[st graveyard]

Hello all,

I've been looking into building my first HTPC. I know for a lot of people my proposal seems totally overkill, but I would like to build a machine not only for movies, but also for game emulation. I still have some questions though.

I'm thinking of going the Sandy Bridge route, as this processor seems very fast, is easily overclocked and best fitted for MAME emulation.

Currently I'm running XBMC on my laptop (an intel I5 430M with intel GPU). I'm having lots of trouble with the intel GPU and I really want to avoid this as the plague in the future. So I guess, if I want the intel processor, to avoid Direct X issues, I will need to add a seperate 3D card? Will this solve the issues?

My proposal :

- CPU : http://www.snogard.de/?artikelId=CPUINT115231B
--> Quad core I5 seems powerfull enough for MAME?

- MOBO : http://www.snogard.de/?artikelId=MBOASR1155H65
--> I want to have USB 3.0 possibilities. Is this a good MOBO?

- RAM : http://www.snogard.de/index.php?kategori...40D3160005

- Video card. I'm not sure in this department. Everybody tells to go for the G-Force GT520, but this is only a 64bit card. I think I want a bit better for gaming? I was thinking either :
http://www.snogard.de/?artikelId=VGAP10-AS4502
or
http://www.snogard.de/index.php?kategori...P10-AS4600
or maybe this will suffice
http://www.snogard.de/?artikelId=VGAP10-AS6672

Are these cards capable of Tru HD dolby and the latest DTS encoding? What do you think? Maybe the 256bit card from nvideo is overkill. I'm not really at home in this department. Will such a card solve all the INTEL issues in XBMC?

Now the question I have. Will this all fit in a nice HTPC case? which case should I buy? What cooling do I need for this? I could really use some help here.
I would also like to add a blu-ray DVD player in the case. Any proposals here?

Also, the onboard HD for WIN and XBMC (all my media is on external USB HD's) I was thinking of going the SSD route? Do or don't?

What hardware (and software) do I need to be able to have a remote control installed on it? And a wireless XBOX360 controller?

Sorry for the NOOB questions, but this will be my very first build and I'm aiming on building the ultimate Home entertainment system, meaning 1080p movies, 3D movies for when I buy a 3D capable TV set, Panasonic HD M2TS home vid files, MP3 sound and retro gaming up to the Sega Dreamcast.

What do you think?

Thanks,
Grave

[Kirky99]

Does MAME now support GPU acceleration? Last time I checked, it wasn't there, it was all being done on the CPU. There still were a few MAME games that were not playing well, Gauntlet Legends comes to mind. Maybe I'll poke around and see about GPU acceleration, I need to update my MAME files anyway, I'm probably about a year behind on updates.

You might be barking up the wrong tree for MAME performance. The i5 might be all you really need.

[st graveyard]

Kirky,

Mame is pure CPU, no GPU. But I need the video card to :
1) avoid the intel troubles in XBMC regarding video quality
2) other emulators for Sega dreamcast, Sony PS1, Nintendo 64 ...

I've read that the sandy bridge processors are easily overclocked. Some have overclocked them to 5+ gigahertz and are now able to play Gauntlet Legends at 100% (framerate). I'm not gonna overclock though ...
I haven't got that much experience in MAME, only with my 8 year old AMD 2.6gigahertz PC (single core)... and the 3D games were not running well at all ...

Thanks for the input ...

[outatouch0]

just a note, only the "K" versions of the iCore CPU's are overclockable. I can't tell from your link if this is the unlocked version or not.

If you are talking about overclocking an i5 (overkill possibly) why not get RAM with a bit lower CAS latency? See if you can find something like CL7-7-7-21

I recommend Samsung DVD drives - they are excellent. Others recommend LG DVD drives as being on par with the Samsungs.

I am not sure what level of GPU you will need but be sure to consider fan noise and heat in your design. Otherwise just know that ASUS warranties are worthless.

I really like my Silverstone case with 3 silent 120mm fans, room for two drives plus an optical drive. There are a lot of options from Silverstone you can choose from.

SSD

[st graveyard]

Thanks SSD.

I'm learning here, so the 'K' versions you mean this :
http://www.snogard.de/?artikelId=CPUINT115250K

That is an expensive processor. But I'll keep it into consideration.

I'm still not sure what to do with the Videocard. There are so many options it is making my head spin :-)