Completed The Media Beast (1 Viewer)

[MyPVR]

Hi all,

after my first HTPC died after nearly two years, I decided to create a new one with.... MORE POWER

In the old system first the power supply and than the mainboard stopped working, the last one with a big BOOM. So here is the new system config:

CPU: Intel E7200 (45nm, 2,53 GHz)
Cooler: Arctic Cooling Alpine 7 (with PWM)
Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5 (X48+ICH9R, ALC889A, 1394, BIOS F6b)
MEM: 4GB RAM (2x2 PC6400 mushkin)
Gfx Card: Gainward Bliss 9500GT 512MB (with passive cooling)
TV1: Hauppauge HVR-1300
TV2: Hauppauge HVR-1300
TV3: FloppyDTV DVB-C
HDD: 3x Samsung HD103UI 1 TB Eco Green
BD/HD-DVD: LG GGC-H20L
PSU: be quiet Straight Power 550W
Case: OrigenAE S16T (silver)

The mainboard has got a very nice heat pipe system to cool down the chipset. The system is working quietly under WinXP Pro SP3. For the test installation MP0.2.3.0 is used, because in this version I know what I have to expect. After all tests have been done I am going to switch over to MP1.0 and install a CF2IDE adapter with a SanDisk CompactFlash Card Extrem III 4GB for timeshifting.

Update: Exchanged the Samsung SH-S202N DVD drive with a LG "Super Multi Blue" Blue-ray Disc & HD DVD-ROM Drive (DVD RW Combo, SATA) GGC-H20L. I bought the drive as a retail package which includes PowerDVD 7.3. The system was tested with the HD DVD version of "Das Parfum", the Blu-ray version of "Planet Erde" and runs very quiet & smoothly. GREAT!

Update: Exchanged the ASUS N8600GT 256 MB with a brand new Gainward N9500GT 512MB.

Update: Exchanged the Samsung HD103UJ F1 with 3x Samsung HD103UI 1 TB Eco Green. The setup is 1x HDD for system & MP and 2x HDD as RAID1 for WHS via VMWare Server.

Update: Updated to MP 1.0.2 successfully. CF card is working as timeshift buffer. Removed the 2. HVR-1300, because with the TVE3 it's no longer needed.

The overall power consumption is < 100 W (with activated touchscreen ~ 110 W).

Regards,
MyPVR

 

[MyPVR]

Here are some pictures of this beast... isn't it?

 

[Gixxer]

amazing setup !! thanks for the pics

 

[jwhyche]

Where did you get that case from?

Hey, better idea. Why don't I just click on the link and find out for my self. Damn, I'm so dense sometimes.

 

[drtato]

Timeshifting to cf

Is more efficient the timeshift with cf? How filesystem use? thx:

 

[MyPVR]

Timeshifting to CF is allmost quiet, that's the reason.

And as filesystem NTFS is going to be used (it's a little bit tricky to format, just use the 'convert from FAT32 to NTFS' feature of XP). I tested this already, works fine.

 

[drtato]

Is the best solution for timeshift? I'm searching for final solution...

 

[MyPVR]

A Solid State Disk would be nice, too. But that is muuuuuch more expensive if it has got a competitive performance.

 

[MyPVR]

System Update with BD/HD-DVD Drive, have a look at the system spec.

 

[MJGraf]

Amazing Setup, MyPVR!

I put a similar one together last weekend, but with a S21T case - need more space for HDs
I also have the LG Blueray / HD DVD drive - but unfortunately it doesn't fit in the case together with my Scythe Mugen, because the LG is 2cm longer than typical CD/DVD drives... I think I'll have to buy a Xigmatec cooler instead. Until then I have to live with my old DVD drive :-(

cheers,
Michael