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The Hardware
Next up is the hardware that the HTPC is going to be built around. This is a mixture of new parts and parts pulled from the now defunct HTPCv1. Wherever possible I included links to either the product being used or a comparable one.
Motherboard - MSI K8N Neo4-F
This was a really tough decision. I had some distinct goals going into this. One of the biggest advantages of the All in Wonder was that it had every possible output coming off of the card. With a separate Video Card and TV tuner, you have to be more careful about what you pick and choose. I wanted a video card with DVI for my projector and component video in case I ever buy an HDTV. The goal is to build this thing to last.
I wanted to keep my Abit board, but it was not going to be possible. I could not find a satisfactory AGP card that met my requirements. Also the location of the ATX power connector on the Abit board is very inconvenient as you will see during the build. I also wanted a large number of PCI slots. I wanted to put in two Dual Tuner Cards, an HDTV Tuner Card, Wireless Card, and a Sound Card. Unfortunately there are no PCI Express boards with 5 PCI slots and there are a limited number of boards with four slots.
I decided on the MSI board for its' many features. I also looked at the more expensive Platinum board, but I doubt I would have a need for more than one Ethernet port and four SATA ports. Because there are only four slots, I will only be able to use one TV Tuner. Assuming the Onboard Sound ends up being sufficient, I will use the last PCI slot for an HDTV Tuner sometime down the line.
Processor - Athlon 64 3500+
Not much to say here. This is the processor I was using before switching to dual core in my main rig. When using a good Video Card and hardware tuner, the Processor is not so important. So in this system, the 3500+ will be overkill. This Processor is a NewCastle which means it suffers from memory timing issues when using four sticks of Memory. Overclocking the Processor by 200 MHz would put the Memory back at PC-3200.
Memory - Four Corsair ValueSelect 512mb PC-3200 dimms
This Memory was also salvaged from the original HTPC. Prior to that, they were in my desktop until I switched to 2x 1GB dimms.
Video Card - Evga 7600gs PCI Express
Since I am not going to be gaming on this machine, I don't need something super powerful. This card caught my attention because of its' component outputs and the fanless heatsink. Quieter is better. I will likely underclock the card to lower the temps. I decided not to Watercool the video card so the Radiator would not get overloaded.
Hard Drives - Two Western Digital 250gb IDE and One Seagate 300gb IDE
More refugees from the original HTPC. The 250 GB drives were purchased from Woot for 50.00 each. They are refurbished and only have 2mb of cache but for recording standard-def TV that's all you really need. Since switching my desktop over to all SATA, I have IDE drives coming out of my ears. This 300 GB was retired from my main system. It will be the OS drive and will hold other media content.
Optical Drive - Lite On CD-RW / DVD-ROM
I bought this from SVC for the original HTPC. It does not burn DVD's, but that should not be an issue for an HTPC.
Memory Card Reader - Atech Pro-9 Card Reader
This card reader came with my Alienware. With only one external 3 1/4" bay, I figured this would be more useful than a floppy drive..
TV Tuner - Hauppage WinTV-PVR 500
This is hands down, bar none the absolute best TV tuner money can buy. Well, at least that's my opinion. This card features hardware encoding and Dual Tuners. With this card, you can watch TV while another show records or watch a recorded show while two shows record. The card also features FM radio and video inputs for additional devices.
Wireless Card - Netgear WG311T Wireless Adapter
I decided to add a Wireless Card to the box to make it easier to network. That way whatever the future may hold I will not have to worry about running Ethernet. The card runs at 108mbps which is about as fast as standard 10/100 Ethernet.
Power Supply - Ultra XConnect X2 550w PSU
This choice is probably going to be a bit controversial. I have been very outspoken in the past about my opinion regarding Ultra PSUs in high end gaming rigs. They are decent PSUs, but the Original X-Connect did not have the power to feed a high end Processor and two bleeding edge Video Cards. I wanted a PSU that was modular to reduce the amount of cable clutter inside the case. What really attracted me to this PSU are the modular cables. These cables are thinner and much easier to route. And where the original X-Connect got mixed reviews, every review of the X2 I have seen so far has been good. But I still wouldn't trust my gaming rig to it.
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