Need help choosing some components

[TnT]

I'm building a Linux HTPC to run freevo.sourceforge.net and possibly do some video capture too. I'd like your guys' opinions on parts though:

Case: Lian-Li 9300 or 9700, Coolermaster 610, or any other microATX case that is aluminum and has the HTPC form

Mobo: Only reqs. I have are for it to be MicroATX, USB, and onboard rj-45. The Gigabyte GA-7VKML (VIA chipset )and ECS LSOM7 (SiS 740) are the two that look promising, just have to find a retailer.

RAM: Yay, Crucial prices are dropping! Although I'm using 256 on my computer and it seems pretty good, do I really need 512?

CPU: I guess that depends on the mobo

CPU HS & Fan: Want something that is really quiet

Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling and Antec both sell SFX power supplies, which is a relief (although don't know if those have their "quiet" technologies), but can anyone comment on Sea Sonic's quality?

Video Card: I need to check but I could use my Marvel G200 for now, or buy a new video card that has good TV out and won't break the bank, but can still play games decently (hey I'm still using a G200, so my expectations probably won't be high ). Recommendations?

Sound Card: ???

CD-RW/DVD Combo drive: ??? Need it to be pretty quiet.

Remote control: ??? I think I'm gonna try building my own serial IR receiver using the instructions on the site for the IR program for Linux.

Hard Drive: The 80GB Seagate I have is really quiet, but only has 2MB buffer. Do the Maxtor 8MB buffer models provide much greater performance and are they pretty quiet? How are the 120+ drives? Also the HTPC cases usually only come with rear fans and vents somewhere on the front, could 2 hard drives cause heat problems?

[Taz]

Wouldn't one of the Shuttle SFF barebones systems suit your needs

If you want to go even smaller you could go for a mini-ITX system, more info at www.mini-itx.com

[Guru]

I would say that 512 is the minimi amount of ramyou should consider!

[Dr Mordrid]

Absolutely!

These days if you don't have a gig....

Dr. Mordrid

[Guru]

For the cooler go wit the thermalright sk-7 or slk-800!

http://www.thermalright.com

The sk-7 with a 80mm papst ngml (19db)will cool a xp2400+ whitout problems and the slk-800 will cool anything out on the market today!

[omegaRED]

/Hijack thread mode on

Any other suggestion for a HS/Fan? I`m getting a 2100+, and i can choose between ThermalTake, Vantec, Zalman, Cooler master...

BTW i dont mind the noise.

/Hijack thread mode off

[Ribbit]

Re: Need help choosing some components

Originally posted by TnT
I'm building a Linux HTPC to run freevo.sourceforge.net...

Do you mean you're going to run the FreeVO software on it, or the freevo.sourceforge.net site?

Case: Lian-Li 9300 or 9700, Coolermaster 610, or any other microATX case that is aluminum and has the HTPC form

I've recently built machines around the Coolermaster 201 and the Lian-Li PC60 (both mid-tower). They have the same number and placement of fans, but the Coolermaster is quite loud, while the Lian-Li is very quiet.

Sound Card: ???

If you're using a mATX board, you'll probably find it has on-board sound.

CD-RW/DVD Combo drive: ??? Need it to be pretty quiet.

Fast == Loud. And these days everything is fast. But I think Linux can throttle most ATAPI (and SCSI mmc-3) drives with a setting somewhere in /proc.

Remote control: ??? I think I'm gonna try building my own serial IR receiver using the instructions on the site for the IR program for Linux.

You mentioned video capture earlier. If you get a Hauppauge board with a remote control, I believe Lirc will support the remote.

[Guru]

Originally posted by omegaRED
/Hijack thread mode on

Any other suggestion for a HS/Fan? I`m getting a 2100+, and i can choose between ThermalTake, Vantec, Zalman, Cooler master...

BTW i dont mind the noise.

/Hijack thread mode off

If you want a cheap cooler have a look at the CoolJag JVC-652A!

[dZeus]

Re: Need help choosing some components

Originally posted by TnT
I'm building a Linux HTPC to run freevo.sourceforge.net and possibly do some video capture too. I'd like your guys' opinions on parts though:

Case: Lian-Li 9300 or 9700, Coolermaster 610, or any other microATX case that is aluminum and has the HTPC form

if you want a REALLY cool looking HTPC in flex-atx formfactor (will only work if you get half-height PCI/AGP cards), then get the Cooler Master ATC-630 in silver or black. If you want to use full-height cards, get a ATC-610 in silver or black. I've got the Cooler Master ATC-600 SX1 here, and although I love the look of it, it's too deep and the space isn't used inside of the case (the 610 is quite a bit shorter, getting rid of the excess space inside).

Mobo: Only reqs. I have are for it to be MicroATX, USB, and onboard rj-45. The Gigabyte GA-7VKML (VIA chipset )and ECS LSOM7 (SiS 740) are the two that look promising, just have to find a retailer.

ok, here's my opinion on mobo/ram/cpu. If you want to play cool games on it as well (is that even possible in linux??? ), get a decent speed AMD or P4 system. If you want 'enough' speed for TiVO/Freevo like functionality, get a bord for Socket 370 (P3/Celeron), and put a Celeron 533A, 566 or 600 on it, and underclock it+undervolt it slightly. If you do that, you can cool the CPU passively without any airflow needed. I'm running a Celeron 566 @ 510 Mhz here, @1.3 Vcore, using under 10 Watts, cooled by only the heatsink of a Zalman 3100G kit.

RAM: Yay, Crucial prices are dropping! Although I'm using 256 on my computer and it seems pretty good, do I really need 512?

for freevo/tivo like functionality? no. 128 would probably be even more than enough. For gaming? yes!

Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling and Antec both sell SFX power supplies, which is a relief (although don't know if those have their "quiet" technologies), but can anyone comment on Sea Sonic's quality?

Check out this site, for fanless PSUs! i.e. no noise at all!

http://www.rsg-electronic.de/

Video Card: I need to check but I could use my Marvel G200 for now, or buy a new video card that has good TV out and won't break the bank, but can still play games decently (hey I'm still using a G200, so my expectations probably won't be high ). Recommendations?

from what I've seen, the only card with proper linux tv-out is the G400, using mplayer for playback with dfbmga output. (though there still are some problems with that setup, as the fields sometimes are reversed).

Sound Card: ???

CD-RW/DVD Combo drive: ??? Need it to be pretty quiet.

Hard Drive: The 80GB Seagate I have is really quiet, but only has 2MB buffer. Do the Maxtor 8MB buffer models provide much greater performance and are they pretty quiet? How are the 120+ drives? Also the HTPC cases usually only come with rear fans and vents somewhere on the front, could 2 hard drives cause heat problems?

Soundcard: with good linux support? any creative card derived from the original SBLive! (i.e. Live, Live 5.1, Audigy, etc).

CD-R/DVD combo? noise? doesn't matter, turn down the speed through software and no more noise!

HDD: go for the Seagate Barracuda ATA IV or V, by far the quietest drives around. If you add a NoiseControl NoVibes, seeks are practically inaudible as well.

btw. for capturing: get a Rainbow Runner G, as it's the only card I know of that has both linux support for hardware capture (MJPEG in this case), and a tuner onboard.

[TnT]

Originally posted by Taz
Wouldn't one of the Shuttle SFF barebones systems suit your needs

If you want to go even smaller you could go for a mini-ITX system, more info at www.mini-itx.com

Shuttle only has an AGP slot and a PCI slot, not really a nice system for upgrading later on. Also I kinda liked them at first, but compared to the HTPC designs they are kinda ugly IMO.

Ribbit
Do you mean you're going to run the FreeVO software on it, or the freevo.sourceforge.net site?

If you're using a mATX board, you'll probably find it has on-board sound.

I was trying to give them a bit of advertising
I was hoping to avoid on board audio.

dZeus
ok, here's my opinion on mobo/ram/cpu. If you want to play cool games on it as well (is that even possible in linux??? ), get a decent speed AMD or P4 system. If you want 'enough' speed for TiVO/Freevo like functionality, get a bord for Socket 370 (P3/Celeron), and put a Celeron 533A, 566 or 600 on it, and underclock it+undervolt it slightly. If you do that, you can cool the CPU passively without any airflow needed. I'm running a Celeron 566 @ 510 Mhz here, @1.3 Vcore, using under 10 Watts, cooled by only the heatsink of a Zalman 3100G kit.

I know a lot of people saving a bit of money going with an older, slower cpu, but I did video compression on my Celeron 466 for 2 years; waiting 6 hours for the computer to compress some video clips to xvid was not my idea of efficient computer usage .

Any idea what is the fastest processor available that will still run cool enough with just a really nice heatsink?

For Linux games check out http://www.happypenguin.