Hardware Suggestions for a New Box.

[redefsen]

I am looking to build a system with a pvr 500 and an avermedia 180 that I already own. I am looking for input on what system board and processor to purchase. I have read a thread that suggested AMD64 with 32 bit XP Pro.

Thanks.

[paulbeers]

I recommend any AMD proc down to probably a sempron 2800+ (AMD doesn't give off as much heat as intel). A good vid card like the silent gigabyte geforce 6600 (or any geforce 6600 or better) and at least 512mb of ram and a large hard drive. Everyone has their own recommendations so I am not going to give you the exact parts I would use. Big question is your budget?what you are going to use it for? Any gaming? What are you hooking it to/how are you going to hook it up? Are you hooking it to a receiver? 5.1 / 7.1 sound or regular 2 channel analog? If you ask me what I recommend, well the following:

Athlon 64 x2 4800+
2 gigs of DDR500 Ram
1 terabyte of 7200 RPM Hard drive space (several drives in Raid 5)
geforce 7800 GTX

but that is a little overkill and if you do build it, I will come to your house and steal it since I am completely envious.

[redefsen]

I wish I had it like that. Just looking to see what other people are running to get some ideas before I shop for the System board and processor.

[Grasshopper]

Is this going to be a dedicated Sage system, or will you be asking it to do other stuff as well? Will you be using it to watch recorded shows, or is it purely a server (with Client machines networked for playback elsewhere)? For many purposes, an Athlon 64 might be overkill.

[Kanati]

I also suggest an athlon processor. I recommend at least an AMD64 3000+ since you are going to have an HD card in there as well as the 500. I would also recommend 1 gig of memory (DDR2700). An ABiT or Asus motherboard using the nforce4 chipset. And also something in the geforce 6600+ range or radeon 9800+ range. As for storage and case, that's up to you.

[cummings66]

I'll be the lone descenter here and suggest Intel hardware. I like the P4 stuff. I'm currently using an Asus (my favorite brand) p5p800 motherboard, P4 3 Gig CPU with hyperthreading and 1 Gig of ram. Normal ATA harddrives for the storage. I like the Nvidia display cards and use the 6600 GT right now.

CPU and case temps are good and not an issue, although it is a known fact AMD for similar performance right now does run cooler. Newer HD's also tend to run cooler than older drives.

I'm using XP Pro but I am thinking of moving to MCE soon, not for the media side however.

I think the thing is lots of ram and fast HD's. Do research on motherboards and find a good one, I find ASUS to be pretty reliable.

[stanger89]

I won't get into the CPU debate as there's plenty of good info on that floating around. What I will say is, no matter what else you do, get a motherboard with an Intel or nVidia chipset. Far too many people who have problems turn out to be running something else.

[Kanati]

Originally Posted by stanger89

I won't get into the CPU debate as there's plenty of good info on that floating around. What I will say is, no matter what else you do, get a motherboard with an Intel or nVidia chipset. Far too many people who have problems turn out to be running something else.

I'll add that while I suggest AMD64, it really doesn't matter... As long as it's a nice, higher end chip from either company you'll be fine.

[something fishy]

I like hyperthreading especially for video applications where any interruptions caused by other processes are very apparent. So if you can find one a Northwood P4 would be my rec (I use a 3.0GHz, 800MHz FSB in my Sage client and a 3.06Ghz 533 FSB in my SageTV server).

As Stanger89 notes, Intel chipsets all the way (865 for the client and 848 for the server in my case).

For SDTV (PAL format 720*576@50Hz) I get excellent results with a Inno3d brand nVidia 6200A. This is the AGP part with real memory, its passively cooled and cheap and has a very sharp s-VHS out.

EDIT: I should add that both mainboards are made by MSI.

Eric

[m0ng00se30]

I'll throw my hat in the ring for a technology that is needed by any serious htpc box. RAID 5... I dropped a drive last night on my video array. It degraded and rebuilt, and Sage kept right on recording and playing. I probably wouldn't have even known it except for the warning alarm from the Adaptec card.

The drive is still getting replaced today until I find out what caused it, but I will never build a box without RAID 5 again. Without raid I would have lost 840Gb worth of recordings last night!

--Mike

[lovingHDTV]

I agree with the recommendations. I just (2 weeks ago) built a new system for my server and went with the AMD64 3300+, Abit Nforce4 chipset, 512MB of RAM (only run sage and that is tons of memory for sage).

I chose the MB based on features, I wanted digial audio (in case I ever watch something on the server), gigabit ethernet, PCI-e, and at least 3 additional PCI slots.

Intel or AMD I did not really care it all came down to cost and features on the MB.

[paulbeers]

I think we can all agree on this:

AMD or Intel @ 2.8 ghz (2800+) or better if running hdtv (everyone has their opinion not worth getting into)
512 mb of ram or better
geforce 6600 or better (you might be able to get away with less, but for HDTV I wouldn't try it)
Nvidia or Intel chipset motherboard by a name brand company (I like MSI, but also Asus, Abit, DFI, Gigabyte, etc)
Hardrives should be 7200 rpm (or better!) if it is a standalone box OR in a server...if it is in a client machine, then anything you have around the house (I even have an old 10 gig 5400 rpm 3.5; drive and a 4.3 gig 4200rpm laptop hard drive I have used) and if you are archiving movies etc, I would recommend RAID 1 or 5 (or if you are me and all you do is record shows from week to week then who cares).
Optical drives are at your descretion. I have a DVD-/+RW drive in mine, but that is because I upgraded my main box to a faster DVDRW drive and dropped the old one into my client.

Anything I missed guys?

[cummings66]

One very important item, the power supply. Use a QUALITY supply by a big name and do not skimp here because system stability is often directly related to your supply.

Second, and of a lessor importance.

A nice HTPC case, I like something like the SilverStone Lascala SST-LC10 case for a cheap one. It's not bad looking, certainly better than a standard case and doesn't cost much more than a normal case, but it doesn't include a power supply as discussed above.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by cummings66

One very important item, the power supply. Use a QUALITY supply by a big name and do not skimp here because system stability is often directly related to your supply.

Good point, but also remember that GOOD != expensive, always. Fortron Source (FSP Group) makes some good power supplies that happen to be quite inexpensive.

[m0ng00se30]

One problem with this evolution to PCI-E is the every shrinking PCI slot. I'm in the process of building a new sage box.. Going to go PCI-E, but looks like I'm limited to 3 PCI slots on most popular boards. You add 2 x PVR500, and 1 Raid card.. and your full. So you better be happy with your onboard sound, and hope you don't need a HD tuner. The tuners really need to catch up to PCI-E bandwagon.

--Mike

[Polypro]

I went with AGP for just that reason. *Right Now* there isn't any performance advantage to PCI-E over AGP. Unless you just need 2 SD tuners, 5 PCI slots come in handy...2 500's and 2 Fusion's along with a Wi-Fi card. See sig for gear. The nForce 3 chipset even runs with the latest nForce 4 drivers

P

[teknubic]

Originally Posted by m0ng00se30

The tuners really need to catch up to PCI-E bandwagon.

meh?
My searching has revealed that there is a fuk-tonne of motherboards out there with PCI-E interfaces and zip for devices that use them. Maybe the mobo makers got a bit ahead of themselves, perhaps?

[m0ng00se30]

I agree totally... The PCI-E video card was the selling point in all of this. The gaming industry really drives the hardware makers at this point. Maybe the htpc folks will get there day soon!

--Mike

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by m0ng00se30

One problem with this evolution to PCI-E is the every shrinking PCI slot. I'm in the process of building a new sage box.. Going to go PCI-E, but looks like I'm limited to 3 PCI slots on most popular boards. You add 2 x PVR500, and 1 Raid card.. and your full. So you better be happy with your onboard sound, and hope you don't need a HD tuner. The tuners really need to catch up to PCI-E bandwagon.

Another problem with a lot of boards is that they put headers, capacitors, and other "junk" in the area between the PCI slot and the edge of the Mobo causing those slots to be unusable by any card that has anything on the slot cover that is on the same level as the card edge.

I ran into that with a MicroATX board I bought with PCI-E. It had 3 PCI slots which was what I was looking for. When I got the board home though I found out that there were components on the mobo that interfered with my PCI cards causing 2 of the 3 slots to be unusable.