[Project] Home Theater PC - started

[Sazar]

I finally got my new chassis and started throwing some of my old stuff with my not so old stuff and some new drives into it today. I got the project started yesterday when the wonderful Fedex dude dropped off my case at my door

I got a great deal on an nMedia chassis so I grabbed it.

http://www.thinkcomputers.org/index.php?x=reviews&id=915

The chassis is pretty roomy and about the same size as my receiver so that worked quite well.

I had the option of moving my 4870 or my 8800GTS to my new chassis and decided to stay with the Nvidia card. Granted it only does video out over HDMI but so what? I have an optical out on my motherboard for audio and the 8800GTS is quieter.

I have not yet picked up my optical drive (I was thinking of a hybrid Blu-ray/HD-DVD but not decided yet) so I am using my old Sony DVD burner. My ps3 continues to function as my high-def media player

I will be using this box to F@ld as well once I have everything up and running.

Will write more after I get some more stuff in the case

-edit-

So, with the video card in there and my 2nd 120MM fan, it's getting a little cramped Keep in mind that the PC P&C psu's do NOT have detachable cables so they do take up some room. However, given how silent and how solid the psu is, I am pretty happy regardless. Both my systems have PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750's.

I have the LCD for the system as well and I can't wait to get everything working

I dropped the last couple of items into my case and realized I can't find my Vista Home Premium DVD so now I am re-downloading it from my MSDN subscription

At least the new subscription DVD will have SP1 included

 

[Admiral Michael]

Nice, I'm going to go with this case for mine:

http://www.antec.com/usa/productDetails.php?lan=us&id=92480

Altho I can't afford to build my HTPC right now.

Don't forget to take pics.

 

[Aprox]

I just finished building my HTPC - went with an Antec Fusion case with a Gigabyte mobo with 9400 IGD and a Intel 8400 Wolfdale CPU. The built in HDMI and Dolby Digital Live functionality of the mobo makes it absolutly perfect for a media center.

 

[tdinc]

Very nice Saz, I would like to start on a similar project soon. PS3 for Hi def media center is suiting me well atm.....

 

[Sazar]

So everything is pretty much put together. The traditional annoyance of Vista only recognizing 1 of the 2 drives (when brand new) has been resolved and the system is folding.

I still need to move my media library over so I will be doing that tonight over my network. I'll slap office on there a little later.

I hardly used the HTPC I had before because of 1080p playback issues with my 1950xt so I didn't really use the Logitech Edge keyboard but by golly, it's a work of art No more worrying about getting a mouse going or batteries or whatever. One product replaces mouse and keyboard and it's light and functional

 

[indyjones]

Nice job Saz, I have been running a htpc for nearly 2 years, including fully 1080P with all the hd audio decoding (with a bluray drive)
If there is anything I can help with give me a shout!