custom entertainment system - question?

[RedRed]

Hello there

I have been asked to put together a quote for a bespoke entertainment PC. Its to use a TV screen most of the time, and to play DVD's, surf and be an MP3 station to a high end amp. (custom case - to look like another peice of HIFI equipment....

Its got to be near silent.

I was thinking of the Nfarce ][ with an underclocked Athlon XP (probably, I am going to get an Nfarce ][ for myself, so I should be comfortable with the board when I build the other), and some near passive heatsink.

I was thinking about fitting a g550 to it to run the TV, in clone mode on the secondary. Will this work? - I dont have any experience of running a TV off the G series.... The Punter might be willing to go to a P - the custom case alone is going to cost >> £200.

The video has to be the best. Nothing less will do. I dont want to make it too extravigant - the client might not go for it.

It wont be used for 3d work at all, if he complies with the spec. (of course he might not!)

thanks for your help, folks

RedRed

[Admiral]

Don't know about the G550 but my G400 did work in streched desktop, zoom, clone and DVD MAX mode on a TV.
I was using the clone mode to record with a VCR some game movies and gameplay or various stuff I was doing on the PC .

[Gurm]

I hate to be the lone naysayer here, but...

For DVD playback, I'd probably put a standard Radeon (original series) up against the G550 - plus it'd be hella cheap and not too hot.

- Gurm

[Sasq]

They 550 is fanless, and not really to bad with the heat. the TV is great so no big drama there. I've never used a Radeon so i can't compare

[Byock]

I would have to agree with Gurm, the DVD play back on my Radeon is perfect.

[WyWyWyWy]

Ever considered VIA Eden boards?
Cheap and almost silent.
The board has everything you need, sound LAN tv-out VGA and even a CPU.

And it is sooooo small (17cm x 17cm) you can very easily make a custom case, or buy a nice looking HTPC case from Lian-li or Coolermaster or the like.

Check out www.mini-itx.com

[RedRed]

WyWyWy- they look reasonable, and pretty cheap, however, have you had any experience of these boards? are they any good?

I have never heard of them myself....

RedRed

[Indiana]

Going with a Radeon based board means that you could use any crap CPU like VIA C3, that can be operated with passive cooling when downclocked a bit.
The Radeon does most of the DVD decoding in hardware so the slowest CPU is still more than enough for DVD playback.

If you want the thing to be DivX capable as well (which is what I'd go for), you unfortunately still need a fast CPU that might need annyoing cooling.

[WyWyWyWy]

Originally posted by RedRed
WyWyWy- they look reasonable, and pretty cheap, however, have you had any experience of these boards? are they any good?

I have never heard of them myself....

RedRed

I do not have. But I've read many (so many) posts on various forums about ITX boards.

They are not that fast, but since you said you won't play games on them I think it should be fine. Saying that, you want to avoid the 533MHz version (which is truly silent) as it is too slow, so go for the 800MHz version (which has a small fan) or wait for the up-coming 1GHz 1.2GHz version this or next month.

The speed of 800MHz version about the same as a 700-800MHz Celeron, and that should be enough for watching DivX unless the original video size is like 1000 x 750...

And the fact that it has a PCI slot means you can put an original Radeon (as mentioned) on it, and with a riser card the overall size will still be very small. Now imagine putting this in a custom HTPC case right next to your VCR, DVD, MD deck, amp, cassette deck, tuner...

FYI this kind of HTPC usually has 3 fans running. 1 for CPU, 1 for PSU and 1 case fan for sucking out.

Finally, the cost might not be that cheap after all. Yes the board is cheap, but slim PSU and slim DVD drive is quite expensive. And if you want to buy a nice ITX case, it would be somewhat expensive too. Ohhh and if you want to use 2.5" HD instead of 3.5" then...

EDIT:
Oops forgot to say the most important point... yes I would recommend a VIA ITX board if you are building a HTPC.