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Full Version: Your Very First HTPC? But Where do You Start?
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Anandtech has a roundup of five "HTPC" cards inc. the GT430 and GT520. That article suggests the 520 will never be capable of matching the GT430 in terms of deinterlacing and post-processing because it lacks the shader units required. On the other hand its throughput is very impressive - should you be needing to process a 100Mbps 1080p24 H.264 stream ... And another thing to keep in mind is that while the Gigabyte GT520 is fanless and low profile - the heatsink is huge and likely to take up a second slot. For peeps like me with a Wesena ITX7-2 (single low profile expansion slot) that heatsink is going to be just too big. And from the reviews I've read the fans on the other GT520's are too loud and whiney for serious HTPC use. What could've been a nice upgrade to the GT210 has turned out to be somewhat pointless.

Me, well I recently "upgraded" to a sandy bridge HTPC giving my parents my Revo R3700 - wish I hadn't tbh - Intel need to pull their fingers out driver wise because it's not a match for the ION system right now (even if it's really very very quiet). I've just bought a cheap, fanless GT210 to try and tide myself over till (if?) such time as Intel get their drivers sorted (and vaapi approaches VDPAU) - hopefully my picopsu will cope!
i use a GT210 GPU card and it eats 1080P for breakfest,,,
the GT520 will definitely eat 1080P for breakfest too!
So from there, i dont really care if its a bit slower then a GT430...
will still be faster then my current GT210!
and i love my GT210!
Eskro,
What would you recommend from your build suggestions for the following:
1080P XBMC
Web Browsing
YouTube, Netflix, Vudu streaming
Sabnzbd, Sickbeard, Couchpotato - DL and unpack files, then move to a directory on a USB connected Drive
Eskro,
I imagine the same results could be achieved with an intel core i3 2100?

How do you feel about the following MOBO (Gigabyte GA-H67M-D2-B3):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813128473

The reason I ask is because I would like the ability to make a hackintosh from this box - these parts are hackintosh compatible...

Thoughts?
Eskro,
My heartfelt thanks for the pointers you have provided on the HPTC setup. This forum is really helpful to beginners like me.

I have a couple of questions..I recently purchased a Samsung smart tv with the web browser got fed up with the browser that came and returned the TV for a one without it.

I am thinking of a HTPC setup that I can connect to my new TV and do all that a ROKU can do and much more. I already have a desktop that I had built a yr a ago that has the following specs

MB:ASUS P6X58D-E/Intel i7-920/Corsair (6x2=12GB C7) memory,ATI HD 5770 card (eyefinity)/thermaltake 775W 80 plus Bronze

Q1) What would be better ..To use the desktop that currently have by connecting my TV to it via a 50 Ft HDMI since my PC is in my bedroom (i can connect multiple monitors with my card)
(or) build a small HTPC like the ones you have listed..my key question will be around the signal loss(if any with a 40-50 ft HDMI cable) ease of use and energy consumption

Q2) what would be the best keyboard / mouse combination that would work well and be convenient for a HTPC

Thanks in advance..
KK
jdwoods Wrote:Eskro,
I imagine the same results could be achieved with an intel core i3 2100?

How do you feel about the following MOBO (Gigabyte GA-H67M-D2-B3):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813128473

The reason I ask is because I would like the ability to make a hackintosh from this box - these parts are hackintosh compatible...

Thoughts?

i love Gigabyte motherboards, very reliable!!
krishnkar Wrote:Q1) What would be better ..To use the desktop that currently have by connecting my TV to it via a 50 Ft HDMI since my PC is in my bedroom (i can connect multiple monitors with my card)
(or) build a small HTPC like the ones you have listed..my key question will be around the signal loss(if any with a 40-50 ft HDMI cable) ease of use and energy consumption

well, i've never been in such a situation because my htpc is next to my hdtv..
this means, if u do bring a 50Ft hdmi cable from your bedroom to your hdtv,
you need to make sure you have a great remote that picks up the signal
from far,,, that would be a question to ask in another thread for you because,
i dont use such remotes unfortunately, but many many do so,
be positive someone will answer you on that!!

krishnkar Wrote:Q2) what would be the best keyboard / mouse combination that would work well and be convenient for a HTPC

Thanks in advance..
KK

most loved remotes for htpc's are the Harmony....
the cheapest one is the Harmony 300 i believe...
http://ow.ly/1tQ33T
however, HArmony remotes might be hard to play with under Linux OS..
you need to be careful with the type of IR Receiver you get...

if not then this remote is popular too --> http://ow.ly/1tQ2D9
works both in Linux and windows + comes with its own IR Receiver...

Now, do u have a cell phone? powered by ANDROID OS?
if so, take a look at this Official XBMC Android Remote --> http://ow.ly/1tQ2Ja

and if you have a iPHONE --> http://www.collect3.com.au/xbmc-remote/

since your PC is in another Room, those 2 remote apps im sure
have great range... they use your WiFi network of course so,
must be decent range... i beleive however,,,
jdwoods Wrote:Eskro,
What would you recommend from your build suggestions for the following:
1080P XBMC
Web Browsing
YouTube, Netflix, Vudu streaming
Sabnzbd, Sickbeard, Couchpotato - DL and unpack files, then move to a directory on a USB connected Drive
You can do this-

1. APEX MI-008 Black Steel Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case 250W Power Supply
2. ASRock E350M1/USB3
3. Kingston SSDNow V Series SNV125-S2/30GB 2.5" 30GB SATA II Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
4. Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR1066D3N7K2/4G
5. SilenX IXP-74-09 120mm Case Fan
6. Rii Mini Keyboard
7. LG Black 10X BD-ROM

I added these Buffalo Technology MiniStation Stealth 1 TB USB 3.0 and HP OEM Windows 7 Vista XP Media Center MCE PC Remote Control this week. I can surf the net, Vudu, Netflix, YouTube, BD files (m2ts/mkv with DTS-HD/TrueHD) using Win7 MCE. I installed XBMC, and it work very good. I preferred Win7 MCE over XBMC for its DTS-HD/TrueHD pass-through capability. I preferred AQ over PQ. I can live with decoded mkv PQ, but I have to have DTS-HD/TrueHD AQ.
this one would have been great bluray http://ow.ly/1tQHK5
eskro Wrote:this one would have been great bluray http://ow.ly/1tQHK5
What is the link for? I'm not familiar with Facebook or any social network stuff.
I have been wanting to upgrade a PC component for a while to get the best out of my HTPC. Particularly to fix a sound problem which I think is caused by a below spec component.... I'm just not sure which one.

I can play 720p with optical 5.1 sound perfectly. Playing 1080p video (I have tested quite a few), only plays smoothly if I set the audio to stereo. As soon as I set it to 5.1 optical, the audio cuts in and out every second.

I have an Athlon X2 64 3800+, 2GB RAM, GeForce 6600GT GPU and the motherboard which provides onboard optical audio out to my sound receiver is an ASUS A8N-E.

Any suggestions which component is causing the problem? I'd hate to go through the unnecessary expense and frustration of upgrading the wrong one.
i presume the GeForce 6600GT doesn't support 1080p H.264 very well..
i guess you could definitely get your hands on a ZOTAC ZT-20305-10L GeForce 210
which plays any 1080P movies out there!!
just like any other GT210 video cards!
Magic number for 1080P is 512MB Smile
That's what I was leaning toward too - based upon reading. The thing that confuses me is why would a step up in sound output (from stereo to 5.1 - handled by the onboard sound processor), resulting in stuttering sound, actually be caused by the GPU processing card?