Heat and noise are the enemies of quiet home theater enjoyment, but good component selection addresses these concerns. As we walk through our own Home Theater build we'll consider what changes might have improved the final product.

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where were the benchmarks????

For RAM, if you are trying to use integrated videos, go for the DDR2 800. The integrated graphics uses the System RAM for its memory, and thus high peformance memory like those DDR2 800 and above will ensure the integrated graphics will gain from the extra peformance from the high peformance RAM, making gaming in systems like the ASUS M2NPV-VM a little more bearable.

And trying to play those HD 1040i in this system will require the X2 processor, with the Purevideo decoder so that the CPU will not be overloaded.

I am going to build my 3rd HTPC using the same MB but using a X2 3800+ processor with DDR2 800 RAM. I am going to use a custom casing i made myself and the height of the chassis is at around 6.5cm. The choice of the heatsink used for my HTPC will be very limited, and i will try to manage the heat output like what i did in my previous HTPC: Sucking air from the heatsink and funnel it outside of the case. Ventilation holes only on the bottom of the casing to allow cool air to be drawn in to the casing, and at the top to allow hot air to escape.

Will be thinking of using this CoolerMaster Vortex Dream(ACC-U72) due to its design and its low height. I will change the fan itself to a smaller one and fan orientation such that the fan will suck air from the heatsink out. Or maybe use those 1U heatsink designed for servers. C how it goes

Great Article!
I don't want to sound like an idiot, but my grandfather is a huge A/V aficionado, and I want to build him a HTPC for his birthday. I have built about 25 computers in my life, 1 with a completely custom built case, so I'm not new to technology... but I honestly don't really know what an HTPC is. It sounds great, something to manage an entire house worth of entertainment, but I was wondering if I could get some clarification as to the exact functionality/benefits of an HTPC compared with standard A/V equipment (ie he already owns a $6500 Harmon Kardon receiver, can a computer handle sound better?).

Why do people use them, how can they even be useful without an HDMI out, what kind of software is essential (ie to decode HD signals and manage files etc).

Thank You
Ben

You can get HDMI out video cards... but tvs will do 1080 using the standard RGB cables. I do not believe a computers sound card will come close to matching the quality of a very nice reciever for analog signals. If you were to get a sound card with digital out, you could hook the HTPC to the reciever and get beter sound that way.

I take the audio out from my optical on my motherboard and go straight into my receiver, sounds great. The HTPC to me is a great place to store DVDs and Music.

My biggest complaint on HTPC's is the one spot they are still weak on: Software!
You can get the hardware to make a blig-blig setup but even Microsoft hasn’t perfected a good HTPC OS, yet.
Also, a TV Tuner card is useless if you HAVE to use a Satellite/Cable box for your channels, and unfortunately most services that provide HD channels (other then “over the air”) require you to.

ATI's theater card I believe comes with a cable card slot, so you COULD use the HTPC for digital cable.

Good stuff! More more more!!!! You guys have been instrumental in helping me get mine up.


My current HTPC is as all a work under progress but here it is:

AMD 3500+
Asus A8N-SLI
2 X Western Digital Raptor 78 gig drives in raid stripping
Asus GF7600 Passive cooling
2 gig Kingston Hyper X PC3200
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum (front face addition)
Windows XP 64Bit edition (waiting for Vista)
No TV card yet (already have a HD-DVR with Comcast)
Logitech Bluetooth keyboard/mouse set
Connected by cat6e gigabit
Lain Lei Alum PC case


Sony 60" XSBR TV
Onkio 7.1 channel THX system with Polk RTI Satellites
Sony digital camcorder



*** Cool stuff I have done recently

*80 gigs of MP3's that I play through ITUNES

*In the last 3 days, ripped and watched 20 of my home videos flawlessly. Each one creates a 15ish gig avi. Store them on my home NAS.

*Play World or Warcraft



*** Planned changes

* Home theater case
* 2 X 500 gig drives for storage.

You are missing a very important aspect of what makes up the perfect HTPC.

Recording TV? I primarily watch HDTV now thorugh Comcast so its not really an option for me yet from what I have read.

thats interesting to hear because My TV does have a card slot and at one point I tried to get it for the TV (and was avaliable) but opted to go for the box with hd-tv recording. Im gonna check that out.

Many motherboard these days have digital out or at least a digital out headers, so you can pipe the digital signal to a receiver.

No one seems to carry the AMD EE SFF processor though, so you can't really built one using them .

Paul