Ongoing My HTPC (Thermaltake Bach) (1 Viewer)

Tech Geek

Portal Pro
January 29, 2006
354
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Denver, CO USA
Well, I finally stopped stalling and started ordering parts for a HTPC a couple weeks ago. No more sharing the desktop.

I'm using a Thermaltake Bach case, Tul socket 754 ATX motherboard, Sempron 2600+, Thermaltake Silent 939 CPU fan, 1GB Patriot RAM, a Samsung 250GB hard drive, Samsung dual layer DVD+-RW drive and Sappire Tech Radeon X1300. I also had an ATi HDTV wonder in it but the remote receiver died within 24 hours and I had to yank everything apart because CompUSA wouldn't just swap out the defective part.

The Tul AX480A7-F motherboad is based on the ATi 200P northbridge (no graphics), ULI M1573 Southbridge and Realtec ALC880 hi def audio chip.
My Jetway uses the same chip combination and has been great so I figured it would be a pretty good board. For those that don't know, Tul is the company that makes the PowerColor line of cards. The board has S/PDIF coax ports built in so I wouldn't have to buy an additional board for that. So far it has been rock solid with no problems at all. The bad stuff... no overclocking (at least in this bios version), the included driver disk is crap, download the drivers instead. The USB and IEEE ports could be placed better too but I can live with that. I'd have to say it's a bargain at $45.

The 2600+ has 64bit support, overclocks well (with a board that supports it anyway) and is cheap. I got $10 off because Newegg gave me credit for a shipping problem on the previous order.

The Silent 939 keeps the CPU temp pretty consistant and cool within a degree load or no load. It doesn't require much more room than a stock cooler. It's not very expensive. I can only hear it up close (a couple feet).

The ATi HDTV card includes crappy old drivers but the hardware seemed to work just fine once you download the updated stuff. MediaPortal couldn't use the analog TV tuner but it did work fine. The Remote Wonder Plus uses RF rather than IR and it has a receiver that plugs into a USB port. The receiver worked fine for about 6 hours and then died. I haven't ever had problems with ATi before so I'll assume it falls into the normal failure rate for any electronics. I was about to start helping figure out how to use the analog tuner with MP but CompUSA made me bring in the entire thing instead of just swapping the part with one from the other box on the shelf.

The RAM works as advertised.

The Samsung parts were OEM units purchased at MicroCenter. Decent price, no rebates... no complaints so far.

The Radeon X1300 256MB was a refurb and cost me $65. Other than the HDTV bandwidth issue the card has worked perfect. (VMR9 requires 10GB/s bandwidth for HDTV) For a passively cooled card it's pretty fast. If you want HDTV and use VMR9 get a 256bit card or 128bit with a higher memory clock. I've made plenty of other observations elsewhere so nuff said.

Ok, now for the case...
I purchsed a black Thermaltake Bach case without the Media Center for just over $100 after shipping.
The case itself appears to share the same back as their other desktop style HTPC cases including Mozart and Tenor. The stuff you read about mounting parts in reviews of those is pretty much true of this case. One exception is the 3.5" drive bays.
There are no openings at the front for the 3.5" drive bays.
Power and HD LEDs are too bright.
USB & IEEE cables are way longer than needed.
Some motherboards will have clearance issues with the front 3.5" drive bays. The Tul works fine though.
The blue light bars on the front don't light evenly. There are two bright spots on each side thanks to the way the plastic is shaped inside.
The DVD drawer opening has no button, you have to drop the front panel or use the remote to eject a disk.
The door was out of adjustment on mine.
The springs for the door are pretty lightweight.
The case is kinda deep compared to stereo components.
Only part of the front is brushed aluminum. The curved parts, top and
bottom are a rough textured finish. You may or may not care for it.
The included fans are an ugly orange color and are noisy unless throttled way down. I think my Antec power supply is running them at about 800RPM... at least that is the speed it's fan is running at.
The front panel is easy to remove. That will come in handy when my
Media Lab kit arrives later this week. ;)

It's a very attractive case really and I am planning on making a few mods to improve some things.
Most of the problems are pretty minor.
The DVD door was easy to fix, just loosen one screw and tighten another to shift it over. You won't belive how nice it was to eliminate that scrrrrrrraaaaaape sound every time the door opened or closed. It was almost like fingernails on a chalkboard.
The case is very quiet once you throttle the fans back or disconnect them. Those back ones are very buzzy and should never have beeen used but at low RPM you can't hear them from a few feet away.
Blocking the front of the power LED with paint or marker makes a huge difference. No more big blue circle on the opposite wall. It's like a flashlight if you don't modify it.
I think grinding the plastic that makes up the vertical blue lights until the part around the LED is circular will even out their light pattern. Right now the opening is a wedge shape that focuses the light into the bright spots I described.

Right now I'm happy with it but wish they would improve it a little. The front panel related stuff I mentioned could all be improved. I think once I get the Media Lab kit installed the cool factor will take over and I'll be thrilled with it.

The only cases I would choose instead would be the Silver version or the New Antec which is MicroATX and and that won't hold as many cards.
 

gxtracker

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  • July 25, 2005
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    The Bach is a nice case. I purchased the Thermaltake Tenor about 8 months ago for my HTPC and other than the door issue that was also present on it (fixed it just like you did), the case is very nice! If I had to wait till now to get a case, I would have got the Bach too.

    Let us know how the mediaLab kit is when you get it. I was looking at getting the MediaLab kit for my box but availability here has been pretty scarce.
     

    Tech Geek

    Portal Pro
    January 29, 2006
    354
    0
    Denver, CO USA
    Ok, I purchased the MediaLAB kit from Newegg.com and had it shipped via UPS. They were supposed to deliver it Thursday but someone forgot to put it on the delivery truck that morning and I had to wait until Friday. That makes all but 1 package I've received through UPS late by at least a day.
    FedEx however has consistantly been a day early. Nuff said about that.

    The packaging is nice and pretty. <rip> <tear> <chuck> Ok, down to business.

    (Part 1)
    Assembly

    Since this is a kit designed for a 5 1/4" drive bay you first remove the actual VFD from the 5 1/4" bracket. It's heald by 4 screws and takes no time at all to remove.

    Remove the faceplate from the Bach case by pressing the release tabs inside the front of the case. Do yourself a favor and start unlocking the tabs on the right side, it's easier. Screw the VFD to the pre-installed brackets in the front panel.

    To control the power the VFD board has to sit between the front power switch and the main board. It also has to have a source of power so the IR receiver can work even though the computer is turned off. They include a short cable that fits between the power supply cable and the motherboard. It's easy to install but in a case with an abundance of cable already it does nothing to improve that situation. If you don't care for this solution you could remove the power wires that lead to the VFD board and attach them to the power supply connector. I left it as is.

    Disconnect the wire from the front power switch from the motherboard and pull it back through the opening between the front and inside of the case. Attach it the the VFD board as per the instruction diagram included with the kit.

    Feed the power control wires from the VFD through the opening to the inside of the case and attach it to the power switch connections on the motherboard. If you get the connections reversed you won't be able to power on the machine from the remote but the front panel switch should still work. I'm not sure if the diagram in the motherboard manual was wrong or what but I had to reverse the connection to get mine to work.

    Feed the power lead through from the inside of the case and attach it to the VFD. The connector only goes in one way so you shouldn't have trouble with it.

    Now feed the USB wire through the case opening and attach it to the VFD connector. The USB connector can attach to a standard USB port or to an included adaptor than lets you attach it to a motherboard header. I would have preferred needing an adaptor if you want to connect to a standard USB port instead and it is possible to modify the cable to go straight to the motherboard. I left it as is.

    Neatly bundle the wires in the front of the case.
    I suggest testing the unit at this point so you don't have to disassemble anything if there is a problem.
    If it works, put it back together and enjoy!

    (end part 1)
     

    Tech Geek

    Portal Pro
    January 29, 2006
    354
    0
    Denver, CO USA
    (part 2)
    Insert the CD, load the drivers, iMon software and MultiMedian software.

    IMon controls the VFD quiet well out of the box and lets you chose what is on the display including the message that appears when your computer is off instead of forcing some dorky msg from the manufacturer on you.


    It can display:

    The date and time. Date format is configurable.

    Media Info. Stuff like song title or whatever the plugin for the current program is capable of displaying.

    System info. CPU, OS, RAM Hard drive space, etc...

    Email check. Enter pop server name, username and password. It didn't seem to work with my GMail account. Bummer.

    Daily News. Looks like RSS news headlines.

    City info... which is time temp (Deg C or F) and "Light Snow" or similar messages. Sadly you have to pick from a list of predefined cities rather than being able to configure any city or town.

    Graphic equalizer. Just set the sound level threshold and audio device.


    The display and software works pretty well. I would have liked some debug info about why the login to gmail didn't work but everything else seems to work fine.

    The graphic EQ lags slightly behind the music but not bad. It probably won't bother most people.

    When used with MultiMedian it displays the MP3 song info at the start of every song and then switches to graphic EQ after the last character scolls into view. I would have liked a slightly longer delay before the switch.

    The IMon software also lets you set a wakeup time for the machine and a couple other cool things like sleep timer and custom key controls.

    Bottom line... it works pretty well and is a good example of how a VFD display on an HTPC should work. It's really pretty cool and is a must if you have a Bach or Mozart case.



    The remote is excellent! I like it much better than the Remote Wonder Plus that came with the HDTV Wonder I had to return and being able to turn the machine on and off from the remote is just too nice. I'd call it a HTPC must. Otherwise it just doesn't work like a DVD player, VCR, etc...

    One major benefit of the remote is the eject button. It corrects the flaw of not having an eject button on the front of the case. And honestly, this case just isn't the same without the VFD for that matter. It's nice but it just looks right with it installed.

    I configured the IMon software to launch MediaPortal with it's version of the Microsoft Green Button and it worked perfectly first try. Actually, it controlled media portal very well without any change in setup at all.
    You can alternate between controlling the mouse pointer or using directional arrows at the touch of a button just above the directional control. The enter button is just below it. Lef / right mouse buttons are lower left or right of it. Etc. The excape is just below and to the left of the left mouse button. It's very easy to adapt to this layout and like I said, you should be able to control MediaPortal pretty well without changing the setup, though doing so will be required for all the buttons to work. The included software should be all that is required to do so unlike the ATi remote which needed a plugin. Oh yeah, and pressing the Blue Button (aka Green Button) loads MediaPortal and leaves it's screen active.



    MultiMedian works pretty well as a simple front end and it might be a little more idiot proof than MediaPortal. Setup... if you just have a folder for each album I don't think you'll have any difficulty. Just select the folder all of those are in. Sadly for me it only seems to scan for files in the selected folder and ones immediately below it. My directory structure to separate all 4400+ songs from my CD collection goes by artist and then album. Well, it took a while to set up the software to scan all those directories.

    Drawbacks... I couldn't just queue up the next songs. There may be a way to do it but I haven't read the docs yet.

    Internet Radio... who created these presets? They had to be from Korea. Easy listening in Hard Rock, Rap in Classical and what the heck language was that one DJ speaking??? I could at least figure out some of the German but one of the other channels... yikes! I really need to figure out how to change presets.

    For a simple, cool looking control interface it works pretty well. A DVR substitute it doesn't appear to be. However... it makes the ATi trash included with the HDTV wonder look like the crap it is.

    BTW, don't expect much of a printed manual for any of this. You get a leaflet with an install diagram on the front and a quick guide for MultiMedian and the remote. Some of it was hard for me to read (small thin black letters on dark grey). Use the on disk manual instead if you need to.


    Bottom line...

    The VFD and software works well together and really adds to the system.
    The remote is actually one of the best I've played with though there are several popular models I haven't tried.
    The included media software, though limited, seems to work pretty well.

    I'd say the package is a little pricy at almost $100 but overall I'd have to give it 5 out of 5 stars.
     

    Tech Geek

    Portal Pro
    January 29, 2006
    354
    0
    Denver, CO USA
    Some additional things.

    The software that drives the display is separate from the software for the remote. The sleep, alarm and similar functions are part of the remote control software while the VFD items are all in the VFD software.

    Changing the volume from the remote displays the volume on the VFD as a number between 0 and 100.

    The PLAY, PAUSE, STOP, etc... buttons did not work with MediaPortal in it's default config. I imported the settings for Microsoft XP Mediacenter or something like that and now they seem to work. Some additional programming will be required I'm sure.

    When importing cover art for my CDs the highlight of any item dissappeared and wouldn't come back a few times. I think this is a bug in MediaPortal but I can't be sure.
     

    Tech Geek

    Portal Pro
    January 29, 2006
    354
    0
    Denver, CO USA
    The city info is stored in the following file in XML format.
    C:\Program Files\SOUNDGRAPH\iMON\system\cityinfo.dat

    Here is the info for Denver.
    <prog><city>Denver</city><zone>-420</zone><day>0</day><start></start><end></end><code>USCO0105</code></prog>

    Zone and day might be related to time. Code is the city code for weather info.

    A quick search on google for USC0105 resulted in this:
    http://aolsvc.weather.aol.com/main.adp?location=USCO0105

    Then I just searched by zip code for a couple other locations where I have friends. I came up with data for Lodgepole, Nebraska and Colorado Springs, Colorado:
    <prog><city>Lodgepole</city><zone>-420</zone><day>0</day><start></start><end></end><code>USNE0288</code></prog>
    <prog><city>Colorado Springs</city><zone>-420</zone><day>0</day><start></start><end></end><code>USCO0078</code></prog>


    I tested these and they appear to work fine so you should be able to add any city you like that has it's own weather location code. The easiest way to figure out zone and day would probably be to find a city in the existing list that is in the same time zone as the location you want to add.


    The MultiMedian internet radio presets are stored here in separate files for each group of presets:
    C:\Program Files\SOUNDGRAPH\iMON\MultiMedian\url

    The format looks like this and is pretty easy to figure out... this example was in hard rock. It's "California's home of the Classics" and the genre is listed as "Rock/Metal".

    <prog><category>RADIO</category><name>KZRO Radio</name><genre>Rock/Metal</genre><logo>KZRO.bmp</logo><level>32K</level><subtitle>Northern California's home of the Classics </subtitle><url>mms://wma.str3am.com/kzro</url></prog>


    If enough people buy the Media LAB we could create a running list of XML entries for citys they can add and radio presets.
     

    Tech Geek

    Portal Pro
    January 29, 2006
    354
    0
    Denver, CO USA

    gxtracker

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  • July 25, 2005
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    Nice review Tech Geek. Definatly something I'll be looking at getting for my Tenor. Although the > $100 price tag might take a bit of convincing. :oops:
     

    Tech Geek

    Portal Pro
    January 29, 2006
    354
    0
    Denver, CO USA
    gxtracker said:
    Nice review Tech Geek. Definatly something I'll be looking at getting for my Tenor. Although the > $100 price tag might take a bit of convincing. :oops:

    I picked mine up at NewEgg.com for just under $100 shipped.
    You might try finding the iMon hardware. It might be cheaper... however my searches just turned up cases that already included it.
     

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