AnthonyMillard
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New media pc build.
Hi all, and hopefully this post will be of some interest to you, I am about to build a new media pc and would
like to write up what I am thinking to see if I am completely barking mad, on the right track or if it simply
wont work.
A bit of background first.
I currently us the Dell XPS M170 laptop as my media centre, this is good at delivering everything, however it
will not do either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD unless its been re-ripped. As I have several HD-DVD disks and the XBox360
has died (again) I am hoping to at least be able to play these. The laptop is also limited in that I am unable
to upgrade most of it if anything comes along in the future. The laptop is also destined to be a new media
streamer in another room as its current streamer broke recently
This is all connected to an iScan VP50 Pro, an Onkyo 875 amp and the Panasonic TH-42PHD8.
A 32gig iPod Touch will be used with the Onkyo to provide music capabilities without the plasma/media pc being
turned on.
The speakers are old, and only 5.1 of them, these will be upgraded to the Mirage Omnisat V2FS when the new
media pc has been paid off
The new media centre, although its primary purpose will be for media it will also need to play half decent
games and be able to do large processing jobs on the VPC's I use for work.
So enough rambling, here is the current setup ideas.
Some notes below and the parts, sorry for the long post and hopefully someone if still interested in reading it,
do you think this will provide what I need being a future proof media pc which can fly HD and decent games which
is no louder than the current dell laptop.
Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Tony
Notes on parts.
Case,
This case is cheaper at places like overclockers, however, only quiet pc seams to have it in stock, I did find
it £60 cheaper at www.dcsplc.co.uk but never had any dealings with these and it does seem too cheap, if you
know what I mean. anyone who has had any experience with these suppliers I would be greatly appreciated. The
case is a bit OTT I know, and the built in screen a wow factor more than anything else, I do like using Media
Portal as the media software and hoping to use their second monitor logic to run the menu on the small screen
when the plasma is busy. It will also allow (hopefully) access to playing music which is not yet on the touch.
Gfx,
Also looking at the "Asus GeForce 8600 GTS Silent Fanless HTDP 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)", which
looks to be more powerful a processor and again passive cooled, however, I think the 512mb will make up for
the 10% drop in processor power. Also with 2 of them SLI's together, and the motherboard allowing an
additional 1 I think this will fly both games and HD.
Sound,
Looking at the Auzentech range of cards as they have a daughter card coming out in July which if all things
said are true will allow full HD audit via HDMI to be passed to the amplifier, it does have the following
comment on their sight which I dont fully understand and may sideline this card until the full details of the
HMDI add on are known
"The SPDIF Input port on the Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 is not available with Auzen X-Tension HDMI1.3."
Hard drives,
I know 500gb is big for an OS but the price was just too silly to pass up, most of the media will be stored on
several terabits of NAS drives located in my home office.
Motherboard,
A bit of a beast I know, but powerful for the future and passively cooled.
Memory,
8gb I know is way OTT for the media pc, but as the motherboard can take it and its only a ton for 4gb its worth
just maxing the machine out now while I have the money. Also I will be able to run several work VPC's at once
if/when needed.
Power supply,
Not sure on this one, I wanted something quiet, but not sure if 620W will be big enough or if the noise is too
much.
Heat sink,
Again, not sure on this one, I am limited with the size of the case to have a really good heat sink such as the "Scythe Orochi Ten Heatpipe Fanless CPU
Cooler" or the "Scythe Ninja-CU Full Copper Heatsink with Quiet Fan".
I may need to have a good think if I need the screen built into the case as the touch will be providing offline music, a different case would give me the
height to have a really good heat sink, however, I am struggling finding a really nice looks media pc case.
Hi all, and hopefully this post will be of some interest to you, I am about to build a new media pc and would
like to write up what I am thinking to see if I am completely barking mad, on the right track or if it simply
wont work.
A bit of background first.
I currently us the Dell XPS M170 laptop as my media centre, this is good at delivering everything, however it
will not do either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD unless its been re-ripped. As I have several HD-DVD disks and the XBox360
has died (again) I am hoping to at least be able to play these. The laptop is also limited in that I am unable
to upgrade most of it if anything comes along in the future. The laptop is also destined to be a new media
streamer in another room as its current streamer broke recently
This is all connected to an iScan VP50 Pro, an Onkyo 875 amp and the Panasonic TH-42PHD8.
A 32gig iPod Touch will be used with the Onkyo to provide music capabilities without the plasma/media pc being
turned on.
The speakers are old, and only 5.1 of them, these will be upgraded to the Mirage Omnisat V2FS when the new
media pc has been paid off
The new media centre, although its primary purpose will be for media it will also need to play half decent
games and be able to do large processing jobs on the VPC's I use for work.
So enough rambling, here is the current setup ideas.
HTML:
Part Model Supplier Price
Case Zalman HD160XT+ Home Theatre PC - Black Quiet PC 399.99
Motherboard Asus Striker II Formula nForce 780i 775) PCI-Ex DDR2 Aria 192.64
Graphics 2 X Sparkle GeForce 9600 GT 512 passive cooled Overclockers 123.36 (X2)
Processor Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.66GHz Aria 211.44
Heatsink Zalman CNPS9500-AT CPU Cooler Overclockers 29.99
Hard Drives (OS) 500Gb Western Digital SATA - 16MB - 7200RPM Aria 95.94
(Media) 750Gb Western Digital Caviar SATA-16MB-7200rpm Aria 59.87
Memory 2 XCorsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (2x2GB) Supplied with Airflow Fan
Overclockers 116.61 (X2)
PSU Nesteq Semi-Fanless ASM PSUs 620W quiet pc 115.00
Optical LG GGW-H20L B/Ray Rewriter Overclockers 180.94
Sound Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 Sound Card Overclockers 124.5
HDMI TrueHD daughter board when available 50ish
Other stuff Arctic silver 5 thermal compound Overclockers 7.04
Replacement quiet fans for case fans (Scythe's) (If needed)
Hard drive dampers (If needed)
AcousticPack deluxe v2 acoustic material kit Overclockers 24.99
Total 1,922
Circa 2K when delivery added on
Some notes below and the parts, sorry for the long post and hopefully someone if still interested in reading it,
do you think this will provide what I need being a future proof media pc which can fly HD and decent games which
is no louder than the current dell laptop.
Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Tony
Notes on parts.
Case,
This case is cheaper at places like overclockers, however, only quiet pc seams to have it in stock, I did find
it £60 cheaper at www.dcsplc.co.uk but never had any dealings with these and it does seem too cheap, if you
know what I mean. anyone who has had any experience with these suppliers I would be greatly appreciated. The
case is a bit OTT I know, and the built in screen a wow factor more than anything else, I do like using Media
Portal as the media software and hoping to use their second monitor logic to run the menu on the small screen
when the plasma is busy. It will also allow (hopefully) access to playing music which is not yet on the touch.
Gfx,
Also looking at the "Asus GeForce 8600 GTS Silent Fanless HTDP 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)", which
looks to be more powerful a processor and again passive cooled, however, I think the 512mb will make up for
the 10% drop in processor power. Also with 2 of them SLI's together, and the motherboard allowing an
additional 1 I think this will fly both games and HD.
Sound,
Looking at the Auzentech range of cards as they have a daughter card coming out in July which if all things
said are true will allow full HD audit via HDMI to be passed to the amplifier, it does have the following
comment on their sight which I dont fully understand and may sideline this card until the full details of the
HMDI add on are known
"The SPDIF Input port on the Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 is not available with Auzen X-Tension HDMI1.3."
Hard drives,
I know 500gb is big for an OS but the price was just too silly to pass up, most of the media will be stored on
several terabits of NAS drives located in my home office.
Motherboard,
A bit of a beast I know, but powerful for the future and passively cooled.
Memory,
8gb I know is way OTT for the media pc, but as the motherboard can take it and its only a ton for 4gb its worth
just maxing the machine out now while I have the money. Also I will be able to run several work VPC's at once
if/when needed.
Power supply,
Not sure on this one, I wanted something quiet, but not sure if 620W will be big enough or if the noise is too
much.
Heat sink,
Again, not sure on this one, I am limited with the size of the case to have a really good heat sink such as the "Scythe Orochi Ten Heatpipe Fanless CPU
Cooler" or the "Scythe Ninja-CU Full Copper Heatsink with Quiet Fan".
I may need to have a good think if I need the screen built into the case as the touch will be providing offline music, a different case would give me the
height to have a really good heat sink, however, I am struggling finding a really nice looks media pc case.