General HTPC/Server - Overclock.net

bentrinh · 4 Weeks Ago

Hi OCN, I've decided to build a HTPC (it will be my 2nd so far) to go with my new living room surround sound. As always, I'm strapped for cash, so we'll have to get creative with specs. It will need to be pretty quiet, but I don't think it'd be much of an issue as the most intensive task is just 1080p playback. Also, the PC will be used directly when we pull up videos from youtube and such, so I'm thinking of running W7 instead of Home Server 2008.

What it will be used for:

HD Video (up to 1080p)
Music streaming (both in network and on the internet)
Music Playback
Movies with surround sound
Videos off sites such as youtube and crunchyroll
Bittorent

What it will NOT be used for:

Any gaming at all (there will be a xbox 360 right next to it...)
Primary DVD player

What parts I have:

2.4 Ghz Northwood
Geforce 6200
1GB DDR RAM
430W ThermalTake
MCE Remote set
Possibly my current Audigy 2 ZS
Wireless keyboard/mouse combo
Wayyyyy too many scrap heatsinks

Manyak · 4 Weeks Ago

The 6200 is fine as long as it's quiet enough for you. The question is, can you get the northwood to 4.5GHz? If so, then great, use that too. If no, then forget HD playback unless you buy a capable CPU or GPU.

The PSU is more than enough no matter what you end up doing.

bentrinh · 4 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by Manyak

The 6200 is fine as long as it's quiet enough for you. The question is, can you get the northwood to 4.5GHz? If so, then great, use that too. If no, then forget HD playback unless you buy a capable CPU or GPU.

The PSU is more than enough no matter what you end up doing.

The 6200 is fanless

. I can't get the CPU past 3.0Ghz tops, (more like 2.8Ghz stable) due to the VIA chipset. I'll run some tests on the weekend under W7 to and see if it'd handle it ok (with the Purevideo codec of course)

Manyak · 4 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by bentrinh

The 6200 is fanless

. I can't get the CPU past 3.0Ghz tops, (more like 2.8Ghz stable) due to the VIA chipset. I'll run some tests on the weekend under W7 to and see if it'd handle it ok (with the Purevideo codec of course)

3GHz isn't enough unfortunately. It'll do 720p fine (assuming it has HT), but it won't even come close to 1080p. My laptop's got a 3GHz 478 Northwood HT in it and that's exactly what it can do. And my LGA775 Prescott HT system (bedroom HTPC) needs 4.2GHz to do 1080p -- a Northwood needs even more.

Besides, I really doubt you're gonna be able to get it to 4GHz, let alone 4.5GHz, even with a new motherboard. The socket's power delivery just isn't up to it.

You're either gonna have to pick up an AGP 3850 or 4650 ($80 for the cheapest one), or a new set of CPU/MB/RAM. I suggest getting the main components and forgetting about the GPU, because it becomes a million times easier to cool silently, uses less power, gives off less heat, retains a better resale value, and is easier to upgrade in the future.

AMG · 4 Weeks Ago

Manyak is right...that Northwood won't play 1080p unless it has a GPU to offload the content. A 6200 doesn't have PureVideo HD AFAIK, so you would need at least a HD3450 (I'm guessing your motherboard is an AGP?).

Youtube HD is fully dependent of the CPU, so no matter which GPU you have in there it won't play smoothly unless you have a decent CPU.

Mr Bear · 3 Weeks Ago

You should be able to find a cpu/mobo/ram/gfx card combo for fairily cheap that will serve the purpose you want. But that P4/6200 will not cut it.

bentrinh · 3 Days Ago

I did some thinking and research, and came up with an rough idea of the build. Since it'd be running a virtual copy of windows home server in the background, I think it'd need the 4GB of RAM.

CPU - E3200 ($53)
Motherboard - ??? MicroATX ($80)
GPU - Intergrated ($0)
RAM - 4GB ($80)
HD - 1TB ($100)
Sound - Intergrated ($0)
PSU - Reuse ($0)
DVD burner ($27)
Case - generic HTPC case ($100)

Does it seem powerful enough to handle the virtual PC and 1080p video at the same time?

rmp459 · 3 Days Ago

Your better off spending 200-300 bucks and getting a new cpu/mboard with a decent onboard audio chip... use the toslink out... get yourself a ATI 4350/4550 for $30-40 to offload 1080p playback....

Manyak · 3 Days Ago

Yes that'll be powerful enough as long as you get an nVidia chipset (one of these boards).

However, keep in mind that you'll get more power out of a similarly priced AMD setup. I mean, you're looking at $165 just for the CPU and motherboard with Intel, and that's with a Celeron. But with this motherboard and this CPU you'll save $30 and get more power (the fact that it has double the L2 cache is reason enough).

This is why HTPCs usually end up being AMD

Oh also, I suggest you get a second hard drive. It doesn't have to be big or anything, its just to run the OS & VM. If you try to run the VM and keep the storage on the same drive it's going to end up really slow, and you're going to have one giant .vhd file taking up the entire drive for your storage. Using a separate drive for storage allows you to connect it to the VM directly, which makes it faster and gives you more flexible access to it in case something happens. Just keep in mind that WHS requires a minimum of 60GB for the OS drive, so get that much plus whatever you want for the host OS. Maybe make it 120GB or 160GB overall.

bentrinh · 3 Days Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by Manyak

Yes that'll be powerful enough as long as you get an nVidia chipset (one of these boards).

However, keep in mind that you'll get more power out of a similarly priced AMD setup. I mean, you're looking at $165 just for the CPU and motherboard with Intel, and that's with a Celeron. But with this motherboard and this CPU you'll save $30 and get more power (the fact that it has double the L2 cache is reason enough).

This is why HTPCs usually end up being AMD

Oh also, I suggest you get a second hard drive. It doesn't have to be big or anything, its just to run the OS & VM. If you try to run the VM and keep the storage on the same drive it's going to end up really slow, and you're going to have one giant .vhd file taking up the entire drive for your storage. Using a separate drive for storage allows you to connect it to the VM directly, which makes it faster and gives you more flexible access to it in case something happens. Just keep in mind that WHS requires a minimum of 60GB for the OS drive, so get that much plus whatever you want for the host OS. Maybe make it 120GB or 160GB overall.

That CPU is probably a better deal, thanks, though I'm planning on a DDR3 build so that motherboard is a no-go.

Also, would it be wise to buy a HD4350 for $15 and have that help process the 1080p video?

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