Loving my new HTPC! (1 Viewer)

[Brett DiMichele]

I just got done building my new HTPC last week and my goal was to have an HTPC that truly looked the part and performed well.

I started off with an NmediaPC HT6000B case and NmediaPC OEM Pro LCD screen kit. I then filled it with some computer goodness. It's running a Core 2 Duo @ 2.66Ghz with 4GB of PC5200, 2x 160GB Seagate 7200RPM Sata's, DVD Burner (Not spending on a BlueRay drive since I have a BD1500), EVGA Nvidia GeForce 9600GSO with 1GB of ram and overclocked a bit (still playing with shader/core and memory clock speeds to get the best speeds with the most stability). For cooling it's running a single 120mm intake fan, two 80mm exhaust fans, 80mm CPU fan and a Thermaltake Ramsink with fan. I need to actually swap out the "dumb" 120mm intake for a pair of smart 120mm fans.

Running 1920x1080 on WIndows 7 Professional and loving it!

Here are some photos, please excuse the pink carpet, it's not really pink!














I would like to toss a quad core in it eventually but I have to say it's wicked fast. I have Firefox in my startup as well as FanSpeed, EVGA Precision, AOL Pro IM, Mplay MediaPC (for the LCD) and Firefox opens seven tabs and it does all this, instantaniously at log on, there is NO waiting!

 

[Brett DiMichele]

I have to wonder if I would see any improvement on my display by switching to DVI or DVI to HDMI. I am running VGA out directly to the TV and it's razor sharp with no banding or other issues. I honestly could never see a difference between DVI and VGA.

Thoughts?

 

[KeithAP]

Brett, looks like a pretty nice setup you have there. I went cheap with my system and bought a Dell 518 from their refurb store. I just have the tower sitting next to the TV cabinet. Your system looks much nice than that!

In the early days of LCD displays, it always seemed to make a big difference going from the VGA input to DVI. However, it seems today that the electronics have improved, or maybe something else is going on, and many people don't seem to notice a difference.

That being said, if your current video card has DVI I would probably use that especially in the video card and TV both support HDCP. Monoprice.com has cables that are dirt cheap. You can even get a DVI to HDMI cable (no separate adapter required) which is what I use on my Dell system (I have more HDMI ports than DVI). Of course, audio still has to be handled separately.

Personally, my next upgrade will probably be a video card with HDMI so I can dump my separate audio connection.

-Keith

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Keith,

Thanks for the comments!

I saw video cards with HDMI out but I didn't want to settle for a lesser card than what I got, just to have an HDMI port. The TV will accept VGA, DVI or HDMI. The DVI cable isn't an issue I can get one at work, we have thousands of them that we never used (we used VGA). There is a certain resolution where DVI is a must, but for 1920x1080 I don't think there is going to be a difference in I.Q. It's spectacular as is. Audio is being handled as digital out from the HTPC over 3.5mm phono then being converted to Toslink by the TV and the Tos then feeds the receiver.

I may try a DVI just to see if I can notice any difference, but I am firmly believing that it's not going to matter. Now if I had an interference issue that would be a different story.

 

[Parker Clack]

Brett:

Nice setup. I have the ATI 4350 which has HDMI out on the card. No need to use any type of dongle. I just plug the HDMI cable into my Pioneer SC 05 and then from the Pioneer to my Panasonic plasma and all works as it should. The audio is passed on as was recorded at the source and the video is spot on.

I am running Windows 7 Home Premium and have an HLDS combo Blu-ray / HD DVD drive using Arc Soft's Total Media Theater 3 and couldn't be happier with the audio and picture with my HD discs. HD television using QAM looks great.

You might want to give the ATI a demo in your system using the HDMI out and see if you like using it a bit more with only one cable to have to use. For me it is an great solution to not have multiple cables running into this box to do that function and end up with just the one.

Parker

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Parker,

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the suggestion but I'm not interested in an ATI card, I actually took out a perfectly good ATI Radeon XT card to put the Nvidia in. I could have got an Nvidia with an HDMI out, but this card does support HDMI out, you need to run an internal SPDIF cable to the vid card and then use the DVI/HDMI dongle (which is no issue). There is no visual benefit from everyone I've talked to, at 1080, the only benefit would be one less cable. I may in the future do that, but for now it's fine as i already had the cabling run for my last PC.

I am not adding a Blue Ray drive as I have a Blue Ray Player and my TV has the QAM tuner.

There are lots of redundencies here, and I'm probably not using it as an HTPC as much as others do, but it also serves as my work horse and gaming machine.

 

[Parker Clack]

Brett:

I hear you on the Nvidia cards. My HP came with the ATI and so far so good. It also have a separate S/PDIF optical out but I decided to go the one cable route.

Looks to me like you have one killer HTPC.

Now if I could only get someone like Hauppauge or AverMedia to come out with a quad tuner for analog and digital cable, QAM over a single PCI x 1 card I would be a happy camper. They have a OEM cable card version but I don't want to have to pay for cable cards from my cable company.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Parker,

Yeah one card that handles it all would be nice! Once I get my BIG hard drives in, I will probably turn this into a DVR. The upgrade path is endless, seems like you can integrate as much or as little as you want.

I saw your reply on the HTF Projects forum about your ATI card outputting audio over HDMI with no additional connectors to the card from the MoBo. This has my curiosity sparked, I need to get a DVI to HDMI and try it and see if it works the same for me. When I installed my 9600GSO I didn't "see" an SPDIF connector on the card, so maybe it just picks it up through the PCIe Bus.

 

[Parker Clack]

Brett:

Sorry for the late reply. I am not sure about the NVIDIA cards but on the ATI I use Total Media Theater and in the options for the software I use the HDMI output. For my ATI 2400HD to be able pass HD audio over the cable you had to use the DVI to HDMI dongle that came with the card. Standard DVI to HDMI dongles didn't work. With my new 4350 it has an HDMI out and a DVI to HDMI dongle isn't needed. I just plug my HDMI cable from the card into my receiver and pass all the digital sound fields without the need for a separate S/PDIF cable. I don't believe there is a video card out there that has a built in separate RCA or Optical S/PDIF out.

I would see what type of DVI to HDMI dongle you need. Then go HDMI to your receiver and then in your software for DVD, HD select to use HDMI as the audio output. I believe you will be pleasantly surprised to see that you are passing both HD video and audio over one cable.

Parker

 

[Hanson]

Brett, what model Samsung DLP do you have? I know in some of the models (including mine) if you use DVI, it underscans and leaves a black border that can only be corrected in the service menu. Depending again on your model, some (like mine) with lose any service settings if the power goes out or if you unplug the set. Thus, I use VGA since I actually need a bit of overscan.

BTW, are you running 1080p desktop? I ended up running 720p because everything was just too small in 1080p, and since I use remote desktop all the time, just increasing fonts and such didn't really cut it. That and I really just couldn't tell the difference between the two resolutions, so it was a no brainer for me.

Without resorting to test patterns, I doubt I could tell any difference between VGA and DVI (nor 720p and 1080p).

BTW, that's a really sweet case. Mine is your typical, black, hulking, plastic case that sits off to the side on the floor because it could never fit in my stand.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Hanson,

I am runnng the HL67a750

I have not tried DVI so I was not aware of the under scan issue. From the hard core gamers I talked to, they all said the same thing, so long as you have a good VGA cable and no interference issues, there is no difference between VGA and DVI until you get into super high (way beyond 1080P) resolutions. I am just sticking with VGA.

I do want to add a dedicated video card with a toslink or digital coaxial out, the integrated sound isn't cutting it. I also want to add a TV tuner card and some big disk drives and use it as a PVR.

 

[Hanson]

Definitely get the soundcard with coax or digital out. Then you can use SPDIF passthrough, the best way to get DD5.1 if you have a receiver. Since most of my media sources are AC3, it's a no-brainer.