphics card I linked to for €100 comes with a free DVD decoder it's built into the drivers/software.

If you go for the cheaper FX2000 card you will need to purchase a software DVD decoder generally around another 30-40 euro from someone like Cyberlink and their PowerDVD package. The same goes for the 9600 card you linked to.


In regards the onboard sound and graphics, depending on your motherboard the integrated graphics may be auto disabled when you insert the AGP graphics card.

The integrated sound wont though in order to turn that off you need to go into your bios and disable it. You don't have to but just be aware you will have multiple sound cards in the system so make sure Windows is configured correctly to output to the PCI sound card in the control panel.

Wizard

once again thank you so so much for all of your help,
gonna order the pieces i need now,
will let you know how i get on,
thanks so much for your patience and help

Wizard

sorry !
forgot to ask you something !
i was planning on getting the mce remote for this new build and also wireless keyboard and mouse,
whats the situation with the reciever for the remote ?
i know the keyboard and mouse use an rf through usb, is the mce remote the same ?
does it come with remote or do i need something else ?

8T8

The remote works through it's own USB receiver and comes with an IR blaster that allows you to control over infrared devices like your Sky box.

Komplett sell the remote & receiver.

Krusty_Clown

Just to add that the MCE keyboard does not come with a receiver, so you will, at a minimum, need the mouse/receiver combo.

Additionally, the MCE keyboard is Infrared, rather than radio frequency, and uses the same receiver as the remote control. I use the keyboard, but am not terribly impressed. While the layout, build quality and weight are good, it can be quite directional i.e. need to have it pointed in the right direction without any obstacles between you and receiver.

It's also rather frustrating if you're left handed as the mouse/pointing device is positioned on the right hand side,and they don't sell a version for lefties..

Bloody leftists! Don't they appreciate that all of the creative intelligent people are more likely to use media centre?

Wizard

thanks a million guys,
have ordered the following ,
tv card
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=318199

case
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/225995/art/thermaltake/vc4000sns-mozart-media-la.html

sound card
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/60362/art/hercules/gamesurround-fortissimo-i.html

graphics card
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/129943/art/msi/fx5200-td128lf-128-mo-tv.html

have also ordered the microsoft remote with ir blaster

and have just been looking at the microsoft mce keyboard today, gonna get that next week,

and considering i ordered some of the stuff from pixmania it could be next year before it arrives !
lol
so hopefully everything will suit and work fine,
fingers crossed anyway !
thanks a million for all of your help guys,
will keep you informed of progress here

8T8

Pixmania are quite fast at delivery actually never had to wait more than a week often less for delivery if all the items are in stock.

Good luck with the build if you have any problems lets us know.

Wizard

thanks again,
had a hiccup with pixmania before, ordered a new stereo for my car which was in stock when i ordered but then turned out that it was out of stock,
took em 9 weeks to get it to me !
ggrrrrrrrr !
but all seems good now, checked on komplett and pixmania this even and all orders have been shipped so should have all by weekend hopefully !
will keep you posted,
many thanks for your help again,
much appreciated

karltimber

Wizard wrote:

case
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/225995/art/thermaltake/vc4000sns-mozart-media-la.html

does this come with or without a power supply

if without what one did you go for

unklerosco

My advice would be to not get the MCE keyb... I tried out a mates one n to put it simply it sucked... The mouse pointer is a pain to use, its about as accurate as throwing a dart backwards while hanging from a crance in galeforce winds after 20 pints.....

I picked up a dell bluetooth keyb n mouse for e50 n it works a treat, no issues with not pointing it at the reciever n the mouse is way more accurate.. i just use the armrest on the couch to use it.....

L31mr0d

Just further to the queries about the mce kb? If you don't want to go down the line of getting an all in one unit and want a seperate wireless mouse and kb, is there any trays on the market to hold the mouse and kb? Its just not all armrests are going to work with wireless mice I use the tray from an old computer desk atm but its a pain to store when not using the computer. I'd prefer something I could fold down and that would have an area on it for the mouse mat.

edit: Something like this but less crap KB lap tray

subway

nick a mcdonalds tray?

Wizard

that case comes without a psu,
i already had one from my old pc so using that one,
komplett have a few cases with the psu included starting at 100 yo yos,
almost finished mine now,
just getting updates etc for media center and should be ready to rock and roll then hopefully !