HTPC components (1 Viewer)

ssan

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February 10, 2009
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Ok, so I got an answer to the question that bothered me most (concerning remote control of the FloppyDTV card) - thanks alot for all the people who took the time to answer :). Here are the components I've planned using, if someone wants to comment/critize then I'll be really thankful:

Case: Zalman HD160 Black
Mobo: Gigabyte EP45 series - some model with firewire support
Proc: Intel Core 2 Duo E7xxx or E8xxx depending on price/availability when I order
Proc cooler: Scythe Ninja Mini
Memory: 4 gigs of whatever brand is available when I finally order
Graphics card: Sapphire 4670 DDR3 512 ULTIMATE
Tuner(s): FloppyDTV DVB-C tuner card
HDD1: Western Digital 1 Tb
HDD2: Samsung F1 320 Gb
Optical: LG GGC-H20LRB Bluray/HD-DVD combo
PSU: Enermax 525W Modu 82+
Keyboard: Logitech dinovo mini
Remote: Logitech Harmony
OS: Vista 32-bit Premium / Ultimate - haven't decided yet
 

joystick

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  • January 26, 2006
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    Memory: 4 gigs of whatever brand is available when I finally order

    vista 32 does not support 4gigs... only up to 3 gigs...
    at least as far as I know ;)

    cheers
     

    ssan

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    February 10, 2009
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    Memory: 4 gigs of whatever brand is available when I finally order

    vista 32 does not support 4gigs... only up to 3 gigs...
    at least as far as I know ;)

    cheers

    Yep, that was something I was even aware of - it's just that memory is dirt cheap these days, so I can live with buying 4 gigs and using only 3 of those :D
     

    AIstudio

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    HDD1: Western Digital 1 Tb
    I would steer clear of these and use a samsung spinpoint 1Tb. I believe there are, or can be problems with those drives.

    On another note: I know the Dinovo mini looks nice but there are issues with that to, do a little searching on here or AVforums
    I went for the Dinovo Edge and am VERY happy with it. Looks, useability and battery life seem very good to me.

    vista 32 does not support 4gigs
    Totally correct, it doesn't. If you go 64 bit make sure everything is supported.
    Also make sure you get the right memory for the motherboard. It can cause a LOT of strange issues if you don't.

    Looks a good spec so far to me

    Regards

    Kev
     

    ssan

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    February 10, 2009
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    HDD1: Western Digital 1 Tb
    I would steer clear of these and use a samsung spinpoint 1Tb. I believe there are, or can be problems with those drives.

    On another note: I know the Dinovo mini looks nice but there are issues with that to, do a little searching on here or AVforums
    I went for the Dinovo Edge and am VERY happy with it. Looks, useability and battery life seem very good to me.

    vista 32 does not support 4gigs
    Totally correct, it doesn't. If you go 64 bit make sure everything is supported.
    Also make sure you get the right memory for the motherboard. It can cause a LOT of strange issues if you don't.

    Looks a good spec so far to me

    Regards

    Kev


    Oh, haven't heard about troubles with the Western Digital Green Power drives. Will have to investigate that abit. I was planning on using the 1tb WD drive as a dedicated media drive and use the smaller 320gb one as a windows/mediaportal/programs drive (ofc partitioning as per best practice).

    Have read mostly nice things about the Mini - gotta read up more on that too. I have it on my list mostly for the looks :)

    Will check and doublecheck every component before ordering anything - including the memories, thanks for the heads up!

    Thanks alot for the comments!
     

    joystick

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    be aware that using 4gigs in xp could lead to other strange behaviour, it has been reported a lot of times, that people have trouble with their machines due to the unused memory....
     

    moab

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    Nice specs.

    I would seriously take a look at a SSD for your OS/apps. Silent and super fast. Check out tigerdirect.com for the reviews and prices. Keep your data drive as it will only spin up when you watch your movies.
    I have been running 3 x WesternDigital 500GB drives in RAID 0 for a while with no problems. Speed is super fast. But would prefer an SSD for the OS when I have the budget for it.
    Excellent choice on the VGA card. The only way to go is fanless. My PC is quieter than the TV!
     

    ssan

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    February 10, 2009
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    Nice specs.

    I would seriously take a look at a SSD for your OS/apps. Silent and super fast. Check out tigerdirect.com for the reviews and prices. Keep your data drive as it will only spin up when you watch your movies.
    I have been running 3 x WesternDigital 500GB drives in RAID 0 for a while with no problems. Speed is super fast. But would prefer an SSD for the OS when I have the budget for it.
    Excellent choice on the VGA card. The only way to go is fanless. My PC is quieter than the TV!

    Thanks for the comment!

    Yep, I've been pondering over a SSD alot... but (isn't there always a but?) I'm not really sure if its worth spending ~300€ for a 32 gb SSD, because SLC would absolutely be the way to go. MLC would be alot cheaper but iirc its way less durable.

    Still, your comment got me thinking - what if I'd replace the samsung with a laptop hdd and a Scythe Quiet Drive module? That would get rid of some noise at least and it would cost me maybe 100ish € - a fast search tells me that the Scythe is about 20-30€. Would be a lot cheaper.

    I don't really have a budget, but I still would like to keep the cost somewhat reasonable (less than 2000€ for the whole package including all software).
     

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