Hi,

I'm building a new system which will be part HTPC and part home video surveillance server.

This is my component list, some of which I have:

- SILVERSTONE Silver Aluminum front panel, 0.8 mm SECC body LC20-S
ATX
- GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3R
- Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz
- G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
- ZALMAN CNPS7700-CU 120mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan
- Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500 MCE Dual TV Recorder Tuner Card
- Hauppauge WinTV PVR 350 Video Recorder
- Digivue EDVXV425 PVR Card (surveillance)
- Western Digital Raptor WD360ADFD 36GB 10000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard
Drive (OS)
- Western Digital Caviar SE WD5000AAJB 500GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra
ATA100 Hard Drive
- Toshiba Dual layer dvd burner
- MCE 2005

I have ~$300 left in my budget, could squeeze a little more out if I had to).

Video Card question: I know in some cases and HD3870 is a bit over kill for a HTPC only build but the Digivue card will be taking GPU cycles. Would anyone recommend I go with this or something a little more beefy like the HD 4850?

PSU question: with all of these components what size PSU would I need? From what I've read I was thinking of going with a Corsair or Silverstone?

Also, I need to find a good, yet inexpensive, MCE 2005 compatible remote and receiver for the case.

Any suggestions would be really appreciated!

id say drop the raptor first, there overpriced for the little performance gain that they give.

Multiple small, cheap hard drives (4 x 250gb).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148262

One for Windows.

One drive dedicated to the surveillance system.

One for recording TV / HDTV.

One for TV / HDTV playback so you can continue to record while watching programs.

When you use one drive to do everything with (reading and writing to it) it really slows it down and adds wear on the drive.

The Corsair 450vx would suit you fine:
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-vx [...] 66485.html

I'm with Noya & Resort, drop the Craptor... but you will never be happy with 250s. For the amt of vid recording you want to do get 500s or dual platter 640s. A 250 (better yet a single platter 320) will be fine for OS. Consider a quad core for multitasking. Use the IDE 500 for surveillance.

You can get a better cooler cheaper http://www.frostytech.com/

thanks for the hard drive advice, consider the raptor gone. I was going to start out with the core 2 duo E7200 and if needed upgrade to a quad down the road.

I'd avoid IDE drives, it's really a pain. I like the WD6400AAKS for speed and price/GB.

This PC doesn't seem to need overclocking, so I'd drop the Zalman and the DDR2-1066 (use DDR2-800 instead).

I'm not very impressed with Toshiba's DVD burners either. By the way, is that also IDE? I'd get a SH-S203N.

Edit: My Dad has a Toshiba, and so far this year I got 4 DVDs from the Public library which didn't work at all on it, but worked just fine on my PX-810SA. They seem to be very intolerant of scratches. Also, one of the DVDs was brand new, no scratch, and it still didn't work.

Craptor??? I voted you up, thanks for the good laugh

Either 3870 and 4850 are perfect for HTPC as well as gaming. I'd spend the extra for the 4850 though. As for hard drive disks, a large capacity one like the Western Digital WD6400AAKS is a great deal. It's about $89.99 USD from Newegg last time I checked which was just recently.

If I'm not mistaken, the HD4000 series are the only cards that output lossless audio via HDMI. Something worth considering if you think you will add Blu-ray at some point.

First your 2 Hauppauge cards are a waste of money unless you are going to live off cable for the rest of your life.
Get HDTV Card and or cards.
What are you going to output your tv video to?
IF 1080P 52" plasma then get the best card you can with HDMI & HDCP.
IF to SDTV or a 19" LCD monitor and you don't need HDMI or HDCP get a good card like an 8600 gt or so.
Raptors are just a waste of cash. Get a 32MB cache HD with a single platter for your OS and a couple of 32MB cache HD of your choice for video and data.

CPU cooling, Arctic cooling freezer 7 pro here's why.
This is the number that you want to beat.
Thermal Resistance: 0.17°C/Watt
Anything higher is a waste of your money.
If this number is not given, move along.

Oh by the way this is from the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, $32 retail.

Everyone yells Zalman Zalman Zalman, well guess what I don't find any Thermal Resistance information on thier
web site or in the coolerss manuals. They are over priced anyways.


XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
Thermal Resistance 0.16°C/Watt
$44 shipped

$10 for .01 Degrees C/W at best a cooling of 2 Degrees C, to me it's not worth the hassle of install and expense.

Scythe SCINF-1000 120mm CPU Cooler Thermal Resistance unknown price higher than other units of know capability.

Tuniq Tower 120 P4 & K8 CPU Cooler
Thermal Resistance 0.16 - 0.21 °C / W from web site, $57.58 delivered.
Again over priced and a pain in the ass installation.

Bang for buck winner here, the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro.
Why bother with anything else?

A post script to the above:

XIGMATEK has a new unit out the Xigmatek Achilles S1284 for $45 before shipping.
Thermal Resistance 0.14°C/Watt
This may be the new big boy on the block.
$52 shipped from;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] &Tpk=S1284

With installation of the XIGMATEK' being so problematic and it almost requires the extra mounting bracket,
at a cost of an additional $10. I might still go with the Freezer 7 Pro.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835186134

When Xigmatek includes the extra mounting bracket in the box. I will give the newer cooler, the Achilles S1284 a try.

For your OS and this is the only time I say to get Vista.
Get Vista Home Premium the media center is really good in it, that is if it's like ultimate.

PSU I would go with a 600watt or better PSU.
The PCPower Silencer series is great, but better prices can be had than from NewEgg, don't know why.

First - An average dual core should overclock to ~3.2GHz just fine with an intel stock cooler.

I don't know about the Arctic Cooler, but the Xigmatek S1283 was worth every penny. I have it with a similar mounting bracket to the one in question. I have a concern that the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro uses an older design that adds an inefficient unnecessary metal base to the cooler. The Heat pipe direct touch technology in the Xigmatek and some other new coolers is the way to go. I also have doubts that the new Xigmatek Achilles S1284 will be a major improvement as the contact area has grown larger than an intel 775 heat spreader. May be good when the new intel socket comes out in 6mths or so, but for now the Thermal Resistance 0.14°C/Watt number may be fishy with limited contact area.

This means you need a 7+ channel receiver & speakers. But it is an important consideration. For now I have an ATI 2600XT that has 5.1 audio over HDMI, and a 5.1 channel receiver that doesn't use HDMI. I just use the digital out from the mobo. Only use HDMI audio for watching tv without surround.

I assume he already has the IDE drive. I wouldn't buy one now, but would not toss it yet either. Worst case, add it via USB interface and just use it for storing video.

+++ Votes for the WD6400AAKS cooler and faster than a comparable 500 or 750.

Thanks for the all information and recommendations!

I have an Sony 55" LCD 1080p TV that will be hooked up to the HTPC. I do already own the IDE hard drives but could always throw them in older systems. I also already own the Hauppauge cards and don't pay for the cable so for now its the cheapest bet. I chose the CPU cooler because it was recommended in a different HTPC post looking for quiet coolers; I will look into the Arctic cooling freezer 7 pro but do not intend to OC this system. Any suggestions for a HDTV card; dual tuner prefereable?

If you don't OC and you buy the E7200 retail (not OEM) then don't bother buying any aftermarket cooler, not even the Freezer. Speed and noise will be the same at stock clocks. OK, a $40 aftermarket cooler will, maybe, make your E7200 live for 10 years instead of, say, 9 years, but who cares. The E7200 is $130 now and will be $20 in 4 or 5 years.

I don't know about HDTV cards. AFAIK Hauppauge and ATI are good brands. ATI claims better image quality, but that's debatable. I've seen side by side images taken with both types of tuner and both looked fine to me.