Advice required & help me choose my components please

TKK

I'm planning on ordering components pretty much immediately for a htpc build and I need advice especially given that I've never before had a htpc.

Initially I plan to use it mainly to play bluray and dvd as well as a mixture of files from my main pc. It will also be used for occasional surfing, picture viewing and music playing. There is no requirement for gaming though I may throw on some emulators for the nostalgia.

Once dtt is rolled out to my area (south Kildare) I plan to cancel my sky subscription and add tuner card(s) to make it into a full pvr with sky+ type capabilities using my existing satellite dish for fta channels and the dtt for Irish channels.

I'm thinking of going down the linux route using linuxmce, xbmc or mythtv rather than go paying for a licence for windows. Does anyone use any of these? Are they relatively easy to live with/use on a daily basis? I am open to switching to windows if it proves too fiddly but I would like to give it a go (for the challenge if nothing else).

My budget would be anything up to €500 give or take a few €. I have a hdd already available and I've decided on the Antec NSK2480 to house my build (I've even got wife approval for the case ).

This narrows me down to the matx selection of boards. I was looking at the Gigabyte and Asus boards - the G45 and nVidia 9400 - but, despite them being an ideal all in one solution, I have doubts on linux working with the onboard gfx. I cannot find anywhere that says for definite whether they have been successfully used in a linux based htpc. The other choice, of course, is to get a seperate gfx card. I've seen several recommendations for some of the ATI cards (some with passive cooling which appeals) but again I'm not sure how compatible linux and ATI are (linuxmce seems dead set against ATI for a start)? HDMI with HDCP and LPCM is required from whatever gfx solution is employed.

I'm thinking of using the E5200 processor with a scythe mini ninja (developed with this case in mind for passive cooling due to proximity to the case fans) and 4gb RAM with this. I then hope to get a usb IR receiver so I can control the lot with my harmony 885 remote. I also intend to get a keyboard with built in mousepad/trackball for use when surfing.

All in all the most thing that's causing me headaches is the motherboard and graphics choice. I really don't know what to go for. Ultimately I want a quiet system that's HD 1080p capable.

Any and all suggestions are welcome. Please help.

TKK

Well as I've learned today bluray playback is not possible in linux without first ripping the disk to the hdd. That rules linux out as the wife approval rating would seriously nosedive. I think I'll go with Windows 7 to try it out.

BigEejit

I have the Antec Fusion Remote case which the exact same layout but has a LCD and volume knob.

I went down the AMD route because the 790GX chipset and 5050e processor is really good all rounder (blu-ray playback, power usage etc) and quite a bit cheaper than Intel.

There is a gotcha with that case, your motherboard cannot have 90 degree sata ports because a matx board fits quite snugly in the mobo chamber. I had to knock off the rivets holding the disk drive divider and take it out and make a couple of cuts and bent it and then fitted it again using nuts and bolts. Pain in the arse, but I didnt want to send stuff back and have to find new parts that would work together and the case.

The fans that are in the side of the Antec case are not silent even on Low speed. But because my system produces feck all heat I am able to use a single fan and I am using a Noctua NF-S12 800 which is silent (but a little pricey). For a heatsink I am using the Scythe Shuriken Low Profile (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Scythe-Shuriken-Quiet-Low-Profile-CPU-Cooler-3-Heat-Pipe-HTPC-Ready-S775-478-754-939-AM2-AM2plus-940) which is also silent. And finally I am using a Modu82+ psu which is silent as well. The disks are the noisiest thing in the computer by far, even with the special mounting system. Maybe its my seagate 500g drives (mirrored).

TLDR; The DFI LANPARTY JR 790GX-M2RS and the Antec Fusion Remote case are incompatible due to 90 degree sata ports.


I must try and replace my two 500GB disks with something quieter, possibly some 500GB laptop drives when they get a bit cheaper.... of course they wont fit in the hard disk mounting mechanism.

TKK

The motherboards I'm looking at don't have 90 degree SATA ports so that won't be an issue. I'm going for the 5200 from Intel so the prices are roughly similar to what you have. I will change the case fans if they prove too noisy. Thinking of using the scythe mini ninja passively for the cpu too - it was basically manufactured for this case based on requests from the designers and due to the proximity of the case fans allows for good performance passively.

You could always go down the route of suspending the laptop drives for ultimate silence. See http://www.silentpcreview.com/ for ideas.