Low Power (Watt) HTPC (1 Viewer)

[sombragris]

Hi,

I'm trying to build a low power consumption HTPC with the following features:

• DVB-T
• DVB-S (DVB-S2) (PayTV with a CI - Just-in-case:Legally with a suscriptor's card)
• HDTV support
• Record movies to disc (HDD or DVD)
• Time Shift
• Watch DVD and Blu-Ray
• Play Music
• E-mail
• Browse internet

I wonder if the componentes I've choosen for this HTPC will do the job and I would be glad to receive suggestions. I would also need some suggestions for the casing, since I would like a DVD look but still need 3 PCI slots (DVB-S, CI for DVB-S and Analog/DVB-T).

Here is what I've been thinking of:

Motherboard and CPU
VIA PC3500 with a VIA C7-D processor (1.5/1.8 GHz)
...although it has 2 PCI slots it's fine, since the Common Interface (CI) only needs the opening in the case.

RAM
Trascend Low Power DDR2 (667MHz) -TTSS112288MFFB7722W66U--TT
2 modules of 1GB each.

Hard Drive
Samsung SSD SATA 3.0 GBps 2.5 - 32 GB
For operating system and applications

Not decided yet, but a 128 GB/256 GB SSD drive for recordings, Timeshift, and music.

PSU
Delta Electronics DPS-255EB A (80 Plus Gold certified)

Optical unit
LG DVD-RW GGW-H20L (DVD + Blu-Ray unit)
I couldn't find informatión about how much power it needs.

PCI-CARDS
SkyStar HD2 + CI module (Probably)
Not decided on an Analogue/DVB-T card yet.

Case
I've been unable to locate a case that resembles a DVD with 3 PCI openings...



I'm a bit worried about the CPU as I'm not sure that a C7-D (1.8 GHz) will manage to display HDTV or Blu-Ray at a correct speed through the PC3500 video... ¿What do you think?

I'm also a bit worried about the LG optical unit as it could request too much power.

Thanks in advance.

 

[pilehave]

I'm pretty sure that the board & the CPU you suggest won't do HDTV, and I'm positive that it won't do BluRay, unless the board has some mystery hardware-chip for BluRay built-in

Go for something with integrated GPU, that supports at least HW-decoding of H.264, and perhaps coupled with a cheap dual-core it will be enough. For software-decoding of BluRay you will need something in the AMD Phenom / X64 4500+ class or an Intel Core Duo 2.