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 Posted: Mon, 1st Dec 2008 02:42 Post subject: Is this a good rig for a Media Center? |
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SycoShaman
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Location: Toronto, Canada
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| Posted: Mon, 1st Dec 2008 03:59 Post subject: |
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Just a question, why you getting a drive that reads both blue ray and hddvd? they stopped making hddvd's i think.
Why not just buy a blue ray drive instead?
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| Posted: Mon, 1st Dec 2008 04:47 Post subject: |
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| SycoShaman wrote: | Just a question, why you getting a drive that reads both blue ray and hddvd? they stopped making hddvd's i think.
Why not just buy a blue ray drive instead? |
I have a bunch of HDDVDs. Got the drive for the X360 back when it was release
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SycoShaman
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| Posted: Mon, 1st Dec 2008 06:17 Post subject: |
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oh, gotcha 
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LeoNatan
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| Posted: Mon, 1st Dec 2008 07:34 Post subject: |
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The CPU is a little weak, but can still play most 1080p stuff. I bought the same CPU for my mom's PC, and at the time my PC broke, so I used hers. It played most stuff great, but had some hiccups here and there. But you are about to get a great video card, with hardware acceleration, so make sure to use it. PowerDVD has hardware acceleration support, so make sure you use at least the decoder from there.
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| Posted: Tue, 2nd Dec 2008 02:54 Post subject: |
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Not sure I'd use onboard sound for a media center. Then again depends on which onboard
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nouseforaname
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| Posted: Tue, 2nd Dec 2008 11:45 Post subject: |
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Are you putting this all in a normal tower case or a slim mediacenter case? If you're going to use a media center case I'd strongly advise to get a actively cooled GPU. Airflow in slim cases is utter crap and your GPU will be outputting heat like a maniac. I'd advise a good silent cooler if any kind of gaming is a possibility to be honest.
As for the CPU, it's really too weak. It'll pull it off, but you'll have zero headroom for the future. You can probably find a used E6xxx for zilch these days.
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| Posted: Tue, 2nd Dec 2008 14:15 Post subject: |
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| SpykeZ wrote: | | Not sure I'd use onboard sound for a media center. Then again depends on which onboard |
I will get a sound card that have digital output to go straight to my DTS receiver
| Mister_s wrote: | Are you putting this all in a normal tower case or a slim mediacenter case? If you're going to use a media center case I'd strongly advise to get a actively cooled GPU. Airflow in slim cases is utter crap and your GPU will be outputting heat like a maniac. I'd advise a good silent cooler if any kind of gaming is a possibility to be honest.
As for the CPU, it's really too weak. It'll pull it off, but you'll have zero headroom for the future. You can probably find a used E6xxx for zilch these days. |
Getting this one http://www.antec.com/usa/productDetails.php?lan=us&id=15739
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LeoNatan
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| Posted: Tue, 2nd Dec 2008 14:20 Post subject: |
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Most good onboard sound systems have S/PDIF output, so need to shell out cash for a sound card.
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| Posted: Tue, 2nd Dec 2008 15:29 Post subject: |
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| iNatan wrote: | | Most good onboard sound systems have S/PDIF output, so need to shell out cash for a sound card. |
what onboards are MB's using now days anyways. been a long time since I've paid attention considering everyone and their fucking mother was using that shitty AC97 shit |
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LeoNatan
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| Posted: Tue, 2nd Dec 2008 15:32 Post subject: |
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That "shitty AC97 shit" is good enough for media centers. No need to waste money on something he's not going to fully use anyway.
Last edited by LeoNatan on Tue, 2nd Dec 2008 15:38; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Tue, 2nd Dec 2008 15:37 Post subject: |
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| iNatan wrote: | | That shitty AC97 shit is good enough for media centers. No need to waste money on something he's not going to fully use anyway. |
I dunno bud, I had some shitty sound blaster that I paid 30 bucks for at wal*mart and I could def hear the difference between the AC and SB. The AC just has no personality to the sound. |
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LeoNatan
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| Posted: Tue, 2nd Dec 2008 15:39 Post subject: |
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But he wants to use digital, not analog connections. With digital, there is no point because it's a passthrough anyway.
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| Posted: Tue, 2nd Dec 2008 18:44 Post subject: |
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true. digital is digital is digital.... always the same.
There are many mainboards with onboard graphics - capable of decoding hd video and with hdmi+dvi ports.
This is most likely cheaper (and a better solution) then getting an extra video card.
I have no clue about the case and the psu that comes with it.
but 400 W is overkill. maybe consider getting a brand psu ~300 W. Enermax or Seasonic.
Change the fan for ultra low noise.
edit:
even 100 W would be enough - but there are no atx psus with such *low* specs.
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nouseforaname
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| Posted: Tue, 2nd Dec 2008 18:49 Post subject: |
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I forgot, digital is digital but Dolby trueHD/DTS-MA cannot be transmitted over optical ... so you would need a soundcard with HDMI ... I guess as well it depends on what kind of stereo receiver you are running it too... actually I remember this conversation in another topic... I think there is really no way for high def audio on HTPC yet... so you'll have to make due with regular DTS and DD.
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| Posted: Wed, 3rd Dec 2008 02:58 Post subject: |
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| nouseforaname wrote: | | I forgot, digital is digital but Dolby trueHD/DTS-MA cannot be transmitted over optical ... so you would need a soundcard with HDMI ... I guess as well it depends on what kind of stereo receiver you are running it too... actually I remember this conversation in another topic... I think there is really no way for high def audio on HTPC yet... so you'll have to make due with regular DTS and DD. |
Well my 360 is hook up on receiver with optic fiber cable, while watching Transformers on HDDVD and on DVD with DTS, the sound is still much better on HDDVD. But im changing my receiver soon for one with lattest shit on it like HDMI.
| SpykeZ wrote: | | iNatan wrote: | | That shitty AC97 shit is good enough for media centers. No need to waste money on something he's not going to fully use anyway. |
I dunno bud, I had some shitty sound blaster that I paid 30 bucks for at wal*mart and I could def hear the difference between the AC and SB. The AC just has no personality to the sound. |
You're totally right, AC sucks monbkey balls, the 5.1 surround sound is by way far better on my Audigy 2 ZS...not to mention that most onboard AC cards i saw dont have enough output for my 5.1 speaker set. I need 3 output (green/yellow/black) and onboard cards have only 2 so i was fucked for full surround sound on it
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nouseforaname
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| Posted: Wed, 3rd Dec 2008 03:55 Post subject: |
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| Posted: Wed, 3rd Dec 2008 04:21 Post subject: |
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nouseforaname
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| Posted: Wed, 3rd Dec 2008 21:28 Post subject: |
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shit, I didn't even realize that 4350 will pass audio along with the video over HMDI ...
| Quote: | | This hardware is currently where it's at for HTPCs. Both the 4550 and 4350 support 8-channel LPCM over HDMI. For the HTPC user, this makes these cards a great combination audio and video solution that is cheap, flexible, quiet/silent, and fully capable of accelerating video playback and passing high quality audio out to your sound system. Honestly, getting a $40 sound card isn't something some people think twice about, but with the added benefit of video decode acceleration these new parts should be fairly attractive to the HTPC crowd. |
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3420&p=7&cp=4
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LeoNatan
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nouseforaname
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SycoShaman
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| Posted: Thu, 4th Dec 2008 03:19 Post subject: |
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dont buy from FS!!! unless you have to and its a web only item. Go to Bestbuy or another electronics store (one specilizing in receivers and stereo stuff).
Canada Computers is a good store, knowledgeable ppl.
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nouseforaname
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nouseforaname
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How often are you going to be allowed to turn it up that loud where you would notice lossless audio anyways 
Stereo.
