faither

I'm looking to assemble a new box with an idea of using it as a HTPC (coupled with a 32" or bigger LCD) in the bedroom. Key attributes would be quiet, small factor, output 1080i (1920x1080) approximately $1000 and AMD based (if possible).

My current main rig is an Athlon 64 3200 754 pin.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Toadster

get a conroe based VIIV system... i think they'll be out around Sept.

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SnowSurfer

blah on viiv , isn't that meant to lock people out of content?

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I have an athlon xp 2500+ ... aren't you glad you know that?

redcolours

yeah, and its overkill.

Faither, you need any processor with at least 2.8Ghz to 3Ghz speeds. HD content needs the extra HP. Doesnt matter what processor it is. HD content is a CPU-killer. You may not be watching any HD content yet, but a future HD-DVD or BD ROM drive will be handled easily once you play it on your HTPC (im 99% sure you will want to do that later when its out, otherwise whats the HDTV for?).

Memory - 1GB is cheap now, and that is more than enough. Theres really no big multitasking job you'll be doing once youve setup your HTPC. Its either youre playing CDs, or watching DVDs, or watching ripped movies to a hard drive, or watching programs youve recorded with a PVR, and youre just gonna be doing one thing at a time. You'll find surfing the net is something you will NOT be doing much of when youre on a bigger screen. Occassionally, yes, but not as much as when youre on your desk.

NO OVERCLOCKING! thie produces much more heat, and creates the need for a very good cooler (which would require a better fan). Better fans, or ANY fans for that matter, result in noise. Look for a solution where you can put a FANLESS cooler. This would involve looking for a CPU that doesnt run very hot. Or if that is not possible, get a cooler that has heatpipes. those help a lot to dissipate heat. No fan, no noise. Plus overclocking makes your system unstable.

That takes us to the next component - your GPU/VGA card. There are solutiuons now that provide better HD content output. NVidia does this better than ATI. Used to be that ati has the hold on this, but from 6600GT onwards, Nvidia has had better picture quality. Forget about those all-in-wonder cards. Like most swiss-army knives it does everything, but doesnt do everything well. If your main concern is NOT picture quality, go for it. If it IS your main concern, go with Nvidia cards. As far as that goes, look for a card that does NOT need a fan on the heatsink. again, the noise factor. theres plenty of capable Nvidia cards that do this now.

Hard drives - this is one component that you CANT take the noise out of. Its just a matter of choosing which one spins with the least noise. Seagate has been very good in that respect. Although those 7200rpm maxtors can be set for either Performance (faster but noisier), or Quiet (obviously more quiet, may be running at 5400rpm). Ive found that there is not much difference in the performance to warrant the 7200 setting in an HTPC. There is a utility called AMSET that can do this for Maxtors.
I would suggest getting large drives out the door. those 500GB drives are now under $190, with 16MB buffers. 300GB drives now run for under $90. When you start recording TV programs, or when you start ripping DVDs to easily pull up and watch later, they can easily fill up. Just keep in mind the noise factor again, more drives, more noise.

Small form factor - theres PLENTY of those around now. Do you prefer those Square shuttleX boxes, or more of a flatter modular type of a case? The ShuttleX SFF PCs are tiny and powerful, but limited with teh space if you want MORE harddrives (more than 2). I modded mine so i can put 3 drives in it, with a DVDRW drive included. If you prefer something thats the size of say, a digital cable/satellite box or stereo surround width, there are a few good sized HTPC cases out there now that allow you to use full-size mobos. MOst of them though still allow only smaller-sized mobos. Not sure what peripherals youll be putting in your system.

keyboard? cordless of course. Logitech and MS has come out with a farther range keyboard (more than 6ft). But my choice is the compact laptop-size keyboard from Gyration. doesnt take up a big space on your coffee table. and the range is 25feet.

Mouse? again, hands down, i prefer the Gyration mouse. 30' range, you can pick it up and still use it like a pointer.

for a remote control: look up IMON remote from Soundgraph. I love this remote. easy to customize. Blows away those MCE-based remotes. I think they made an RF version now. i still have the IR version. The remote even comes not only with the utility to make it work your OTHER programs, but with another app that acts like MCE. Its actually better, but i prefer Meedio/MyHTPC to wrap everything together.

You need a good soundcard - M-Audio products or Audigy2 (or later) will provide good sound (and support from users since its widely used). Dont expect support from the mfr though, theres never any good support from them. ALthough the 5.1 or 7.1 capable BUILT-IN sound cards these days arent anything to laugh at anymore. Theyve become respectable enough in decent sound reproduction. Thats one less card to put in your HTPC.

What program should you use to tie all of this together? Not MCE, or whatever it is that microsoft puts out there. Its crap. very limited. and subject to RIAA and PAA rulings. Try Meedio (ive been using MyHTPC, the basis for Meedio). Very customizable, though it does have a little learning curve. But the rewards are amazing once it gets going. Use XP Pro. its good enough, Forget Vista for now. its not gonna be out til next year, and even then, hold out until the drivers for your peripherals have been tweaked to work right. Plus theres bound to be bugs in it still. At least XP Pro has had a number of updates and tweaks worthy enough to be called "STABLE". You dont want to be enjoying a good movie, when all of a sudden the OS craps out on you. Or you wouldnt want to be spending more time fixing and finding drivers to make the system work, than sitting back and enjoying a good pr0n, er, i mean good action movie.

Essentially youre looking for STABILITY and GREAT PICTURE QUALITY. Otherwise youre gypping yourself out of the HDTV youre getting.

hope that helps.

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Joshua

what kind of tv's are you guys connecting your htpc's to? I have a 60" sony crt projection. It does have composite inputs, but when I tried to connect a pc with an ati radeon x850xt, it didn't go too well.

A friend has a Samsung 32" lcd tv and while it worked alright, it still wasn't perfect. What kind of cables/connections/tweaking do you do?

I want to be able to surf the web, watch movies/tv/dvd's, etc...

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redcolours

thats weird on the CRT projection. ATI's utility should detect it if you use composite outs, ro s-video outs....

i used to have a CRT-based HDTV. it had a VGA input for it, and its native res was 1280x720 (native 720p). picture was gorgeous! youd want to look into getting HDs (ANY HD set) instead of using standard-definition sets.

if youre using an analog/standard definition (SD) TV set, the maximum you'll get out of it is 800x600 res. The flicker is quite bad also (but then again regular TVs ALL flicker at 60Hz anyway). its more obvious when you use it as a computer screen. S-video input is the best you can do with SD sets.

how is the LCD TV connected to the PC? DVI? HDMI-toDVI? VGA?
ATI's utility should already come with the settings your LCD needs. Sometimes you have to manually adjust it in the display properties settings. The correct resolutiion for widescreen HDTVs are usually hidden there. if not use powerstrip to configure it correctly. Some LCD TVs can go as high as 1360x768, at that point though, you may get some overscan, and HD pic may not look as right as 1280x720. That resolution should be more than enough for web surfing. Check the LCD manual if it can push to 1360x768. That gives you more desktop space on your screen. Set it to 60Hz - for LCD TVs its ok. Its only bad for your eyes if youre using CRT-based sets.