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Hey, we get it. We understand that the way you watch movies and TV is different than the way we do, and that this probably differs significantly from the way your neighbors enjoy their living room and/or den. But we also understand that some fairly basic carnal desires rule our decision-making. Humongous HD screens. 3D movies. High-fidelity lossless sound. More HD recording options. Playback anywhere in the house.
At its core, the home-theater dream can be distilled as follows: We want our movies to feel as cinematic as possible. And we want to be able to record and watch as many shows as possible on the biggest-possible TV screen.
When we set about constructing this year’s home theater, we used the phrase “cutting-edge” as our guiding light. A funny thing happened on the way to cutting-edge, however. As we started identifying the components and parts and controllers and cards—many of which are being released just as you read these words—we began to realize that we were on the bleeding-edge. We’ll take that. In this story, you will find:
We’ll stop here, so that you can get into the heart of our lengthy guide. Enjoy the ride, and as always, we’d love to hear your thoughts, tips, and deepest home-theater desires at comments@maximumpc.com.
A unique combination of parts provides an optimum entertainment experience
In building our 3D HTPC, our two primary motivations were minimal acoustic interference and full home-theater functionality. No one wants to hear the shrill whine of a fan when Michael tells Fredo, “You broke my heart.” And if an HTPC machine can’t play a 1080p trailer, stream HD video, and play Blu-ray 3D, it’s a fail. This essentially eliminated all Atom-based configurations as well as anything using integrated graphics (at least right now). Our final 3D HTPC is slightly tall but not deep, and our InfiniTV CableCARD tuner snapped into it without any problems. Here’s the full breakdown, compliments of our awesome photography department. (For a complete PC-building walkthrough, point your browser here.)
The GeForce GT 240 is one of only three GPUs that officially support Blu-ray 3D (the other two being the GTX 470 and GTX 480). The Zotac GT 240 has the distinction of also being fanless, which makes it perfect for our 3D HTPC. You should note that we are running the Zotac card in an x8 PCI-E 2.0 slot, as the passive heatsinks for the CPU and GPU could not coexist. We first considered Dremelling off a chunk of the Zotac but settled on running it in the second slot. Because x8 PCI-E 2.0 is the equivalent of x16 PCI-E 1.0, and because we are unlikely to ever run out of bandwidth, the second slot made more sense.
While there are external power-brick PSU options that are totally silent, they are limited to 200W, so we opted for a standard ATX PSU. Fortunately, fan noise is not an issue with Silverstone’s NightJar ST40NF, which is fanless. This doesn’t mean cooling isn’t required, however. For that, we rely on the Grandia GD05’s three 12cm fans to keep the PSU cool. Capable of producing 400 watts, the NightJar is pricey but it makes our 3D HTPC ultra-quiet. And believe it or not, it’s rated by Silverstone to run a GeForce GTX 470, to boot.
We chose 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate Edition as our OS, but you’d also be fine with Windows 7 Professional. One of the most surprising aspects of this iteration of Windows is the stability and feature-richness of Windows Media Center.
It’s quiet, cool, and uses less power than higher-rpm drives, so it’s no surprise we tapped a Western Digital 2TB Caviar Green drive to provide storage.
We considered Mini-ITX and other proprietary mini mobos but ultimately settled on MicroATX for our HTPC build. This gives us a wealth of options for add-in cards and we don’t have to sacrifice any features. MSI’s 890-GX offers support for 140-watt chips (including hexa-cores), USB 3.0, and SATA 6. It also features two physical x16 PCI-E 2.0 slots and a single x1 PCI-E 1.0 along with a legacy PCI slot. For RAM, we decided that 4GB of OCZ DDR3/1333 would be more than enough.
Silverstone’s Grandia GD05 features three nearly silent 12cm fans and can accommodate an 11-inch Radeon HD 5970.
We’ve always been slightly skeptical of CableCARD products, and the initial “CableWHAT?” response we got from Comcast support did nothing to alleviate this. However, once we got our hands on a Comcast multi-stream CableCARD (achieved by simply walking into the Comcast store) and plugged it into Ceton’s brand-new InfiniTV 4 Digital Cable Tuner, we became believers. Being able to record four different channels at the same time epitomizes the notion of a power-user’s HTPC.
AuzenTech’s X-Fi Home Theater delivers not only best-in-class audio for our home-theater rig, but high-definition Blu-ray soundtracks, too.
We’ve found that sub-2GHz procs don’t have the spunk to run compute-intensive chores by themselves, such as scaling video. Even though we have a discrete GPU here, we wanted to make sure we avoided the dropped frame rates a sub-par CPU can cause. With its 2.4GHz clock speed and four cores, AMD’s Athlon II X4 610E seems to be made for HTPC use. Even better, this processor is rated at 45 watts, which makes it practically ice cold when running. We paired it with a Silverstone NT01-E cooler, which can run in passive mode with up to 65-watt procs. Since our Athlon II is 45 watts, we have plenty of thermal headroom.
To play Blu-ray 3D, you need a drive with a minimum read speed of 2x. Our Samsung SH-B083 combo drive meets that specification and even burns DVDs at 16x, too!
| The HTPC Parts List | Name | Price | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Athlon II X4 610E | $143 | amd.com |
| CPU Cooler | Silverstone NT01-E | $50 | silverstonetek.com |
| Motherboard | MSI 890-GX | $130 | msicomputer.com |
| RAM | 4GB OCZ DDR3/1333 | $100 | ocz.com |
| Videocard | Zotac GeForce GT 240 | $95 | zotac.com |
| Soundcard | AuzenTech X-Fi Home Theater | $250 | auzentech.com |
| Digital TV Tuner | Ceton InfinitiTV 4 | $399 | cetoncorp.com |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital 2TB Caviar Green | $155 | westerndigital.com |
| Optical Drive | Samsung SH-B083 | $100 | samsung.com |
| PSU | Silverstone NightJar ST40F | $200 | silverstonetek.com |
| Case | Silverstone Grandia GD05 | $90 | silverstonetek.com |
| OS | Windows 7 Ultimate | $175 | microsoft.com |
| Total | $1,887 |
Comments are closed on this article
evilpair666
May 23, 2011 at 2:51pm
I built this computer the way Maximum PC said to, but my 3D Home Theater keeps shuting down. It does not give me a blue screen, it just shutsdown. Which leads me to belive that the computer is overheating, or the PSU is overheating and shuting down. How do I test this?
The case has 3 fans, but the mobo only supports 1 fan.
How do I make sure my computer is not overheating?
mackey256
July 28, 2011 at 7:36am
I ran into the same problem. I finally gave up and put on the stock AMD fan which is quite loud. How did you guys get around the overheating with the NT01-E?
kmj0007
March 29, 2011 at 8:29pm
Gordon what are your thoughts on subbing out the GT 240 video card, MSI motherboard and cpu for an Sandy bridge solution ie.. I3 and Asus motherboard (ASUS P8H67-M EVO and Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz) Of course I would keep everything else.
dan350zr
December 08, 2010 at 7:39pm
I built this per the article except for 100gig OCZ solid state drive and the Nvidia GT430 video card since it now has a protective path for the audio so Blu-Ray works.
My problem is with Media Center, soon as I start it shoots my memory usage up to 90%+ and stays there even if I close out Media Center.
So I tried it on my gaming computer (Intel I7 3.0gzh, 6gb Ram, GTX 480) and it does the same thing, soon as I start Win 7 Media Center my memory usage shoots up to 90%+
Movies seem to play ok although I did hit some stuttering when I tried to start another movie. I think my memory usage was hitting close to 100% by then.
azchris_1979
December 07, 2010 at 1:11pm
Why no mention of Mitsubishi DLPs? I was planning on buying one and a setup like this. Is there some type of compatibility problem? My friend has a 73" DLP and it is amazing. Sure maybe some of the high-end plamsas may have an edge with details, but 73" is....well 73"!!
tgr131
November 25, 2010 at 9:20am
Greetings,
I don't see any mention of the HTPC being "controllable" by a remote. Did I miss it, or does this need to be added? What parts would allow me to add this?
Also, I see the high end sound card allows you to run HDMI into it, which I assume combines the video with sound to run to your reciever? Is there a less expensive card that does this? I don't need the High End Sound -- 5.1 would do it for me!
Thanks for any input. I know I am late to the party.
David
adam.paul88
October 31, 2010 at 2:05am
Just throwing this out there for anyone planning on Building an HTPC. I have built a few now and the verry best HTPC Case is the Thermaltake Black SECC Japanese steel LANBOX Lite VF6000BWS Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case.
If you want a great case that runs cool, and is just plain easy to set up and add on to this is the only way to go! I have mine running, with just a CPU Heatsink, And the stock fans. It is always silent, and I have had it running for 5 weeks straight, using it to its max, and has not heated up at all. Just Thought I would through that out there for ya!
Thanks for the Great Article.
DadzBoyz
October 18, 2010 at 10:21am
There are a few things that I would value the community and moderator opinions on.
Sound card. How does the Diamond Xtreme Sound 7.1 XS71DDL compare to the Auzentech card? It uses a PCI 2.2 interface. Does this pose any problem with this setup? The Auzentech just seems WAY high priced in this setup compared to other options out there.
OK. The Centon card is about as hard to get a hold of as an honest politician. What is with the delay or staggered availability. It makes me want to look for other options. I'm not one to be happy building 95% of anything and just sitting here waiting on a manufacturer to figure out how to manufacture.
I'm comtemplating winding down cable service all together. I'm new to this so I need some help with my logic. The thought is to have streaming compatible devices at all TV's in the house, subscribe to Hulu Premium, and get the rest of our content off of the internet through IP TV channels. For the kids cartoons, is there IP access to Disney channel content, Nickelodeon, etc.?
The way I see it, the cost of internet access plus $10/month for Hulu Premium plus the Major League network or the NFL network may be cheaper than months of full cable bills.
mrthreeplates
September 11, 2010 at 10:15am
Nice build! I just recently went through the same exercise and made a few different design choices. Since I wanted a low profile case, I can't use a discrete graphics card. However, an integrated ATI Radeon HD 4200 will still do 3-D (simple games and even non-BluRay video up to 1080p). Not bad for a no extra cost solution to 3-D! It might even be able to do BluRay 3-D once ATI adds hardware accelerated support to their drivers. Alternatively, a fast enough cpu should work too.
One thing is certain, gaming and the video demos are really stunning! I showed my friends and family what 3-D was like in our living room they were impressed! This is not the old Anaglyph (Red/Cyan) that you remember as a kid!
http://www.cuttingthebills.com/2010/08/got-3-d-media-pc-does-that-too.html
Once the dust settles and there are more than a handful of 3-D BluRay titles out there, I think there will be widespread graphics driver support and more of us will be able to enjoy this.
George
jcpole
August 31, 2010 at 10:35am
SiliconDust is going to release a product that will compete with the ceton card. It will be network-attached, and should be a little more flexible than the ceton card. I had a ceton card on preorder, but cancelled it so I can get a look at the SiliconDust product before I make a decision. The ceton people keep saying that they are having supply chain and shipping problems (the excuses are getting really old at this point), so unless you've had a preorder for their card since March/April/May, the best likelihood is that you will be able to get the SiliconDust product first, anyway.
chuckh89
August 20, 2010 at 12:55am
PreOrders only!! I like (Hate) it when they say "Will be available by the time you read this". Whats the problem? Is there problems with it, and therefore holding back until bugs are out?
Joseph1059
July 26, 2010 at 2:22pm
This was a great article, especially with the information on 3D and Blu-Ray. I've been using an HTPC for my DVD Movie collection for a couple years and always looking for a better/easier way to manage my media library. I noticed that XBMC was listed as a "free alternative", but really it is far superior than Windows Media Center (at least for this purpose). I've looked into several addons for Windows 7 Media Center, but none compare to the streamlined interface in XBMC. There are several addons for Media Center that are supposed to help catalog your movie collection, but each one has drawbacks and take a lot of customization to set up.
With XBMC, you just install it and point it at your movie/tv folders and the info it pulls from the internet is amazing. Surprisingly accurate and no complicated setup. Additionally, there is a Android App for it that lets you use your Android phone as a remote for HTPC (or hacked xbox - granted no HD support for the xbox solution). The Android remote is amazing! It shows incoming text messages on your TV screen and automatically pauses your movies and displays incoming phone calls...if you want it to.
I recall there being a great article in Maximum PC within the last year about XBMC, and surprised it wasn't mentioned more in this guide.
lcoangeli
July 22, 2010 at 7:34am
I got your point!!
Very thankful for the feedback provided.
In the near future I will post the setup I finally did and how it worked for me, so other members have another reference.
best regards!!
Luis
darkstar72
July 21, 2010 at 11:20am
Great article (as always!) but I'm wondering what CHEAP tuner cards are available that will will work with cablecard (and thus be compatible with the new comcast "All digital" format). Not all of us can throw that kind of money at the problem for an infiniTv card just because comcast changes their network. I don't need the ability to record 4 shows at once, just one or two would do fine. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Kismet101
July 17, 2010 at 11:28pm
This was a good piece. I especially appreciated the inclusion of a piece about the mkv with WMP. I'm glad you threw a bit of light on the ultra cool quad core. There doesn't seem to be enough noise about quad cores using single/dual core thermals in a desktop package. The thorn for me is where do you buy one? I've used a dual core in a media pc, but inevitably I'll find something new that puts it to task or attempt to play a game on the big screen and find the want of something more. I recently put in an 8300 c2q, but it's a tough nail to bite going from 65w to 95w. It's not something I want to see running all the time with those numbers and the constraints of the cooling to quiet. I'm leery of obscure retailers found only with general searches, and AMD's site isn't much help.
Okay. You people sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires
burning. And if we're not back by dawn... call the president.
OneLove
July 15, 2010 at 9:16am
I've been using a HTPC with media center x64 and OTA HD for years now and its great! I only pay $60 month for basic cable and 16Mbps internet (Comcast forces me to have basic cable, says it makes bill cheaper?).
I also use ffdshow, ac3filter and Haali Media Splitter (mkv) to watch my stored videos (with subtitles) inside media center. My onkyo receiver takes care of the digital audio. I even have an external led that lights up when media center is recording shows (like on a regular dvr). This is driven by an awesome free program called ledsdriver. http://slicksolutions.eu/ledsdriver.shtml
Recently, I discovered the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Network-based Dual Digital HDTV tuner which connects to your network and sends OTA HD or QAM to any network connected PC. It also works with media center, MythTV or even VLC! (Maybe its time to dump my PCIe tuner cards?)
Can you expand your article to include OTA HTPC setup?
anothercook
July 14, 2010 at 10:01pm
I couldn't locate the CPU on the AMD site and all the Night Jar PSU's have fans. I couldn't find a ST40F. The rest of the PSU's all had fans.
Is it just me or have I missed something?
anothercook
July 24, 2010 at 11:40pm
I got the parts coming in the next two weeks, the only problem is the Ceton Video card. It was supposed to ship the end of May, now it is being shipped the end of July. Looking foreward to this machine.
Thanks for the feedback it made my day that it wasn't me.
gordonung
July 15, 2010 at 10:01am
AMD Athlon II 610e, not 640e. Who knows where I pulled that out of. The PSU is the ST40NF model.
Pball1224
July 14, 2010 at 2:41pm
The cheap price quoted for Comcast internet in the article said $20, but that's only if you're adding it to a cable "bundle" If you just sign up for internet it's $42. Just an FYI. (I hate paying $42/mo for internet)
schalicto
July 14, 2010 at 2:31pm
This was a fantastic write up! But you missed the essential plugin for Windows Media Center which is Show Analyzer to do automatic commercial skipping of recorded TV. MCEBuddy is not capable of processing the WTV files that 7MC generates, Show Analyzer is the only application that is capable of analyzing WTV files and automatically skipping commercials. I've been using it for about a year now and both my wife and myself think it's pretty much the greatest thing ever.
PawBear
July 14, 2010 at 1:43pm
I hope you continue to keep us updated on this kind of build. $1500 is too much for me, but I would like nothing better than to depend on the internet alone for all entertainment.
Actually, as I think about it, what I really want is a connected house. Max Pc has covered multiple individual elements that could be used for this but I don't believe ever from a holistic approach. Anyone know of such a site? Otherwise great article.
"Either we conform the Truth to our desires or we conform our desires to the Truth."
jaygregz
July 14, 2010 at 8:42pm
This is one of those articles that I don't fully understand. Why go high end on everything but the GPU. If your trying to budget this rig, then you could get away with this rig for a lot less of the price. When you scrap the overpriced tv tuner, and over the top sound card you'll be in business for a lot less. The point is.. if your going to go all out then do it. I realize $1800 isn't your most expensive build but still yet.. you shouldn't be stretching that much money on pure crap.
gordonung
July 15, 2010 at 10:08am
For HTPC applications.
The reason we didn't go with a hotter GPU in the build is because we wanted to keep it quiet. The machine is dead silent. George ran it at his house and his laptop was louder than the PC. Our write up does mention that the PSU is rated to run a GTX470 card which would be louder, but would give you enhanced gaming capabilities at the cost of noise and power consumption.
I'm sorry, but I would not describe Ceton's quad channel cable card tuner as crap nor overpriced. If you are paying the cable company, say $20 a month to rent two dual-channel PVRs, that's about $240 a year. This card would pay for itself in a year and a half and start saving your money after that. AND you can copy HD recorded content to other machines (those that are flagged to let you do this of course). Can you do that with your cable box and wimpy 500GB hard drive?
gamefreakjtb
July 27, 2010 at 9:16pm
240 a year, let's say, for five years. $1200.
This would be comparable in time, hopefully, around five years...for $1,800.
Basically, they spent to much. And I agree, it's WAY better to have one of these than a standard box, but at that price, you would need to come to terms with losing just over a hundred dollars a year...and I don't know.
Basically, it's too pricey here, who needs four simultaneous recordings? I'd settle for two. And a fan or two, or three, or ten, won't bother me one bit. I have a gaming rig, and it's got seven or eight fans, and is not bad at all, in fact, it's silent. This thing is too overpriced to be practical.
haboh
July 14, 2010 at 12:09pm
wow, that is indeed one bad ass HTPC! Also costs over 6 times what I paid for the parts for mine, but much more awesome. Great article!
I was afraid of spouse complaints about the lack of on-demand (which I hardly use, but she does alot) and any complaints if the computer had issues so chickened out with a DVR from verizon. The HTPC is basically a boxee box for network and online/netflix content, but even that is amazing.
The lack of online sources has kept me from using WMC7. As I'm sure you know, Boxee integrates into my library video from the CBS, comedy central, ABC, etc websites, which from what I can see is not possible in WMC? Boxee is open source and beta so has a few bugs, but I have not seen a better solution around. For someone who only watches shows once, and hardly own DVDs, this is perfect.
OneLove
July 15, 2010 at 9:21am
Try this website http://www.hack7mc.com/ it has lots of info on WMC7.
tom_renton
July 14, 2010 at 11:21am
Kind of disappointed that MythTV wasn't mentioned. I've been running a MythTV box for about 3 years 24/7 now. Just keeps going and going. Sure, it's a real pain to set up and configure, but once it's running it totally beats Windows - and it's free.
lcoangeli
July 14, 2010 at 4:00pm
I will appreciate if someone familiar with this new incoming technology (3D systems) can provide some feedback on what I am planning.
I was looking to contact the staff since according to this report they are the experts on it!!! but I could not reach them directly.
I am building the second stage of my Home theater; which is already HD ready and hopefully will be upgraded to be compatible with both NVidia 3d Vision and BlueRay 3D.
I already have two PC's capable for 3D playback (Win 7, Nvidia 240GTX and 250 GTX video cards, Dual and Quad Core and BlueRay Burners). One of them is currently attached to an LCD monitor via HDMI (1080P/5ms response) and the other to a 42inch Panasonic Plasma 6Gen (720P).
My budget allows me to get a Pioneer VSX 1020K 3d compatible receiver, so now I am on the run to decide which 3D projector to get between: Viewsonic PJD-6531W, Optoma GT720 and BenQ MX750.
Lastly my biggest concern - Which shutter glasses I may get??? Are there any kit compatible with both technologies?? Nvidia 3d Vision (w/InfraRed transmiter) and DLP Link.
I've seen that all brands releasing 3D HDTV's and projectors are promoting their own set of shutter glasses and as I understand this technology may be cross-compatible. Is this correct?? how DLP link communicate with the glasses (is it IR too?? or RF)
Since I want to be able to watch a blueray 3d movie and also play 3d games without the need to purchase different types of shutter glasses, and considering that my wife wants to see the movies in 3d (it means another pair of glasses) and my nephew wants to play 3D with me. In the end I may end up buying 4 pairs of glasses (two for watching movies and two for playing) paying almost $150 for each would definitively get my out of budget.
Any help will be greatly apprciated, Best Regards
Luis
gordonung
July 19, 2010 at 4:16pm
3D Vision does not support DLP Link. If I get this right, any projector with DLP Link will have to use the glasses that comes with it. It's possible that 3D glasses that work with other DLP link TV sets may also work with the DLP Link projector you're thinking of getting. But frankly, the way the market is right now, I'd stick with what you know works. If you buy X projector or TV set, use brand X glasses with it. If you have 3D TV Play installed, you should be able to play your games on the TV or Projector using the glasses that came with it. However, make sure that 3D TV Play supports the projectors that you are going to use. Since you won't be using the NV IR emitter, the drivers will have to pass the timing for the 3D signal to the projector/set over HDMI. Right now, Nvidia has to qual each different TV since apparently standards for TV makers are about loosely interpreted as standards for PCs.
Donnie27
July 30, 2010 at 9:19am
Did you guys run into any problems with having to resized the Desktop? At 1080P my desktop is wider than my screen. Put another way, I can't see about 10% of my desktop on the screen. I bought the 240 on MaxPC's recommendation but should have reseached a little more.
It seems completely Idiotic the was nVidia wants folks to resize the Desktop. They want it don't by changing the resolution LOL!
Do you guys know of any 3rd party app that can re-sized without changing the resolution? Over and Under Scan doesn't work on the 240 for me.
