Ongoing New HTPC - Will these components work? (1 Viewer)

[Boiler]

i'm building a new htpc for exclusive use with mediaportal. the htpc only serves as client and database host, all files are on several NAS.

Shuttle Modell PC-SG33G5M
* Sockel 775
* FSB: 1333/1066/800
* Intel G33 (Bearlake-G) + ICH9DH
* ICE-Heatpipe-Cooling
* LAN: GigaBit (Marvell 88E8056)
* VGA: onboard Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 HDMI (max. 384 MB shared Memory)
* inkl. DVI Adapter)
* USB 2.0: 2x Front/4x Back/4x OnBoard
* Firewire: 2x Firewire
* Audio: 8-Kanal-Audio DD/DTS optical SPDIF Out
* VFD Display and Remote Control
* 2x External Serial ATA
* 1x IDE ATA 100
* Silent-X 250 Watt Netzteil.
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 S775 4x3.00
RAM: 1x Corsair PC800 4GB TWIN2X4096-6400C4D
HDD: S-ATA 250GB Samsung HD252HJ
5.25": LG GGC-H20L 16x Bulk Black (BluRay)
GFX: Sapphire Radeon HD4550 512MB HDMI
OS: MS Windows Vista Home Basic 32Bit
TV: Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1100

what do you guys think of this system? will it be good enough to stream hd material (1080p mkv)?
thanks for any opinions/advice

 

[dcwp]

This looks pretty good to me. I haven't experimented with anything nearly as powerful as this, so I can't see how you'll have any trouble with HD in MP.

 

[Boiler]

thanks! i probably downsize a little bit (cpu, ram)

the only real question is, if the onboard gfx card (intel dma 3100) is enough to play 1080p files or if really need an additional gfx card...

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

OS: MS Windows Vista Home Basic 32Bit

Think I would go for xp pro or home premium rather than the base, more multimedia friendly from the very start.

 

[Boiler]

i thought i'd go with basic because there's no mediacenter included and with premium, you'd have to disable it...

 

[dcwp]

As for graphics - 1080i takes a serious amount of power. I'm not familiar with that chipset, but the general impression that I get from other folks is that Intel integrated graphics aren't going to cut it.

If it were me, I'd reduce to a dual core or slightly slower processor and use the money you save to buy the HD4550 card you have listed. That card seems to be a favorite around here and you would certainly not have any problem getting 1080i.

i thought i'd go with basic because there's no mediacenter included and with premium, you'd have to disable it...

I use XP Pro for the reasons PD mentioned and it doesn't have onboard MC so nothing to disable. Since it sounds like you'll be networking, you may want to look into it.

 

[lloydsmart]

I'm running the Windows 7 beta at the moment, but I'm seriously considering going back to XP Pro, as I can't stand the slowness of it! This is inherited from Vista, and hasn't changed yet. The OS itself is beautiful and not nearly so in-your-face as vista was, a great upgrade, but unfortunately browsing files in Windows Explorer is still tortureously slow. Not very fun at all when you're messing around with Mediaportal plugins and skins, installing them manually, moving xml files around, etc. It's a shame cause I really wanted this OS to be good. Would have paid good money for it. Ah well, looks like XP is still king for now. I just need to find a good price for XP 64bit.

 

[Boiler]

As for graphics - 1080i takes a serious amount of power. I'm not familiar with that chipset, but the general impression that I get from other folks is that Intel integrated graphics aren't going to cut it.

If it were me, I'd reduce to a dual core or slightly slower processor and use the money you save to buy the HD4550 card you have listed. That card seems to be a favorite around here and you would certainly not have any problem getting 1080i.

I use XP Pro for the reasons PD mentioned and it doesn't have onboard MC so nothing to disable. Since it sounds like you'll be networking, you may want to look into it.

thanks a lot for the advice! i'm currently running xp pro and i'm happy with it. the reason why i was looking into a vista os is that i seem to remember from some threads here that the general video playback quality is better with vista. another concern might be on the driver side: i'd have to check if all components come with xp drivers...

 

[dcwp]

You may have already seen these, but there are a couple of threads with detailed discussion of user experience with XP and Vista. Check here:

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...t-53/xp-vista-known-issues-mediaportal-36529/

and

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...vista-vs-xp-please-post-your-pros-cons-31883/

I don't know about drivers, but I'd be surprised if there is too much conflict with XP since it's still by far the most common OS out there.

 

[Boiler]