Completed My lowpower "noiseless" HD HTPC (1 Viewer)

[conky]

It´s my first post here

Hi !
last year i made my second HTPC. It´s look like big "videorecorder" and it´is oriented for playback hd movies and others multimedia stuff

I run it on windows xp professional SP3 32-bit

HARDWARE:
CASE: CoolerMaster Cmedia 260 + Imon VFD black (all fans removed from case)
MB: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H (rev.1.0) bios rev. F7
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4050e (C&Q Enabled) 1,0 - 2,1GHz voltage set in bios to 0,9500 V
CPU Cooler: Coolermaster Vortex 752 with replaced fan for Papst 92mm cooler 3412 N 2GLEE speed 820ot/min
RAM: KINGSTON DDR2 2GB 800MHz KVR800D2N5 2G
VGA: IGP Radeon HD 3200 (core clock set at 200 MHz in bios, 512MB shared RAM set in bios) CAT 8.12
ODD: LG GGC-H20L Blu-ray, HD DVD combo drive
HDD1: System HDD is created from CF-SATA Adapter with 4GB Lexar 300x UDMA CF card (in future change for 32GB SSD disk)
HDD2: Storage HDD is SAMSUNG 2.5 320GB 5400 8MB SATA HM320JI (in future change for WD GP 1TB 2 platter solution)
TV CARD: Avermedia PCI Hybrid A16AR for DVB-T
PSU: Fortron 300W PFC ZEN FSP300-60GNF fanless
AUDIO: Integrated Realtek ALC 889A sound output via Optical SPDIF with DTS Interactive/DTS NEO:6 enabled
SPEAKERS: Logitech Z-5400 (in future change for Onkyo HTX-22HD + Onkyo SKS-11)
LCD TV: Samsung LE46A856 input via HDMI2/PC from HTPC onboard HDMI connector
It is very lowheat production and lowepower "noiseless" solution
In the night I hear fan in my LCD TV but i don´t know that my HTPC is TURN ON

SOFTWARE:
I use Mediaportal 1.0 + StreamedMP + MovingPictures + iMON plugin for MP
for MP4/MKV (x264) I use MPC video decoder with DXVA enabled (CPU usage aroun 5%) if video doesn´t go via DXVA then directshow filter automatically switch to CoreAVC decoder because best software decoder and CPU utilization
for audio AC3/DTS I use AC3 filter settings SPDIF passthrough via optical cable to Logitech Z-5400 (it has AC3/DTS built-in decoder)
Testing TMT for Blu-Ray playback

I post some pictures later after I take someone

PS: sorry for my bad english

Some quickshot pictures:

 

[Eeyore]

very nice. plain and simple, just what i like.

the rubber band mount for the disk is a worry though

 

[scma]

iMON plugin for MP?

I have a almost identical setup as you. And your reference to a iMon plugin intrigues me. I've made a thorough search of the forums and found no other references. Would you mind telling me some more about it?

 

[conky]

It is preset (imo) file for Mediaportal which I downloaded from SoundGraph site (Download/iMON Settings file) from
http://www.soundgraph.com/Common/filedownLoad.aspx?fileName=MediaPortal.imo&flag=support
and copy to folder C:/Program Files/SOUNDGRAPH/iMON/Preset and Preset PAD
next step was import this preset in iMON manager in section Settings Program commands and add in iMON utilities to programs Mediaportal.exe from Program Files... and setting dot to MediaPortal to quick start and set Use exclusive mode

Its works good but i don´t try every buttons what they are doing

maybe it help you

 

[scma]

OK, that's the same thing I've done. I was kind of hoping for some new mystery plugin

 

[kesar]

I have a almost identical setup as you. And your reference to a iMon plugin intrigues me. I've made a thorough search of the forums and found no other references. Would you mind telling me some more about it?

Try this guide, it makes much more usable shortcuts.
link

 

[conky]

I upgraded my hardware on my HTPC because i had issue wit no signal via HDMI on my previous motherboard
Finally NEW configuration is:

HARDWARE:
CASE: CoolerMaster Cmedia 260 + Imon VFD black (all fans removed from case)
MB: Asus P5N7A-VM bios 0512 latest
CPU: Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200 (Speedstep disabled) multiplier set at 6.0x (1,2GHz) voltage set in bios to 0,86500 V
CPU Cooler: Coolermaster Vortex 752 with replaced fan for Papst 92mm cooler 3412 N 2GLEE speed 800ot/min
RAM: KINGSTON DDR2 2GB 800MHz KVR800D2N5 2G
VGA: IGP NVIDIA Geforce 9300 (512MB shared RAM set in bios) it´s hot but I don´t know hot underclock it
ODD: LG GGC-H20L Blu-ray, HD DVD combo drive
HDD: WD Greenpower WD15EADS (1,5 TB) 2 partitions (20GB for system)
PSU: Fortron 300W PFC ZEN FSP300-60GNF fanless
AUDIO: Integrated Realtek ALC 1200 sound output via Optical SPDIF
SPEAKERS:Hometheatre Panasonic SA-PT465 via SPDIF (I hate it because don´t know decode DTS via SPDIF but it has built-in DTS decoder ) I bought it because very good price (32,- € new)
LCD TV: Samsung LE46A856 input via HDMI2/PC from HTPC onboard HDMI connector
REMOTE: Logitech Harmony One
It is very lowheat production and lowepower "noiseless" solution
In the night I hear fan in my LCD TV but i don´t know that my HTPC is TURN ON

SOFTWARE:
SYSTEM: Windows 7 RC1
I use Mediaportal 1.0.2 + StreamedMP + MovingPictures + Imon receiver built-in (MCE Remote set)
SAF filters
TMT3 for Blu-Ray playback

 

[Peter2]

Hi conky, nice setup.
Can you enlighten me by telling why you undervolted the AMD cpu on top of using C&Q?

 

[conky]

Hi Peter2
I undervolt it because C&Q has upper voltage set at minimal multiplier about 1,1V I don´t remember but it enough set voltage to 0,9500V in my case. This mean lower heat production/watt consumption and fan rotation and more silence

In my new configuration I have Intel E5200 and I set multiplier to 6.0 x in bios and processor undervolt to 0,86500V.
In combination with strong IGP Nvidia 9300 it´s enough for mulimedia playback including hd sources and heat production/consumption is low (CPU).

 

[kszabo]

Hi conky, nice setup.
Can you enlighten me by telling why you undervolted the AMD cpu on top of using C&Q?

C&Q reduces energy consuption only in idle state. Under load not. Undervolting reduces energy consumption under load also.

Why did you remove the case fans? I would have left them and removed the CPU fan. I guess the case fans were at least as big as the CPU-fan. edit: I checked out. your case have only 2 small case fans. Can´t you put one 12 cm fan onto the case, directly above the CPU heatsink without cpu-fan? maybe connect it with the cpufan-connector of MoBo. That would be the most silent and coolest solution.

I have an Antec Fusion case, 12 cm case fan, no CPU-fan on a ScyntheNinjaMini CPU-Heatsink and that works nice and quiet.