1st HTPC for 58in plasma (1 Viewer)

[hyg71886]

Hi everyone I am new here and new to HTPC's. I have been upgrading my system since last summer and the last 3 pieces are...

Samsung PN58A650

Pioneer Elite SC-07

and this HTPC

This htpc will be used to rip all my blu-ray movies and store them internally, play and organize my music, photos, watch tv (not a main concern because I rarly watch tv), and some gaming (like nba 2k9, saints row 2, burn out). I have a main rig I built march last year that my main gaming, editing of photos, etc will be conducted on. These are the parts I selected so far w/out the case. The case I am looking at is the Thermaltake DH 104 with professional sound dampening(573.15 w/ shipping). One reason is because the case already comes with superb airflow and compartments for the main parts, but also because I can play music without cutting on my tv or while my tv is on use it for sideshow pics. The entire build is open for suggestion as this is my first. Thanks

cpu- AMD Phenom II X3 720

mobo- GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP

ram- OCZ Gold 8GB DDr2800 (4x2gb) 5-4-4-15

PSU- CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W (modular)

keyboard/mouse- Logitech diNovo Mini

sound card- ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe (is it worth it over onboard?)

bluyray rom- LG Black Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM

vid- HIS Hightech H485QT512P Radeon HD 4850

tuner- Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600

controller- Need suggestions

Grand Total(w/out case): $1,267.44

The rest of my system is as follows
Harmony 1100 (maybe buying)
PS3 (have)
XBOX 360 (have)
Wii (have)
Klipsch F-3 Synergy FloorStanding Loudspeaker (2) (have)
Klipsch S-2 Synergy Surround Speaker (2) (have)
Klipsch Synergy C-2 Center Channel Speaker (have)
Klipsch Synergy 12in Subwoofer (have)

 

[etheesdad]

the 4850 is fan cooled, and may be noisy (I had one of these in my gaming rig and it was quite loud). Gigabyte do a passively cooled version (no fan=zero noise) that would be a good choice for an htpc build.

Also, may be worth considering an after-market cooler for the cpu (scythe infinity or similar). Sound dampening will get you some of the way there, but the air cooling in the machine is what will make most of the noise. A decent after market heatsync can be run passively [or with a very low rpm fan if you prefer] to make the box silent.

The psu youve chosen is an excellent choice. Rock solid build and very quiet.

Awesome case too.

Looks like a nice machine. Enjoy

 

[rmeredit]

Given you have optical S/PDIF out, I wouldn't bother with an add-on sound card. Life is a bit easier if you just pass everything through to a receiver. This will eliminate much of the codec wrangling that you might have to do, and means that everything audio (including volume) is handled in one place.

Sounds like a great setup - just make sure you wear sunscreen in front of that 58" plasma

 

[Captain Kirk]

Thats a nice Setup , but i would go for the Asus Soundcard.
It's able to get the Sound of BluRays(DTS HD, Dolby True HD) via Bitstream to a Receiver without Quality loss and it can do that in Hardware.
If you use SPDIF or the normal Output from the Onboard Sound, the Sound is just downsampled to normal Dolby Digital or normal DTS.
So. If you're building this Machine, i would not go cheap on the Soundcard.

 

[rmeredit]

Are you sure about that? My understanding was that selecting S/PDIF passthrough in the relevant audio codecs sent an unaltered bitstream directly down the cable. I only have a Dolby Digital/DTS receiver so I can't test this, but surely passthrough is, well, passthrough?

 

[Captain Kirk]

Hm. If you only have a normal Dolby/DTS Receiver you don't really need that Card.
In that case i would buy the Asus Xonar D2X.
It produces a much better sound than the Onboard Sound. The SNR is alot better and the Sound is much clearer and mor Vibrant.

 

[john2459]

Hi,

Have you also looked at the Silverstone series?
SilverStone Technology Co., Ltd - Designing Inspiration
I have been very happy with the LC-18 and I have it packed..

Just a thought.

 

[kiwijunglist]

Don't buy silverstone they use imon, avoid anything with imon/soundgraph inside
btw this thead is from April, so i'm sure he has already bought everything.