Spec for HTPC

dlane99

I know lots of n00bs post their spec on here in the hopes of geting advice,
I'm not sure if its frowned upon or not so I'm going to do it too cos its a lot of
money to spend unless I'm sure of what I'm getting.
I have read a lot over the forums and other websites because Ive been
interested in building a htpc for ages and am finally going to attempt it
I've never built a pc b4 but am fairly confident that I'll be able for it.
Have messed around with hardware upgrades and stuff.

I will be geting 32" HDTV, I'm going to try to get one of the known brands
but it will be one of the lower end models, not sure which one yet.
(I've seen a samsung one for 800e, so something like that maybe)

For the htpc I was hoping to make this the first version because Im on a tight budget,
I was going to try to get a couple of good compnents and then upgrade the rest
in a year or two when i want the htpc to handle hd (I dont want this version to)
Ive picked out what i think is a reasonable spec for my htpc, I'm aiming for the 500-600 price range.
To be honest what I'm worried about most is that I'll get the components
and then find out that I missed something basic like the ram isnt compatible with the mobo or that
I got a crap graphics card or crap tv card (I do need both cards, ya?)

For the software I'm going to run mythTV on ubuntu or I might try that KnoppMyth distro.
I havent picked a remote yet, Ive been keeping an eye out on ebay for one of those
logitech harmony remotes but thay seem a little out of my budget.
I have a wireless network in the house but the htpc will be near the router
so it'l be wired.

I'm going to list the components here and Id appreciate any advice or suggestions
because like i said this is my first attempt and I cant afford to get it wrong

Case
CPU
mobo
TV Card
Graphics Card
Ram
(I have a couple of spare HDs lying around)

8T8 mentioned in a previous thread about the case using a proprietary size psu,
I dont mind because I plan to change the case when I upgrade the machine in
a few years and will use it for something else.

Is this spec reasonable?
Is it good value?
Is there any weak link that will drag down the performance?
Or have I made a complete c*#k of it?!!

Thanks for any help!!

SouperComputer

There's nothing "wrong" with it as such. Although I think you would get better value if you get a used computer and if needs be throw the parts into a nice case.

MythTV runs especially well on older systems. You could get a used system just as capeable as the one you have specced for 200bills and keep the rest of your cash for a bigger and quieter HD, speakers, beer or a projector lamp

Have a look on ebay and adverts for used systems, also give electronic recycling a call: 01-864 0806, they will most likely have a P4 1.7-2.0 system for buttons. A 1.7GHz cpu if fine for non-HD content with MythTV, in fact its good enough for MCE too.

8T8

Just so you know I don't think there is a "HD" service on the cards for these parts, the best were going to get it seems is a DVB-T service for the current over the air channels. Probably a good while after that you might see something in HD.

Sky have their own HD service but it's tied to their PVR.

Whatever UPC (NTL/Chorus) have planned we most likely wont see from till years from now & again tied to their own PVR.

HD-DVD/Blu-ray will require Windows no *nix player (well technically OSX will probably get one but that requires a Mac).

Conar

I agree with Souper. I have Windows MCE running fine on a P4 1.8ghz with 512mb's of RAM.
I'd buy some second hand kit and spend some more money on the TV.
You don't have to be able to see the pc so don't worry if it doesn't look great. You just need to have the remote blaster sitting within view.

If the Samsung TV for 800 is the one I'm thinking of then I'd definitely advise to spend an extra 150 and get a better model.
Check out the following Pixmania comparison:
http://www.pixmania.com/dev/gui_web/common_dsp/dsp_comparer.php?nouveau=1&ArticleId[]=263552&ArticleId[]=388982&ArticleId[]=456565

Notice that the cheaper Samsung has a worse viewable angle and a much worse contrast ratio. Doesn't have component input.

dlane99

Thats a fair point about the tv, I will try and spend a couple of hundred more if I can.
I havent really looked for a TV yet tho, I think there is probably some threads on the
topic here so I'll read those before I start looking.
At the moment I'm concentrating on the htpc.
I'll probably be using the htpc as my dvd player so it will probably need to be visible, for access,
plus I would like it to show it off anyway :rolleyes:
I really would like to buy new parts and to build the pc from scratch,
part of the reason why I'm so interested in this is that Ive never built
a pc from scratch and really want to do it.
I understand where ye are coming from about how buying a 2nd hand pc would
be cheaper tho.
But if i was to just buy the parts new from komplett is the spec I have ok?
or should I go with something else?
or should I really not bother if I dont want to go with 2nd hand parts?

Thanks for the replys lads.

subway

spec is fine, even a little over specced
few points about the parts-

get a hauppauge tv card, there miles better than that club3d
avoid a grpahics card with a fan on it, your aim should be absolute silence
if possible, check the case out in the flesh, i cant comment on that particular model, but youd be surpirsed how ugly some of them look in real life.

ive said it a hundred times before, but an old dell optiplex is about the best looking machine on the market, and blends in with most home theatre kit perfectly.

dlane99

Thanks subway.

would this tv card from haupage be ok?
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=315280
Its says the input is a DVB-T receiver,
from what ive read this is the same input as the
normal aerials we use?
(the only input i will have is the sky box.)

This graphics card looks like it uses a heatsink instead of a fan?
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=324729&view=links
although it says it has a hdtv output,
it seems to have higher requirements,
maybe I should go for a card that isnt hd?
any suggestions?

Is there anything else I should change?

Thanks again

subway

the tv card is no use to you.
with sky you will need an svideo in, not dvb-t
its also not compatible with mce, which if your buying parts for a htpc, even if not for mce, should be a general reference point
check out this one - http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ECE1200777&productID=S3419233

im not sure about the gfx card tho.

dlane99

subway, thanks for the heads up!

that tv card on elara looks good, will go with that one.

was giving a look on elara for a graphics card, what do you/ye think of this one?
http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfullat.asp?productcode=ECE1192135#

Thanks again for all the help

subway

thats perfect
im running the agp version of it in one of my mce machines at home.
runs mce and vista perfect.

dlane99

cool beans.

so, i guess to finish up..
is the spec i posted at the start (with the diff grafix card and tv card)
good enough for a setup?
Is there anything else ive forgoten?
should all the components run off the 300W psu?

and lastly, is there any weak link , i.e. a really poor component that will drag down the
system that would be worth upgrading?

thanks

subway

like i said, youll be fine with that spec.
if you plan on running vista up the spec to 1 gig ram.

if you plan on actually using it, id budget in a mce remote right away.
its pointless with out one.

if you have old hard drives make sure there big and queit.
your better off with 2 brand new 250gig hard drives than 4 old 120gig due to noise etc
have you included a dvd burner in the budget?
do you have an amp or do you need to buy a 5.1 sound card?

dlane99

I have a dvd drive at home, might get a dvd burner later but will probably still use my pc to burn dvds.

for the sound, on the spec for the motherboard it says:
Audio
Audio Output Sound card
Audio Codec AD1986A
Sound Output Mode 5.1 channel surround
I though that ment that i would just need to get a set of 5 speakers/woofer to get 5.1 surround sound?

I havent looked into the remote yet, must read up on it a bit.
To be honest i dont know anything about the mce remote.
Im conscious about the red/blue/green/yellow buttons required for sky and
the pics of the remote on komplett dont have these buttons so I
will wait till ive read up a bit more on this b4 i order one.

subway

if your planning on using a htpc to record off the tv,
its going to need to be able to change the channels on the sky box.
to do that you need a media centre remote and the ir blaster that comes with it.

im not sure about the onboard sound.
i cant imagine that the built in sound card would be ideal, but if it can do 5.1 output on its own, ie it has 6 outputs, or 3 stereo outputs then its fine.
if not it probably means 5.1 output over digital cable which needs to be decoded by an amp

dlane99

an ir blaster comes with the mce remote?
i presume its not this one?
http://www.irblaster.info/

i was going to get the above irblaster and try to find a programable remote,
there are some cool logitech harmony ones but they are a bit pricey.

will probably chance my arm with the onboard sound at first, i wont be buying an
amp so if i have to buy a sound card then i guess thats what ill have to do

Thanks for your help subway.
Will do a little more reading on some stuff (remote esp ) b4 i order but i think this will be my spec.

subway

im not how advanced you wanted to go with it.
i just use the mce remote and blaster.

i wouldnt know where to start with a setup like that.

dlane99

yeah, i have plenty of reading to do on it

Thanks for your help subway.

will post again if i have anymore questions

and if any1 else wants to throw in their 2 cents, feel free.

Thanks again.

Conar

Just one point to note. Subway mentions that you need SVideo in on your TV card for Sky.
Maybe I just have an old box but I've no SVideo on mine.
You can use composite though which that Hauppauge card has so you'll be fine.
I'm using that card for MCE and Freesatfromsky and it works brilliantly.
Best of luck with the install.

***EDIT***
Just to add one point.
If you are using an old TV and SVIDEO out you may have difficulty.
My old Black Diamond would not output colour no matter what settings I made in the drivers and cables I tried.
A new LCD sorted the issue though
You can get cables on ebay to sort it or you can open up your scart connector and join 2 pins together.
Just something to be aware may happen when you go to use it first.

meelick

I'm just getting into building a HTPC, and it seems that a H.264 acelerated card will make a big difference when viewing MPEG-4 content, especially when getting up to High-Def resolutions. And just because it has H.264 acceleration doesn not mean that it is capable of decoding full HD at 1080p.
As a rough guide from a couple of sources, it seems that:
X1300 - 480p capable,
X1600 - 720p capable,
X1800 - 1080p capable,
whereas in the nvidia range, anything from a 6600GT upwards will do 1080p. I cant say for definite, but I got a 128Mb 6600gt the other day in PCWorld for EU95, and it decodes 720p 1.3Gb .mkv episodes of Lost flawlessly at 1366x720 on my HD Ready TV.
I'm still having trouble with the HDMI from the DVI being oversanned, whereas via vga there is 1:1 pixels. Looks great. Oh, and it's an XP3000 athlon CPU.
Cheers,
Dave.

8T8

You don't really need GPU acceleration with a half decent CPU and a good decoder like FFDShow or CoreAVC for H.264 in general. The bit rates aren't insanely high like they are with the movie formats.

Things have changed a bit in that area for H.264 in HD movies you need a dual core CPU minimum along with a mid range GPU X1600/7600 in order to do up to 1080p HD-DVD/Blu-ray.

Cyberlink & Intervideo don't have much experience with MPEG-4 in general it seems and a history of bad software so the demands for GPU acceleration may lower once their software matures & makes better use of the CPU or someone else blows them out of the water (hopefully).