HTPC Build - Antec Fusion 430 (Black)

[armandp]

no problems with distance (at least for my living room - can't give you exact measurements yet though)

[carmenm]

Good enough

[carmenm]

Oh and i forgot to ask. Why Vista? Is there anything worth it?

[ShoopNL]

Hi,

Very Nice System,
I used the same case to build my HTPC, I had a lot of problems finding this Antec fusion Black.

Some pictures of your system in action would be nice ;-)

With my setup, I have no temperature problems at all, it stays below 28 degrees all the time.
This means that my Ninja cooler is always off (Pasive cooling).
I have noticed that if I leave this cooler on, it can make an annoying noise.

What is the advantage off overclocking? do you only need it for this blue ray decoding?

[armandp]

Originally Posted by ShoopNL

Hi,

Very Nice System,
I used the same case to build my HTPC, I had a lot of problems finding this Antec fusion Black.

Some pictures of your system in action would be nice ;-)

I will create a short video/picture slideshow soon.

Originally Posted by ShoopNL

With my setup, I have no temperature problems at all, it stays below 28 degrees all the time.
This means that my Ninja cooler is always off (Pasive cooling).
I have noticed that if I leave this cooler on, it can make an annoying noise.

I didn't even attach the cooler to the scythe. The case fans are on LOW (1200rpm), pretty silent and create enough airflow through/over the cooler. I also don't have heat problems although it seems the northbridge on this motherboard is always "hot" by default (idle: 81 degrees). Planning to get a passive chipset cooler for that. Also i want control over the case fans so i maybe have to swap them with other 120mm coolers that can be controller by the motherboard

Originally Posted by ShoopNL

What is the advantage off overclocking? do you only need it for this blue ray decoding?

In my case the BE-2400 is not fast enough to software decode a 1080p @5.1 so i have overclocked it to be slightly faster than the minimum required CPU speed. This is only for the older x264 media i have that did not use the 4.1 profile. With DVXA (hardware acceleration) enabled all is offloaded to the GPU and the CPU power isn't an issue.

[infy]

Reception of the IR in my recently build antec black is awful. It was never going to be an issue because I'm using
somesort of extension device.

Another bad thing is the lack of 2 SATA power cables. You can either connect the sata hdd or the sata dvd but not both. Unless you have the molex/satapower convertor lying around, like most us have. But it does not come with case/mainboard

As of yet I have not had time to fine tune my htpc. Although I already did make it wife friendly. Used the 555 remote and 5000+ CPUs. Also hooked up the power on by remote. I'm going to use your thread as reference for the fine tuning. And interesting for you is the fact that I already have the onkyo connected to it. No complaints there!

HDMI looks awful at the moment (sony bravia 1360x768) I'm going to try 1280 when I get the chance. (it's now connected to both vga and hdmi)

[carmenm]

What is the extension device you are talking about. The ir receiver is one of my fears about the antec. I am going to use a 555

[infy]

Originally Posted by carmenm

What is the extension device you are talking about. The ir receiver is one of my fears about the antec. I am going to use a 555

hxxp://waalre.pwnz.it/IMG_0623b.jpg
hxxp://waalre.pwnz.it/IMG_0625.JPG

It's that small silver device. It's just a simple cheap solution. it comes with two adhesive IR eyes. You just put them on the IR eye of your htpc (self adhesive). You can see it on the second picture if you look closely.

Another advantage is that you will have only one eye to aim for .
work in progress....still some things to hang, adjust, install...;p

but to answer your question. I don't know what brand type model it is...bought it at the mediamarkt (~30euro). I will check when I get home on friday. I never meant it as a permanent solution but I'm quite pleased with it...So I think I'll keep it.

So little time...so much to do :/

[carmenm]

Woh thanks for your quick answer. i have just seen this
wireless-remote-extender
Might do the trick.
That s good to know the ir receiver of the antec is NOT good, at least i know now!

PS: good to see your onkyo connected

[armandp]

Originally Posted by infy

Reception of the IR in my recently build antec black is awful. It was never going to be an issue because I'm using
somesort of extension device.

Is this bad reception noticable with IMON Manager? or are you already using one of the remote plugins for MP?
I really don't have any problems with the reception. But.. when i use the CybrPlugin in MP to enable the remote there's a noticable delay (experimental option)

Originally Posted by infy

Another bad thing is the lack of 2 SATA power cables. You can either connect the sata hdd or the sata dvd but not both. Unless you have the molex/satapower convertor lying around, like most us have. But it does not come with case/mainboard

Second that.. i'll add that into my first post for others to read. I had a spare molex/satapower connector lying around so that saved me from another trip to the store.

Originally Posted by infy

As of yet I have not had time to fine tune my htpc. Although I already did make it wife friendly. Used the 555 remote and 5000+ CPUs. Also hooked up the power on by remote. I'm going to use your thread as reference for the fine tuning. And interesting for you is the fact that I already have the onkyo connected to it. No complaints there!

HDMI looks awful at the moment (sony bravia 1360x768) I'm going to try 1280 when I get the chance. (it's now connected to both vga and hdmi)

I'm still toying around with the display also.. 1360x768 is just plain awfull on my TV so i have set it to 1280x720@50. I have a "PC" mode on my TV which disables the overscan you'd normally get from connecting with HDMI and I'm very satisfied with the image that this gives me.

If my budget allows it I will buy the Onkyo real soon.. down side is that I also need to buy speakers so it's gonna be expensive.. Do you have any tips on suitable speakers/subwoofer to go with the Onkyo?