Arrrrrgh - help choosing media pc components please

[elsmandino]

Hello.

I am building an HTPC, which has got to be quiet and efficient. It will not be used for gaming, but has to be capable of producing full 1080p picture quality/playing blu-ray.

The computer is going to be plugged into my tv in the lounge and I eventually intend to wire cat6 all over my house, via a gigabyte router - so I can stream live or recorded tv to two other televisions via media extenders.

I also have a sat dish with twin lnb and an external aerial, so the computer has got to be capable (in the unlikely event) of recording two channels, whilst allowing live tv to be watched in the living room as well as streaming a recording to one of the media extenders all at the same time - this will not happen very often, but probably will happen eventually.

The computer is going to be used as a replacement for my DVR, so it needs to come out of sleep mode properly and come on automatically to record and return to S3 afterwards.

I have had a look on various other forums and the net in general and there seems to be very little of example specs that would be suitable for the above.

I have a spec list in mind, but would be grateful for your thoughts on what I should be looking for.

Many thanks.

A

[pam123]

Western Digital "Green" drives, you don't need speed you do need reliability and quiet : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136317
You can clock down on the video card, a 2600 XT will be quiet and it's low power consumption will work for you.
If you don't plan on burning anything Hi-Res one of those $100 DVD drives that plays back anything blu-ray and can play/write standard DVDs should do for you .
Check this out : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827129015

[elsmandino]

Thanks very much for your reply. This is the spec I originally had:

Mobo : ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD

Case: Antec Fusion Remote Max

PSU: Corsair 450HX

CPU: Athlon II x2 240 or Athlon II X4 620

RAM: 4GB DDR3 - not sure of speed

TV Tuner cards: (three of them) - 2 PCI Hauppage WinTV Nova HD S2 Tuner cards (for two freesat channels) and 1 Hauppauge HVR 2200 MCE Dual Hybrid PCI Express card (for two digital channels)

Optical Drive - LG Blu-Ray

HDD - F3 1TB Samsung Spinpoint (partitioned for OS)

Operating system - Windows 7, running Media Centre as front end.

So you think that I could get away with a WD Green instead? - would this be fast enough for multiple recordings and streams at the same time?

Would also be grateful for your comments on my other spec choices.

Thanks again

A

[glc]

Samsung hard drives are not recommended from a reliability standpoint.

The 2600XT is old tech - I'd probably look at something more like a 4550 or 4650. If you go for a passive cooled video card to make it quiet, you should keep the slot next to it open for proper cooling and fit.

[pam123]

glc is right but, before you pick a card, try the on-board HDMI video.

Yes the Western Digital is fast enough for multiple streams.

Without knowing your cable/satellite provider we can't recommend a TV Tuner card.

[elsmandino]

Thanks for your replies - my build is starting to take shape (after more forum searches on the net).

Mobo: ?? - Nvidia board with onboard graphics and e-sata (decided against a 785G board, due to current problems with ATI graphics drivers and BBC HD)
CPU: Athlon II X2 240
Modular PSU: Corsair 450 HX
HDD: F3 1TB Spinpoint (Paritioned) - or possibly 1TB Eco Green, but possibly 5,400 rpm too slow for mutliple streams?
Operating System: Windows 7 32-bit, using MCE as the front end
Case: Antec Fusion Remote Max
Optical Drive: LG Blu-Ray
RAM: 2x2GB of RAM (brand and speed undecided)
TV Tuner card: Black Gold BGT3595 (apparently coming out next month)

I agree that I should go with a mobo with onboard graphics - could you possibly recommend a decent Nvidia board with great graphics?

I think I might go with the Eco Green then for the hard drive, if if will do the same job for me as a 7,200 drive but quieter/cooler.

Are there any other improvements that you might make to my spec list?

Thanks again for your help

[piasabird]

You may be able to get some TV tuner cards which have 2 TV Tuners on one single card with hardware encoding. This might be able to free up one slot.

Example:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815100041

[elsmandino]

Black Gold BGT3595 - this tuner is pretty good - single pci-e and has dual DVB-S2 and dual DVB-T and whats-more is completely compliant with windows 7.

Build is almost there - just looking for that perfect nvidia mobo.

One other quick thing - I assumed that I was going to go with the 32-bit version of W7. Can anyone suggest any reason why I should not consider the 64-bit version instead?

Thanks

A

[pam123]

The only reason would be the tuner card not playing nice with a 64 bit OS or a conflict that would occur only with a 64 bit OS but not the 32 bit one.
You've done your research so what, if anything, has turned up ?

[macalase]

So, did you decide on a motherboard with onboard graphics?