HTPC - future proofing for a move to Brazil (1 Viewer)

[finrudd341]

Final hardware spec - your feedback would be very welcome please!

Thanks for all of your feedback on this - very useful. I am fairly near the final decison now, and am looking at the following setup:

CASE: Zalman HD160-XT PLUS Case (Silver) x1
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P5W DH Deluxe Motherboard (Crossfire) x1
CPU: Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 775 2.4Ghz CPU x1
GRAPHICS: Asus NVida Geforce 9600 x1
TV TUNER: Hauppauge WinTV PVR 350 x1
RAM: PC5300 DDR2 2048Mb x2
HDD: Wester Digital*WD10EACS 1000Gb (SATA) x2
DVD/CD-ROM: Samsung S203D 20x SATA Black DVD-RW x1
PSU: ZM600-HP Heatpipe Cooled 600W Modular PSU x1
O/S: Windows XP Pro x1
COOLING: Zalman CNPS8700 LED CPU Fan x1


My final questions/comment on this before I take the plunge are as follows:

1. Zalman HD160XT Plus - love it or hate it? Reviews are a mixed bag, but I love it - I may be creating a nightmare for myself here.

2. Mobo - do I need the deluxe? Probably not - do the bells and whistles add any value? Maybe not - I would like to be convinced that I should get another Intel mobo that ticks the boxes - I can't seem to find too much consensus on what intel mobo is preferred on this forum. In red as I am really not sure about this..

3. RAM - I agree! 2 X 2GB better than 4 x 4GB. Sorted. Brand name v no brand name. I am sure there are horror stories, but aside from benchmark results, are there any major differences between say Kingston, Crucial and Corsair? Is this a cost decision? I will get no-name chips out here in Asia if I don't specify which ones I want.

4. HDD - agreed - the reviews say it's quiet and runs cool. No brainer.

5. CPU - Quad core or Dual core...hmmm...maybe if I had a good suggestion for a mobo I could save some money and get the quad core...do I need it for processing/recording high-def TV? It might be a while until I can get High-Def TV broadcast in Asia, other than wildlife programs..

6. Graphics - ok, I will play some games now and again...especially if the computer can do it. At the moment I don't, but mostly because my PC isn't up to it!

7. TV Card - it records, it plays back, it has time shift - it doesn't do watch one channel record another, but if it's good, I can always get a second one, or replace in time with a dual card - am I way off the mark here?

8. O/S - Ok, am I chickening out by going XP Pro - is this a case of 'better the devil you know'? I really like Media Portal, and want that to be my media software of the future, and most of the developers seem to have XP and not Vista. What's the view here - should I take the plunge, and go Vista? If so, should I just get the home Vista or go all out now while I can afford it and get the Ultimate Vista? Do I just sit on the fence, partition an HDD with enough space for a dual boot, and add it on later if I want to spend my life searching for Vista-compatible drivers?

So many questions - I appreciate your feedback on all or any of these, and will look forward to updating the forum with my progress. I have seen a few entries on some seasoned professionals doing their step-by-step installations, so will balance this with a rank amateur's attempts (complete with photo's of my wife spilling coffee on the open case no doubt...)

 

[finrudd341]

Well, I have been out sourcing the parts in Sim Lim Square in Singapore, and so far have only served to confuse myself .

The motherboard is the biggest problem, and I am really wondering if I want this one. Apart from anything else, I would like an on-board VGA port to run the 7" touch screen on the Zalman case, and leave the GPU to handle the TV output - not sure if this makes any difference at all...

Any thoughts on an intel motherboard would be greatly appreciated - I am looking at Asustek, but not sure what the feelings are about this?

The Asus website has so many variations of Motherboard that my head is spinning...

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

The one you are after is at least fanless chipset cooling, and it is a good well laid out motherboard.

The cheap versions of the asus do not have this.

Might be overkill, but you tend to find better components are also used on high end boards, whether you need all the functions or not.

 

[finrudd341]

Thanks for this - it's still a struggle to pick the right board though, and this one is from 2006 from what I can see. I am not sure that this is a problem, but I do wonder.

I am now reserting to looking through everyone's specs to see what boards they are using, as I can't seem to find anywhere on this forum where a recent mobo recommendation is made (last one I bought was in about 2002...)

 

[method115]

Thanks for this - it's still a struggle to pick the right board though, and this one is from 2006 from what I can see. I am not sure that this is a problem, but I do wonder.

I am now reserting to looking through everyone's specs to see what boards they are using, as I can't seem to find anywhere on this forum where a recent mobo recommendation is made (last one I bought was in about 2002...)

From what I've seen a lot of people are recommending the 780g chipset mobo's. They seem to be pretty decent.