Hi guys , need a litle help... im trying to build a basic HTPC , only playing divx,dvd,svc and mp3 k, here are my specs : CPU - Intel Pentium III, 731 MHz, 256KB Mem512MB SDRAM , 2x80gb SEAGATE HDD , GFX5600 256mb do u guys think its suitable? need some ideas/inputs. im thinking of making a black plexi case , with an IR Receiver connected to com1 so i can operate it with a tv remote
256 gpu? WTF? its a HTPC' not a gaming rig. Keep it clean, easy, small, and most important quiet. dont have to much light on it if you are going to place it close to tv's
The graphics card is probably overkill. Are you planning on capturing video with this system, or just playing video? If so you might consider an ATI All-in-Wonder or a dedicated capture card. There are some really good ones on the market that a little research will find. For the life of me I can't remember the name of mine right now. Personally, I would want at least 1GB or RAM as well.
If I were you, I'd kick the video card down to any passive-cooled video card above 32MB+ or so that has TV-OUT. If you have the money, expanding the RAM to 1GB isn't a bad idea but could be overkill if all you want is to PLAY movies/mp3s. If you are going to capture/record/watch TV, you are going to need a hardware decoding capture card. That's the only requirement that you'll need to strictly adhere to. More specific requirements can be found via the front-end program you are going to use (MythTV, SageTV, ....)
I am currently working on my HTPC. I have learned some lessons the hard way and my recommendations are: Get a fatser CPU - at least a 1GHz. You would be surprised how much CPU power some of the Divx decoding requires. Silent CPU and GPU cooling (water cooling?). A quiet PSU. If you plan on recording from TV, you need a video capture card. Good Luck!
if you really only want a media player go look at GeexBox. it's a very small (around 6 meg) linux distro which is a media player. i run it on an old duron 533 with 128mb ram, a creative sb live and a radeon7000 with tvout. works like a charm. it doesn't support dvd menus tho.
thanks for all the input guys, actually , the GFX card is to be used in my new pc , i bought it on sale i know its kinda crappy , my specs , but its what i got now and i using all my money to buy a new pc . this one is just to not letting it go to waste lol as for recording tv with it , im still considering the possibility , maybe its not worth with such low cpu speed , i dont know ive never used wc before but im definetly going to try it , as u all say, its way less noisy im thinking also i could mount a light dimmer or such thing so when im playing dvds, divx , etc , i could dimm the lights and then turn them up again when im hearing mp3, what do u think? ive searched for a small distro , and ive encountered one called "damn small distro" and its 50mb but...wow...only 6mb !!! ill lokk into it , ty. thanks guys
Ok that setup will work fine for video capturing you just need the right distribution video and video captuer card. My suggestions are Knopmyth google it and a hauppage pvr 250 the decoding and encoding part is built into hardware on card meaning you could use a pentium 3 550 and it would work (but how well not so good but a 730 mhz would work fine just you couldnt record tv and watch tv on it at same time). If you go to knopmyth and look at all the info it will tell you how your system will preform. One suggestion on video is go with a gfx440 they work right out of box with no extra work needed. NO and i mean no ati cards will work right with linux you lose features like right now no tv out works with linux. As for the ATI ALL in wonder it is a no go to.
well if you wna upgrade the cpu I sugest going for a tualatin celeron 1.4ghz chip. Just make shure you get a cheep 6 dollar converter if your mb dosent suport tualatin chips. I ran a 1.4ghz tualatin for the last 2.5 years and it performs on par with the same clocked copermine p3 chip. Dont be afraid of this celeron tho it has the same l2 cache as a copermine p3. The upgrade shoudl not be more than 50dollars. The convertors I recomend are called the Sin-Sin convertors. Oh and btw if you create a good case flow with a 120mm slow rotating fan you dont even need a cpu fan on those chips.
I'd definatly suggest a bigger hard drive, I filled my 80 and a 20 in mine in no time. Buy a 200 and then at least you can have space for another one later on instead of the 2 80's, unless space isn't an issue for you, but I know personaly I like it to be small, and chucking 3 hard drives in quickly makes the case grow.
Yes , space is kind of an issue here , but im tryin to get a design to fit it all in maybe ill get a 120mm fan and run it with a voltage regulator, so as to control the noise by controlling the fan speed
my ati radeon7000 with tvout works without any problems under geexbox which is a small linux distro. i haven't treid other linux distros tho.
also i am building an htpc and the video card will be a Ti 4200 with VIVO, and my question is... do you think that i have to buy a tv card like Pinnacle PCTV Pro (with BT878 Chip) to view the TV and capture some programs ? or what card do u recommend me. now i have a Pinnacle DC 10+ and i want to know if i can capture tv programs with it. Thanks. P.D. Sorry about the english, i am spanish
I couldnt rly tell you about the pinacles i havent looked rly at them(to damn expensive). BUt i know the hauppage cards will the problem with such a slow processor is the little power needed by the TV card will increase because the card cant handle both watching tv and recording tv at same time. At least this is what i think not sure.
