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<blockquote data-quote="montyq" data-source="post: 67393" data-attributes="member: 23392">I had a few things in mind when building my HTPC.&nbsp; I wanted it so I could listen to my vast collection of mp3's, play dvd's from the hdd rather than having to put a disc in like a traditional dvd player, surf the web, view video and access to internet radio, record and display HDTV, and of course for high end gaming as well as low end gaming via emulators...&nbsp;&nbsp; I also wanted the HTPC to look good in my entertainment center.&nbsp; No tower PC's allowed.I lot of what I read about HTPC builds seemed to be designed for music and video only.&nbsp; I didn't see much that included gaming as well.&nbsp;&nbsp; I started off with a slim profile Silverstone LC11 case that I thought would look good in my living room.&nbsp; I used a micro-atx mobo and the stock fan on the P4 CPU, which proved to be too loud.&nbsp; And since the case was so slim, I wouldn't have been able to upgrade the fan.I also read that for gaming on an HD screen, the Geforce 7600GT was sort of the standard video card for gaming.&nbsp; Since the HTPC should be quiet, and my CPU fan was already too loud, I got the Gigabyte 7600GT with the slient cooling.&nbsp; Problem there was, the card is so big, it would fit in the silverstone case, but nothing else would.&nbsp; Thus, I wouldn't have been able to install a video capture card.I scrapped the Silverstone LC11.I'm now in an Antec NSK2400.&nbsp; A much bigger case height wise, but it's the same size as my Onkyo audio reciever so it's ok.&nbsp; This is what I ended up with:Case: Antec NSK2400Mobo:&nbsp; Asus P5GD1-VMCPU: P4 2.8 GHzHDD:&nbsp; WD 160 GB SATA + Maxtor 300GB SATADVD RW driveVideo Card: Gigabyte Geforce 7600GTTuner card:&nbsp; None, yetWireless keyboard and mouseLinksys Wireless G PCI cardI'm using a DVI-component video adapter that came with the video card to connect to HDTV.&nbsp; The picture looks great at 720p.&nbsp; I'm currently having an issue where the PC boots up in 480i, and I have to access the card settings to change it to 720p.&nbsp; I click the &quot;remember my preferences&quot; button but when I reboot the PC it's in 480i again.&nbsp; I've found info on htpcnews however that should fix that issue.Everything else has worked fine.&nbsp; I'm using Dvd Decrypter and DVD shrink to convert my dvd's to .iso files.&nbsp; I'm then using Alcohol 120% to mount the iso files to various drives.&nbsp; I've just installed Media Portal and have successfully used that to play the dvd's I've &quot;ripped&quot;.My mp3's are currently a mess, some tagged, some not - some sorted by album, some not.&nbsp; I didn't let Media Portal scan my drives for files to load as I knew they'd come out all messy.&nbsp; I'm trying to clean up my files and adding them to the &quot;my music&quot; folder slowly so that hopefully, MP can display them in some logical manner.I'm hoping MP adds a Games module at some point so that I can access my installed games as well as my emulators and roms.&nbsp; &nbsp; I'm going to try installed the web and internet radio plugins for MP.&nbsp; See how those work.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="montyq, post: 67393, member: 23392"] I had a few things in mind when building my HTPC. I wanted it so I could listen to my vast collection of mp3's, play dvd's from the hdd rather than having to put a disc in like a traditional dvd player, surf the web, view video and access to internet radio, record and display HDTV, and of course for high end gaming as well as low end gaming via emulators... I also wanted the HTPC to look good in my entertainment center. No tower PC's allowed. I lot of what I read about HTPC builds seemed to be designed for music and video only. I didn't see much that included gaming as well. I started off with a slim profile Silverstone LC11 case that I thought would look good in my living room. I used a micro-atx mobo and the stock fan on the P4 CPU, which proved to be too loud. And since the case was so slim, I wouldn't have been able to upgrade the fan. I also read that for gaming on an HD screen, the Geforce 7600GT was sort of the standard video card for gaming. Since the HTPC should be quiet, and my CPU fan was already too loud, I got the Gigabyte 7600GT with the slient cooling. Problem there was, the card is so big, it would fit in the silverstone case, but nothing else would. Thus, I wouldn't have been able to install a video capture card. I scrapped the Silverstone LC11. I'm now in an Antec NSK2400. A much bigger case height wise, but it's the same size as my Onkyo audio reciever so it's ok. This is what I ended up with: Case: Antec NSK2400 Mobo: Asus P5GD1-VM CPU: P4 2.8 GHz HDD: WD 160 GB SATA + Maxtor 300GB SATA DVD RW drive Video Card: Gigabyte Geforce 7600GT Tuner card: None, yet Wireless keyboard and mouse Linksys Wireless G PCI card I'm using a DVI-component video adapter that came with the video card to connect to HDTV. The picture looks great at 720p. I'm currently having an issue where the PC boots up in 480i, and I have to access the card settings to change it to 720p. I click the "remember my preferences" button but when I reboot the PC it's in 480i again. I've found info on htpcnews however that should fix that issue. Everything else has worked fine. I'm using Dvd Decrypter and DVD shrink to convert my dvd's to .iso files. I'm then using Alcohol 120% to mount the iso files to various drives. I've just installed Media Portal and have successfully used that to play the dvd's I've "ripped". My mp3's are currently a mess, some tagged, some not - some sorted by album, some not. I didn't let Media Portal scan my drives for files to load as I knew they'd come out all messy. I'm trying to clean up my files and adding them to the "my music" folder slowly so that hopefully, MP can display them in some logical manner. I'm hoping MP adds a Games module at some point so that I can access my installed games as well as my emulators and roms. I'm going to try installed the web and internet radio plugins for MP. See how those work. [/QUOTE]

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