The Ultimate Media Centre Hardware

[stanbridge]

Hi all,

While I know a few computer hardware basics (I can build a basic PC), long-gone are the "hobby" days when I was up-to-speed with the latest and greatest PC components (Plug n Play was brand new).

SO, what I would like to know from all you PC/video knowledgable types is...

1) What is your DREAM system for running Media Portal?

2) If you could be bothered, list reasoning for each component!

No doubt I'll have to bring some of the "dream systems" down to earth a little but, hey, it's always fun to dream!


Cheers!

Stanbridge

[level20peon]

Hello stanbridge,

1) My system

2) Click on the picture in my signature for information




-level20peon

[Dubyahjay]

I second that!

<---- check out mine

I will be adding a Radeon 3870 or a next gen nVidia card eventually. Also a combo blu/HDdvd drive, but this system has pleased me to no end so far.

I also am in the process of building a 2tb NAS that is expandable to 15tb

My plan is to put together a non HD system to have in my son's room and test out tvserver very soon.

[cheetah05]

I am currently working on mine - although it is not powerful enough to run media portal

....so I have to create my own HTPC software, should be fun :p

[GoldenEye]

Originally Posted by Dubyahjay

I also am in the process of building a 2tb NAS that is expandable to 15tb

(Off topic)

Dubyahjay, any hints on how you do that? I currently have a 1 TB NAS, which is running out of storage, so I am looking for something expandable.

G.

[IceHappy]

Originally Posted by stanbridge

Hi all,

While I know a few computer hardware basics (I can build a basic PC), long-gone are the "hobby" days when I was up-to-speed with the latest and greatest PC components (Plug n Play was brand new).

SO, what I would like to know from all you PC/video knowledgable types is...

1) What is your DREAM system for running Media Portal?

2) If you could be bothered, list reasoning for each component!

No doubt I'll have to bring some of the "dream systems" down to earth a little but, hey, it's always fun to dream!


Cheers!

Stanbridge

Hello Stanbridge

Here is one of my systems... This one is for the Bedroom TV. Sad I know but you did ask.....

Supermicro PDSLA Premium Motherboard
Reason: I have been using Supermicro motherboards since they came out and in that time I have had only 3 machines to go down. One was SWEB fault and was an insurance claim second one was with a private doctor who had 4 hits in one year which was due to SWEB (power company where the power went off and back on in rapid successions during a 2 minute time) like the first time an insurance claim. Third one was a fool of a client who in front of me demoed that the computer would not boot. Windows NT first addition. OS put on by another company which had their own vertical market software, no longer in business! Most people who were there at the time knew this was a NT problem. Client after viewing the fix, a total rebuilt of the OS after formatting HD by myself who installed NT for the first time..., turned on the computer and off 10 times in rapid successions. I said on the way out after collecting my fee that if any of my computers will die it will be this one. It did 5 days before warranty ran out! Supermicro sent the motherboard back to the States at no cost to me except for the shipment to Supermicro London, arrived on my desk on the 12 day counting weekends repaired..... I have built many computers since SM came out all with their motherboards. I do have computers working experimental robotics at the University of Dundee!!!!! Enough said about SM except they are not cheap however to quote Microsoft, total cost of ownership is very cheap. I still have clients running dual Pentium Pros.... running Windblow NT. Not bad for the age. Usually SM are speed demons. At the time this one of the first Dual Core motherboards and it had the right amount of PCI slots and SATA controllers!!!

Intel 3.4 GHz Pentium 4 Dual Core LGA 775 CPU
Reason: Okay not popular these days but I have been there when a tech support for software stated "ah you have x brand processor, I know this as these are the only ones with this complaint". Expensive mistake.... Again for me the total cost of ownership over time Intel for me is the best bet.

Zalman CNPS9500A-LED Acro Flower Intel CPU Silent Cooling Fan with Heatpipe Technology
Reason: This CPU cooling system was first out only 1 - 2 days when I purchased it but after spending a few hours reviewing all that was available I bet on this one! Silent and coooool. Zalman is now better known and this item has won awards.... I phone up and complained that the fan had stopped as a test and next day I had a new fan in the post. I now use Zalman every chance a client will allow the extra cost, remember using this one is throwing away the included Intel fan.

2 X Crucial Ballistix Tracer 1 Gigbyte DDR Ram (2 Gig total)
Reason: Crucial offers great ram and if experience any compatibility problems and the exchange ram did not work for previous reason they will refund. This has only happened once and the compatibility issue was found out in the end which was a major named psu not being man enough. Most people would be surprised if I named the brand as I trusted them for a few machines. It wasn't until higher RAM requirements that this ugliness came out and my Crucial salesman pulled out all the stops and worked with Supermicro until it came out that the PSU was the problem. Very respectable name PSU! Won't use that company again as it took much documentation and experimentation. The PSU company and Micro Direct would not refund despite the written proof from Cruical and SuperMicro! Fortunately for me my client knew I was good and allowed me the time to find the solution without bad mouthing me or giving me a hard time!
Also the LEDs on the Crucial Ballistix Tracer coupled with the Zalman CPU cooler gives a good show when showing off the insides of this computer whilst powered on!

SilentMaxx ST11-Pro (White) Quiet PC Premium Case
Reason: (neat piece of Kit) Case has 4 X 5.25 Internal Bays for Hard drive quiet boxes for which there are many manufacturers of today. Hard drives cooled because of heat pipe technology and are very quiet when copying movies from another computer where a Hd will make its most noise. A must for quiet PC's! At the rear of the tower top where the PSU is there is a removable cover to reveal slots for the below PSU that runs without a fan, as I have it switched off, so that the heat can escape! This case has tons of acoustic foam already installed and the front cover that closes off the 4 time exposed 5.25 drive bays along with the power switch and reset buttons like on most cases but the Logo on the front of the heavy (soundproofing) door is an "On" button so that you don't have to open the door to turn on the computer. Very nice look case. Mine is White which is neutral colour for a bedroom. Oh both sides open with a lift of the handle each one independent of the other and once fully open will lift out of the case. Nice for working on the motherboard ie adding another card or just looking!

SilentMaxx 5098 Semi FanLess 450 watt Premium Power Supply
Reason: High quality PSU's are a must for premium quiet PC's see my note about Crucial Ram.... This unit has a heat sink on the back of the PSU and its internal fan almost never comes on. I now have it switched off but the PSU has 5 heat settings and a “OFF” where the fan will come on when the PSU reaches that temp setting, To explain the effectiveness of the heat sink this computer is in a tight corner with a shelf above it only an inch a way from the lid which holds all of my wife’s hairbrushes.

2 X 80 mm Acoustifan Ultra Silent Dustproof Fans
Reason: Expensive fans but very very quiet. One on the side of the inside removable side panel to take away the heat from the graphics card. and one at the rear of the case where the CPU cooler is blowing its hot air away!

2 X 120mm Scythe S-Flex 1200 rpm Ultra Quiet Fans
Reason: Life expectation from Scythe is 17 years. Very quiet! One is in front of the 4 x 5.25 internal bays to take away heat from hard drives fitted in a silent box and one is underneath the internal bays with filter from Silentmaxx case to suck in fresh cooler air for the bays to cool down. Also very very quiet as well.

2 X Scythe Silent Box 5.25 Internal 3.5" HDD Silent Box with Heat Pipe Technology
Reason: Already stated above

2 X Seagate 300 Gig Sata Hard Drives
Reason: When Seagate started to rule and companies like Micropolis went bust I as a system builder went over to Seagate as they had some of the best performances and durabilities. I have only had one go down which Seagate covered under a no hassle quick exchange. I run 7200rpm drives which gives my HTPC's great performance since I run 3 tv tuners that could be recording whilst watching a Divx! One drive is for TV records and second drive is for Divx and MP3's!

Plextor PX760SA Sata 18 Speed DVDrw
Reason: The company who invented BurnProof technology! Innovator not an imitator! Very fast and I have burnt thousands of DVD's since DVDr came out. Does what is says and never makes a coaster!!!! Also since Plextor came out never had a unit go down....

Gigabyte 256 Mb GeForce 7600GT with Silent Pipe II Heat Pipe Tech 256 Mb Graphic Card
Reason: At the time the best heat piping technology for the money and overkill for a computer that lives only for HTPC. However if I ever want to use this machine as a "proper" computer or sell it as a business computer this card is fantastic. Silent as most Graphics have a fan.....

Audigy 4 Pro
Reason: The best 5.1 sound card for the bedroom plus it supplies Firewire in an external box and its cables are long enough to sit on the ledge where a VCR or DVD would be on the TV wall mount shelf underneath the LCD, and the tower unit on the floor. Nice to have Bluetooth at that height.

Creative Labs Inspire 5700 Digital Speakers
Reason: I did say that this is a Bedroom setup. Speakers are wall mounted as Creative Labs (SoundWorks rebadge in Europe as C.L.) have either stands or a slot for screw. Very simple installation looks good. Nice passive subwoofer! Remote control for the speaker system as well! This has a nice "Amp" style box that sits quiet nicely next to the Audigy external sound card box on the VCR/DVD Ledge underneath the LCD TV wall mounted bracket.

Hauppauge's Nova-T 500 n HVR1300 (qty 3 TV Recorders)
I have used Hauppauge since they came out with the first WinTV and after hearing other peoples horror stories on "other" manufacturers I will stick with them as they will exchange faulty products and Hauppauge have a decent Forum. I have not had one go down just out of date because of technology. Solution has been to include it in a PC build at cost value for a surprised client! LCDTV is what we actually watch live TV on and usually it is non commercial TV so that which has commercials can be recorded by the Hauppauge and later edited out by Videoredo or skipped using MCE IR remote by minutes fast forward feature of Media Portal. Hence when someone asks me about a commercial that they thought was great I reply with a, "Wots a commercial?"

MS Bluetooth Keyb n Mouse
Reason: Overkill but sometimes you might want to do more with the computer than the Keyboard mentioned below and has a "Real" Mouse!!! I have had RSI since 1986 and the split keyboard helps for a longer session...

MS MCE IR Remote n MCE Remote Keyboard with thumb Mouse
Reason: Remote speaks for itself but the MCE Remote Keyboard is small enough to keep in a drawer but handy when a remote won't do the job... ie a quick email!!!!!

OS Windows XP Pro with all updates
Reason: Its works!

HTPC Software Media Portal
Reason: Fed up with WinTV software and PowerDVD and after seeing the Xbox with mods before Media Portal for the PC came out I was turned on!!!!! Wait what seemed to be a lifetime for Media Portal first release. Been loyal ever since. Sorry Showshifter... Thanks to Frodo and all who have developed this fine bit of software. Must I say this that Media Portal is the Jewelled Golden CROWN of this PC. Yes I must and the main reason for building this HTPC!!!!

Connected to Toshiba Regza Z 37 Inch Premium LCD 1980 x 1080 Res
IMHO no finer display LCD available!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have picked the bedroom tv as the one to answer your question with as the TV room computer is slightly older (2nd TV room computer as the first one was sold as a business computer) and is totally watercooled which is why my handle is “IceHappy.... Nearly frozen and still trucking.....” minor details of this PC is in my signature. I must say however if you did not see the wonderful blue vertical (3) light stripes on the front of the case you would not know that it is on!!!!! If this computer sounds good you should see the specs of my two servers....

PS it is with pride not bragging the above outline and justification. To those who saw this as bragging I am sure it was with envy. Sorry!

[stanbridge]

WOW Guys!!!

That's all brilliant. Thanks for all the info!!! I wouldn't have thought so many people already had their dream systems!

This has certainly helped point me in the right direction to building my own media centre.

level20peon - love the detailed instructions mate! I know it's a s-l-i-g-h-t-l-y older system as you say, but that detailed documentation has asnwered a few of the more specific questions I no doubt would have asked further down the track.

I don't know much about hooking a PC into one of those boxes with an LCD display on the front but I'll be looking into that later too.

I look forward to seeing any new posts that make this topic too!

Cheers,

Chris