# MY new HTPC



## ktr (Feb 2, 2007)

Hey!

Just want to display my first and budget HTPC build...

Teh specs!

CPU: AMD 4400+X2 -FREE!   
Motherboard:  EVGA 131-K8-NF44-AX (a Micro ATX mother board with SLI ability! sweet!) -$65
Cooling: Zalman CNPS7000B-Cu LED (funny thing is that the LED version cost LESS than the non-LED on newegg) -$40
Memory:	Patriot 2x512mb PC3200 DDR Singature Series (I would go to 2GB but HTPC are not memoy demanding) -FREE!   
Video Card: MSI NX7600GT Diamond Plus PCI-E 256MB with HDMI & HDCP (Kinda hard to get this card...runs the coolest, the fastest, the quietest and has HDCP & VIVO...compared to the other cards in the same genre) -$175
Harddisk: Seagate 320GB SataII Perpendicular Recording (PR is a great technology.) -$85
CD/DVD Drive: External Plextor DVD-RW (BR/HDDVD in the future) -FREE!   
Case: Antec NSK2400 MicroATX (great case) -$70
Sound Card: Realtek AC'97 (SPDIF for output -$0
PSU: Antec 380W PSU -$0
Software: WINDOWS XP Media Center Edition -FREE!   
Capture Card: Twinhan 102g DVB PCI Card -$65

Teh Pics!

Case front






Case Back





Getting spdif to the MSI to Hdmi...





Top down shot





Binded Cables





Neatly routed HDD cables





Neatly routed Power cables





Close down shot (look how the 4pin is routed)





Shiny card! (where the spdif cable goes)





Little more cable management





EDIT! OK... i have installed the Zalman Fanmate2 fan controller...because that zalman is the only thing loud atm...

Located on the back...





Tightly bundled cable...its such a long cable.





Cable goes under fan and out...





Well thats about it...if you have questions on any of the parts just haller back. 

-KTR


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## ex_reven (Feb 2, 2007)

thats absolutely beautiful
i love it

are you gonna use it for anything other than watching dvds? ?


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## ex_reven (Feb 2, 2007)

btw did your old parts come from your upgraded pc?


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## ktr (Feb 2, 2007)

ex_reven said:


> thats absolutely beautiful
> i love it
> 
> are you gonna use it for anything other than watching dvds? ?



Thank!

It does have a satellite card in it, so i can get quality feed. Plus it will up convert any mpeg video to near HD and de-interlace them to progressive scan. 



ex_reven said:


> btw did your old parts come from your upgraded pc?



nope


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## ex_reven (Feb 2, 2007)

ktr said:


> nope



Then parts = free 
how?


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## ktr (Feb 2, 2007)

ex_reven said:


> Then parts = free
> how?



secret...

if you look closely..the patriots have the same factor specs, but are not the same (one has dimm with a red PCB, and the other is simm with a green pcb...Lolz)

also that plastic you see behind the cpu actually creates suction from the rear of the case when the top is closed...i really like and recommend this case!


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## ex_reven (Feb 2, 2007)

does it take any MATX board?


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## Easy Rhino (Feb 2, 2007)

does that tv card capture 1080p ? if so, how does your videocard react to streaming 1080p while your tv card records another channel in HD ?  oh and is that sound card 7.1 digital  with fiber out?


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## pt (Feb 2, 2007)

pretty cool man  
an sli in there and it would become a very good rig for games


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## ex_reven (Feb 2, 2007)

lol "GAMING HTPC"

makes sense to me


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## pt (Feb 2, 2007)

ex_reven said:


> lol "GAMING HTPC"
> 
> makes sense to me



yes it does


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## ex_reven (Feb 2, 2007)

why dont you turn it into a laptop then  while we are at it


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## ktr (Feb 2, 2007)

ex_reven said:


> does it take any MATX board?



of course...



Easy Rhino said:


> does that tv card capture 1080p ? if so, how does your videocard react to streaming 1080p while your tv card records another channel in HD ?  oh and is that sound card 7.1 digital  with fiber out?



All DVB cards capture cards capture mpeg2, reguardless of resolution or scanning. It is the decoders job to well...decode the feed into HD / deinterlace. A good one would be Nvidia's purevideo etc...

Streaming and recording goes very smooth. The thing is before it decodes...it buffers feed to the hdd-->decodes to hdd--->display...when recording, all you do is make a copy of the "decodes to hdd".

Yea the mobo has both fiber and coxial...but digital signal is still digital signal (nothing but on and off, 1 and 0)...so the quality or performance doesnt differ between the two. 



pt said:


> pretty cool man
> an sli in there and it would become a very good rig for games



maybe in the future...but this card is hard to come by...


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## ktr (Feb 3, 2007)

Added Zalman Fanmate2...pics on first post.


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## Frogger (Feb 3, 2007)

Wondering what app your using on the Twinhan 102g DVB PCI Card  for the sat sig?


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## Lazzer408 (Feb 3, 2007)

KTR I like it!  Does it stay cool?


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## ktr (Feb 3, 2007)

Frogger said:


> Wondering what app your using on the Twinhan 102g DVB PCI Card  for the sat sig?



i use MyTheater...no more questions on this  if you know FTA...and the dark side of it...then you know where i am going.



Lazzer408 said:


> KTR I like it!  Does it stay cool?



Cpu stays around 30-35 on idle and goes around 45ish...and GPU is around 39 idle and 50 when doing HD.


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## Frogger (Feb 3, 2007)

ktr said:


> i use MyTheater...no more questions on this  if you know FTA...and the dark side of it...then you know where i am going..



  K


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## ktr (Feb 3, 2007)

Funny thing is that my htpc beats my gaming rig...(tempted to switch...lol)


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## Darksaber (Feb 3, 2007)

were did you get that evga mATX board from? I want one, but there are none to be found in austria...

cheers
DS


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## ktr (Feb 3, 2007)

I got that one off newegg...


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## Darksaber (Feb 4, 2007)

ktr said:


> I got that one off newegg...



Well they do not ship to austria...anyone want to buy one for me? and ship it to Austria? (I would paypal you the money)

Edit:
On second thought, I will wait till christmas and upgrade the entire PC of mine  ehehe

cheers
DS


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## ktr (Feb 4, 2007)

OMG...PUREVIDEO is a MUST for htpc! I cant believe how well crappy quality videos look like after being de-interlaced and upcoverted and displayed on a 61in 1080p hdtv...***drool***


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## Frogger (Feb 6, 2007)

ktr said:


> OMG...PUREVIDEO is a MUST for htpc! I cant believe how well crappy quality videos look like after being de-interlaced and upcoverted and displayed on a 61in 1080p hdtv...***drool***



 DL the PUREVIDEO yesterday for my htpc  saw a fantastic improvement in the output in my plasma on the  MT app thks for the heads up .F


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## unsmart (Feb 6, 2007)

Did you see the review on tom's where they compared ATI's AVIVO to NV PUREVIDIO? It's a really in depth article and has some tips on optimizing DVD play back. ATI comes out on top with less cpu usage and better image quality. I've read another review using blue ray disk that had the opposite out come but who can afford one anyway. Here's the link  http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/09/avivo-vs-purevideo/ 
 It's a good read if building a HTPC.


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## DaMulta (Feb 6, 2007)

What sat card did you have and what display>?

Love the case I have been thinking about going that way again. Its just those cases are hard to come by anymore.


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## Frogger (Feb 6, 2007)

he runnig a old 'Capture Card: Twinhan 102g DVB PCI Card -$65' good card 'cheep' on e-bay
I got one last year $40cdn new ... some of the newer ones out there will do mpeg-4  right off the sat ..bit pricey still ..F


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## ktr (Feb 6, 2007)

The problem of AVIVO that it is only for ati cards only, while purevideo works for any card...but has couple added features for the nvidia, but nothing of importance. 

but in the future i am planing to get the ATI Theater™ 550 PRO pci-e which comes with the avivo decoders...


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## ktr (Feb 7, 2007)

DaMulta said:


> What sat card did you have and what display>?
> 
> Love the case I have been thinking about going that way again. Its just those cases are hard to come by anymore.




I have the Twinhan 102g...and i did buy it from ebay for around 65bucks...its has one of the highest support for most software out their and can do HD. another popular is the WinTV Nexus...but v2.2 is the one you get and is very hard to get these days.

My display is a 61in Samsung HDTV 1080p...and thanks to my gcard...i have HDMI out for video with sound!. 

These cases are very easy to get now...


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