Ongoing Happy's HTPC (1 Viewer)

happy

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  • February 6, 2009
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    Well im excited to say the least, after about 6 months of playing around with MP on my main PC, i've decided to build a dedicated HTPC as i have few bits and bob's lying around

    Spec (HTPC):

    Case: Antec NSK2480
    PSU: Antec EarthWatts 380
    Mobo: Foxconn 946 GZ7MA - 8KS2H
    CPU: Intel Celeron 2.8 GHz
    Memory: Crucial 2GB
    Graphics: ATi 4350 Asus Silent HDMI
    HDD: Deskstar 160GB (OS), Spinpoint 750GB (Data1), Spinpoint 1TB (Data2)
    DVD Drive: None for the time being
    Remote: Microsoft MCE v2 Remote (eHome Driver)
    OS: Not sure yet, as 2003 server seems to have best performance on this setup

    the picture will be output on a HDMI Full 1080p Asus 22" Screen :D

    28/3/09 - Just waiting for the case to be delivered should be here on the 30/3/09 according to DHL

    01/04/09 - Case arrived, i hate DHL, its up and running after few hiccups

    My Review on this case:

    its a very good case, build quality is second to none, the 3 chambers design is a good idea, although the case fans, i reccomend to those of you who do get this case, buy some 120mm silent fans, fans included are good for the CFA they move for the noise level they generate but for those of you whole want a silent HTPC, get some alternate case fans.

    im very impressed with the power supply, it came bundled with the case, this being the version 2 of the case, i had everything up and running within hour and a half, hardest bit to to think about how to route the cables!

    indepth review here ;)
     

    happy

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  • February 6, 2009
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    right, im at my wits end now

    i been using windows 2003 as my OS on my HTPC and its too much effort setting things up, so im going to put with ultimate sp1 on there nobig issue, but for the life of me it wont do .net 3.5 updates keeps giving me error's and i've search all over the net high and low and cant find a solution someone please help, im not enjoying my MP expirience at the minute thats not good :(
     

    happy

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  • February 6, 2009
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    i've got all the admin accounts active and stuff, still ownt let me do 3.5 family updates, so i cant install MP with the latest svn :(
     

    happy

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  • February 6, 2009
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    right, finally got everything up and running, i decided to use xp, as people have mentioned you can hide screens and things

    so list your top 3 xp tweaks, so i can see what people have done :D, just to let people know i remote into my HTPC using logmein to update media and run mp config
     

    happy

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  • February 6, 2009
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    so this last week us in the uk have been having some summer weather so watching a few films with guys over having some beers playing games etc, and to my horror my gfx was idling at 60 degree's

    so i ordered some new bits ;)


    ignore everyting in the background i share my room with my little brother ;)

    so begun a long ass day of stripping the HTPC naked and soundproofing it up and installing the componants again






    here you see my beast, the northbridge was getting very warm as well, so i decided to rip it off and put some fresh paste on her


    just a random pic of my daily pc ;)


    had a tough choice to make what card goes in the HTPC, HD4350 or the HD4550, now they are exactly the same except the fact that 4350 has slower clocked ram.

    each card has its down side, 4550 refuses to work on windows 2003 were as 4350 will purrrr along nicely


    i try and stay upto date ;)


    the first chamber proof'd up so to speak, i must stress you need to measure panels correctly double and tripple check them otherwise you will be wasting pieces!!




    first chamber completed

    after that i done as much as i could with the bits i had left and installed the componants back in


    wiring is a bit messy here but i sorted it before i put it back together, i also replaced all my sata cables with the "clicky" type



    thats it for now, just incase your wondering the HD4350 went into the HTPC purely because of the fact that, MP works fine with it DXVA and pixel shadering all works (mind you MP doesnt support pixel shaders :( )
     

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