Looking for feedback on my HPTC design (1 Viewer)

[snewman]

Tech Geek,

Thanks for taking the time to give such detailed feedback.

Re the video card - I do plan on viewing HD content so I'm assuning (hoping) that the X1300 Pro cards can handle that.

Re the Antex PS - I have deliberately chosen a PS bigger than I need - my theory is that if it is running well under capacity then it should run cooler and hence keep the fan speed down (and therefore the noise). So have you found it to be a very quiet unit?

Re the motherboard - the main reason I'm looking at these boards is the SATA 3.0GBs support - like you say the I/O throughput should help with encoding etc.

You make an interesting point about using two separate drives for encoding - maybe I should look at getting 2 x 200GB Samsungs instead of the 300GB Seagate. Its only about $AUD50 more and I get an extra 100GB.

Could you point me to the Gigabyte X1300Pro reviews? I've had trouble finding any.

Thanks again for your input.

Sean

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[jawbroken]

Re the Antex PS - I have deliberately chosen a PS bigger than I need - my theory is that if it is running well under capacity then it should run cooler and hence keep the fan speed down (and therefore the noise). So have you found it to be a very quiet unit?

If I remember correctly, it does not work this way. Power supplies have an efficiency "sweet spot" and operating at well under their power limit can mean it runs less efficiently (ie produces more heat) than a "smaller" power supply operating at closer to its maximum. You are probably just best going with a power supply that is known to be quiet anyway. I don't know much about Antex, but I have heard good things about the Zalman noiseless 400W and 460W power supplies.

 

[snewman]

jawbroken,

The problem is I'm just too cheap to pay $110 for my power supply .

The Antec is around $50, and on paper at least looks to be as quiet.

Having said that I can get a 300W Zalman Noiseless for $67 - I'll have to do the sums on the power consumption for my config to see if that is enough.

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[Tech Geek]

Tech Geek,

Thanks for taking the time to give such detailed feedback.

Re the video card - I do plan on viewing HD content so I'm assuning (hoping) that the X1300 Pro cards can handle that.

It should work fine.
I'm guessing that the hyper memory verion may be able to handle it do to the high speed memory interface. It would be interesting to give it a try. After all... that should be the slowest X1300 for 3D but it has the fastest RAM interface.

Re the Antex PS - I have deliberately chosen a PS bigger than I need - my theory is that if it is running well under capacity then it should run cooler and hence keep the fan speed down (and therefore the noise). So have you found it to be a very quiet unit?

The Antec runs very quiet and I'm quite pleased. It's large slow turning fan and ability to control the speed of other system fans is quite nice.

Reguarding the power supply "sweet spot"... a 300W power supply delivering 280W will run cooler than a 430W delivering 280W if the power supplies are of equal quality parts and design. However, a better designed 430W could run cooler than a poorly designed 300W under the same 280W load.
It's one of those things where YMMV. If you stick to better brands it will generally be true.
On a case with poor air circulation it could make a few degrees difference in operating temps. I haven't had any temperature issues.

Re the motherboard - the main reason I'm looking at these boards is the SATA 3.0GBs support - like you say the I/O throughput should help with encoding etc.

You make an interesting point about using two separate drives for encoding - maybe I should look at getting 2 x 200GB Samsungs instead of the 300GB Seagate. Its only about $AUD50 more and I get an extra 100GB.

Just remember, you have to be able to configure the software to go from one drive to another.

Could you point me to the Gigabyte X1300Pro reviews? I've had trouble finding any.

These were feedback reviews on Newegg.com rather than a full review.

 

[fathead]

Looks ok, quietest hard disks around are seagate's

Wrong, Samsungs are :wink: Followed by seagates.

Those new samsung SATA II drives are rather sexy to.

 

[Tech Geek]

Those new samsung SATA II drives are rather sexy to.

Yes... black and chrome with a lable on top is sexy for a hard drive. LOL

 

[Tech Geek]

Re the motherboard - the main reason I'm looking at these boards is the SATA 3.0GBs support - like you say the I/O throughput should help with encoding etc.

You make an interesting point about using two separate drives for encoding - maybe I should look at getting 2 x 200GB Samsungs instead of the 300GB Seagate. Its only about $AUD50 more and I get an extra 100GB.

Just for the record I did a quick test joining two AVI segments with VirtualDub. The source files were on a new 120GB Seagate 7200RPM drive and the destination was an older 40GB drive of unknown specs. Both drives are on the same IDE channel so it's not even an optimal config.

Using the 2nd drive as the destination took 1:30 for the dub. Using just the 120GB drive it took 2 minutes. 25% difference! Granted that's just joining the files and isn't very CPU intensive but with multi-pass XViD/DivX encoding in could add up to just as much.

Oh yeah, and the X1300 may work with HDTV after all if you do some overclocking. I'll post an update once I actually get to test the HDTV.

 

[snewman]

Just an update on my HTPC build.

I've taken the plunge and ordered some stuff:

Case: Silverstone LC16m
Power Supply: Zalman Noiseless 300W
Motherboard: ASUS A8N-VM CSM
CPU: AMD Athlon64 3000+
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS7000BCU
Memory: 2 x 256MB Corsair Value
Hard Disk: 200GB Seagate SATA 3.0GB/s
TV Card: Dvico Dual DVB-T

In the end I went for an integrated mboard with a PCI Express slot - if the 6150 doesn't cut the mustard I'll buy a separate video card.

I wanted to get a Samsung HD but I couldn't find a local supplier, so I went for the Seagate instead. I've only purchased one for now (to keep costs down) but I'm sure I'll be adding more later.

I had a bit of luck with the CPU - the 3000+ A64 hasn't been around in 939 pin for a while, but AMD have released some to the market (at least here in Australia). I picked one up for $170, which when compared to $236 for a 3200+ is a pretty good deal (both are Venice cores), and I would think more than enough for HTPC needs.

I should have this built in the next week or so - I'll post my impressions then.

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[Tech Geek]

I helped build a 6100 based system and it's fast enough for most stuff. As I mentioned in another post I'm not sure about HDTV but for everything else it should be ok. The 6150 should be a little faster.