Post Your HTPC/ MUSIC PC Configurations here

[iaudio]

Fellow HFV members,

It would be very helpful if we could all share what configurations we have for our HTPC's and Music PC's. I hope this thread would serve as a quick and good reference for anyone wanting to build such a PC.
Please list out the components. Also if you could, at the end of the list, explain the choice of PC(desktops would be more apt term, when you consider Macs) components for obtaining your objectives.

For example, it would be good to know what sort of power supplys you are using.
What brand is the SMPS, how many watts?
Any other steps you have taken to reduce noise?
Is there a dedicated GPU? Or onboard support? Does it aid HD video playback?

 

[sam9s]

I Already posted in "Show your audio/video equipment" .......its more of a Gaming PC then HTPC but anyway I am proud of my rig.....

Here it goes.....

Intel C2D 6300 [email protected]
Zalman CPU Air Cooler
Coolermaster 690 Gaming Cabbie
Coolermaster 800W PSU
Vista Ultimate x64/Windows 7 x64 Dual Boot
ASUS P5B-Delux Wifi MoBo
Tran 6 GB Gaming RAM
Sapphaire Radion HD5850 1GB GFX Card
Samsung 2233SW FULL HD Monitor
3.0 TB Internal Storage RAID 0 configured
1.0 TB External Storage eSata option
500GB External Portable Drive
LG Blue Ray/HD DVD Drive
ASUS DVDRW
Razer Lycosa backlit Gaming Keyboard
Razer Gaming coreless Mouse
M.XBox wireless controllers
Logitech G27 racing Wheel
Altec Lansing ATP5
DENON SYS-76HT (SOLD) got ONKYO HTS 6200
PSP Modded 1st gen
V.iPOD 30GB
iPOD Touch 16GB Second Gen JailBroken
Nokia E75 Modded
.....
and oh I forgot APC 800 VA Smart UPSWe can add

Tatasky Plus
Philips DVP5500S DVD player
Philips 29" 720p CRT (discontinued now)
Sennheiser MX160
Sennheiser HD180
Creative EP630
Creative Zen MP3 player
WD Media Player
AC Ryan POHD

 

[teky]

Sam

Where did you source the G27 from, also how much does it cost?

 

[mahiruha]

I Already posted in "Show your audio/video equipment" .......its more of a Gaming PC then HTPC but anyway I am proud of my rig.....

Here it goes.....

Intel C2D 6300 [email protected]
Zalman CPU Air Cooler
Coolermaster 690 Gaming Cabbie
Coolermaster 800W PSU
Vista Ultimate x64/Windows 7 x64 Dual Boot
ASUS P5B-Delux Wifi MoBo
Tran 6 GB Gaming RAM
Sapphaire Radion HD5850 1GB GFX Card
Samsung 2233SW FULL HD Monitor
3.0 TB Internal Storage RAID 0 configured
1.0 TB External Storage eSata option
500GB External Portable Drive
LG Blue Ray/HD DVD Drive
ASUS DVDRW
Razer Lycosa backlit Gaming Keyboard
Razer Gaming coreless Mouse
M.XBox wireless controllers
Logitech G27 racing Wheel
Altec Lansing ATP5
DENON SYS-76HT (SOLD) got ONKYO HTS 6200
PSP Modded 1st gen
V.iPOD 30GB
iPOD Touch 16GB Second Gen JailBroken
Nokia E75 Modded
.....
and oh I forgot APC 800 VA Smart UPSWe can add

Tatasky Plus
Philips DVP5500S DVD player
Philips 29" 720p CRT (discontinued now)
Sennheiser MX160
Sennheiser HD180
Creative EP630
Creative Zen MP3 player
WD Media Player
AC Ryan POHD

that's a killer gaming rig. No doubt you are have a hefty number of kills under your belt in different games.

 

[reignofchaos]

i use my old discarded AMD64 cpu underclocked to 1GHz with a gig of ram on an old dfi nforce3 board as my music pc. The only thing interesting in this machine is 4TB of disk space and an emu 1212m sound card which i use as a digital out and a decent fortron 450W psu to power everything. This machine runs 24/7 without a display. I use remote desktop to use it from my listening position.

 

[spirovious]

CPU :- C2D E4500 2.2ghz
MB :- MSI 945GCM5F1
Ram :- Kingston 1 GB 667 X 2
HDD :- Seagates 120gb sata2 as main, WD 500gb as external in Zappys
SMPS :- VIP gold 400w
Case :- Local/Unbranded
Keybrd :- Logitech
Mouse :- Logitech
DVDR :- HP 1260i (Sony DRU820 earlier)
SC :- Asus Xonar D2X
GC :- Big 7300LE 256mb with turbocach(work as 512mb with ram sharing)
HP :- Sennheiser HD202
Moni :- Sam 17in CRT(Primary) ,Philips 32PFL5609 (as secondary)

Well I went for cheap config with better cards.It works fine as HTPC & Music PC.
Rest in my signature.

 

[sam9s]

that's a killer gaming rig. No doubt you are have a hefty number of kills under your belt in different games.

Thanks man been gaming since I was like 17 or so. I am thinking of starting a thread something like.......List of Games completed....

Sam

Where did you source the G27 from, also how much does it cost?

Quite a few things are from US, like the keyboard and mouse. G27 was i think around 300USD, but trust me its more of a showbuzz rathar actual usage......I hardly use it.....very cumbersome......I use Xbox controller for all racing games much easy and more fun if you ask me. My experience I would not suggest a racing wheel.

 

[pungan]

Here is configuration of mine, it is sort of combination of Gaming and HTPC

Case: Coolermaster HAF932
CPU: Intel Q6600 (overclocked to 3.0GHZ)
MB: Asus P5E3 Deluxe wifi@n
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1333MHZ
Graphics: Nvidia 260GTX
Sound card: Creative X-fi Titanium Fatality
HDD: 4X1TB WD HDD, 1x 640GB WD HDD
Monitor: BENQ 2200HD
KB/Mouse: Microsoft wireless Entertainment 7000 series bluetooth combo
CPU cooling : Coolermaster Aquagate S1 water cooling kit
PSU: Coolermaster 600W extreme power
OS: Windows 7 64bit Ultimate
Head set : Tritton Ax51 Pr0 true 5.1 Gaming headset


Connected to my AVR Denon 2310 outputs to my old Panasonic 5.1 Speaker set

 

[doors666]

I Already posted in "Show your audio/video equipment" .......its more of a Gaming PC then HTPC but anyway I am proud of my rig.....

Here it goes.....

Intel C2D 6300 [email protected]
Zalman CPU Air Cooler
Coolermaster 690 Gaming Cabbie
Coolermaster 800W PSU
Vista Ultimate x64/Windows 7 x64 Dual Boot
ASUS P5B-Delux Wifi MoBo
Tran 6 GB Gaming RAM
Sapphaire Radion HD5850 1GB GFX Card
Samsung 2233SW FULL HD Monitor
3.0 TB Internal Storage RAID 0 configured
1.0 TB External Storage eSata option
500GB External Portable Drive
LG Blue Ray/HD DVD Drive
ASUS DVDRW
Razer Lycosa backlit Gaming Keyboard
Razer Gaming coreless Mouse
M.XBox wireless controllers
Logitech G27 racing Wheel
Altec Lansing ATP5
DENON SYS-76HT (SOLD) got ONKYO HTS 6200
PSP Modded 1st gen
V.iPOD 30GB
iPOD Touch 16GB Second Gen JailBroken
Nokia E75 Modded
.....
and oh I forgot APC 800 VA Smart UPSWe can add

Tatasky Plus
Philips DVP5500S DVD player
Philips 29" 720p CRT (discontinued now)
Sennheiser MX160
Sennheiser HD180
Creative EP630
Creative Zen MP3 player
WD Media Player
AC Ryan POHD

Hmmm... loads of gadgets but with mobo sound card

 

[teky]

Quite a few things are from US, like the keyboard and mouse. G27 was i think around 300USD, but trust me its more of a showbuzz rathar actual usage......I hardly use it.....very cumbersome......I use Xbox controller for all racing games much easy and more fun if you ask me. My experience I would not suggest a racing wheel.

That would have been pretty heavy to lug around, If you don't want it - I've my arms wide open . Although I agree with you about the comfort factor but if you mount it on a proper Wheel Standpro you should be able to feel the difference.

I think we've gotten well Off-topic now - We shall continue in the thread you started

Back on Topic - I've very recently assembled a AMD Based HTPC (Not exactly - But will also be used as a work horse)

Motherboard - Gigabyte GAMA785G MT -UD-2H - Choose this because of the rave reviews it's been getting all over and also seems to be highly recommended within this forum. It features Radeon HD 4200 Integrated Graphics with HDMI 1.3 support and Realtek ALC889a 7.1 channel high-definition audio codec, with Dolby Home Theatre support.

Processor - AMD Phenom II X4 925 95W Processor (6M Cache, 2.80 GHz) - Was initially considering AMD Athlon II X2 240 which is more the suffice for HTPC but since this is going to be used for for HD Video editing I choose this one.

Cabinet - Cooler Master elite 310 - I was fine with a Tower cabinet and this seemed to fit my bill. I know there are expensive one's out there, but this was VFM for me.

PSU - Cooler Master 460W - Actually wanted to get the Corsair 400W but due to it's non-avaibility had to settle with Cooler Master. Seems to be good enough for me adding optical drives & Sound card later date if required.

OS - Using XP Home for the moment, that seems to be enough for me at the moment. Although I'll be upgrading to 7 Premium in due course.

I've got 2 GB DDR 3 RAM of as now (Didn't want to get into the DDR2 route as eventually we will all change and more over my board doesn't support it). Have added a Seagate 500 GB internal HDD - Didn't want to put any more storage on here as I've plans to buy eTrayz or any other NAS and want that to be my Ultimate storage point.

Still to acquire a Logitech DiNovo Keyboard & a BD-RW Drive once the prices settle down.

 

[kapvin]

Lemme add my 3 pennies

HTPC -1
Gigabyte G31
intel E5200 non Oc'd
4GB
Seagate -320 GB
coolermaster psu
"el cheapo case"
Sony DVD-writer
LG GBC-H20L -BDROM crossflashed to GGC-H20L HD_DVD/BD
Nvidia 9400 w/ HDMI - direct connection with Projector
SPDIF - co-ax connection to reciever
TMT 3.0

HTPC-2
Gigabyte - G43
Intel E5200 oC'd to 3.3Ghz
Seagate 750GB
4GB
Iball 207 case
LG GBC-H20L -BDROM crossflashed to GGC-H20L HD_DVD/BD
HDMI connection to LCD
optical spdif to reciever
PowerDVD 7.3 ultra OEM
Logitech wireless keyboard & mouse

Main PC
Intel P5B
Intel Q9550
LG GGW-H20L BD/hd-dvd writer
Lite-On DVD writer
4GB
2x500GB seagate
Nvidia 8600GT- DVI to Benq 24" fullHD
Coolermaster PSU
PowerDVD 7.3 ultra OEM

cheers

 

[sam9s]

^^ Why three PCs... ?? Just curious....

 

[kapvin]

^^ Why three PCs... ?? Just curious....

2 home theatre system == 2 htpc.

+ 1 all in one pc, movies, music, mail, photos and everything else I need to do on the computer.

to pre-empt you as to why 2 home theatre systems.. well.. can't (afford to) light up my projector everytime my daughter or son wants to watch transformers, or cars, or mickey mouse playhouse

plus, it works well.. when we've watching "kill bill" in the drawing room, we are reassured that the kids are glued to the TV in the study watching "Ratatouille", and won't walk into all the mayhem..

cheers!

 

[mohamednaseer]

Hello Kapvin,

Where do you buy this "LG GBC-H20L -BDROM crossflashed to GGC-H20L HD_DVD/BD" and how much it is? Is it available now?

Regards,
Naseer

 

[KHK]

Cabinet: Coolermaster 310
Power Supply: Gigabyte 460
Belkin Spikeguard (Economy)
CPU: Intel C2D E6600
Mobo: Gigabyte G31
Ram: Transcend 2 GB 800 Mhz
LG DVD Drive
1 tb Seagate
1 tb WD Green (backup)
Onboard sound connected to Creative speakers Model No.245
Ext Sound Card EMU 0404
Mic: Shure SM58
Amp: Marantz PM7200
Speakers: Monitor Audio Silver S6

 

[sam9s]

3 PCs here too - a gaming rig, a light-duty multitasking-cum-24x7 download rig, and one music PC. Gaming rig is too power-hungry to run all the time, and multitasking rig needs too many apps to run light, quiet and cool. This way each rig is optimised specifically for the assigned duty.

mmmm well in that case I forgot to mention that i also have an ACER Aspire 4730Z notebook that I use for 24x7 downloading and surfing....

 

[corElement]

I need a new pc

AMD athlon xp 2400+
Nvidia nforce 2 dfi lanparty ultra infinity II mobo
kingston 2gb ddr400 ram
Ati radeon 3650 2009 agp card
Nvidia nforce soundstorm 2.0 dolby digital live onboard soundcard
Razer deathadder 1.0
Microsoft reclusa backlit keyboard
Seagate 80gb hdd
asus cd rom
...
too broke after buying avr and jamo 5.0 speakers to afford new pc anymore -\

 

[saurigr8]

Amd Athlon Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Processor
Giga Motherboard GAMA785GPMUD2H
Corsair 4 GB DDR3 Ram 1333 Mhz
Cooler Master CM 690 Cabinet
Cooler Master extreme Silent PSU
SONY & LG DVD Writers
1 TB Seagate Hard disk
BENQ G 2420 HD Monitor

 

[kapvin]

Hello Kapvin,

Where do you buy this "LG GBC-H20L -BDROM crossflashed to GGC-H20L HD_DVD/BD" and how much it is? Is it available now?

Regards,
Naseer

Hi Naseer,

Had replied in another thread long ago.. got 3 from cost-to-cost computers in Nehru place for 2500/- a piece (i've kept one as a standby).

i think it was a liquidation of End-of-line stock since they don't seem to have it on their website anymore :: Welcome to Cost to Cost ::

regards

 

[thevortex]

Cabinet - Antec NSK4480
Motherboard - Gigabyte 780G chipset
Processor - Athlon X2 5400
RAM - 2 GB DDR2 (dual channel)
Hard disk - 2 X 500 GB Seagate Barracudas
External hard disk - 1 TB Seagate
Sound card - ASUS Xonar D2X
Monitor - Dell Ultrasharp 20 inch.

This is the Music/HT PC. The gaming rig is lying unused since I have started playing Dragon Age on the laptop .