ocgw

I honestly can't say, because I have never built a budget HTPC, I have over $3000USD invested in my HTPC rig and it isn't perfect But here are my thoughts on your proposed project my friend 1. I would go w/ a nice overclocking mobo 2. I would not skimp on the psu 3. You are right about not having to spend top dollar on the ram 4. OB sound should do w/ a nice mobo 5. A nice Haupagge TV card can be had in that range 6. Entry level gfx is sufficient for HTPC but not far gaming 7. You can download Windows 7 RC for free, and it is fantastic in my most humble of opinions ocgw peace

I own a Phenom II 940 @ 3.8Ghz and I agree, if I already had a mid-level Intel quad I would invest my upgrade in the gfx card and wait on upgrading the cpu I am not an Intel guy, but how about just getting the top Intel quad you can afford for the mobo you have? ocgw peace

Seperate partitions would accomplish the same thing OR, get 2 identical drives and mirror them ocgw peace

Dude I don't work for Seagate, I am just trying to help you, I have 3 Seagate 1500GB HDD's, they can be had for a great price because the first 1's had a bad batch of firmware, but it has been all resolved and they have not raised the price Each of the major HDD manufacturers have all had problems You are about to spend more money for 1250GB (and tie up another bay) than just buying a single 1500GB, and the drives you plan on getting are SLOWER than the Seagate 1500GB (108mb/s sustained average HD Tach) ocgw peace

Dude why spend more for less when you can get a Seagate 1500GB? ocgw peace

Why not get her 1 1500GB HDD for $129 from newegg? They were discounted because of earlier firmware problems, but that has been resolved I have 3 and haven't had a problem w/ them ocgw peace

There are no unused cpu cycles on the 2nd video reencoding pass of BD Rebuilder I see all four core "locked" on 100% for 6-7hrs straight There may be no more of a cpu torture test than BD Rebuilder, I would definetely keep an eye on my temps starting out Now that I remember it a guy w/ an 8-core Mac Pro reported that BD Rebuilder seemed to be hard limited to 4 threads, and that he wished it weren't the case so he would get 50fps instead of 29 I got 54+fps today on 1st pass @ "highest quality" 18+fps on 2nd pass @ highest quality ocgw peace

First of all leave you fsb @ 200, then oc w/ the multi, & leave HT @ 1800 Don't be afraid to bump up the cpu voltage @ least 1 notch (1.5v is in AMD Phenom II spec) Bumping up the voltage on the HT, & NB busses will help you make stable oc Run your memory in "both", & "unganged" mode I run my AMD 940 @ 3.8Ghz 24/7 and for up to 8hrs straight @ 100% utilization on all four cores reencoding blu rays

Haven't you heard my friend? AMD is back w/ the Phenom II, mine runs @ 3.8Ghz 24/7 on air w/ all four cores pegged reencoding blu rays w/ BD Rebuilder in highest quality setting in 6hrs flat ocgw peace

BD Rebuilder reencode job @ highest quality setting in 6hrs flat ocgw

Did you set your memory to "both", and "unganged"? btw I have my 940 @ 3.8Ghz @ 100% load on all four cores for 7-8hrs straight reencoding blu ray movies w/ BD Rebuilder @ the highest quality setting ocgw peace

single 12v rail psu's are better @ "distributing the load" so no power goes to waste Sometimes the psu may be adequate, sure, but it it may not allow a great OC ocgw peace

If you have any options try to distribute the load evenly between the rails I guess you will be OK lol good luck ocgw peace

Oh No!!, it doesn't matter how many watts, what matters is if you have enough amps on a single masive 12v rail My OCZ StealthXstream 600w (4x 18a 12v rails) was wasting rails because I didn't use all the connectors, and I couldn't run my 8GB of ram w/ a 6000+, my new Silverstone 650w 54a 12v rail runs the 8GB just fine and has my new Phenom II running @ 3.8Ghz ocgw peace

I am downloading a newer benchmarking program now but ran this older version does this score look any good? added a lil' HTv and NBv and she is stable @ 3.8Ghz all four cores at 100% reencoding ps just bumped the storage up to 8TB I backed off on the voltage from 1.55v to 1.48v, and I am feeding my cpu hsf from a molex rather than a mobo pin header, got my max temps down 3c to 52c Oddly, this produced an instant increase in reencoding from rates in BD Rebuilder from 33 on the 1st pass and 11 on the 2nd pass to 37 on the first pass and 14 on the 2nd pass ocgw peace