Completed Finally my HTPC is completed... (1 Viewer)

[redhawk668]

Hello There,

Introduction:

I finally finished work on my first build of a HTPC system. It's main use is for watching DVD's, DivX movies, listening to music and being used as a harddiskrecorder for recording TV shows, etc. Maybe some retro gaming in the future, but for now it is functional.

It has taken me a lot of time, testing, tweaking, reading, etc. But, now I have a fully operational HTPC .

Used Hardware:

This is the hardware I used:

Case: Antec NSK-2480
Power Supply: Antec Earthwatts 380
Mainboard: MSI K9VGM-V
CPU: AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+ DualCore
CPU Cooling: Cooler Master GeminII, HeatPipe Cooler
Case Fan: Stock Antec TriCool 120 mm, at low RPM (at this moment)
Memory: 2x 1024 mb DDR2-800 (2 gb)
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD2400 Pro, Passive Cooled
Audio: OnBoard Realtek ALC883 HD-Audio
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda ES 250 gb, 7200 RPM
CD/DVD Drive: LG GH20 DVD Rewriter (Dual-Layer)
TV-Card: Hauppauge PVR-150
Remote Control: X10 OR22V MCE Remote
Keyboard/Mouse: Labtec wireless (only used for updating, etc.)

The software I installed:

Windows XP SP3 Professional
Mediaportal 1.0 + Integrated TV Engine (I don't own a HD-TV, and it suits my needs)
Blue3Retro skin, looks nice and quite readable on a CRT TV .
PVR Scheduler
TweakUI
Avast! Antivirus
ffdshow
MCE Standby
TVxb

I have a Samba (Linux) Domain controller at home, my HTPC is a domain member, so it has access to media files on my server. I've used TweakUI to configure autologon, so my HTPC logs on to the domain automatically .

My HTPC is most of the time in hibernation (ACPI S4 state), it takes a bit longer to wake up then standby (ACPI S3 state) but energy consumption is the lowest. PVR scheduler works like a charm with this . Wakes up the HTPC, does the scheduled recording and goes back into hibernation, really cool .

I even use PVRScheduler to update my TVguide, I've made a little VBscript (saw an example on the internet, tweaked it a little bit for my needs). Basically, it does the following things:

Start TVxb, get a new TVguide from TVGids.nl, output this to a tvguide.xml file.
Start the MediaPortal tvguide grabber
Finally start MediaPortal, wait 1 minute and synchronize it.

PVRScheduler takes care of waking up the HTPC, run the script and hibernate again, works like a charm .

Here are some pictures of my HTPC:

 

[redhawk668]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm new to this forum. And another thing, my HTPC is hookup to our 'old' stereo set. In the future we will be getting a surround system, but for now it is adequate.

 

[DaFixer]

Very nice HTPC

What is that MCE standby?

 

[Marcusb]

Hi and welcome to the forums. Looks like a nice and elegant set up you have, so congrats

I'd recommend a larger hard disk eventually, but otherwise all is great.

Cheers,
Marcus.

 

[redhawk668]

Well, MCE standby is a nice little tool that takes care of Windows sleep mode, you can select between S1/S3 (depends on what has been activated in the bios) and S4 (hibernate) states. It also takes care of restarting MediaPortal after a resume. I found that after a wake up from hibernation, MediaPortal would totally crash.

Well, most of my stuff is on the server and for recordings it is more than enough, I delete my recordings after watching, and if I want to keep something it can be burned to a CD or DVD or copied to my server. The server has a 500 gb harddrive. Maybe in the future a 1 tb drive in the server...... and the 500 gb to my HTPC.....

 

[redhawk668]

Mainboard of HTPC Dead :-(

Well, after lots of work, my mainboard died It seems some dampening stuff in my case has come loose and caused a short circuit....... Result: dead mainboard .

But, I've already got a new one, a Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2H, with AMD 740G + SB700 Southbridge ..... and SPDIF out, nice to have for the future. That was lacking on the now dead mainboard.

 

[cane]

I'm thinking of building similar configuration, and I've got question regarding case.
Are you satisfied with the noise level, especially from PSU that comes with case? I'd not like to buy something that's noisy and that I should make it silent.

 

[redhawk668]

Well, I'm very satisfied with this case, the noise level is acceptable, the PSU fan is reasonably quiet, whisper quiet I can say. But not more than that. For what I payed for it, it is quite good. The noise level is quite low, but that's a subjective opininion. What I think is reasonable, can be something completely different in somebody else's opinion. You'll have to see for yourself.

The PSU can easily be replaced by a another one, so that shouldn't be a problem....

 

[frenzy]

Nice setup. 1 comment.

I see you got no fans at all and the case is stuck under the tv. Isn't it running a little hot?
I'm sure even 1 low rpm exhaust fan would prolong the life of your htpc

 

[craigparris1]

Hi redhawk,

I have a very similar setup to yours - same case (but black), similar CPU, motherboard, etc. I agree with Marcusb's comment - not sure how you get away with only a 250gb hard drive for everything. I've got a dedicated 500gb drive just for recordings, and it's normally pushing it's limit most weeks. I'm also running into a standard CRT TV (not HD) ... it's a Samsung, but it looks almost exactly the same size as yours! My GPU is a GeForce 8500GT.

For cane and Frenzy - I'm just running the stock PSU and fans that came with the unit, and it's tucked away in the shelf of an entertainment unit. It certainly doesn't get hot (it does get warm, though), and the PC is very quiet. I'm definitely happy with it.

redhawk, it's a shame you couldn't find a DVD drive with a silver front to match the case ... that's the main reason I went with the black case, cause I wanted the front to blend in and not look so much like a PC.

Aside from that - welcome to the forum. Hope all goes well for you with the setup!

Cheers,
Craig