HTPC Build

irishgeo

Ok guys going to build a HTPC.

Was looking at this build.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ 2.8GHz Socket AM2 2MB, BOXED w/fan

Antec Fusion 430, Black, 430w PSU, HTPC, Micro ATX, aluminium front bezel

Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, AMD 780G+SB700, HDMI, Socket-AM2+, m-ATX, PCI-Ex(2.0)x16

Western Digital Caviar GP 500GB SATA2, 16MB 7200RPM

Corsair TWIN2X 6400C5DHX DDR2, 2048MB Kit w/two CL5 1GB Dimm's, E.P.P and DHX

TerraTec Cinergy S2 PCI HD, DVB-S/S2 (HD)

ill be adding more Hard Drives Later. Ill also be using a wireless network and plugging into my sky dish.

i also got 5.1 surround speakers as well ill take it ill be able to these with this setup.

kdobey

Hi
THis is probably generic advice - sorry if it's old news to you..

When building your two enemies are heat and noise.
Hard drives are great for both ! lots of heat and noise !
So when you say "adding more hard drives" - take care. Add one then add a NAS (I got a dlink dns323 [1]).

I myself have a Samsung harddrive because they are supposed to be one of the quite - I can still hear mine.

Also, while I'm not familiar with the AMD stock fan - I wouldn't be hopeful.
I put in a Zalman 95cm (very quite - full height case required) BUT still I think it's the other item I can hear[2] - it's the one item i'd change in fact - should have got a ninja.

Also carefully consider you're PSU - another great source of noise - I've got a seasonic s120 (super) and for a variety of reasons I've an order in for an ethermax just today which I'm going to swap in.

As I say, I built my own HTPC - and I'm very happy with it (despite my two points above). If you're at all unsure - it might be worth checking out the pre-built boxes on www.mediacenter.ie - I should say I'm not at all associated with them this is not an advert - but they seem to be good option for a pre-built box (not sure how the prices compare - looks reasonable - also nice to see an Irish crowd doing this kind of stuff.

I purchased all my compoents from KustomPC.co.uk in scotland (mediacenter.ie we're not around then) and recently a dvb-s card from the mediacenter.ie guys.

The prices in some cases may have a small margin over the likes of dabs or komplett but I got a superiour customer experience and a lot of guidance. - i.e. they could tell me that a samsung cdrom would fit in the silvertech case with the 8600gx video card I was after, similar advice from mediacenter.ie guys regarding my dvb-s purchase. - This was invaluable for a novice builder like me.

I imagine you'll get that assistence from any smaller specialised vendor.

Of course YMMV but I thought it worth pointing out another option.

[1] If you going the nas route (or even if your not) you should really consider wired network - streaming video over wireless is probalby ill advised. - I successfully dropped cat5 behind my dry lined walls (from attic in a two store house - tricky - but possible).

[2] It's hard to exactly determine in a quite case which item is making the noise you can hear from the couch - but I think it's the zalman CPU fan. Not sure if sticking a pen in the case fans and PSU fan is a good idea - but it's the best I could think of... :eek:

mediacentre.ie

Thanks for the plug kdobey. lol. did you get your sat dish up and runnning?



the antec fusion is end of life. it is being replaced by the fusion remote and fusion max.

basically the fusion remote looks the same but doesn't come with a PSU and is cheaper.

it aslo comes with a remote hence the name.

you might have trouble getting it as there is a big back log.

I would get a scythe mini ninja CPU cooler and don't use the fan.

plus a passive GPU if you can. the 120mm fans provide plenty of cooling and air flow.

samsung drives are very quite and you can also enable acoustive mode with the ES software.

I have RMA'd quite a few 501LJ's though.



I hope to stock a large selection of products like kustompcs.co.uk (great site) soon. top of the range PC components, etc.

fed up of all that PC world rubbish. will be all available to buy through the site.

kdobey

mediacentre.ie wrote: »

Thanks for the plug kdobey. lol. did you get your sat dish up and runnning?

Would you belief I haven't - The installer has called twice so far - I've given up ringing him - no install - no pay. (However I have a useless curved thing handing on the side of my chimney! - In fairness, he's been sound (when he turns up), and it's been lashing rain and he's been going on my roof for a tricky dual LNB install - then his meter died).

mediacentre.ie wrote: »

... a passive GPU if you can. the 120mm fans provide plenty of cooling and air flow.

Interesting story there - i've a passively cooled GPU (double width). My HTPC ran happy for maybe a year then all of a sudden (about 2 months ago) random shut downs - sometimes immediatly after boot (WAF went throught the floor).

Of course I went and un-installed all the things I could think i'd installed recently., Turned off things like MCE buddy (in case it was some cpu intensive thing causeing heat). - Nothing worked - Eventually I popped the top and stuck the hover into it - sucked all around especially around the graphics card - never crashed since!

mediacentre.ie wrote: »

samsung drives are very quite and you can also enable acoustive mode with the ES software.

Not sure if I installed that ... Any indication that this effectives drive life span ? Does it impact performance much ? Is is going to reduce heat aswell ?

mediacentre.ie

ye all PC's need to be hoovered once and a while. dust is a real killer.

The ES software needs to be booted from CD or floppy. it's not installable unfortunately. you can download it from the samsung website.

not sure about heat. I presume there is a drop in speed alright but it is very quite.

SouperComputer

Heat will come down a little with the AM turned on, however the bulk of the heat comes from the patters moving through the air inside the casing.

Like MC said, the software is a utility needs to be booted from CDROM to turn the AM on or off. Try it, if you dont like it, you can always go back