Best barbones for a HTPC??? (1 Viewer)

L

lingus

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Does anyone have any good ideas about what barbones are good for MP or any other PVR.
I'm favouring the Shuttle ST62K but it only has one Pci slot inside and i will need that for my HP150MCE the good thing with it is that it's quiet and has S-Video output and SPDIF out/inputs.

So i was wondering if anyone has anything else worth considering that has all the A/V's on the back.

ta
J
 

wortelsoft

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May 13, 2005
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I would have a look in your local computer shop or mailorder. I have a cooler master cavalier as that was the only case I could get a few months ago but now the stores are selling more and more cases.
 

James

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  • May 6, 2005
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    Hi Lingus,

    I have a ST62K. Which is really quite except on boot up (For some reason the fan goes at full speed for a few seconds .. before spinning down).

    Otherwise it works quite well:

    - TV: I have a 150MCE and MCE remote. I would suggest getting the 500MCE for two tunners.

    - Video: It is only a DirectX 8.1 card but does seem to perform ok. It uses main memory. So you will need enough RAM to allow for this.

    - Audio: It has AC97 and I have had problems with the new drivers, but the old ones work ok. However I use SPDIF and have an external amp. Which I believe bypasses some of the card.

    - DVD: I have a NEC 3520A Silver which is a fairly close match for the case colour. It would also be possible to use the blanking plate and hide any drive behind it.

    - CPU: I have a celeron 2,6GHz in mine.

    - RAM: I have 512Meg, but the video card uses main memory. So I have 128Meg assigned to the video card. Leaving 384MB.

    Other comments it supports supend to S2 and can wake on USB. So remote on and off. However, I have had some problems with the remote not working after resume (but I think this the XP and not the case).

    I think it is not too bad a case for an HTPC as it is quite cheap.

    Hope this helps.

    /James
     

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