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<blockquote data-quote="knutinh" data-source="post: 28569" data-attributes="member: 14776"><p>(Last update: oct 8th 2006)</p><p></p><p>This is just a list of common components found in HTPCs and some advice. Please note that there are lots of views and differences of opinion. I have tried to assemble my own experiences as well as what I have read for building a reasonably quiet, good performing HTPC, suitable for MediaPortal for instance. For running microsoft office or SETI programs, you may want a very different system.</p><p></p><p>Contents:</p><p><strong>Cooling and noise</strong></p><p><strong>Optical drives (CD,DVD)</strong></p><p><strong>Harddisk</strong> </p><p><strong>RAM</strong> </p><p><strong>sound card </strong></p><p><strong>graphics </strong></p><p><strong>CPU </strong></p><p><strong>PSU </strong></p><p><strong>analog tv-card</strong></p><p><strong>digital tv-card</strong></p><p><strong>HTPC-case</strong></p><p><strong>remotes and keyboard</strong></p><p><strong>Links</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Cooling and noise</strong></p><p>Nobody wants their shiny new HTPC to sound like a loud vacuum cleaner. But often, that is what happens when you assemble a typical system from regular components. Manufacturers often focus more on the "hardcore overclocker/gamer crowd" than living-room computers. The consequence is that we will have to do some googling ( <a href="http://www.google.com" target="_blank">http://www.google.com</a> ) and educated guesses to minimize noise while still keeping a stable and fast HTPC.</p><p></p><p>The easiest solution is buying a pre-assembled system with all the tweaks in place, but whats the fun of that? =) You can also purchase low-performance hardware such as <a href="http://www.mini-itx.com" target="_blank">www.mini-itx.com</a> systems that may get the job done with less power (=heat) developed. You may even get passive systems (= no fans!). The challenge is building a near-silent computer yourself, using regular hardware AND keeping aestetics, performance and stability.</p><p></p><p>Usually, high performance means more electric power, and more electric power means more heat. In most systems more heat means more noise. We dont want that...There are ways to:</p><p>1)Remove heat while generating as little noise as possible</p><p>2)Only generate heat when it is really needed (dynamic systems)</p><p>3)Only remove heat when it is really needed</p><p></p><p>The conclusion of 1) to 3) is that we want a system that runs at a constant TEMPERATURE, not one that runs at a constant NOISE level. This fits as most computers perform their maximum only 1% of the time, while the cooling/noise is at 100% all of the time...</p><p></p><p>In comes temperature/termostat controlled fans, large radiators, large fans. If you can:</p><p>1)remove the heat from each component without making excessive noise</p><p>2)remove that heat from the case and into the living room without making excessive noise</p><p>then you have come a long way. This can be done by using large CPU coolers with heatpipes and/or Cupper ribs, large graphics coolers etc. Then you would want to use large, slow-moving system fans or PSU fans that will suck enough air while making as little noise as possible. </p><p></p><p>Such a system can usually be controlled by <a href="http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php" target="_blank">Speedfan</a> so that fan-speeds ramp ump when relevant temperatures ramp up. In my system, the system fans will stop after windows has booted. Only when the temperature gets high enough will they slowly ramp up in speed.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Optical drives (CD,DVD)</strong></p><p>Any DVD-rom or recorder will let you play CDs and DVDs. The noise level will be different for different models. </p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html" target="_blank">AnyDVD</a> is really great for:</p><p>-forcing the player to run at a lower speed (means less noise). 1x is enough for watching DVDs anyways.</p><p>-removing zone problems</p><p>-removing FBIwarnings etc (FBI doesnt have juristiction here in Norway - yet ;-)</p><p></p><p>Otherwise, you can also flash your DVD-players firmware with one that has no zone restrictions (find by using google)</p><p></p><p>Nero Drivespeed should give similar features for forcing your DVDs/CDs to playback at less than maximum drive speed.</p><p></p><p><strong>Harddisk</strong> </p><p>How much, how fast, what type?</p><p></p><p>There can never be enough hd space. If you are going to tape a lot of shows or use the HTPC as a server, you will probably want to have more than one large drive. A pure windows/MP installation in itself takes almost no space, so if you are primarily sharing media files from another computer, or using MP for live viewing of tv/radio etc, you may get by on a small drive.</p><p></p><p>7200rpm drives are generally faster and noisier than older 5400rpm disks. Nowadays, most disks are 7200 anyways. Samsung P80/P120 series have a very good reputation for low noise and low temperature. The are typically not available at the largest sizes (max 300GB currently).</p><p></p><p>The typical HTPC may benefit less from really fast hard drives than a typical office computer.</p><p></p><p>You may find tests of hds and hd silencing remedies (including DIY) here:</p><p><a href="http://www.silentpcreview.com/section14.html" target="_blank">http://www.silentpcreview.com/section14.html</a></p><p>Discussions of the same topics can be found here:</p><p><a href="http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewforum.php?f=7" target="_blank">http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewforum.php?f=7</a></p><p></p><p>A tool for managing disk noise :<a href="http://www.rt-sw.de/en/freeware/freeware.html" target="_blank">http://www.rt-sw.de/en/freeware/freeware.html</a></p><p><strong>RAM</strong> </p><p>Q: How much RAM do I need, what type do I need?</p><p></p><p>A: Short story: 512MB is enough, 1024 is more than enough. I have seen reports of users removing ram sticks one at a time when playing back HD MPEG2 video files, where the performance was essentially constant from 512MB and up. This makes sense, as you are streaming a file from disk that is to large to fit into ram anyways. </p><p></p><p>In this guide, the author recommends 512 MB ram, after conversations with one of the guys ("Andy") behind ffdshow (sadly in norwegian): </p><p><a href="http://www.hardware.no/guider/hele_maskiner/htpc_trinn_for_trinn_-_del_2/13774/2" target="_blank">http://www.hardware.no/guider/hele_maskiner/htpc_trinn_for_trinn_-_del_2/13774/2</a> .Translated: </p><p></p><p>"7. There is no need for large amounts of memory, 512MB is enough.." </p><p></p><p>(I know, it sounds scarily like a Bill Gates quote, but remember that this is for a specific application for a specific time...)</p><p></p><p><strong>sound card </strong></p><p>If you only want a spdif pass-through, any card that can pass a bit-perfect signal will do. I can`t see why an expensive soundblaster give any advantage to more modest spdif equipped cards for pure HTPC use. For gaming, the situation may change somewhat. </p><p></p><p><a href="https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/showthread.php?t=10524" target="_blank">This post</a> contains more info about "bit-perfect" capable soundcards. </p><p></p><p>If you want analog output, other cards may have better connectors, and more "professional" DAC/drivers/bass management etc. Look for M-audio, Echo etc.</p><p></p><p>SACD output is currently (and probably in the future as well) impossible on a computer. DVD-A is possible using certain DVD playback programs. You would need a sound card with 24 bits and 192kHz to take full advantage of those.</p><p></p><p><strong>graphics </strong></p><p>For pure Media Portal, any direct-x 9.0 compatible graphics card will do I believe. You may want tv-out or DVI out depending on what you are using as a display device. If you want to use Nvidia hardware accelerated video decoding and processing, a geforce 6600GT or better will give you all available functions. I have yet to see a objective reason why HTPC users should go for anything faster than a passive GF6600GT (for pure video processing), or 6200 or equivalent (for ffdshow processing). If you expect to play a lot of computer games in high resolution you may want a faster card (check out a gaming site)</p><p></p><p>Nvidia geforce purevideo compatibility chart:</p><p><a href="http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html" target="_blank">http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html</a></p><p></p><p>A list of DirectX 9.0 cards from both ATI and nVidia. </p><p>ATI </p><p>DirectX 8.1 </p><p>ATI Radeon 9000-9250 </p><p>DirectX 9.0 </p><p>ATI Radeon 9500-9600 </p><p>ATI Radeon 9700-9800 </p><p>ATI Radeon X300 / X550 PCI-Express </p><p>ATI Radeon X600 PCI-Express </p><p>ATI Radeon X700 AGP </p><p>ATI Radeon X700 PCI-Express </p><p>ATI Radeon X800-X850 AGP </p><p>ATI Radeon X800-X850 PCI-Express </p><p>ATI Radeon X1300 PCI-Express </p><p>ATI Radeon X1600 PCI-Express </p><p>ATI Radeon X1800 PCI-Express </p><p></p><p>nVidia </p><p>DirectX 9.0 </p><p>nVidia GeForce FX5200 </p><p>nVidia GeForce FX5500-FX5700 </p><p>nVidia GeForce 6200 AGP </p><p>nVidia GeForce 6200-6500 PCI-Express </p><p>nVidia GeForce 6600 AGP </p><p>nVidia GeForce 6600 PCI-Express </p><p>nVidia GeForce 6800 AGP </p><p>nVidia GeForce 6800 PCI-Express </p><p>nVidia GeForce 7800 PCI-Express</p><p></p><p><strong>CPU </strong></p><p>Do you want an AMD or Intel? Dual core or single core? </p><p></p><p>There are lots of information on this on the net. Problem is, not all information is applicable to HTPC use. The world is going dual core, no doubt. But it is more expensive at the moment, and you can always add a dual core later on, when prices are lower and more applications support it. "What do you say`? support it?" Thats right. In principle, a 2GHz dual core will be exactly as fast as a 2GHz single core if you are running a single program that does not have multiple (2) threads. And cost a lot more... Even a multi-threaded application may see little improvement if the usage is not symmetric. This is confirmed by a test at <a href="http://www.anandtech.com" target="_blank">www.anandtech.com</a> where they had to use many applications at the same time to see significant benefits of dual core vs single core processors. Do you think this is a common use of HTPCs? This may change as applications are changed to reflect the hardware situation, but then processor prices will also drop. A 3000+ will probably be cooler and a lot less expensive that a x2 4800. In 6 months a faster processor thatn the 4800 may be bought for half the price... </p><p></p><p>Intel Vs AMD is a touchy subject, bringing out the warrior in every tru geek. Suffice to say that AMD has generally been cooler, and had more performance-pr-watt heat lately. On the other hand, intel has had better support, notably in ffd-show.</p><p></p><p><strong>PSU </strong></p><p>Tests at <a href="http://www.silentpcreview.com" target="_blank">www.silentpcreview.com</a> shows that even the most power-thirsty systems doesnt consume more than 200W at full load. Tests at the same site shows that PSUs have a "sweetspot" where their efficiency peaks. This means that a 600W PSU used in a 150W system will develop more heat than a 300W PSU in the sme system if all other variables are equal. And it will cost a lot more. </p><p></p><p>Seasonic s12 series are very highly regarded, and now they are finally availably here in europe. No blingbling, but boring grey PSUs that consistently get good reviews on noise and stability.</p><p></p><p><strong>analog tv-card</strong></p><p>For MediaPortal, you would want a tv-card with hardware encoding. This means that the analog tv is encoded as MPEG2 (just as DVD) on the card itself, and the system reads this stream which is decoded in software typically.</p><p></p><p><strong>digital tv-card</strong></p><p>It seems that there are less differences between digital cards. As long as BDA drivers are available, go with what is convenient and economical. I am using a terratec T^2. </p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>HTPC-case</strong></p><p></p><p>So many choices...</p><p><a href="http://www.silverstonetek.com/" target="_blank">http://www.silverstonetek.com/</a></p><p><a href="http://www.origenae.com/products_index.htm" target="_blank">http://www.origenae.com/products_index.htm</a></p><p></p><p>Sleek mATX case with room for 3 expansion boards</p><p><img src="http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/lc11m/frnt%20view/LC11M.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p><a href="http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc11m.htm" target="_blank">http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc11m.htm</a></p><p></p><p>Full ATX, nice looks, with full expandability</p><p><a href="http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc16m.htm" target="_blank">http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc16m.htm</a></p><p><img src="http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/lc16m/frnt%20view/LC16m.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Passive, massive and expensive:</p><p><a href="http://www.mcubed-tech.com/eng/hfx.htm" target="_blank">http://www.mcubed-tech.com/eng/hfx.htm</a></p><p><img src="http://www.mcubed-tech.com/generell/hero-l800.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Perhaps the best looking (in mye eyes). ATX mobo, mATX PSU</p><p><a href="http://www.origenae.com/product_h5.htm" target="_blank">http://www.origenae.com/product_h5.htm</a></p><p><img src="http://www.vendur.no/catalog/images/5bl.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>A serious contender for the most popular full-featured box:</p><p><a href="http://www.origenae.com/product_x11.htm" target="_blank">http://www.origenae.com/product_x11.htm</a></p><p><img src="http://www.origenae.com/images/products/x11/strip.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Expensive and built in touch screen</p><p><a href="http://www.origenae.com/product_x15e.htm" target="_blank">http://www.origenae.com/product_x15e.htm</a></p><p><img src="http://www.origenae.com/images/products/x15e/strip.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>remotes and keyboard</strong></p><p>Since we are all couch potatoes, we need to be able to do anything without physically moving anything more than strictly necessary <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Links:</strong></p><p>HTPC:</p><p><a href="http://www.htpcnews.com" target="_blank">www.htpcnews.com</a></p><p>tv-cards:</p><p><a href="http://www.tv-cards.com" target="_blank">www.tv-cards.com</a></p><p>silencing/noise issues, lots of tests:</p><p><a href="http://www.silentpcreview.com" target="_blank">www.silentpcreview.com</a></p><p>home theater:</p><p><a href="http://www.avforum.com" target="_blank">www.avforum.com</a><a href="http://" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://" target="_blank"></a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="knutinh, post: 28569, member: 14776"] (Last update: oct 8th 2006) This is just a list of common components found in HTPCs and some advice. Please note that there are lots of views and differences of opinion. I have tried to assemble my own experiences as well as what I have read for building a reasonably quiet, good performing HTPC, suitable for MediaPortal for instance. For running microsoft office or SETI programs, you may want a very different system. Contents: [b]Cooling and noise[/b] [b]Optical drives (CD,DVD)[/b] [b]Harddisk[/b] [b]RAM[/b] [b]sound card [/b] [b]graphics [/b] [b]CPU [/b] [b]PSU [/b] [b]analog tv-card[/b] [b]digital tv-card[/b] [b]HTPC-case[/b] [b]remotes and keyboard[/b] [b]Links[/b] [b]Cooling and noise[/b] Nobody wants their shiny new HTPC to sound like a loud vacuum cleaner. But often, that is what happens when you assemble a typical system from regular components. Manufacturers often focus more on the "hardcore overclocker/gamer crowd" than living-room computers. The consequence is that we will have to do some googling ( [url]http://www.google.com[/url] ) and educated guesses to minimize noise while still keeping a stable and fast HTPC. The easiest solution is buying a pre-assembled system with all the tweaks in place, but whats the fun of that? =) You can also purchase low-performance hardware such as [url]www.mini-itx.com[/url] systems that may get the job done with less power (=heat) developed. You may even get passive systems (= no fans!). The challenge is building a near-silent computer yourself, using regular hardware AND keeping aestetics, performance and stability. Usually, high performance means more electric power, and more electric power means more heat. In most systems more heat means more noise. We dont want that...There are ways to: 1)Remove heat while generating as little noise as possible 2)Only generate heat when it is really needed (dynamic systems) 3)Only remove heat when it is really needed The conclusion of 1) to 3) is that we want a system that runs at a constant TEMPERATURE, not one that runs at a constant NOISE level. This fits as most computers perform their maximum only 1% of the time, while the cooling/noise is at 100% all of the time... In comes temperature/termostat controlled fans, large radiators, large fans. If you can: 1)remove the heat from each component without making excessive noise 2)remove that heat from the case and into the living room without making excessive noise then you have come a long way. This can be done by using large CPU coolers with heatpipes and/or Cupper ribs, large graphics coolers etc. Then you would want to use large, slow-moving system fans or PSU fans that will suck enough air while making as little noise as possible. Such a system can usually be controlled by [url=http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php]Speedfan[/url] so that fan-speeds ramp ump when relevant temperatures ramp up. In my system, the system fans will stop after windows has booted. Only when the temperature gets high enough will they slowly ramp up in speed. [b]Optical drives (CD,DVD)[/b] Any DVD-rom or recorder will let you play CDs and DVDs. The noise level will be different for different models. [url=http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html]AnyDVD[/url] is really great for: -forcing the player to run at a lower speed (means less noise). 1x is enough for watching DVDs anyways. -removing zone problems -removing FBIwarnings etc (FBI doesnt have juristiction here in Norway - yet ;-) Otherwise, you can also flash your DVD-players firmware with one that has no zone restrictions (find by using google) Nero Drivespeed should give similar features for forcing your DVDs/CDs to playback at less than maximum drive speed. [b]Harddisk[/b] How much, how fast, what type? There can never be enough hd space. If you are going to tape a lot of shows or use the HTPC as a server, you will probably want to have more than one large drive. A pure windows/MP installation in itself takes almost no space, so if you are primarily sharing media files from another computer, or using MP for live viewing of tv/radio etc, you may get by on a small drive. 7200rpm drives are generally faster and noisier than older 5400rpm disks. Nowadays, most disks are 7200 anyways. Samsung P80/P120 series have a very good reputation for low noise and low temperature. The are typically not available at the largest sizes (max 300GB currently). The typical HTPC may benefit less from really fast hard drives than a typical office computer. You may find tests of hds and hd silencing remedies (including DIY) here: [url]http://www.silentpcreview.com/section14.html[/url] Discussions of the same topics can be found here: [url]http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewforum.php?f=7[/url] A tool for managing disk noise :[url]http://www.rt-sw.de/en/freeware/freeware.html[/url] [b]RAM[/b] Q: How much RAM do I need, what type do I need? A: Short story: 512MB is enough, 1024 is more than enough. I have seen reports of users removing ram sticks one at a time when playing back HD MPEG2 video files, where the performance was essentially constant from 512MB and up. This makes sense, as you are streaming a file from disk that is to large to fit into ram anyways. In this guide, the author recommends 512 MB ram, after conversations with one of the guys ("Andy") behind ffdshow (sadly in norwegian): [url]http://www.hardware.no/guider/hele_maskiner/htpc_trinn_for_trinn_-_del_2/13774/2[/url] .Translated: "7. There is no need for large amounts of memory, 512MB is enough.." (I know, it sounds scarily like a Bill Gates quote, but remember that this is for a specific application for a specific time...) [b]sound card [/b] If you only want a spdif pass-through, any card that can pass a bit-perfect signal will do. I can`t see why an expensive soundblaster give any advantage to more modest spdif equipped cards for pure HTPC use. For gaming, the situation may change somewhat. [url=https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/showthread.php?t=10524]This post[/url] contains more info about "bit-perfect" capable soundcards. If you want analog output, other cards may have better connectors, and more "professional" DAC/drivers/bass management etc. Look for M-audio, Echo etc. SACD output is currently (and probably in the future as well) impossible on a computer. DVD-A is possible using certain DVD playback programs. You would need a sound card with 24 bits and 192kHz to take full advantage of those. [b]graphics [/b] For pure Media Portal, any direct-x 9.0 compatible graphics card will do I believe. You may want tv-out or DVI out depending on what you are using as a display device. If you want to use Nvidia hardware accelerated video decoding and processing, a geforce 6600GT or better will give you all available functions. I have yet to see a objective reason why HTPC users should go for anything faster than a passive GF6600GT (for pure video processing), or 6200 or equivalent (for ffdshow processing). If you expect to play a lot of computer games in high resolution you may want a faster card (check out a gaming site) Nvidia geforce purevideo compatibility chart: [url]http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html[/url] A list of DirectX 9.0 cards from both ATI and nVidia. 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 [b]CPU [/b] Do you want an AMD or Intel? Dual core or single core? There are lots of information on this on the net. Problem is, not all information is applicable to HTPC use. The world is going dual core, no doubt. But it is more expensive at the moment, and you can always add a dual core later on, when prices are lower and more applications support it. "What do you say`? support it?" Thats right. In principle, a 2GHz dual core will be exactly as fast as a 2GHz single core if you are running a single program that does not have multiple (2) threads. And cost a lot more... Even a multi-threaded application may see little improvement if the usage is not symmetric. This is confirmed by a test at [url]www.anandtech.com[/url] where they had to use many applications at the same time to see significant benefits of dual core vs single core processors. Do you think this is a common use of HTPCs? This may change as applications are changed to reflect the hardware situation, but then processor prices will also drop. A 3000+ will probably be cooler and a lot less expensive that a x2 4800. In 6 months a faster processor thatn the 4800 may be bought for half the price... Intel Vs AMD is a touchy subject, bringing out the warrior in every tru geek. Suffice to say that AMD has generally been cooler, and had more performance-pr-watt heat lately. On the other hand, intel has had better support, notably in ffd-show. [b]PSU [/b] Tests at [url]www.silentpcreview.com[/url] shows that even the most power-thirsty systems doesnt consume more than 200W at full load. Tests at the same site shows that PSUs have a "sweetspot" where their efficiency peaks. This means that a 600W PSU used in a 150W system will develop more heat than a 300W PSU in the sme system if all other variables are equal. And it will cost a lot more. Seasonic s12 series are very highly regarded, and now they are finally availably here in europe. No blingbling, but boring grey PSUs that consistently get good reviews on noise and stability. [b]analog tv-card[/b] For MediaPortal, you would want a tv-card with hardware encoding. This means that the analog tv is encoded as MPEG2 (just as DVD) on the card itself, and the system reads this stream which is decoded in software typically. [b]digital tv-card[/b] It seems that there are less differences between digital cards. As long as BDA drivers are available, go with what is convenient and economical. I am using a terratec T^2. [b]HTPC-case[/b] So many choices... [url]http://www.silverstonetek.com/[/url] [url]http://www.origenae.com/products_index.htm[/url] Sleek mATX case with room for 3 expansion boards [img]http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/lc11m/frnt%20view/LC11M.jpg[/img] [url]http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc11m.htm[/url] Full ATX, nice looks, with full expandability [url]http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc16m.htm[/url] [img]http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/lc16m/frnt%20view/LC16m.jpg[/img] Passive, massive and expensive: [url]http://www.mcubed-tech.com/eng/hfx.htm[/url] [img]http://www.mcubed-tech.com/generell/hero-l800.jpg[/img] Perhaps the best looking (in mye eyes). ATX mobo, mATX PSU [url]http://www.origenae.com/product_h5.htm[/url] [img]http://www.vendur.no/catalog/images/5bl.jpg[/img] A serious contender for the most popular full-featured box: [url]http://www.origenae.com/product_x11.htm[/url] [img]http://www.origenae.com/images/products/x11/strip.jpg[/img] Expensive and built in touch screen [url]http://www.origenae.com/product_x15e.htm[/url] [img]http://www.origenae.com/images/products/x15e/strip.jpg[/img] [b]remotes and keyboard[/b] Since we are all couch potatoes, we need to be able to do anything without physically moving anything more than strictly necessary :-) [b]Links:[/b] HTPC: [url]www.htpcnews.com[/url] tv-cards: [url]www.tv-cards.com[/url] silencing/noise issues, lots of tests: [url]www.silentpcreview.com[/url] home theater: [url]www.avforum.com[/url][url][/url][url][/url] [/QUOTE]
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