Your Very First HTPC? But Where do You Start?

Hammi Wrote:Yep. The WAF here required me to implement something which works regardless of the state of the PC (on, off, sleep, hibernate).

Ahh, gotcha. It's easy for me since the power button on the remote puts the HTPC to sleep, and then pressing it again will wake it from sleep. We just leave it sleeping since we use it daily.

Oops. Sorry. Meant to post in the Zacate build thread.

Thanks for putting this one together eskro! I'm having a hard time deciding between this build (or similar) and a Zbox. Other than this custom build having space for an optical drive (which I'm not sure I'll need), a full size HD, and being cheaper than any current barebone deals, what are the advantages of going with this rig?

The main thing that's holding me back is size. It's tough to tell from the pictures, but this case seems pretty large; I believe someone on Newegg mentioned it was the size of a large shoebox. So, too big to go behind the TV, and too tall to stack with other flat-ish AV components, like a cable box. And from what I've been reading it's not big enough to put in a capture card for PVR useage.

My remote also puts the HTPC to sleep/wakes up. Not a problem for me...

Hi Guys/Guru's,

I'm looking to build my first HTPC and need your expert advice.
the specs im looking at are as follow's.

Micro Fusion Remote 350/Micro Atx Media Center Case with 350W 80+ Certified PSU with iMon media centre software and remote control

ATHLON II X2 260 3.2GHZ SKT AM3 L2 2MB 65W PIB

PNY GeForce GT430 1GB 128-bit memory PCI-Express x16

M4A78LT-M Socket AM3 AMD SB710 4DDR3(Dual Channel)

Crucial Ballistix PERFORMANCE 4GB kit (2GBx2) DDR3 1333 MT/s (PC3-10600) CL7

32GB OCZ Onyx Series SATA II SSD Solid State Disk (read 125MB/sec - write 70MB/sec)

NETGEAR WNA3100 Wireless-N 300 USB Adapter

Basically what im asking is this kit fully compatable with XBMC(planing to run Win7 x64 Ultimate), will play all full 1080p content steaming over my wireless N network(netgear WNDR3700) from a core i7 PC in the next room. oh and will it be easy enough to connect and control it with my harmony 1100 remote? oh and bitstream to my onkyo av receiver over hdmi.

thanks in advance.

ph3arth35k1llz Wrote:Basically what im asking is this kit fully compatable with XBMC(planing to run Win7 x64 Ultimate), will play all full 1080p content steaming over my wireless N network(netgear WNDR3700) from a core i7 PC in the next room.

Have you tried that before, streaming 1080p over wireless? In my experience, bandwidth will not be sufficient.

Hammi Wrote:Have you tried that before, streaming 1080p over wireless? In my experience, bandwidth will not be sufficient.

i think with wireless n it's possible

i can stream 720P over wireless G ... to my laptop

HansP Wrote:i think with wireless n it's possible

i can stream 720P over wireless G ... to my laptop

Yeah Ive streamed 720p successfully also over a wireless G network 1080 was a no go.

that adapter should in theory give 300Mbps so should be ample for 1080p just trying to find if anyone else has tried it.

what did you guys think about the other components? are they up for the job?

ph3arth35k1llz Wrote:what did you guys think about the other components? are they up for the job?

More than that, if it's really just about viewing... You could probably go with less RAM, a GT 220 instead of the 430, and if you use vdpau, the CPU will sit around being bored most of the time.

Thanks Hammi,

Ive been doing some research on the 1080p over wireless N and it looks like you need to be on the 5GHz range rather than the 2.4GHz range to pull it off flawlessly. that wireless USB adapter doesn't do 5Ghz so wont cut it..

Hammi Wrote:More than that, if it's really just about viewing... You could probably go with less RAM, a GT 220 instead of the 430, and if you use vdpau, the CPU will sit around being bored most of the time.

Unless they want to bitstream audio to the receiver, then they need the GT430