Will this all work together ?

@ Calvin

Thanks for pointing that out. How could i be so stu#@ !!!

I will figure out a model with those in place !!

The problem with the computer hardware scene is that it is such a maze !! Very difficult to figure out what is best from ALL the latest offerings especially if you are not been in the scene for a long time.
 
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If this is the only requirement then why to go for an HTPC ? why not go for media players like WDTV.

You also need a UPS for HTPC to avoid prolonged boot time on shorter power interruptions.

Also planning to use this for cd ripping ( need a dvd rom etc...), downloads and all that flexibility that comes with having a pc.
 
square_wave said:
Thanks for pointing that out. How could i be so stu#@ !!!

From my personal experience, I can say... easily! I do it all the time! :lol:

I will figure out a model with those in place !!

I do not do PC buying/building very often, so, when I do, I am never up-to-date on current technologies, chips, or manufacturer reputations. However, I have one hint for checking that a potential m/b has what you need...

Usually, among the illustrations on the manufacturer/dealer web page, there will be one showing the back panel, the exterior connections. Clicking on this, and looking for what you need (eg hdmi for you, usually firewire for me) is much quicker and easier than reading the specifications for each board.
 
Okay how do I get to know the motherboards that already has graphics capability built in ? I am talking about motherboards that do not need an additional graphics card for HD movie playback.

Take the example of the motherboards below :

A55 based one
http://www.asus.com/in/Motherboards/F2A55M_LE/

A85 based one
http://www.asus.com/in/Motherboards/F2A85M_LE/

Both have hdmi ports.

Both say:

This motherboard supports AMD A-series Accelerated Processor with AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series Graphics.

Under specifications, both say :

Integrated AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series Graphics in A-series APU
Multi-VGA output support : HDMI/DVI/RGB ports
- Supports HDMI with max. resolution 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz
- Supports DVI with max. resolution 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz
- Supports RGB with max. resolution 1920 x 1600 @ 60 Hz
Maximum shared memory of 2048 MB
AMD Dual Graphics technology support *1
Supports DirectX 11

Will both work ?? !!
 
Okay how do I get to know the motherboards that already has graphics capability built in ? I am talking about motherboards that do not need an additional graphics card for HD movie playback.

Well, come to think of it, that is something that I look for too, because I don't want to use an add-in video card. Currently, my monitor does not have hdmi-in, and I am not interested in connecting to a TV, so I look for the digital video out port. My current m/b has that, has VGA (hey, I could connect an old CRT!) and hdmi.

My thinking is that if a mb has these, then it must have integrated, on-board video. If you see an hdmi port, then the chip to feed it must be there --- and you are good to watch movies!

Looking at that back panel also gives you an instant count of, eg, external USB ports (and their type: USB 3.0 is blue). This may not be so critical for a dedicated media pc, but you are still likely to be connecting at least one external hdd.
 
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This motherboard supports AMD A-series Accelerated Processor with AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series Graphics.

Meaning, it supports the A series cpu of AMD which has the built in graphics core Radeon 7000.

Now, find an A series cpu (they call it APU now) - A6/A4 would be good.
 
@Manoje,

A H .... Thanks ! This means that I can go for the cheaper A55 based motherboard and go for a A series- APU !

The source of the confusion :-

I was also looking at the spec below:

Under specifications, both say :

Integrated AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series Graphics in A-series APU

I was thinking " Integrated " means, they already have a 7000 Series graphics GPU built into the mother board ;)
 
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You mean, it is built into the CPU, not the m/b? I would have made that mistake too, because I think it is a new thing in the very few years since my last PC build.

Either way, though --- I guess you still get your graphics processor.
 
@ Thad,

I may be completely wrong here :o

I am thinking there are two ways to approach this when you do not want a separate graphics card.
1. Go for a mother board which has a built in GPU.
2. Invest in a motherboard which supports CPU ( sometimes called APU) which has graphics capability.

Manoj is talking about the second approach. I was thinking that the motherboards which I pointed out have built in GPU ( first approach).

Not sure if I am making any sense :)
 
I think you are making sense, but approach "2" is new to me. I guess my own PC is >3-yr-old technology, and, whilst since retirement, I keep up with some techie news, the endless march of chip technology (and the Intel/AMD/etc race) is just too tedious if one is not buying regularly.
 
First decide what this machine is going to be for. If it is purely for music, I'd choose a passive dual core atom over other designs as it is small, dead quiet and can be powered by a noiseless pico psu or something similar. Finally it has more than enough horse power to decode and play FLAC/ALAC/WAV etc.

If it is for video, for best video quality, I'd choose a middle of the road 35W intel core i3 CPU that can be cooled with a passive heatsink or one with a reasonably quiet fan. Video needs GPU horse power and I'd put my money on a HTPC grade video card (nvidia GT 650 or AMD HD 7750/R7 250 level) with 1GB GDDR5 memory. Please do not buy a card with DDR3 memory. Those are rubbish. Depending upon the display, you might have to do tweaks on the nvidia card for 24p frame rate lock and RGB 4:4:4 output. The AMD cards work great out of the box.

As you might have noticed, I'm not a fan of the current gen AMD CPUs. I'll not put my money down on them. They have some major architectural issues - they are slow, power hungry and run way too hot. Their GPUs are stellar in comparison. Of late I've found their drivers to be pretty good too and better than NVIDIA in terms of stability.

As for software, I use madVR, lav filters and MPC-HC with reclock. This gives me the best possible audio/video quality at a rock steady frame rate.
 
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Hey ROC,
This is not for music at all. My older PC has died. So all my cd ripping will on this machine apart from HD movie playback. No gaming ! Trying to keep costs low too.
I was looking for newer chips because I heard HD playback is easy for them without the additional expenditure on a dedicated GPU.
But an older i3 with a dedicated graphcs card looks like a good alternative. The cards you suggested is about 7500.00

Sapphire AMD/ATI HD 7750 1 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card - Sapphire: Flipkart.com

http://www.flipkart.com/zotac-nvidi...idia&ref=42f4d510-7dcc-4ae7-9d38-6774253bb594

Do I really need something like these for my purpose ?
 
It depends - if you do not care about quality, even an onboard solution like intel HD4000 or so will do the job. However if you care for quality, nothing beats a discrete gpu.
 
Hey ROC,
This is not for music at all. My older PC has died. So all my cd ripping will on this machine apart from HD movie playback. No gaming ! Trying to keep costs low too.
I was looking for newer chips because I heard HD playback is easy for them without the additional expenditure on a dedicated GPU.
But an older i3 with a dedicated graphcs card looks like a good alternative. The cards you suggested is about 7500.00

Sapphire AMD/ATI HD 7750 1 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card - Sapphire: Flipkart.com

ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GTX650 1GB 1 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card - ZOTAC: Flipkart.com

Do I really need something like these for my purpose ?

You can also check out the Zotak GT440 GPU card which I am using costed me around 4.5k couple of years back. It should be lesser now and it plays everything and one of the most popular choices for HTPC guys and also for light gaming.
 
Hey ROC,
This is not for music at all. My older PC has died. So all my cd ripping will on this machine apart from HD movie playback. No gaming ! Trying to keep costs low too.
I was looking for newer chips because I heard HD playback is easy for them without the additional expenditure on a dedicated GPU.
But an older i3 with a dedicated graphcs card looks like a good alternative. The cards you suggested is about 7500.00

Sapphire AMD/ATI HD 7750 1 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card - Sapphire: Flipkart.com

http://www.flipkart.com/zotac-nvidi...idia&ref=42f4d510-7dcc-4ae7-9d38-6774253bb594

Do I really need something like these for my purpose ?

Depends on the video quality of movies you usually watch. If they are around 3-4 GB movies, an onboard solution is more than enough. It's about the balance between the money we spend and the quality we want to achieve. If you want to keep it under 20k, go for A4 processor and a compatible motherboard (FM2) like this. Should cost you around 7-8 K total. You can get a HDD, 4 GB RAM and a cabinet with the remaining 13K.
 
Depends on the video quality of movies you usually watch. If they are around 3-4 GB movies, an onboard solution is more than enough. It's about the balance between the money we spend and the quality we want to achieve. If you want to keep it under 20k, go for A4 processor and a compatible motherboard (FM2) like this. Should cost you around 7-8 K total. You can get a HDD, 4 GB RAM and a cabinet with the remaining 13K.

Wrong! It is on SD quality and low quality rips where a high quality scalar such as madvr makes the maximum difference as that is when all sorts artifacts show up. In high quality video which is already 1080p scaling makes no difference as there is nothing to be scaled in the spatial domain.
 
Hey ROC,

I can see that all the cards which use GDDR5 memory are quite costly. Can I achieve good quality playback with cards that use DDR3 memory ? I can see a lot of them available below 4k.

Like I mentioned earlier, I am not looking at reference grade playback :-)

Cheers !
 
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