Can i make a HTPC out of old spares?

[PhilC]

I recently bought my parents a Fusion freeview recorder box to replace the ageing video. I wouldn't mind one myself, but wondered if i could make one using some of my old components:

CPU's
s478 P4a 2.4 (512/400)
A64 3200+ venice

Motherboard
asus p4s800 d-e

Memory
2x256mb PC4000 Kingston
2x256mb PC2100 Apacer

Gfx
9800 pro
9600 se
9200 se

TV card
Avermedia AverTV DVB-T

Sound
Soundblaster live 5.1 digital

2x 120gb IDE 7200 barracuda's

I need a case( like the silverstone's)

What would work best? a A64 rig or would the Pentium 4 and asus motherboard be capable?

I got the P4 rig s/hand, and it contained the TV card although i rarely used it. I notice it isn't as popular as Hauppage?

I'm hoping to record TV, play divx movies, play dvd's and music, it wil be connected to my tv via s-video and it must be quiet (going to be in my bedroom for a few months at first) and will be on 24/7.

Any links to info i can read would also be appreciated

Thanks for your help,
Phil.

[conan]

The kit you have there is easily good enough to make a decent HTPC. I'd go with the P4 seeing as you already have the motherboard, ude the PC2100 RAM and the 9200SE Gfx card. Unless you want to play games then this will be more than enough to meet your requirements. I assume the 9200SE is passively cooled? Invest in a good cooler for the CPU and you should have a fairly quiet setup. As you say, a good case is needed but also consider the PSU, pick a good quality unit that is also very quiet, Kustom have a great selection. The A64 would probably run cooler and so it may be able to cool it quieter than the P4, just depends if you want to invest in another motherboard.

[PhilC]

I was hoping to use the P4 to save more expense (or spend more on a case:D).
Silverstone SST-LC-17 Silver is catching my eye at the moment, due to 6 internal drive bays, is there any internal layout pics of the case anywhere?

Yes the 9200se is passively cooled and PCI not AGP, will that make a difference to performance?

Also the chipset is passively cooled on the Asus board, just need a good s478 cooler (any reccomendations?)

Thanks
Phil.

[matkubicki]

The Silverstone Site (http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc17.htm) has some more pictures of the LC-17 including an inside shot.

For cooling i cool my P4 HTPC with a Artic Cooling Super SIlent 4 with a temp controlled fan and its totally silent, I only choose it due to its low height though as i have a low profile case. With the extra room you have your choice is much widier, for example one of the Zalman 7000 series or even one of the scythe fanless coolers, kustom sells all of these.

[conan]

Yes the 9200se is passively cooled and PCI not AGP, will that make a difference to performance?

Yes, but the 9200 will be plenty powerful enough for windows and movie playback.

[jnm21]

I'd even suggest that the PCI card may be worth more than an AGP card of a sligthly better spec (ie 9200/9250 - look around for a straight second hand swap maybe).

[PhilC]

I'll assemble it with the 9200 first and see what it performs like.
I've got a zalman 400w PSU spare to use, i'll set it up in old beige box case at first and see how it goes.
I've been looking at coolers, and whilst a scythe ninja looks ideal its a bit expensive. I've got a spare nexus 120mm fan here and was thinking of an xp-90 with a 90-120 adapter and the nexus, even at 12v i know its quieter than any hard drive i've owned so far, and should cool enough?

So next question is software, i looked at meedio? a while back, is there any others you can recommend?

[conan]

The XP-90 and the Nexus should be a nice quiet solution with enough cooling power.

For software, I tried just about all windows packages going but ended up ising MCE2005. There will be peeps posting I'm sure recomending Myth on a Linux install which sounds great but I didn't try it.

[stdRaichu]

There will be peeps posting I'm sure recomending Myth on a Linux install which sounds great but I didn't try it.

Not with an ATI card in there we won't :p

Although something at the back of my head is telling me that the 9200's are just rebadged 8500's, which have OSS drivers available.

[PhilC]

Currently looking into MythTV as a last resort.

MCE2005 doesnt support my TV card, which was the main point of trying to build it:(

I'll have a look at MythTV (although i understand it isn't going to be easy for a linux noob like myself) before putting these left over components on that well known auction site, and buying new stuff.

[stdRaichu]

If you don't want to use Linux, you'll have to look into something like SageTV or GBPVR if you want to use something MCE won't support (why does everything have to have different drivers for MCE? It's almost identical to XP under the skin, right?).

As far as the Avermedia goes, I have one myself and it works fine under Linux - fire up any modern distro and it should be detected outta the box. There are a few other people building their first Myth boxes on the forums, so you might want to have a gander at those threads too.

[Rchiileea]

check to see if cyberlink powercinema is compatable with your card almost identicle to the MCE shell but runs on vanilla xp

[PhilC]

Cheers for the replies, i'm going to keep the components now:D

I've got a couple of spare epia (800 and ME6000) that could come in useful for front-ends, and then use the P4 as the backend with the storage.

Going to read "The Ubiquitous MythTV Thread" and other threads first.
Downloading FC4 at the moment, then its time to climb that learning curve:D