Hello,
This is my first time posting, and glad to be here. I have been looking into building my own Home Theatre Projector and All other various aspects of Home Theatre needs. The first thing on my list is my HTPC. This is my first time building a HTPC and i was hoping that i could get some feedback on the parts i chose. So i can see if im heading in the right direction. Being a musician i chose my sound card based on the company I would use for my Recording PC. The card seems very competent and seems to have all the requirements. I plan on using my HTPC as a TiVo as well as a Video/Music Library. I chose the Graphics card based on my personal Opinion of the ATI company, and didn't really research the Card at all( but will soon). Being an avid gamer( WoW, Tribes2, Doom3, Halo2) If anyone knows if the card handles Console systems or if there is lag difficulties or any other problems related 2 the ATI All-In-Wonder series that would be great. If there is a better video card series out there that anyone knows of i would be happy to hear it, as well as a Sound Card. Any ideas on how to reduce noise from fans ETC would be awesome aswell.



HTPC

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 2800+ Newcastle 800MHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 754 Processor

MotherBoard - GIGABYTE GA-K8NS Socket 754 NVIDIA nForce3 250 ATX AMD Motherboard

RAM - CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory

Video Card - ATI All-In-Wonder X800 XT 100-714200 All-In-Wonder Radeon X800XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO AGP 4X/8X Video Card

Sound Card - M-AUDIO Audiophile 2496 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card

CD/DVD1- LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 4X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE DVD Burner
( With External Case for quick and easy access to all Cd/DVD related needs while planted firmly on the couch:-)

CD/DVD2 - SONY Black 52X CD-ROM IDE CD-ROM Drive ( So i never have to take the Windows cd out of the machine, for booting and re-formating)

HardDrive1 - Western Digital Raptor WD740GDRTL 73GB 10,000 RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
( Serial ATA Improved streaming capablility for recording TV shows The Tivo effect?)

HardDrive2 - Western Digital Caviar SE WD3000JB 300GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive
( Music and Video storage)

Actually looks very solid, but will be costly.

I do not have any experience with the ATI all in wonder, but many people in the forums have frowned on its performance. Many recommend the PVR-150 type card for a capture card and the ati 9600 or above, or the geforce 5200 or above for a video card. THe all in wonder does not have hardware scaling of the image, requiring software to do the job, which is why it tends not to do so well.

Thanks alot will look into the PVR

I've had ATI AIW Rage 128 and Radeon 9800. If I were you, I'd stick with seperate video card and tv tuner. If I could go back, I would. Some of the software you'll be interrested in using requires a hardware based mpeg2 encoder (AIW is software). You'll also be limiting yourself to 1 monitor output with an AIW i think (havn't checked out the X800). Dual monitor might be something to think about in the future, especially if you want to run a monitor and a PJ at the same time.

With as much as you're looking to put into the system above, you may want to reconsider the motherboard. Newer graphic cards will all pretty much be PCI Express. AGP will only survive on low to mid range systems for a little while longer. Consider looking at an nForce4 based motherboard. If you ever want to get crazy with graphic power, think about about something with SLI.

yeah the x800 sounds awesome but $400 is killing me....

look at tigerdirect for the 256mb cards with Radeon 9600+ chipsets (or whatever your preference. I am actually gonna drop the $$$ to build out a AMD 64 3400+ system from there.

I run a AMD XP 3200+ with a 9600 XT (128 MB card ~$100 these days) and I have no issues with the newer games.

I'm not sure about other AIW cards, but I have a 9600 that is capable of dual monitor output. It has a video out port in the back that splits out (via a special cable & connector) to two VGA plugs, an s-video plug, and one of those yellow composite cables.

I'm thinking the yellow cable (or the s-video cable) will be very handy for me... I plan to use my HTPC to play music and such on occasion, so I can run the computer using the TV in my living room whenever the PJ is off.

Any suggestions for a TV Tuner card?

Dual monitors isn't important to me. The computer case i chose looks just like your modern day A/V Receivers and the remote control setup that comes with those cases pretty much takes care of mouse and keyboard needs so ill probably just have a Mouse and Keyboard wireless cheep set tucked away around my couch somewhere. I'm trying to make it so people who come over cant tell that i have a computer in the room un tell they see what i do on the screen obviously. I tend to like things to be very Uniform.

Between the Coax in and out, the builtin vg/dvi connector, and the video out connector (svideo, composite, and component), video in (svideo, and component), I don't know where you'd put a second monitor connector. I've NEVER seen a VGA/DVI dongle for their video out...if It exists I'd like it....maybe I'll just plug my vdigi into my pc and run that to my new monitor untill I get around to builing my PJ.

As for the tv tuners, look at the hauppauge ones. They've been in ths TV tuner market probably as long, if not longer, than ATI. A lot of people in here use their PVR cards.

If you want PIP (or want to record and watch at the same time) and plan on using XP Media Center, they have the PVR-500 dual tuner that does slpit screen, or atleast PIP. I the ATI TV Wonder software will recognize 2 ATI tuners and let you do the same thing in plain ol XP.

Guess it's all in what you want it to do.

EDIT: Just saw an X800 AIW, it does have dual vid out...still don't like AIWs though, heh.

I'd check out a 3000+ Newcastle, they're supposed to be very easily overclockable well above 3400+ speeds.

Personally, I think I'm gonna wait until the A64 4200+ X2 is priced @ <$250 (05Q4 at least), it's the lowest tier of the double cored chips (which actually do match up on several multithreaded benches to their theoretical 100% performance advantage), and looks like a winner once they price it down to reasonable levels.

Personally i'd go with what others here have said. A pvr150 or pvr500 for TV and a seperate video card.

A socket 939 motherboard + cpu setup is also desireable for future upgrades but not necessary imho, a socket 754 would fit the bill for an htpc just fine imho. If you're not going to overclock then you could save a few dollars by using the Biostar NF325. Alternatively you could try the Chaintech VNF3 which has a better reputation than the gigabyte. The Chaintech's onboard audio might hold you over to save a few bucks for now. You can always upgrade the soundcard later if you're not satisfied with it.

Another change i would recommend is the video card. Currently the nvidia cards are more flexible and have more hdtv related features. The "newer" nvidia cards to consider for an htpc would be the 6600/128bit or 6200/128 bit "non-turbo cache model". The 6800 series is missing a few hdtv features so spending the extra money on it wouldn't help an htpc much. The ati AIW just has too many drawbacks imho and you may end up buying a seperate tv card anyways (because of these drawbacks).

You can actually spend less money on this rig and have more features, just be patient and research before you buy. Post away with any further questions

If i were to go with a seperate TV Tuner card what kind of main graphics card would i want, like a your garden variety graphics card or is there a specific kind i would need to look into.

sjetski posted them above. The nvidia 6600. You may also look at the ATI 9600 or better series cards.

Ahh, lol didnt see that Thanks

I'm very happy with my 6600GT AGP.

Before spending any ca$h

You should think hard about whether you want the HTPC and Media server to be in the same box or not.

I'm leaning away from HTPC and Media server in the same box due to heat and noise issues.

PVR-500MCE with SageTV can't be beat. (PCAlchemy pack w/Nvidia Codecs)

I had not really thought of noise issues further then buying a noise reduction kit and a Enemerx Noise Taker PS, if it becomes a problem i will move the media hard drive to one of my other computers in my office area, and access it VIA network. If hard drive noise and Proccessing noise is what you were speaking of, if not please specify( dont really no the difference, allways thought they were one in the same), thanks

Well i decided to use my gaming PC i had built as my HT PC and just build another gaming PC eventually seeing as i use my Laptop 98% of the time. All i need to complete said HT PC is to buy the TV tuner card,separate graphics card, sound card, and 300g hard drive. My new hardware layout is:



HT PC
CPU:AMD Athalon XP64 3200+
MB: Gigabyte 7NV series
RAM: 2G( Possibly 1g havent decided yet)
SC: M-Audio Audiophile
CD: Generic CD Drive
CD/DVD: LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 4X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM.
HDD: Dual 32g RaptorsSATA
HDD2: WesternDigital 300g
GraphicsCard: ATI Radeon 9800PRO 256mb
TVTunerCard: Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 MCE

Thanks for all the input so far, i havent ordered any parts as of yet and i am still re-reading your posts and researching. While researching my DIY Projector which is why i haven't posted in a couple days.

Those Raptors are overkill on an HTPC rig, so is that second gig of RAM.
Everything else looks great for the HTPC though.

What software are you running on your PVR-500MCE? I'm using SageTV.

Yea, One of those raptors would be really cool for Recording TV and what not. My dad does musical recording and he has Raptors in his Recording PC, he said they improved his recording stability if i remember correctly or i could be wrong, as for the other raptor and the RAM i was leaning towards migrating them to another one of my computers.

SageTV seems to be the best and most popular so undoubtedly that will be the one i go for. Cant wait to try it out.

Agreed, save your money for another large hard-drive or quality cables(<<these a far too often looked over).


peace

I already have the raptors, i have everything on that list except the graphic card, tv tuner card and the Sound card. I decided to turn one of my othe computers into the HTPC as stated above

I have fantasies of dual raptors in RAID...mmmmmmmm

I just noticed this.

You're breaking some sacred geek law by using this awesome card in an HTPC.

a gf6200 or 6600 will be plenty adequate for the job.

Besides! you can get an X850XT for the same price as an X800XTAIW... and you don't get the crappy TV tuner with it!

TO FUNNY!!

LOL
Ive decided to convert one of m current PCs into my HTPC as stated in earlyer posts, the hard ware lists as:

HT PC
CPU:AMD Athalon XP64 3200+
MB: Gigabyte 7NV series
RAM: 2G( Possibly 1g havent decided yet)
SC: M-Audio Audiophile
CD: Generic CD Drive
CD/DVD: LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 4X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM.
HDD: Dual 32g RaptorsSATA
HDD2: WesternDigital 300g
GraphicsCard: ATI Radeon 9800PRO 256mb
TVTunerCard: Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 MCE