Hi all,
Need some feedbacks and help in deciding on a new PC. Well, basically I am looking at an HTPC set-up. I am planning on well dedicating a full room for a real home theatre setup. A few options that I am looking at are jotted bellow.
Since visual and sound are the at-most priority for an HTPC, I want to keep the components in a mid-range level and just for one or two components in the top range. Though budget isn’t a constrain I would like to keep it in a check.
Presently being put up in Saudi for a short project I am thinking of assembling it over here.
Speakers:
Logitech Z – 5500 Digital.
A lot of reviews here were very much positive about this product. I zeroed in on this due to its DTS capabilities. Thinking of using it through optical SPDIF cables.
Is anyone here using the Z-5500 with optical cables?? Is it really worth it?? Have there been any troubles in setting it up??
This is the only thing among the components that I kind of have confirmed upon.
Processor:
AMD or INTEL
Apart from it being an HTPC, it will be also be used for ftp transfers at which case it might be powered 24 x 7.
What I am presently looking at are
AMD 4800+ or
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200.I read that AMD consumes only 45w compared to 65w (If it is wrong, Sorry for misinformation) which will help in the power consumption too. But which one is better for an HTPC, do mind that other that these two uses and a bit of surfing this PC doesn’t have much of a use.
Motherboard:
My present options are if AMD then
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H or
Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H,
Asus M2N32-SLi Deluxe,
Foxconn A79A-S. For Intel I thought of
Asus P5B Deluxe,
Gigabyte GA-EG45M-DS2H OR
GA-X48-DQ6.
These motherboards became the choice since they seemed to be an all-round deal. The real help I need is here. These motherboards (except the Gigabyte boards for Intel) have HD support GPUs and all have DTS connect and optical SPDIF out.
A doubt I have is that, Will a motherboard with all these features really be able to give the same performance as an individual graphic and sound card?
If the verdict is that never will a mobo be able to be the perfect solution then please recommend some good boards.
Memory:
2 x 1 GB 800 MHz (if the above motherboards can do all the work)
Else
2 x 1 GB 667 MHz
Storage:
160 GB SATA – II or 250 GB SATA – II
Optical Drive:
Any DVD – RW or LG Blu-Ray Combo.
Suggestions??
Powers Supply:
CoolMaster 550 W.
Any other Suggestions??
Interface:
Logitech or Microsoft Wireless Combo.
Suggestions??
TV Tuners:
??? No idea. Read about LeadTek Winfast TV 2000 XP and Pinnacle TV tuner kit for vista here. Others I found were Leadtek DTV 2000H, Hauppauge 2200 or Compro E700.
KNC ONE TV – Station DVB S2 has a CAM interface module so that I believe in our Indian condition will work with the DTH providers, but is there some other method for such with a normal TV Tuner card.
Projector:
I have no clue as to which one I should be looking at.
CPU COOLER:
Suggestion??
[As I said before if the conclusion is that these motherboards will not be sufficient then only there is a need to think about these two categories
Graphic Card:
XFX 8600 GT, XFX 9500 GT or ATI HD3450
Sound Card:
Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro, Asus Xonar D2, or Auzentech HDA X-Plosion 7.1 DTS Connect. Any user feedback on these cards??]
Please do help out with your suggestions and comments.
Thanks in Advance.
Help on a complete HTPC solution
Linear Mode
