sam9s HTPC Project! powered by XBMC!!

[sam9s]

The 1 GB GT440 is 4.5k and 2GB GT520 is 3k, which one do you reckon ?

Also for the processor would you recommend 2nd Gen i3 or the i3 540 would cut it for me ? the mobo would anyway be between 3.5 - 4k for both generations .

Thanks for your suggestions.

I think its the DDR5 version you are talking about. I have GT440 2GB ddr3, that was/is a bit less expensive than the DDR5 version. But if its still hovering the same 4K mark, I am surprised, maybe coz its the fav gpu among DIY HTPCs ...

i3 540, more then sufficient, but I guess, the prices are more or less same, isnt it ... I might be wrong.

How about this deal INTEL G41 MOTHERBOARD + INTEL DUAL CORE PENTIUM D 3.0 GHZ CPU + 2 GB DDR 3 RAM ?

I can add a dedicated GPU GT440 to it, so in total it'll cost me 10k which is quite decent? Would this setup able to handle (stereoscopic) 3D playback from Bluray directly ?

eeerrr dropping straight from i3 to Pentium D ... lolz ... ... kidding ...
I'd say refrain from Pentium D atleast, even for an HTPC. See if you can manage to find any C2D/C2Q, they are dirt cheap now.
Try this one http://www.ebay.in/itm/Intel-Core-2...2?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_203&hash=item3373f33884

2GB ram is good enough. (even DDR2 will easily do)

 

[sixthsense]

How about this then ? Asus G41 MotherBoard+Core 2 Duo Processor 2.4GHZ + 4GB Ram + gt 440

Guess this is the last query...

 

[sam9s]

^^ Perfect, however the the combi is still a bit pricy, if you ask me it should not be more than 7K. 3 for proc, 3 for mobo, 1 for ram. But I guess you can still go with this.

EDIT :: I just checked its a brand new item, guess that justifies the price. I'd suggest that you also check on other tech fourms where teens keep selling their old PC stuff now and then. This way you save even more. I had managed to get a C2D and an MSI P40 board for mere 3000, for my NAS.(refer NAS Thread)

 

[sixthsense]

I'd suggest that you also check on other tech fourms where teens keep selling their old PC stuff now and then. This way you save even more. I had managed to get a C2D and an MSI P40 board for mere 3000, for my NAS.(refer NAS Thread)

Thanks Sam, any links to the tech forums you are referring too ? I'm to old to know any teen tech forums

 

[sam9s]

^^ lol .... Well even I am not that young anymore ..... , but have been the member of this forum since I was a teen ..... its Digit Technology Discussion Forum

Just go to the Bazar section under Market ...

 

[sixthsense]

So i went ahead and bought the the below stuff for my HTPC :

core i3 2100 (2nd Gen) - 6100/-
Intel DH61WW MOBO - 3300/-
Asus GT 520 2GB - 3200/-
4GB corsair DDR3 - 1200/-
I-Ball ATX cabinet 450 W - 1800/-

15600/- + 5% VAT = 16380/- :yahoo:

These are Bangalore SP Road prices as of today.

40gb SSD was quoted at 4.5k, but i'll take a decision later. I'll post some pics when i'm finished setting this thing up probably over the weekend.

A Big thank you to all you guys who guided me through this. Probably now more queries coming through for XBMC

 

[sixthsense]

Another one, which remote solution would work such that I can power on and off my htpc directly from the remote ?

 

[baijuxavior]

With MCE remote controls you can shutdown your system, but power on is not possible. There are some HTPC cabinets with dedicated remote controls which can power on the system. But these cabinets are expensive. You can try the 'Wake on keypress' option in BIOS. It works with wired keyboards and should also work with wireless keyboards. Another option is 'Wake on LAN' and use a LAN connection and XBMC remote appfor iphone or android. I think sam9s uses this method.

 

[haisaikat]

With MCE remote controls you can shutdown your system, but power on is not possible. There are some HTPC cabinets with dedicated remote controls which can power on the system. But these cabinets are expensive. You can try the 'Wake on keypress' option in BIOS. It works with wired keyboards and should also work with wireless keyboards. Another option is 'Wake on LAN' and use a LAN connection and XBMC remote appfor iphone or android. I think sam9s uses this method.

Baiju, arent these wke features applicable when the pc is on standby / sleep mode and not powered down completely?

 

[haisaikat]

40gb SSD was quoted at 4.5k, but i'll take a decision later.

In my HTPC I have both an old 7200rpm SATA drive as well as a 32GB SSD with dual boot options both booting into Win7. Frankly It is only the booting time that matters between the two rest is all the same. BD Ripping etc I do when booted using the normal SATA hard drive because of the free space requirements. So you may think if at all going into SSD will give you any other benefit.

 

[baijuxavior]

Baiju, arent these wke features applicable when the pc is on standby / sleep mode and not powered down completely?

The 'wake on keyboard' and 'wake on timer' works even if the PC is completely switched off (keep the ups on). I have tested it with my PS2 keyboard. But I don't know whether the wake feature will work with wireless keyboard. I use the wake on timer function to start my PC at 2.00 am for downloading. I don't know whether the 'wake on lan' will work in complete power down situation.

@sixthsense: 64GB SSD is available at the same rate. Check ebay.in

 

[sam9s]

So i went ahead and bought the the below stuff for my HTPC :

core i3 2100 (2nd Gen) - 6100/-
Intel DH61WW MOBO - 3300/-
Asus GT 520 2GB - 3200/-
4GB corsair DDR3 - 1200/-
I-Ball ATX cabinet 450 W - 1800/-

15600/- + 5% VAT = 16380/- :yahoo:

These are Bangalore SP Road prices as of today.

40gb SSD was quoted at 4.5k, but i'll take a decision later. I'll post some pics when i'm finished setting this thing up probably over the weekend.

A Big thank you to all you guys who guided me through this. Probably now more queries coming through for XBMC

Congratts, so i3 finally ..... good to know ... I'd comment on the SSD, though, SSD is a heavy luxary when is comes to HTPC, the only thing that you will improve is the booting time, ( I think Haisaikat mentioned that). And nothing else. It no point spending 4.5 on that, Get a regular HDD instead atleast you will have few TBs for your future storage.

Another one, which remote solution would work such that I can power on and off my htpc directly from the remote ?

This is what I use, not sure if that will suit you .. I posted that some where in the back pages, posting it again for your reference.

Guys time to update ....... added another feature .....

1. To be able to boot/power up my my HTPC from remote/on my couch, rather than hitting the power button.

This can be achieved using a very nifty utility called Remote Launcher ...... basically its a tool that enables you to launch applications remotely on your PC via your Android phone. There are other loads of similar applications that do the same, but what I found with this one was the "Wake ON Lan" support, plus the interface is neat and it actually works like a charm.

Few things that needs to remembered is your hardware should support WOL which in today's scenario most of them do. Second your PC should be in hibernate mode. Third your network should have a static IP. To make it work just put the IP of your HTPC/LAN Card and the MAC address of the same, and that's it. Press WOL button on your android application and it powers on your machine right from your couch .... . Check out a small video I prepared to show you the same .....

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMzaH3bvZm8&feature=player_embedded[/YOUTUBE]

 

[sam9s]

I don't know whether the 'wake on lan' will work in complete power down situation.

No WOL does not work on a completely switched off PC, It has to be either in sleep mode (which I do not recomend as the PC can wake up by even a small activity on mouse or keyboard) OR Hibernate (Which is what I recomed as the PC can only be switched on by pressing the power button)

 

[jatinmalhotra]

My pc... Hopefully

Processor amd a6 3500 + msi a75 g55 - 9970
Iball baby cabinet - 1800
Ram 4 gb corsair 1180
Ssd 64 gb kingston 5380

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

 

[sixthsense]

Thanks guys, so finally dropped the idea of spending more on SSD. I'll try to bring down the boot time by some other methods. If I'm able to reach 30-40 sec it'll be good enough.

My htpc is up and running. Installed the hd audio supported patch version of xbmc Eden. The best thing is my iPad app called constellation, which is the xbmc remote I'm currently using. I'll put some pics later of the whole thing but the app is simply amazing and it controls the xbmc wonderfully :clapping: .

For the WOL feature, I've yet to try it. If it doesn't workout then there is another way of getting a ir receiver that replaces your power switch on the pc. It has got power +- cables that replaces the default one attached to the powered button. This can then be programmed with any universal remote.

For now I'm waiting on my internal BD R/W to arrive so I can start watching my blurays. Right now the XBMCis working on downloading movie info which I think will take the whole night seeing the speed.

Pics coming up tomorrow for sure.

 

[bijaymohanta]

^^ Perfect, however the the combi is still a bit pricy, if you ask me it should not be more than 7K. 3 for proc, 3 for mobo, 1 for ram. But I guess you can still go with this.

EDIT :: I just checked its a brand new item, guess that justifies the price. I'd suggest that you also check on other tech fourms where teens keep selling their old PC stuff now and then. This way you save even more. I had managed to get a C2D and an MSI P40 board for mere 3000, for my NAS.(refer NAS Thread)

Hi Sam,

please let me know ur view about the configuration for my HTPC.

Intel G620 processor
GIGABYTE GA-H61M-D2H LGA 1155 Micro ATX Motherboard
Corsair 2GbX2 Ram
HDD: seagate 1tb baracuda
DVD RW: LG 24X
Cooler Master Elite 360

Only thing to add this is the power supply. My ultimate need is i will install Win7 Ultimate and run XBMC on the machine. No games, only full HD and HD playback. Will this serve my purpose or any change u want to convey.

Thanks in advance.

 

[sixthsense]

Looks like I 'm blocked with the wake on LAN feature. After hours of troubleshooting found out its probably my external wireless Tp link card that does not support WOL .

So all you guys use wired connections ? I saw sam's video of using WOL from his android phone. can you let me know which wireless card are you using ?

I'm still discovering something nes with this setup each day.

BTW after upgrading the bios and tweaking windows I finally managed to boot in flat 25 seconds. That's good enough for me and will save me the SSD :clapping: .

 

[sam9s]

Hi Sam,

please let me know ur view about the configuration for my HTPC.

Intel G620 processor
GIGABYTE GA-H61M-D2H LGA 1155 Micro ATX Motherboard
Corsair 2GbX2 Ram
HDD: seagate 1tb baracuda
DVD RW: LG 24X
Cooler Master Elite 360

Only thing to add this is the power supply. My ultimate need is i will install Win7 Ultimate and run XBMC on the machine. No games, only full HD and HD playback. Will this serve my purpose or any change u want to convey.

Thanks in advance.

Looks cool, personally I am not a fan of Intels HD graphics, which is what I think your system will use, but it does the job fairly well as far as 2D HD videos goes. I'd say if you are planning not to go 3D way in future, this setup is good to go....

For 3D, as I have always said, separate GPU should be prefered

Looks like I 'm blocked with the wake on LAN feature. After hours of troubleshooting found out its probably my external wireless Tp link card that does not support WOL .

So all you guys use wired connections ? I saw sam's video of using WOL from his android phone. can you let me know which wireless card are you using ?

I'm still discovering something nes with this setup each day.

BTW after upgrading the bios and tweaking windows I finally managed to boot in flat 25 seconds. That's good enough for me and will save me the SSD :clapping: .

I am using a quality card, as I wanted to have a quality LAN setup with Cat 6 cables. I am out of India right now, so cannot provide exact model details. But its a D-Link Gbps LAN adapter. I think its THIS one

 

[assassin]

Looks cool, personally I am not a fan of Intels HD graphics

For just 3D or in general? For non-3D the intel HD2000/3000 are very capable and look almost identical to a discrete card.

 

[bijaymohanta]

Looks cool, personally I am not a fan of Intels HD graphics, which is what I think your system will use, but it does the job fairly well as far as 2D HD videos goes. I'd say if you are planning not to go 3D way in future, this setup is good to go....

For 3D, as I have always said, separate GPU should be prefered



I am using a quality card, as I wanted to have a quality LAN setup with Cat 6 cables. I am out of India right now, so cannot provide exact model details. But its a D-Link Gbps LAN adapter. I think its THIS one

Thanx Sam, For the AMD way wht combination you suggest. the basic thing is that the system should do the basic job smoothly and HD playback shouldnt be an issue.