Guide to hardware selection (4 Viewers)

[bsmedly]

For what it's worth, I can say the Albatron NVIDIA 6600GT AGP http://www.albatron.com.tw/english/it/vga/specification.asp?pro_id=127, while plenty fast enough. Is noisy as hell. So unless you're willing to put up with the noise, or install an aftermarket fan/heatsink I wouldn't suggest it.

 

[hwahrmann]

got the OriginAe x15e with the touch screen.
installed the AOpen i915Ga-HFS, with a Pentium-M in it.

the onboard graphic chip is ok. No problems to run MP at all.
The Power Supply is an Elan Vital, which is semi passive. The fan never started so far.
The CPU Coooler was a bit to load, so i replaced it with a papst 12cm fan.

Now i have reached, what i wanted.
The system in my living room is very silent.

My wife even don't notice it when it starts up for a recording = Very good WAF.

 

[James]

I just thought it would be good to expand the Graphic section a little. Here is a list I just made showing the DirectX 9.0 cards from both ATI and nVidia. Please check that it is correct.

I have included a few DirectX 8.1 cards from ATI, because they are very common on board chips. (These can work depending on CPU etc.)

Graphics

ATI
DirectX 8.1
ATI Radeon 9000-9250
DirectX 9.0
ATI Radeon 9500-9600
ATI Radeon 9700-9800
ATI Radeon X300 / X550 PCI-Express
ATI Radeon X600 PCI-Express
ATI Radeon X700 AGP
ATI Radeon X700 PCI-Express
ATI Radeon X800-X850 AGP
ATI Radeon X800-X850 PCI-Express
ATI Radeon X1300 PCI-Express
ATI Radeon X1600 PCI-Express
ATI Radeon X1800 PCI-Express


nVidia
DirectX 9.0
nVidia GeForce FX5200
nVidia GeForce FX5500-FX5700
nVidia GeForce 6200 AGP
nVidia GeForce 6200-6500 PCI-Express
nVidia GeForce 6600 AGP
nVidia GeForce 6600 PCI-Express
nVidia GeForce 6800 AGP
nVidia GeForce 6800 PCI-Express
nVidia GeForce 7800 PCI-Express

 

[Tech Geek]

If you want to go with HDTV you need a video card with a lot of memory bandwidth.

An X1300PRO or higher on the ATi side. I found out the hard way that a Sappire X1300 will not work for HDTV with VMR9.

I believe a 6600GT was mentioned for HDTV on the NVidea side for HDTV.

 

[knutinh]

If you want to go with HDTV you need a video card with a lot of memory bandwidth.

An X1300PRO or higher on the ATi side. I found out the hard way that a Sappire X1300 will not work for HDTV with VMR9.

I believe a 6600GT was mentioned for HDTV on the NVidea side for HDTV.

Are you talking about software accelerated or hardware accelerated?

I believe that wmv-hd is an anectdotal format when it comes to delivery of hollywood movies on optical disks. Currently, MPEG2 playback is most important, and over time, MPEG4 part 10/AVC/h264 (same thing) is what will be most importan. No guarantees, though.

As $50 cards can deliver 1440x1920 pixels at 60Hz for computer use, I take for granted that they can do the same for HD video IF the CPU/system is able to deliver decoded frames?

regards
Knut

 

[hakuna]

About hard disks, I really don't know, I think a 7200 is recommended, but as you wrote it probably would work with a 5400 rpm disk. However since these disks are more expensive etc. I think a 7200 would be the best choice.

Samsung Spinpoint V120CE is a new 5400 rpm hdd aimed for HTPC available at komplett at almost the same price as the P120. I will buy this even though it is slower. It is promised to feed 4 HD movies so I think it won't bottle neck there, at least with my old 1GHz...

Found a single web page with some user reviews:
http://forum.geizhals.at/t338273,-1.html

 

[knutinh]

If I were to buy a HTPC today:
http://www.hifiatx.com/hfx.php?module=cm-spec&lang=EN

*mCubed HFX mini

*Intel Core2 Duo E6600 (highend) or Duo E6300 (lowend)
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/07/..._64/page2.html

*slim DVD-spiller, slowed down by anyDVD

*Samsung SpinPoint T133S 400GB

*Asus GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 Silent

Discussion? I think that cabinet selection is debatable, since it is integrated PSU, slimline optical, quite expensive. The benefit is good looks and lownoise construction. CPU choice is simple: nothing but intel Core2.

-k

 

[knutinh]

I can see 3 main directions when talking about HTPC/mediacenter:

1. Audio/videophile that wants the best May have projector or plasma screen og a high quality audio system. Wants a large box with premium parts. Is willing to spend time tweaking ffdshow, perhaps roomcorrection, maybe builtin touchscreen or home automation system.

*Intel Core 2 Extreme or Athlon 64 FX-62, possibly 2x dualcore
*last generation nvidia/ati GPU
*plenty of ram
*lydkort w/ spdif ,surroundamp

2. Regular user with crt-tv or lcd-tv. Wants good DVD playback, some HD, interested in live tv showshifting/recording. Wants bang for the buck

*intel core2 6300/6600
*Nvidia 7300/7600
*512-1024MB ram
*1-2 tvtuners

3. Media-center. Primarily using the computer as a juke-box (lazy). Maybe audio-only or possibly some DIVX/DVD. Can usually get by using very moderate hardware and wants a small, cheap and noiseless box. May consider a remote, hidden fileserver for larger media-storage.

*VIA mini itx or Core2 eller AMD (mobile versions)
*512MB ram
*lowcost GPU or integrated ala nvidia 6150
*either spdif/surround-amp combo or analog 5.1 capable soundcard with speakersystem

3b. Mediacenter with lots of storage. Same as above but with a larger enclosure to allow 3TB of storage

*a large number of Samsung or other lownoise disks of ~500GB each

I am shure there are lots of users that disagree on my partition of users, but it was an attempt to collect some broad groups with similar hw/sw needs. The total cost, ergonomy, noise and size is highly dependant on what group you find your self in.

regards
Knut

 

[knutinh]

Added a minor update to first post

-k

 

[Spragleknas]

Could you please add your info about LCD/plasmas and HTPC-usage to?