Completed HTPC Zalman HD 160+ (1 Viewer)

[MJRL]

Hi i'm new here, and i've been using Media Portal for a couple of months, i have to congratulate this big comunity for this great free software, and the other members for the skin's plugin's etc.

Well first i was trying to build an HTPC to play games too, but i change my ideas and build only for movies, tv shows etc.
This is was the rig

But this setup create a lot of heat, and with the heat cames the noise to dissipate de heat, and i dicided to separate my gaming rig from the HTPC.
So, some hardware stay and i build a ddr3 gaming rig.

Hardware
Zalman HD 160+ Silver (I like the black more, but my AV system is silver)
Motherboard Asus Maximus Formula II this motherboard stay in the htpc cause the soundcard its good
Intel Core 2 Duo 6750
4x1Gb OCZ Reaper 9200
NVidia 8400 GS 512 without fan
PSU Coolermaster 520w (I've changed the fan, and put a NB SX1, much more silent)
Cooler CPU Thermalright SI 128 SE
CPU cooler Fan Artic Cooling PWM (choose this 4 pin cpu fan, to be controled by the bios at low speed)
1x Samsung 250 GB for OS and programs
2x2 Samsung 1TB for the rest (for now... )
Asus DVDRW Sata (later a BD)
Card Reader
Keyboard MK Plus

LCD Sony KDL-46V3000 FHD
Receiver SONY STR DE685 (It's so old that was so hard to find in the internet...)
Speakers SA-VE535HS Pascal
For now i'm using an old creative speakers system until i made some reforms at home (hope in march).

Pics



My gaming rig its also conected to the Sony Lcd, for playing some type of games, fps i like to play in the 22" lcd
Until march stays like this, my wife it's pregnant and for now i couldn't have the noise and dust of a reformation.

PS: Sorry for my bad English

 

[finrudd341]

It looks nice - well done!

Did you get the iMon remote control working well with MediaPortal? That was my biggest challenge with the Zalman case, but I think I have it mastered now.

I see you have put one HDD under the DCD drive, rather than with the other two. On the Zalman HD160 XT + the drive cagae has it's own fan, so is a cooler location for the drive - might be worth checking if this is the same on yours.

With the 2 x 1TB drives - are you running these in RAID 1, or just keeping them as two separate drives?

Lastly - Cidade de Deus (shown on your photos) - what a great film! If you liked that, the mini-series 'City of Men' with the same characters is also good.

 

[MJRL]

It looks nice - well done!

Did you get the iMon remote control working well with MediaPortal? That was my biggest challenge with the Zalman case, but I think I have it mastered now.

I see you have put one HDD under the DCD drive, rather than with the other two. On the Zalman HD160 XT + the drive cagae has it's own fan, so is a cooler location for the drive - might be worth checking if this is the same on yours.

With the 2 x 1TB drives - are you running these in RAID 1, or just keeping them as two separate drives?

Lastly - Cidade de Deus (shown on your photos) - what a great film! If you liked that, the mini-series 'City of Men' with the same characters is also good.

I almost don't use the imon remote only sometimes to turn on the htpc, i have that keyboard with mouse.
Yes i put a fan behind the hdd cage, but on the other hdd there's no fan, but the temps are ok, a lots of cages don't have fans near the hdd. I kept that way cause later i expect to put two more hdd's.

No the drives are running separate, one its full with hd movies, i tought made a raid 0 but for storage, but there's no need, and this samsungs are fast enough.

Yes i liked the mini series of City of Men, and theres a movie to complet the mini series, not so good as City of God but a great movie too.
Cidade dos Homens (2007)

 

[finrudd341]

I had also wondered about the benefits of RAID on my drives, which are now full. I am wondering if I should add another two drives also in RAID1, or if I should break the RAID array, and move them into separate drives and double the storage. As many people say, RAID1 does not really offer that much benefit, so perhaps an alternative backup is preferable. It's only the thought of ripping all my DVD collection again that makes me so paranoid!

Hard Drive choice seems to be a very personal decision - I am using the WD 'Green' drives (WD10EACS) which run very cool and quiet, and so far, I am very happy with them. I still have space in the Zalman case for another 2 x 3.5" drives, but am thinking about a NAS server for a more long term manageable solution, running RAID5, and leaving only a small drive in the Zalman. A Solid State drive would be great once they come down in price - quiet, cold and very, very fast, but this is reflected in the price!

Thanks for the tip on Cidade dos Homens (2007) - I had not realised there was a film to top the series, so will now have to find some extra storage to accommodate that one too!

 

[MJRL]

Raid 1 its allways good, but if you have a psu problem could kill both hdd's.
If you brake your raid 1 you don't need to ripp your dvd collection again, only if you had raid 0 you will lost the info, raid 1 no, break the raid, choose one hdd and format the other.

NAS server it's a good choice, but if i firts think of that, i would never bought this zalman case, i will bought a mini itx case, like Nexus Psile

Those hdd that you have for me are the best around 1tb, but here in Portugal they are much more expensive then the samsungs.

SSD's are great, but the write its very slow, for OS and software its ok, but if you need to decompress some rar files they will take much time. I think they are good for laptops.

 

[DaFixer]

Very nice HTPC setup

And is the lcd case display working in MP?

And is your remote keyboard good?

 

[MJRL]

No the display its not working in media portal, but even in another software (wmc, winamp, etc) i disable all de info, i only have time and date displaying.
Yes, this keyboard its ok, but i think it was a retailer from portugal that import them with this brand, maybe you will find the same keyboard with other brand. Its china made.

 

[DaFixer]

I see.
I saw a wireles keyboard likes that you have on Ebay.
I like the shape of it