HTPC Build

[slim j 10+ year member]

Got a couple questions about trying to build a HTPC.

The main requirements are:

Blu-Ray / DVD Burner

Video Card with RGB out

Sound Card with optical out

1 TB of hard drive

Plenty of ram and processing speed for movies.

I am running into a difficult time finding a video card with red, green, blue out. Any suggestions?

Click to read more...

 

[bw_audio 10+ year member]

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[slim j 10+ year member]

Thanks man, that is everything I was looking for and want. I see some places where I may upgrade.

 

[jdc753 10+ year member]

newegg FTW looks like everything is under control here. I would love to build one of these down the road, and ya can't beat the prices of hard drives at the moment.

 

[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

You could also do mATX and get the Sugo SG01 case and the Asus P5E-VM HDMI. That is what I got and I love it... I have pics but they are not uploaded.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163050

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131237&Tpk=p5e-vm%2bhdmi

Also if you get the above sugo case I highly recommend this PSU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256027

Rock solid PSU with shorter cables... hey I have my camera at work. I will upload my pics //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

EDIT: you could also use the onboard audio on that mobo with spdif (i beleive it has both coax and optical out) or go with one of the asus PCI-e sounds cards http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=asus+sound+card

 

[slim j 10+ year member]

Also, looks like the only thing this lacks that I need is the Operating Sytem. I guess I should run vista?

 

[slim j 10+ year member]

Thanks Bun, but I like the case the first guy mentioned better as it looks less like a computer and more like a "media" center. This computer will never see word, excel, etc. Just burn and play DVD/Blu-Ray

 

[bw_audio 10+ year member]

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[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

Thanks Bun, but I like the case the first guy mentioned better as it looks less like a computer and more like a "media" center. This computer will never see word, excel, etc. Just burn and play DVD/Blu-Ray

Take a look at the pics... http://pics.livejournal.com/bun_bun/gallery/00018q04 looks nice in my entertainment center. I am also going to stealth the drives and make a door for the USB plugs on the front.

this one may be better suited to your tastes http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163112

My shuttle looked the best but the mobo blew and it had little room for upgrades and was expensive.

I do reccomend a better PSU then what was linked previously...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003

OH also for the OS for what you are doing you can pick up MCE 2005 OEM for pretty cheap. Other then that downloaded a pirated copy of vista ultimate and buy the window genuine advange kit when microsoft detects you have a illigal copy (best price you can get for a retail copy //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif) 2gb of ram would be find for MCE 2005 but if going vista... go 64 bit and get 4 gb's... youll thank me later.

 

[bw_audio 10+ year member]

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[slim j 10+ year member]

I upgraded the RAM to this because I thought you needed 4GB with vista.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231184

 

[slim j 10+ year member]

To answer your PM, I just "guessed" on what RAM to get. And I like the first case the best since it comes with a remote and all. I assume that remote will work with vista and I do not need a mouse in my living room?

I know I will need a mouse and keyboard initially to set everything up.

 

[chargers 10+ year member]

I would maybe do 4gb of ram or a faster processor but what I posted I think is plenty. If you like to "keep it legal" you can buy vista ultimate or XP MCE. I prefer XP MCE just because it uses less resources. I can get you a legal vista ultimate key and legal download really cheap. If not you can torrent it. PM ME if you're interested.

How "cheap"?

 

[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

To answer your PM, I just "guessed" on what RAM to get. And I like the first case the best since it comes with a remote and all. I assume that remote will work with vista and I do not need a mouse in my living room?
I know I will need a mouse and keyboard initially to set everything up.

If the remote you are refereing to is the Microsoft MCE remote or a MCE compatible remote then yeah you wont need a keyboard and mouse hooked up all the time. I keep a wireless keyboard and mouse beside my futon just for those times I decide to game on the big screen or surf the web from my couch when im sick or something. But for 99% of MCE usage a MCE remote does it all.

Although you can do some freaking amazing things with the logitech harmony remote and MCE... check it out. A great forum for MCE type stuff is http://www.thegreenbutton.com

 

[slim j 10+ year member]

I am not seeing where this drive burns blu rays. I guess I may be explaining it wrong. I am not all that interested in making copies of the movies, what I want is to save them to the hard drive for later viewing. Will this unit do that? It seems all the units less than $300 only play blu-ray.