Stuck on a HTPC spec

wildheart · 2 May 2009 at 14:02

Hi all, wanted to place an order for my new HTPC sometime in the near future, I would really appreciate it if people could let me know their thoughts on the spec below. Perticulally because im a little concious of potential lack of space in this case :S

Requirements:
- Play blu-ray movies (BD-ROM future upgrade)
- Gaming, reasonable graphics (e.g.: Assassins creed, Dawn of War 2, COD4)
- 1080p playback

Spec:
Antec Fusion Remote HTPC Case - Black
Corsair VX 450W ATX Power Supply (Needs to be cool and quite, i hear this is fairly good)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB)
Gigabyte GA-EG43M-S2H Intel G43 (Socket 775) (really unsure about the Mobo+CPU comb0)
Corsair XMS2 DHX 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 TwinX Dual Channel (tempted by the kingston)

** Graphics card im a little stuck on, with the mobo HDMI be enough to play the games listed? What would people recommend as space is an issue

native HDMI would be preferable**

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound

Cost:
Im aiming at around £500-£600 but price isnt a problem as long as it does the job intended

Existing parts:
2x WD Raptor HDDs
DVD-ROM
Windows Vista 64-bit

Any thoughts, recommendations or causes for concern would be appreciated.

fobose · 2 May 2009 at 14:10

The intel graphics are not intended for gaming, especially not any recent titles.

If you want to keep it silent, I think the Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4670 Ultimate "Passive" 512MB would be a good choice. It's also got built in HDMI and it will deffo fit in that case.

wildheart · 2 May 2009 at 14:55

thanks fobose, will have a look at the sapphire, originally I was going to go with mainly passive cooling but the space for the HTPC is a little restricted and I am a little concerned the the passive temp will get too high

does the model you suggested have a fan alternative?

ah I see it does but no native HDMI

Cristian · 2 May 2009 at 14:57

definitely need a vga card if you want to play games as well.
I would also consider an 8800gt or 4850, and throw some aftermarket cooling on them if you want to keep everything dead silent.
the case some decent airflow, passive should do too.

wildheart · 2 May 2009 at 15:50

ok this is what im leaning towards:

Antec Fusion Remote HTPC Case - Black
Corsair VX 450W ATX Power Supply
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.33GHz 4MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor (Changed because I thought a quad might be better at handling HD playback and other background apps at the same time)
Gigabyte GA-EG43M-S2H Intel G43 (Socket 775)
OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 (Changed because OCZ seems to come highly recommended)
Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (little concerned about the size and cooling of this GPU but it has native HDMI and looks good on paper)
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound

tempted by ATI Radeon HD 4670 Ultimate "Passive" just concerned it will get a little hot under pressure as the space around the HTPC is limited :S

OR:

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4830 512MB GDDR3 which seems to suggest it has native HDMI but doesnt show it in the picture!?

I assume both GPU's would be able to handle 1080p easily?

wildheart · 2 May 2009 at 16:59

On closer inspection of the mobo, it appears it only supports PCIe x4 so i think i will have to upgrade to

DFI Lan Party JR P45-T2RS Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2

to support the Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4830

this is what im looking at now:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.33GHz 4MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor
DFI Lan Party JR P45-T2RS Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4830 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express)
Corsair VX 450W ATX Power Supply
OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 Dual Channel (upgraded as the mobo supports 1066 and they are cheaper than the 800

)

So final thoughts... anyone spot any issues with this spec? appreciate any feedback

Cristian · 2 May 2009 at 17:27

isn't quad core a bit overkill for a media pc?
an e5200 with maybe just a bit of oc would be more than enough imho...

Plec · 2 May 2009 at 17:29

i agree with the above - an e5200 would be more than suitable for a media pc, dual-core cpu are well suited for the purpose and save you money.

Phatjayunoi · 2 May 2009 at 17:35

I would definately go with that Sapphire ATi 4830 as it will perform much better than the 4670 especially for gaming. And yes that particular model does come with native HDMI unlike its older model version which I have.

As for the CPU, you could save yourself a lot of money by going for the likes of a E5200 or a E7000 series. They will still handle Blu-Ray/1080p playback and gaming fine. With that money saved, you could opt for the likes of the ATi 4850 card instead, especially the XFX model.

My own HTPC, even though its mid-tower ATX spec, runs a E5200 and the older Sapphire 4830 handles gaming and 1080p movies perfectly well.

wildheart · 2 May 2009 at 18:39

thanks for the feedback people, I was originally looking at a duel-core but the reason I changed was to get a 1333FSB processor. The a quad-core 1333FSB was cheaper than a duel-core 1333FSB. And I thought quad-core might work a little better when playing 1080p HD and having your typical background apps running.

So would you recommend downgrading to something like a Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.66GHz which has a 1066FSB?

Plec · 2 May 2009 at 18:52

Personally, i would down grade to E5200 but the above is obviously great if you have the money.

Cristian · 2 May 2009 at 18:56

e5200 is more than you'll ever need for movies and the like.
obviously, if you can afford the e7300 then why not.

Glaucus · 2 May 2009 at 18:58

wildheart said:
I assume both GPU's would be able to handle 1080p easily?

A 3850 can handle 1080p so they would breeze it.

The antec case has two side 120mm. replace them with two Scythe 500rpm fans. And it should stay silent. Then just use passive gfx card and cpu.

fobose · 3 May 2009 at 11:14

I replaced the antec fans in my NSK 2480 with 2 Noctua 1200rpm fans that I had lying around. However I did end up setting the Qfan in the bios to "Silent" and putting a resistor cable on the other fan as it wasn't controlled by the motherboard. I also run the e5200 passive using a scythe mini ninja and it works great.

Regarding the 4830 and perhaps the 3850, will these cards not be too long for the NSK 2480?

Here is a pic of inside my NSK 2480:

and to compare the length of my 8800GT in my P182, goes right up near the edge of the mobo:

Cristian · 3 May 2009 at 12:04

so it's enough for a 4850 but probably not for 4870, but if you'd use the hacksaw method you could then fit in any card, that's interesting.

hp7909 · 3 May 2009 at 12:16

Alternative...

Antec Fusion Remote HTPC Case - Black (No PSU) £104.99
AMD Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 Black Edition 2.8GHz (Socket AM3) £104.99
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4770 512MB PCI-Express - Retail (21149-00R) £75.64
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-US2H AMD 780G (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £64.99
Sony BDU-X10S Blu-Ray Reader Serial-ATA Drive - Retail £43.47
OCZ ModXStream Pro 400w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Modular Power Supply £41.73
Zalman CNPS8000 CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) £30.99
OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 Dual Channel (OCZ2G10664GK) £29.56*
Sub Total : £496.36
Shipping : £13.75
VAT : £76.52
Total : £586.63

The GFX is 40nm therefore should run cooler

* on TWO

Subliminal Aura · 3 May 2009 at 12:27

Have you got any old hardware laying around ?

If you really try you can get some awesome results...

I've got an old athlon that can play full 720p/1080p/blu-ray at just 5% cpu utilization as the decoding is off loaded to a 2400pro agp gpu.

Read up on DXVA

wildheart · 4 May 2009 at 11:02

Wow! thanks for the input and pictures, certainly gives me a little to think about while I wait for the case to be back in stock

matthewhotdude · 4 May 2009 at 12:15

Yea the selection of cases on OCUK are a bit poor, ordered my HTPC stuff from ocuk on saturday had to get the case from elsewhere tho