Completed ORIGEN AE S10V+G45 Mobo HTPC (1 Viewer)

visuatrox

Portal Member
January 1, 2009
12
1
Home Country
Swaziland Swaziland
New HTPC up and running, described below the installation process and problems encountered


Hardware Components:

ORIGEN AE S10V HTPC Case
Silverstone Nitrogon NT06-Lite Heatsink
Kingston ValueR. DDR2 PC6400 4096MB CL5, Kit w/two matched ValueRAM 2048MB DDR2
Corsair Powersupply 400W, 120mm Fans 6xSATA, ATX/EPS, 1xPCI-E, 20/24pin
Gigabyte GA-EG45M-DS2H, G45, Socket-775, m-ATX, GbLAN, DDR2, VGA, PCI-Ex(2.0)x16
Intel Core™ 2 Duo E7300 2,66GHz, Socket 775, 3MB, 1066MHz, Boxed w/Fan
Sony NEC Optiarc DVD±RW burner AD-7633A, Slimline, Slot-in, Black, LabelFlash, PATA
2X HDD SEAGATE BARRACUDA 7200.11 1.5TB
LOGITECH DINOVO EDGE MEDIA DESKTOP

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Hardware Installation Notes:

ORIGEN AE S10V HTPC Case:
Begin with installing the CDROM first, difficult to reach the screws with other components in the way
Install the PSU last, because the cables get in the way otherwise

Silverstone Nitrogon NT06-Lite Heatsink
The heatsink is massive but will fit in the chassi with only millimeters to spare if you remove the Heatsink Fan.
The heatsink is large enough to passively cool modern Core 2 Duo 45nmm CPU's

PSU:
Should have bought one with modular removable cables

Noise:
The system is whisper quiet, the Seagate harddrives barely make any noise, the chassi fans are quiet, and the CPU is passively cooled.

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BIOS:
- BIOS Settings, disable USB mouse wakeup events (fixes unable to sleep)
- Enable USB keyboard/Mouse emulation
- Update to latest BIOS, fixes memory compatibility with Kingston (fixes bluescreen during wakeup)

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Windows & Driver Installation:

- Install Gigabyte Driver CD, All drivers
- Download all windows updates
- Update with latest Intel GFX driver (fixes HDMI handshaking issue)

- Disable Dynamic Energy Saver (fixes bluescreens during wakeup)

control panel>administrative tools>services
Disable "GEST Service for program management"

- Enable Auto-Logon in Windows Vista

1. Click on the Start button and type in ‘netplwiz‘. This will open the Advanced User Accounts menu
2. In the Users tab, highlight the account you want to login to Vista automatically with, and then ‘must enter a username and password to use this computer’
3. Click on ‘Apply’. A new window will now popup asking you to enter the password of the account you’ve just highlighted. Do this, and then click ‘Ok’
4. Click ‘Ok’ on the Advanced User Accounts menu to finish
5. Now, whenever you boot up, Vista will login automatically to your chosen account

======================

Software Installation:

- Install AVG Free
- Install Daemon Tools
- Install Community Codec Pack with full features, select preload VSFILTER
- Install IRTrans
- Install Media Portal
- Install MPTray4irtrans (same directory as MP, put shortcut in Autostart)

Windows Configuration:
- Set all Windows Power Settings to SLEEP
- Disable all Autostart options for Removable Media.
- Disable "Keep the Taskbar on top of other windows" (fixes problem with taskbar appearing when auto-mounting ISO)

Daemon tools config:
Enable Automount
Disable Secure mode

IRTrans config:
- install as a service (solves problem with MPTray4irtrans and IRTRANS not detected during boot unless MP start delayed)
- As per Origens FAQ Instructions add "SKPOWER" to IRTRANS to enable remote powerbutton functionality
- Delete everything in apps.cfg (not needed for MP, fixes double button presses)

Media Portal config:
- Enable MCE Remote
- Process priority Highest
- General: Deamon, Automount via deamon tools (select same drive as in Deamon Tools config).
- Remote: select IRTrans and MCE Remote.
- Weather: select your city.
- Video:
Delete Daemon Tools drive
Enable Subtitles
DVD Force Subtitles

Media Portal Plugins:
Thumbnailer - tv, Shorter initial scan, install in Process DIRECTORY, not plugin
180/300/500 seconds

FFDSHOW Video config:
Enable quality upscaling of low bitrate/resolution videos

enable postprocessing
check accurate deblocking
strength 100%

enable Resize & Aspect
Resize if < 1280 or 720
Resize to screen resolution
Resize Settings: Luma Sinc, Luma Gaus 0.60, Luma Sharp 2.0 , Chroma Gaus 0.80, Chroma Sharp 2.00

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nanoflower

Portal Member
January 21, 2007
31
0
Home Country
Denmark Denmark
Nice stuff, I myself just ordered the S10V case today and Im really looking forward to putting it together.
I was very surprised to see that you had chosen a passively cooled CPU solution and was just wondering how that is woking out for you.´

Is your system still running stable and how hot does it get? and also Id like to know if you lost any mobo slots due the massive heatsink?
 

visuatrox

Portal Member
January 1, 2009
12
1
Home Country
Swaziland Swaziland
The system is solid, so far no problems. Core 2 Duo E7300 is a very cool running CPU, and I'm not even the slightest worried that it would overheat even when running the system on 100% load for hours. The CPU temp hovers at 40 degrees Celsius, this heatsink could easily take on a more heat-producing CPU. The heatsink is a tight fit, but it does not block any expansion slots. The two chassi exhaust fans are perfectly placed because they also cool the CPU heatsink.
 

nanoflower

Portal Member
January 21, 2007
31
0
Home Country
Denmark Denmark
Sounds like a very nice solution there as I would very mich like to have mine as stealthy as possible.
Im aiming at the e8400, what are your thoughts and concerns about the heat this cpu generates do you think it will keep cool as well?

BTW where did you buy your cooler, it s nowhere to be found in Danish stores?
 

visuatrox

Portal Member
January 1, 2009
12
1
Home Country
Swaziland Swaziland
The e8400 is a fairly cool running CPU too. Unless you plan to overclock I think you will be ok. I estimate that under full load an e8400 would run up to 65 degrees C with the Silverstone heatsink, 65 is considered safe, above 72 degrees C would be a problem but I don't think it would go that high.

I bought this heatsink from Dustinhome.com, I know that also Webhallen.com sells them
 

nanoflower

Portal Member
January 21, 2007
31
0
Home Country
Denmark Denmark
Regarding your choice of Motherbord. I have been meaning to ask you why you decided for the "Gigabyte GA-EG45M-DS2H" and it's X4500HD features?

I have been trying to determine what the best choice for my HTPC would be.
I will primarily be using it as a Media Center and Full HD playback is an absolute must (MKV containers etc.), but I will occationally be doing some light gaming aswell.

I have 3 boards in the sights at the moment.
Two of these are based on the Geforce 9300 Chipset and the last on the Geforce 9400 Chipset:

XFX Geforce 9300
ASUS P5N7A-VM (Geforce 9300)
and the
Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H (Geforce 9400, and really close to your choice in it's specs)

I think my choice will be to go for the ASUS P5N7A-VM due to it's good reviews and the price difference.
Looking at your hardware selection it is obvious that you have given this some serious thought so I would really apriciate your opinion here.

By the way the NT06-Lite seems impossible to get a hold of at the moment unless I import it from the US and that will cost me a fortune. I think I'll be looking out for Thermalright's new "AXP-140" HTPC Heatsink. It's low profile (L145 x W147 X H70.02 mm) will fit smoothly in the case and it is said to run the E8400 at 47 degrees Idle and 61 degrees on full Load passively
 

nanoflower

Portal Member
January 21, 2007
31
0
Home Country
Denmark Denmark
Hi,

I have now completed my HTPC and are really learning the hard way why you went for the G45 chipset based Mobo.
The Asus P5N7A-VM with the nForce 730i and the GeForce 9300 MGPU that I went for is not a good choise and I really do not reccoment this. The big heatsink on the MGPU is ideling on something like 70 degrees and its sitting just beneath the CPU heatsink oozing heat up where it really shouldn't.

I will return this MoBo as it is impossible to passively cool the CPU in the Origenae case this way.

A curious question: "How did you connect the 4 chassis fans to the Gigabyte MoBo, as far as I can tell there is only one System Fan Connector on it besides the CPU Fan Connector - did ou buy an aditional Y-splitter?

/Nano
 

visuatrox

Portal Member
January 1, 2009
12
1
Home Country
Swaziland Swaziland
Sorry I had missed your previous reply, yea as you already noticed I had picked the G45 because of heat concerns. Paired with a good enough CPU, it is capable of playing back any kind of video (including 1080p Blu-ray) and no problems with Vista Aero. Actually the E7300 CPU alone is already capable enough software decoding basically content you throw at it, so having a low performance integrated video chip is not a problem.

Yea the Gigabyte MB has only two fan connectors.

I have connected the chassi fans beside the CPU to the 4 pin CPU connector (as the chassi fan is a 3 pin connector, the fourth is just left empty). The fan runs at approx 1000rpm according to the bios, appears to be cool enough. The other chassi fans besides the harddrives I have connected directly to one of the PSU's power connectors (using an adapter). So I don't have anything connected to the system fan connector on the MB.

If I remember this correctly, the fan power adapters were actually included with the chassi when I bought it.
 

nanoflower

Portal Member
January 21, 2007
31
0
Home Country
Denmark Denmark
My system's hardware is basicaly the same as yours now except for a few things (hard drive, RAM, CPU, PSU and Heatsink) and everything is running smooth.

I modded the chassi fans and have connected all 4 to the CPU connector and they are spinning at aprox 1400 - 1500 rpm's generating virtually no noise.

The E8400 is passivly cooled by the massive AXP-140 and the idle temp is 48 degrees (this is likely to drop when the Artic Silver sets).

-just wanted to thank you for assisting me here.
 

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