The Gaming HTPC Thread

Razor · 01-05-2009, 2:08 PM

It's about time there was a Gaming HTPC thread here on avf.

If you are thinking of building a HTPC for gaming or want to convert your HTPC for gaming then read on.

If you are thinking why bother as I have a xbox 360 or a ps3 then there are a number of reasons. The main reason for me is that the graphics are allot better with a pc compared to a console. The difference is night and day.

You can get full 1080p gaming with a pc instead of upscaled 720p or sometimes lower than that (600p). Frame rates are higher and lighting, rendering effects are allot better. DX10 effects also add to the list as well as total control on how your game looks.

You can also use a 360 or PS3 pad on a pc see link below for more info.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/pc-ga...me-pad-pc.html

Using a pad these days is very much plug and play and no set-up is normally required. Especially if you use a 360 pad be it wired or wireless. It really does feel like you are playing on a next gen console when your in your lounge with a pad in your hands running around with 1080p visuals and all the eye candy turned up. There are also great exclusives on the pc as there are with any platform and the pc has a wider variety of games compared to the consoles.

Here are a few in game screen shots take from Crysis Warhead on my pc.

Specing and Building a Gaming HTPC

When building a gaming HTPC there are a few things to remember:

Cooling - HTPC cases are small with poor to average cooling. Gaming in a HTPC can raise temperatures allot so the cooling side of things has to be correct and work well as well as being as quiet as possible.

HTPC Case - First off pick a HTPC case with 80mm fans as a minimum. Avoid cases where the fan size is 60mm. 60mm fans hardly move any air compared to 80mm fans and are allot louder. Look for 2 x 80mm exhaust fans for the rear of the pc and if the case has a side fan like a Silverstone LC17/20 then this is a bonus.

Here are some good cases with some decent airflow. There are obviously other cases out there but these are a few off the top of my head, some with examples.

SiverStone LC13-E
Silverstone LC17 - Razors Watercooled Silent Gaming HTPC - The Gaming HTPC Thread - http://www.avforums.com/forums/pc-ga...ml#post9657616
Silverstone LC20 - The Gaming HTPC Thread
Silverstone Grandia GD01B-R - The Gaming HTPC Thread
Silverstone CW02 - The Gaming HTPC Thread
Silverstone CW03
Antec Fusion 'Remote' Max Premium
Zalman HD160+ - The Gaming HTPC Thread

As you can see with this picture of the Silverstone LC17 there is a good layout for getting rid of hot air and keeping your hardware cool.

Avoid cases which have the DVD centred in the middle of the case as this will stop you installing a decent graphics card as the DVD drive bay will get in the way. Here is such a case its the Silverstone LC16. Its a nice looking case but useless for installing a long graphics card.

Fans - Once you have chosen your HTPC case its time to swap out all the fans. All stock case fans can be improved upon in terms of noise levels along with the amount of air they move (CFM = Cubic Feet per Minute). Below are some fans I would recommend with their dB levels and their CFM rating.

80mm - Coolink 11dB fan - 21.1CFM - SWiF-801 80mm Case Fan
92mm - Scythe Gentle Typhoon 13dB - 25.9 CFM - Gentle Typhoon 92mm 1700 RPM Cooling Fan
120mm - Noctua NF-S12 800 RPM - 8dB - 35 CFM - NF-S12 800 RPM 120mm Quiet Case Fan
120mm - Noctua NF-S12 1200 RPM - 17dB - 48 CFM - NF-S12 1200 RPM 120mm Quiet Case Fan

I always add Anti-Vibration Fan Gaskets to the build just as an added measure to reduce noise.

Fansis Fan Gaskets

CPU Cooling - Now we have the basics out of the way ie case and case cooling we look at the cpu cooling. When your using a HTPC you are restricted with what cpu cooler you can use. This is mainly due to the height of the HTPC case. Double check your clearance height inside the HTPC case you buy to make sure a the cpu cooler you want will fit in it. There are so many decent cpu coolers out there today do your research and and pick one that can cool efficiently and run quietly. I like cpu coolers where you can swap out the fans for after market ones.

One of the best air cpu coolers about at the moment is the Scythe Mini Ninja II as shown below. If you go this route swap the fan out which comes with the Mini Ninja II for a 80mm/90mm/120mm fan.

Mini Ninja Heatpipe CPU Cooler

Ninja II Heatpipe Cooler, with 120mm fan

Noctua NH-U9B CPU Heatpipe Heatsink with NF-B9 Fan

A decent cpu cooler will keep your cpu running temps down and allow you to overclock your system for extra performance if you so wish. It will also keep you HTPC running quietly which is one of the main goals of a HTPC.

Watercooling - This is and another route you can take for a HTPC and this works very well. It is allot more expensive than air cooling but it works a treat and will allow you to overclock your setup to gain more performance without worrying about heat build up in your case. I use a Zalaman Reserator XT on my HTPC but there are other products on the market that do the same job. I run a Core i7 @ 4.0Ghz and a 4870X2 in a Silverstone LC17 case in a semi restricted av rack with good temps. This would be impossible without watercooling.

Another benefit of watercooling is that it runs allot more silent than a normal air-cooled set-up as you can cool your cpu, chipset and graphics card all with water which reduces the amount of fans needed and noise levels.

Hardware

Motherboard - If you are looking to game you will need a semi decent motherboard especially if you are looking to overclock. I tend to stay away from micro atx mobos and go for full sized ones, but you can game on both with no problems at all. If you are looking to overclock your cpu then do your research and buy a decent motherboard which is known for overclocking well. Also look at things like how much heat does the chipset give off.

Graphics Card - Now this is one of my favourite pieces of hardware and this is what will make your set-up a gaming one. You can have 1080p capable gaming card these days for very little money. The more money you spend the more eye candy you can have in game. Effects like Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic filtering can be turned right up which make a big difference to how a game looks. For an explanation on what AA and AF is and does read the links below.

Anti-aliasing - What is Anti-Aliasing, how does it affect our graphics
Anisotropic filtering - Anisotropic filtering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I will separate the current crop and older crop of cards into sections for performance.

Last gen

Older cards are listed below and can be picked up very cheaply 2nd hand.

Any Nvidia 8800 card will be able to handle 1080p gaming with ease, The same goes for 9800 Nvidia cards and 9600GT.

ATI cards like the 3870, 3870X2 will do 1080p gaming. Be aware that the 3870X2 is a hot card.

Current Gen

Next up is what graphics card to go for. If your looking for sheer power then these cards are top of their game at the moment (in order of power, most powerfull at the top). These cards are for enthusiasts who demand the best:

295GTX - Dual gpu card
4870X2 - Dual gpu card
285GTX - Cooler running faster version of the 280GTX
280GTX - Phased out now

The next level down would be (in order of power). All these cards can game at 1080p:

4890 - More than enough power for today's games
275GTX - More than enough power for today's games
260GTX 216 shader pipelines - Great value for money
4870 - Being phased out, Great value for money
260GTX 192 shader pipelines - Phased out now, Great value for money
4850 - Good entry/mid level £100+ card
4770 - Good entry level sub £100 card
4830 - Good entry level sub £100 card

These are the bottom end of the market and I wouldn't really recommend these cards as you can get better for the same money or a few quid more. They are basically old tech re badged and re marketed.

4670 - Basically a 3850 re badged. Now the 4770 is out there's no point in buying this card
250GTX - Expensive for what it is and its basically a re badged and over clocked 8800gt

I would also recommend going for cards with more than 512mb. 512mb will be fine but at higher resolutions like 1080p, but more memory is needed if you want to apply higher levels of AA. If you are gaming at 720p this wont effect you so much but I would still recommend going for more memory if you can afford it.

GPU Cooling - One thing to pay attention to is the cooling side of these cards. ATI has the worst stock coolers in terms of noise and cooling. The stock cooler sounds like a leaf blower and isn't recommended for a HTPC at all. At idle its quiet but it also runs the cards hot so I can't recommend using an ATI stock cooler in a HTPC. If you want an ATI card get one with after market cooling on it like the HIS ICEQ4 range. Temperatures are 20c lower than stock coolers and they run silent.

Nvidia cards have better stock cooling and you might not need to buy a card with after market cooling.

If you already have a graphics card and the stock cooler is noisy you can swap out a stock cooler for an after market one which are sold at most on-line retailers.

I have done this with my 4870X2 and a waterblock. If you want to see how its done there is some info in the link below, the same method of swapping coolers should apply to an air-cooled gpu cooler:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/home-...ming-htpc.html

One thing to look for when buying a gaming graphics card for a HTPC is don't get a passive card as all that will happen is that your HTPC case will get very hot and it will end up shutting your pc down due to the high temps. A graphics card with a decent cooler will run silently and wont be heard in operation.

I would recommend getting a graphics card with a dual slot cooler like this one:

With a dual slot cooler all the hot air from your case and gpu gets vented outside the back of your HTPC and not blown around your case as it would with a single slot cooler.

A decent graphics card is an essential part of a gaming set-up especially if you are gaming at 1080p as at this resolution most of the work is done by the graphics card and not the cpu.

CPU - Any decent dual core cpu will be fine for gaming. If it can play HD formats then paired with a graphics card it will be fine for gaming. I would say that the minimum spec for a dual core cpu would be 2.0-2.2Ghz. There are of course tri core and quad core cpu's out on the market and these are also good for gaming especially as more and more games are starting to use more cores.

RAM - The sweet spot for the amount of ram you have installed is 2gb, you can add more and it will benefit some games but most games are happy with 2gb.

PSU - Please don't skimp on the psu by buying a £30.00 600 watt all singing and dancing psu. As it can and probably will die on you taking your hardware with it. If your going for a lower end graphics card say a £100 or below then a decent 500watt psu will be more than enough to power your set-up. If you are going for one of the more expensive or top end graphics card then look at buying a 600watt+ psu.

Some decent makes of PSU's are:

Corsair
OCZ
Seasonic
Enermax
Bequiet

Sound Card - All games benefit from using a decent sound card. X-fi cards are the best in terms of compatibility and giving accurate in game sound.

You can experience Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect whilst playing your favourite games. It does add allot to the whole gaming experience and is well worth doing if you have a surround system.

Useful Apps for a Gaming HTPC

Overclocking and Monitoring your Graphics card temps -

Ati Tool - ATi Tool 0.27 b2 download from Guru3D.com
RivaTuner - RivaTuner v2.24 download from Guru3D.com

Monitoring HTPC Temperatures -

GPUZ - techPowerUp! :: Download TechPowerUp GPU-Z v0.3.4
Coretemp - Core Temp

Benchmarking -

Futuremark 3D Mark 06 - Futuremark - Benchmarks - 3DMark06 - Download
Futuremark Vantage - Futuremark - Benchmarks - 3DMark Vantage - Download

Latest Graphics Card Drivers -

ATI & Nvidia - http://www.avforums.com/forums/pc-ga...vidia-ati.html

Final Word

You can build a gaming HTPC really cheaply these days and it will give you decent gaming on a 1080p display which will far outperform a modern day console and if done correctly will be just as quiet as a non gaming HTPC.

Here is an example for a cheap gaming HTPC basic components

Intel E5200 clocked @ 2.5Ghz - £60
Asus P5Q SE Socket 775 - £77
ATI HD 4770 - £80
2gb DDR2 800Mhz - £20

Add on HDD's, case, fans etc as you see fit..

If you already have a HTPC then all that is really needed is a graphics card. Just make sure your psu is powerful enough and monitor your temps whilst gaming by using some of the apps listed above.

If you want to see some more examples ie templates of gaming HTPC's follow this link which is a few pages on in this thread.

Link to Templates

I hope this little guide will help some people get into pc gaming and give others who are looking to build or add to their existing HTPC some ideas.

Any questions you may have please post away. Also if anyone has any pictures of their gaming HTPC set-up or in game screen grabs please post them up.

Razor · 01-05-2009, 2:08 PM

It's about time there was a Gaming HTPC thread here on avf.

If you are thinking of building a HTPC for gaming or want to convert your HTPC for gaming then read on.

If you are thinking why bother as I have a xbox 360 or a ps3 then there are a number of reasons. The main reason for me is that the graphics are allot better with a pc compared to a console. The difference is night and day.

You can get full 1080p gaming with a pc instead of upscaled 720p or sometimes lower than that (600p). Frame rates are higher and lighting, rendering effects are allot better. DX10 effects also add to the list as well as total control on how your game looks.

You can also use a 360 or PS3 pad on a pc see link below for more info.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/pc-ga...me-pad-pc.html

Using a pad these days is very much plug and play and no set-up is normally required. Especially if you use a 360 pad be it wired or wireless. It really does feel like you are playing on a next gen console when your in your lounge with a pad in your hands running around with 1080p visuals and all the eye candy turned up. There are also great exclusives on the pc as there are with any platform and the pc has a wider variety of games compared to the consoles.

Here are a few in game screen shots take from Crysis Warhead on my pc.

Specing and Building a Gaming HTPC

When building a gaming HTPC there are a few things to remember:

Cooling - HTPC cases are small with poor to average cooling. Gaming in a HTPC can raise temperatures allot so the cooling side of things has to be correct and work well as well as being as quiet as possible.

HTPC Case - First off pick a HTPC case with 80mm fans as a minimum. Avoid cases where the fan size is 60mm. 60mm fans hardly move any air compared to 80mm fans and are allot louder. Look for 2 x 80mm exhaust fans for the rear of the pc and if the case has a side fan like a Silverstone LC17/20 then this is a bonus.

Here are some good cases with some decent airflow. There are obviously other cases out there but these are a few off the top of my head, some with examples.

SiverStone LC13-E
Silverstone LC17 - Razors Watercooled Silent Gaming HTPC - The Gaming HTPC Thread - http://www.avforums.com/forums/pc-ga...ml#post9657616
Silverstone LC20 - The Gaming HTPC Thread
Silverstone Grandia GD01B-R - The Gaming HTPC Thread
Silverstone CW02 - The Gaming HTPC Thread
Silverstone CW03
Antec Fusion 'Remote' Max Premium
Zalman HD160+ - The Gaming HTPC Thread

As you can see with this picture of the Silverstone LC17 there is a good layout for getting rid of hot air and keeping your hardware cool.

Avoid cases which have the DVD centred in the middle of the case as this will stop you installing a decent graphics card as the DVD drive bay will get in the way. Here is such a case its the Silverstone LC16. Its a nice looking case but useless for installing a long graphics card.

Fans - Once you have chosen your HTPC case its time to swap out all the fans. All stock case fans can be improved upon in terms of noise levels along with the amount of air they move (CFM = Cubic Feet per Minute). Below are some fans I would recommend with their dB levels and their CFM rating.

80mm - Coolink 11dB fan - 21.1CFM - SWiF-801 80mm Case Fan
92mm - Scythe Gentle Typhoon 13dB - 25.9 CFM - Gentle Typhoon 92mm 1700 RPM Cooling Fan
120mm - Noctua NF-S12 800 RPM - 8dB - 35 CFM - NF-S12 800 RPM 120mm Quiet Case Fan
120mm - Noctua NF-S12 1200 RPM - 17dB - 48 CFM - NF-S12 1200 RPM 120mm Quiet Case Fan

I always add Anti-Vibration Fan Gaskets to the build just as an added measure to reduce noise.

Fansis Fan Gaskets

CPU Cooling - Now we have the basics out of the way ie case and case cooling we look at the cpu cooling. When your using a HTPC you are restricted with what cpu cooler you can use. This is mainly due to the height of the HTPC case. Double check your clearance height inside the HTPC case you buy to make sure a the cpu cooler you want will fit in it. There are so many decent cpu coolers out there today do your research and and pick one that can cool efficiently and run quietly. I like cpu coolers where you can swap out the fans for after market ones.

One of the best air cpu coolers about at the moment is the Scythe Mini Ninja II as shown below. If you go this route swap the fan out which comes with the Mini Ninja II for a 80mm/90mm/120mm fan.

Mini Ninja Heatpipe CPU Cooler

Ninja II Heatpipe Cooler, with 120mm fan

Noctua NH-U9B CPU Heatpipe Heatsink with NF-B9 Fan

A decent cpu cooler will keep your cpu running temps down and allow you to overclock your system for extra performance if you so wish. It will also keep you HTPC running quietly which is one of the main goals of a HTPC.

Watercooling - This is and another route you can take for a HTPC and this works very well. It is allot more expensive than air cooling but it works a treat and will allow you to overclock your setup to gain more performance without worrying about heat build up in your case. I use a Zalaman Reserator XT on my HTPC but there are other products on the market that do the same job. I run a Core i7 @ 4.0Ghz and a 4870X2 in a Silverstone LC17 case in a semi restricted av rack with good temps. This would be impossible without watercooling.

Another benefit of watercooling is that it runs allot more silent than a normal air-cooled set-up as you can cool your cpu, chipset and graphics card all with water which reduces the amount of fans needed and noise levels.

Hardware

Motherboard - If you are looking to game you will need a semi decent motherboard especially if you are looking to overclock. I tend to stay away from micro atx mobos and go for full sized ones, but you can game on both with no problems at all. If you are looking to overclock your cpu then do your research and buy a decent motherboard which is known for overclocking well. Also look at things like how much heat does the chipset give off.

Graphics Card - Now this is one of my favourite pieces of hardware and this is what will make your set-up a gaming one. You can have 1080p capable gaming card these days for very little money. The more money you spend the more eye candy you can have in game. Effects like Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic filtering can be turned right up which make a big difference to how a game looks. For an explanation on what AA and AF is and does read the links below.

Anti-aliasing - What is Anti-Aliasing, how does it affect our graphics
Anisotropic filtering - Anisotropic filtering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I will separate the current crop and older crop of cards into sections for performance.

Last gen

Older cards are listed below and can be picked up very cheaply 2nd hand.

Any Nvidia 8800 card will be able to handle 1080p gaming with ease, The same goes for 9800 Nvidia cards and 9600GT.

ATI cards like the 3870, 3870X2 will do 1080p gaming. Be aware that the 3870X2 is a hot card.

Current Gen

Next up is what graphics card to go for. If your looking for sheer power then these cards are top of their game at the moment (in order of power, most powerfull at the top). These cards are for enthusiasts who demand the best:

295GTX - Dual gpu card
4870X2 - Dual gpu card
285GTX - Cooler running faster version of the 280GTX
280GTX - Phased out now

The next level down would be (in order of power). All these cards can game at 1080p:

4890 - More than enough power for today's games
275GTX - More than enough power for today's games
260GTX 216 shader pipelines - Great value for money
4870 - Being phased out, Great value for money
260GTX 192 shader pipelines - Phased out now, Great value for money
4850 - Good entry/mid level £100+ card
4770 - Good entry level sub £100 card
4830 - Good entry level sub £100 card

These are the bottom end of the market and I wouldn't really recommend these cards as you can get better for the same money or a few quid more. They are basically old tech re badged and re marketed.

4670 - Basically a 3850 re badged. Now the 4770 is out there's no point in buying this card
250GTX - Expensive for what it is and its basically a re badged and over clocked 8800gt

I would also recommend going for cards with more than 512mb. 512mb will be fine but at higher resolutions like 1080p, but more memory is needed if you want to apply higher levels of AA. If you are gaming at 720p this wont effect you so much but I would still recommend going for more memory if you can afford it.

GPU Cooling - One thing to pay attention to is the cooling side of these cards. ATI has the worst stock coolers in terms of noise and cooling. The stock cooler sounds like a leaf blower and isn't recommended for a HTPC at all. At idle its quiet but it also runs the cards hot so I can't recommend using an ATI stock cooler in a HTPC. If you want an ATI card get one with after market cooling on it like the HIS ICEQ4 range. Temperatures are 20c lower than stock coolers and they run silent.

Nvidia cards have better stock cooling and you might not need to buy a card with after market cooling.

If you already have a graphics card and the stock cooler is noisy you can swap out a stock cooler for an after market one which are sold at most on-line retailers.

I have done this with my 4870X2 and a waterblock. If you want to see how its done there is some info in the link below, the same method of swapping coolers should apply to an air-cooled gpu cooler:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/home-...ming-htpc.html

One thing to look for when buying a gaming graphics card for a HTPC is don't get a passive card as all that will happen is that your HTPC case will get very hot and it will end up shutting your pc down due to the high temps. A graphics card with a decent cooler will run silently and wont be heard in operation.

I would recommend getting a graphics card with a dual slot cooler like this one:

With a dual slot cooler all the hot air from your case and gpu gets vented outside the back of your HTPC and not blown around your case as it would with a single slot cooler.

A decent graphics card is an essential part of a gaming set-up especially if you are gaming at 1080p as at this resolution most of the work is done by the graphics card and not the cpu.

CPU - Any decent dual core cpu will be fine for gaming. If it can play HD formats then paired with a graphics card it will be fine for gaming. I would say that the minimum spec for a dual core cpu would be 2.0-2.2Ghz. There are of course tri core and quad core cpu's out on the market and these are also good for gaming especially as more and more games are starting to use more cores.

RAM - The sweet spot for the amount of ram you have installed is 2gb, you can add more and it will benefit some games but most games are happy with 2gb.

PSU - Please don't skimp on the psu by buying a £30.00 600 watt all singing and dancing psu. As it can and probably will die on you taking your hardware with it. If your going for a lower end graphics card say a £100 or below then a decent 500watt psu will be more than enough to power your set-up. If you are going for one of the more expensive or top end graphics card then look at buying a 600watt+ psu.

Some decent makes of PSU's are:

Corsair
OCZ
Seasonic
Enermax
Bequiet

Sound Card - All games benefit from using a decent sound card. X-fi cards are the best in terms of compatibility and giving accurate in game sound.

You can experience Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect whilst playing your favourite games. It does add allot to the whole gaming experience and is well worth doing if you have a surround system.

Useful Apps for a Gaming HTPC

Overclocking and Monitoring your Graphics card temps -

Ati Tool - ATi Tool 0.27 b2 download from Guru3D.com
RivaTuner - RivaTuner v2.24 download from Guru3D.com

Monitoring HTPC Temperatures -

GPUZ - techPowerUp! :: Download TechPowerUp GPU-Z v0.3.4
Coretemp - Core Temp

Benchmarking -

Futuremark 3D Mark 06 - Futuremark - Benchmarks - 3DMark06 - Download
Futuremark Vantage - Futuremark - Benchmarks - 3DMark Vantage - Download

Latest Graphics Card Drivers -

ATI & Nvidia - http://www.avforums.com/forums/pc-ga...vidia-ati.html

Final Word

You can build a gaming HTPC really cheaply these days and it will give you decent gaming on a 1080p display which will far outperform a modern day console and if done correctly will be just as quiet as a non gaming HTPC.

Here is an example for a cheap gaming HTPC basic components

Intel E5200 clocked @ 2.5Ghz - £60
Asus P5Q SE Socket 775 - £77
ATI HD 4770 - £80
2gb DDR2 800Mhz - £20

Add on HDD's, case, fans etc as you see fit..

If you already have a HTPC then all that is really needed is a graphics card. Just make sure your psu is powerful enough and monitor your temps whilst gaming by using some of the apps listed above.

If you want to see some more examples ie templates of gaming HTPC's follow this link which is a few pages on in this thread.

Link to Templates

I hope this little guide will help some people get into pc gaming and give others who are looking to build or add to their existing HTPC some ideas.

Any questions you may have please post away. Also if anyone has any pictures of their gaming HTPC set-up or in game screen grabs please post them up.

h6oly · 01-05-2009, 2:28 PM

Nice thread Razor!

**Theydon Bois** · 01-05-2009, 2:41 PM

Added to the sticky:

Quote:

And lastly, for more detailed info on gaming with your HTPC, check Razors The Gaming HTPC Thread, where he gives advice on setting up a joypad for a more console like approah to gaming, more detail on component parts and software to help optimise your build.

Usama · 01-05-2009, 2:48 PM

Great thread, good job.

chalkywhyte · 01-05-2009, 3:20 PM

Excellent work Razor.

I see you aint added the HDAV soundcard.

Usama · 01-05-2009, 3:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chalkywhyte

Excellent work Razor.

I see you aint added the HDAV soundcard.

The Bird is the word...

Sheepish · 01-05-2009, 3:41 PM

Another brilliant write-up! On the topic of PC Vs Console graphics my main point of argument is that consoles feature little to no anti-aliasing which is really distracting for me. You can have all the lush textures and polycounts you want but if i see "jaggies" i totally lose any feeling of immersion.

I have been "off" games for a year or two now but a craving for the latest racing games kicked in last week and yesterday I ended up ordering a Silverstone LC13B-E case (off topic : Silver £60, Black £100!!! Grr), an ATI HD4770 (within 5-10% performance of 4850 for £30 less, also shorter pcb) and a 360 pad amongst other items and I cant wait to get home and build it tonight

Ci4N · 01-05-2009, 3:55 PM

Nice setup, I'm looking at building a gaming HTPC myself. I was going to go for a passive 4650 for some mid-level gaming but now I'm not so sure.

Razor · 01-05-2009, 4:18 PM

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheepish

Another brilliant write-up! On the topic of PC Vs Console graphics my main point of argument is that consoles feature little to no anti-aliasing which is really distracting for me. You can have all the lush textures and polycounts you want but if i see "jaggies" i totally lose any feeling of immersion.

I have been "off" games for a year or two now but a craving for the latest racing games kicked in last week and yesterday I ended up ordering a Silverstone LC13B-E case (off topic : Silver £60, Black £100!!! Grr), an ATI HD4770 (within 5-10% performance of 4850 for £30 less, also shorter pcb) and a 360 pad amongst other items and I cant wait to get home and build it tonight

Let us know how you get on with your build. Post some pics in here if you wish and post away if you get stuck on anything.

PC gaming is the pinnacle of gaming due to the amount of power a pc has to dedicate to gaming. PC Graphics cards are now 3 generations ahead of consoles and the power difference is substantial even when you compare consoles to lower end cards. You can also use a variety of control methods on the pc be it 360 pad, PS3 pad, keyboard and mouse, steering wheel, flight stick.

You should get a nice gaming experiance on the parts you have picked.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ci4N

Nice setup, I'm looking at building a gaming HTPC myself. I was going to go for a passive 4650 for some mid-level gaming but now I'm not so sure.

No please dont get a passive card, even for web surfing and movie watching it will dump allot of heat in your HTPC case, which can cause problems. A decent cooler on a graphics card will run silently and wont overheat your HTPC case. Check out reviews of different variations of cards to see how loud their coolers are.

If you are on a budget and want to game go for the 4770. Its very decently priced, only 40nm which needs hardly any power and a good performer for the money.

Ci4N · 01-05-2009, 4:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razor

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Let us know how you get on with your build. Post some pics in here if you wish and post away if you get stuck on anything.

PC gaming is the pinnacle of gaming due to the amount of power a pc has to dedicate to gaming. PC Graphics cards are now 3 generations ahead of consoles and the power difference is substantial even when you compare consoles to lower end cards. You can also use a variety of control methods on the pc be it 360 pad, PS3 pad, keyboard and mouse, steering wheel, flight stick.

You should get a nice gaming experiance on the parts you have picked.

No please dont get a passive card, even for web surfing and movie watching it will dump allot of heat in your HTPC case, which can cause problems. A decent cooler on a graphics card will run silently and wont overheat your HTPC case. Check out reviews of different variations of cards to see how loud their coolers are.

If you are on a budget and want to game go for the 4770. Its very decently priced, only 40nm which needs hardly any power and a good performer for the money.

Thanks again Razor. You certainly are a helpful chap

I'll look into those ones.

Wideload · 01-05-2009, 8:03 PM

I just want to say a huge thank you to Razor for a fantastic thread. I'm usually lurking around on the PS3 forums, although I only bought a PS3 last year (my first ever console) and as I've always been a PC gamer, I have reluctantly persevered with it to the extent that I retired my modest HTPC.

But I've recently been giving more and more thought to getting back to PC gaming (whilst keeing the PS3 for online games with a few friends) and upgrading my HTPC.

This thread has proved to be the inspiration and motivation that I've been looking for, so again thank you Razor.

I really can't remember what components I currently have in my 18 month old HTPC but I do kow there's a quad core intel of some description; 8gb of ram and an 8800 card. Think I'll take the old girl apart and if it's ok list what I have here for some advice on what may need replacing / upgrading. I definately need a new case. There's more work and research to be done but I feel that this will be a rewarding and fun project and I'm looking forward to shopping

Sniper Ash6 · 01-05-2009, 8:10 PM

Great thread razor - helpful as ever

a couple of points that need adding/changing in the OP IMO

Another good point with gaming on PCs are after the initial cost of kit setup the games are cheaper

According to your links under the cooling subheading you have mixed up the specs of the Noctua fans - the slower running fan is apparently noisier and pushes more air

Keep up the good work

Razor · 01-05-2009, 8:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wideload

I just want to say a huge thank you to Razor for a fantastic thread. I'm usually lurking around on the PS3 forums, although I only bought a PS3 last year (my first ever console) and as I've always been a PC gamer, I have reluctantly persevered with it to the extent that I retired my modest HTPC.

But I've recently been giving more and more thought to getting back to PC gaming (whilst keeing the PS3 for online games with a few friends) and upgrading my HTPC.

This thread has proved to be the inspiration and motivation that I've been looking for, so again thank you Razor.

I really can't remember what components I currently have in my 18 month old HTPC but I do kow there's a quad core intel of some description; 8gb of ram and an 8800 card. Think I'll take the old girl apart and if it's ok list what I have here for some advice on what may need replacing / upgrading. I definately need a new case. There's more work and research to be done but I feel that this will be a rewarding and fun project and I'm looking forward to shopping

I am pleased to read that this thread has inspired you to give gaming on your HTPC a go.

For me pc gaming is second to none. I still enjoy my consoles for exclusive games but all multi platform games are played on the pc.

You should have a very good gaming HTPC on your hands with a quad core cpu, plenty of memory and a 8800 card.

Please do post your hardware specs, case etc and any questions you might have.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sniper Ash6

Great thread razor - helpful as ever

a couple of points that need adding/changing in the OP IMO

Another good point with gaming on PCs are after the initial cost of kit setup the games are cheaper

According to your links under the cooling subheading you have mixed up the specs of the Noctua fans - the slower running fan is apparently noisier and pushes more air

Keep up the good work

Cheers Sniper. I have changed the typo, thank for pointing that out.

Your right pc games are cheaper to buy and there are an abundance of mods to get more out of your games. Add on packs which are normally charged for on consoles are also free on the pc which is very much welcomed, this means you basically pay less for more. As you get all this free extra content and far better visuals from games.

Sniper Ash6 · 01-05-2009, 8:37 PM

no probs
im here to help like you

i agree with the gaming side of things - i am finding myself playing more PC games and less 360 as im slowly getting more games and that i now have quite a high spec rig - though its not a HTPC

i know there is a sound card section but i think the forte should make an appearance in there - it is fantastic for gaming and media as well as being a decent price and low profile

im chuffed with mine anyway

BazzaB1971 · 02-05-2009, 12:06 AM

great thread Razor, top notch write up

Naaktgeboren · 02-05-2009, 7:27 AM

Nice thread Razor very useful.

My build went tits up

Just unlucky maybe but the cpu and psu were both DOA. Hopefully next week I get on with it once again.

Razor · 02-05-2009, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CloggyNL

Nice thread Razor very useful.

My build went tits up

Just unlucky maybe but the cpu and psu were both DOA. Hopefully next week I get on with it once again.

I am sorry to hear that mate, I was wondering how you were getting on with your build.

Let us know how you get on once the replacement parts arrive.

Razor · 02-05-2009, 2:57 PM

A few in game screen grabs from Farcry 2 -

namuk · 02-05-2009, 4:07 PM

Good job mate ..
all you need now to finish Build is A mouse (proper controller) to play games

wolvers · 03-05-2009, 7:45 AM

Great thread Razor

.

Hopefully going to order a GTX260-216 in the next couple of days so I'll post a pic once that's installed as I see you mentioned the CW02 case that I have as a good case for a gaming rig.

Razor · 03-05-2009, 11:19 AM

Cheers Wolvers

The CW02 is an excellent case for cooling as you already know. Its slightly larger than the average HTPC case, has 120mm fans and has holes at the back for watercooling. Even though it has the DVD drive bay in the middle of the case its 5cm+ taller than most HTPC cases and this means dvd drive bay doesn't interfere with the graphics card install as its sits above the graphics card. IMO its one of the best HTPC cases you can buy, which is reflected by its price tag.

The 260GTX-216 will be a nice upgrade from your current card.

I am looking forward to seeing some pics and your thoughts once its installed .

Apone · 03-05-2009, 3:15 PM

Great thread Razor

You truly are a legend with your HTPC/Gaming knowledge. (and with a post count in the 000's you should be!

) Screen shots looks absolutely first class. I am sure any console fan boys looking at those shots are thinking 'what if'...

Keep up the good work mate

**Theydon Bois** · 03-05-2009, 3:53 PM

Here you go Razor - if this doesnt convince you to use MediaPortal with StreamedMP skin, nothing will......

PC Games with Coverart & Screenshots/Fanart for StreamMP! Finished all Views! - MediaPortal Forum

Apone · 03-05-2009, 7:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Theydon Bois

Here you go Razor - if this doesnt convince you to use MediaPortal with StreamedMP skin, nothing will......

PC Games with Coverart & Screenshots/Fanart for StreamMP! Finished all Views! - MediaPortal Forum

WOW

Sniper Ash6 · 03-05-2009, 7:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Theydon Bois

Here you go Razor - if this doesnt convince you to use MediaPortal with StreamedMP skin, nothing will......

PC Games with Coverart & Screenshots/Fanart for StreamMP! Finished all Views! - MediaPortal Forum

im not so keen on that if im honest

what is the point of it?

Razor · 04-05-2009, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apone

Great thread Razor

You truly are a legend with your HTPC/Gaming knowledge. (and with a post count in the 000's you should be!

) Screen shots looks absolutely first class. I am sure any console fan boys looking at those shots are thinking 'what if'...

Keep up the good work mate

Thanks for the kind words Apone.

I hope some of these pics do make HTPC owners or console fans think about gaming on a pc. Most people seem to think that gaming and HTPCs dont go together. When all that is needed is a £100 graphics card, a dual core cpu and some thought about cooling. Also now that pad control is near enough standard with all pc games and its all plug and play its no different to playing games on a console but with far superior graphics and customisation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Theydon Bois

Here you go Razor - if this doesnt convince you to use MediaPortal with StreamedMP skin, nothing will......

PC Games with Coverart & Screenshots/Fanart for StreamMP! Finished all Views! - MediaPortal Forum

LOL... Theydon you truly are the front end master.

As you know I am not really a front end user. But I am sure there are a fair few HTPC owners who use mediaportal who will love that. Thanks for posting it up in this thread.

**Theydon Bois** · 04-05-2009, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sniper Ash6

im not so keen on that if im honest

what is the point of it?

Whats the point? To get Razors HTPC to look like one

That way he can stop watching films or rips from bloody windows explorer and have a frontend like the rest of us 'normal' (and I use this term lightly) people!

**Theydon Bois** · 04-05-2009, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razor

LOL... Theydon you truly are the front end master.

As you know I am not really a front end user. But I am sure there are a fair few HTPC owners who use mediaportal who will love that. Thanks for posting it up in this thread.

/bow

No worries mate - got to be worth a punt though?