HTPC - Help me pick stuff

[Brougham]

Never really considered it before, but here's a qn:

if i get a mobo with hdmi & optical out, do i need much of a video card? if i'm just playing back recorded shows/movies, do i even need one? or can i get away with a good quality mobo with hdmi/optical?

looking at currently (remember it's just for a HTPC):

Case - Either Antec NSK2480B or Thermaltake DH-101 case (without the buttons)
CPU - Intel C2D E7200 2.53ghz 3mb
Mobo - Asus P5K-VM HDMI mobo (HDMI & optical)
RAM - 2gig corsair matched DDR2-800 ram (for starters, 4gig later)
Tuner - Compro DVB-E700 pci-e dual hdtv tuner card
HDD - 80gig for OS & programs
- min start of 500gig HD for storage (probably get 2 and RAID)
Video Card - Do I really need one? If so, how hard-core?

Comments? Opinions?

[Dubs]

whats a mobo?

/endnoob

Dubs

[rgvlee]

dubs, motherboard.

personal preference, but I have steered away from the asus boards in the last few computers I have built in the last year or so. I've had some questionable reliablity with a few of their various boards in recent times. Switched to gigabyte and have nothing but good things to say about them.

[Brougham]

yeah, i normally go for gigabyte too. just saw this one and looked good. don't have much experience with asus so thought i'd ask you guys.

[rgvlee]

I'd get a good vid card regardless, something between 150 and 200 with a reasonable amount of ram on it. I've been happy with the ATI cards recently. Try and get a fan less one, it'll make the pc a lot quieter. Also don't skimp on the case and PSU, you'll regret a noisy HTPC.

[Klink]

Ok... I agree with you about gigabyte being the greatest and best. HOWEVER...

I had some problems with my gigabyte board for my HTPC. It had MAJOR issues with S3 Sleep.

I would suggest getting an Intel brand board any P35 chipset series.


EDIT: I'd also recommend getting a passively cooled videocard too. The biggest hurdle is to get the noise as low as possible in your HTPC... nothing worse than a silent moment in a movie, and all you can hear is the whirr of fans.

[Brougham]

other option i guess is going AM2+

Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H mainboard & CPU AMD PHENOM 9550 AM2+ 2.2GHZ QCORE#

[Brougham]

my question remains - do i need a separate video card if the mainboard has onboard HDMI?

[Reidstah]

I dont think so mate. You don't need a whole lot of GPU grunt for playing HD content. I have a passive cooled 9500GT and it does the trick nicely. So long as the onboard video on the HDMI enabled M/B is equal or better than that, you wont have a problem.

You can always try it, if it's not up to the job then think about throwing in a vid card.

[Brougham]

that's what i was thinking.

what's everyone's thinkng about AM2+? i've always been an Intel man, but willing to "experiment"

basically, the above setup with AM2+ 2.2 quad core & GB mobo = $1015 (inc vista HP 64-bit)
doing the same with Intel C2D 2.53 & Asus mobo = $997


Cant find an intel GB mobo with HDMI onboard. all seem to have no GPU onboard. weird?

[rgvlee]

always been an intel man. amd is the suck. just like macs.

onboard graphics also the suck. but as said above will prob suffice for HTPC and you can always add a card later.

[Brougham]

it's a hard choice. think i might go the intel with asus board.

can always change to gigabyte mobo and graphics card later if so needed.


might do a step by step HTPC building thread wif pics for reference too.

[Klink]

FYI I've got a spare Gigabyte (cant remember what model) HDMI PCIe (passively cooled) sitting at home gathering dust.


EDIT: Dis one: GIGABYTE - News - Graphics Accelerator

[Brougham]

hmmm... how much do you want for it?

[Klink]

Consider it payed forward.

[Brougham]

[Reidstah]

I've always been an Intel guy too. (Not to be confused with Intelligent)

I have an Asus board with a C2D and it had been running Vista fine for about 9 months! Until a couple of days ago when I was forced to rebuild....Vista prob though, dont think it had anything to do with Hardware as it's running sweet again now.

[goof]

other option i guess is going AM2+

Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H mainboard & CPU AMD PHENOM 9550 AM2+ 2.2GHZ QCORE#

I guess I am a bit late, but I have one of these boards ($93 from PLE) with an Athlon 64 X2 6000+ on it running as a HTPC. Works a treat. Drives DVI to my projector & optical to the amp. Can watch HD without raising a sweat. Tried recording SDTV to a DivX file in real time and also watch the resultant DivX file all at once. Still hardly went past 50% load and no problems with the quality at all. (2GB 800MHz RAM, Fusion DVB card, kubuntu/Linux.)