Guest Radiohead Posted February 4, 2007 Posted February 4, 2007 Just ordered one of these for a price I couldn't refuse. I'll most likely end up useing it for an HTPC depending on how quiet I can get the case. I must be honest the last asus I used in a build was a P3 450 so I'm truely looking forward to this build. I'm not sure what else will be going into the box outside of a good PVR Card Hauupage most likely. I don't think theres gonna be much in the way of OCing going on just to keep the case noise down. The CPUs available are 939 3200 Venice, 3800X2 or a 4200X2. I'm I gonna need a ton of horsepower here or would the 3200 manage alright? It runs SO cool especially at stock speeds. Any quirks I should be looking out for with this setup. Most likley run one smaller fast drive for the OS and the storage drives would most likley be a pair of 320GB Seagates. Also more than open to vidcard and capture card suggestions as well. I'm definitely a newb ion this world. Thanx in advance. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcamino1984 Posted February 8, 2007 Posted February 8, 2007 What OS are you planning on for you HTPC? Something like MythTV, or like a windows media center pc? I use a socket A 1700 for one of my HTPCs (the rest are xboxes) that does just SDTV, and it's no speed demon, but it does fine. I don't do any capturing, so I can't help you there, but I would think that you'd probably be OK with the 3200 and the low temps is a real plus in a HTPC. I guess what i'm saying is that if you're like me and have a small handful of socket 939 CPUs laying around, start with the coolest one and work your way up if you need more power. If you are looking at buying, get a decent opteron because they run so cool. Also, since you mentioned you're new to capture cards, check out the capture guide at doom9.net. That guide explains in the second section what kind of hardware resources you'll need to capture analog sources. And of course, check out videohelp.com for all things video. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Radiohead Posted February 9, 2007 Posted February 9, 2007 Well I'll be running MCE for this specific box. Not sure if its gonna help at all but I got it for a couple of bucks from a friend so I couldn't see the harm in trying. Now my 3200 Venice runs very cool, but both the 3800X2 and 4200X2 aren't to bad either when running at stock speeds. When the machine is idle it can run two cores of folding at home so I'm fairly certain it will be one of the duallies that goes into the box. The board has lots of fan control options as well. Thanks very much for the links they look like they'll be comeing in handy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcamino1984 Posted February 9, 2007 Posted February 9, 2007 Thanks very much for the links they look like they'll be comeing in handy. Glad I could help, have fun! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Radiohead Posted February 10, 2007 Posted February 10, 2007 You most likely haven't hear the end of me my friend. I'm sure as this build goes down this weekend hopefully theres gonna be plenty more questions arising. Thanks for the tips. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuff72 Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 What kind of case are you using? That should go a long way to determine what components you should choose. A lot of the HTPC cases don't have the best cooling setup. They're hard to keep quiet. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinnypotbelly Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 I have a HTPC built around the A8N32 right now and honestly, I'm having problems keeping the temps down. This board gives off a ton of heat. So much so that I am going to replace it with a A8N5X to see if that will lower the temps. Case is a Silverstone LC-20M. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuff72 Posted March 29, 2007 Posted March 29, 2007 I have a HTPC built around the A8N32 right now and honestly, I'm having problems keeping the temps down. This board gives off a ton of heat. So much so that I am going to replace it with a A8N5X to see if that will lower the temps. Case is a Silverstone LC-20M. I'm using an AN8-SLI Premium. I believe the only major differences between the boards are 2 x 16x PCIx support, and the layout of the expansion card slots. What temperatures are you getting, and what else is in your case? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinnypotbelly Posted March 29, 2007 Posted March 29, 2007 I'm using an AN8-SLI Premium. I believe the only major differences between the boards are 2 x 16x PCIx support, and the layout of the expansion card slots. What temperatures are you getting, and what else is in your case? 3 HD's, 2 DVD drives, sound card, nvidia capture card and a 7800gtx w/vf-900. System temps avg around 42C. CPU can go as high as 55C. CPU is a opteron 170, currently at 2600 but the it only needs 1.3375V (set in the bios) to get there. I'm using a Zalman 9500 to cool it down. Really the only reason why I've been worried about the temps is that when it gets too high, HD-DVD playback gets choppy. I've noticed that happen when CPU temps get above 55C. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuff72 Posted March 30, 2007 Posted March 30, 2007 Looks like we have similiar systems. I'm getting ready to try my Opty 170 in my system. Just a couple of suggestions. Have you tried to lower the clock speed? Even though you don't need to raise the voltage, I believe that overclocking the chip will make it run hotter. I'm not sure how much heat that a 7800 GTX puts out, but the card seems overkill for an HTPC. Unless you plan to do some serious gaming. People get by with X1300s and 7300s for HD playback. Also, is there any other way that you can reduce the number of components in your case. Everything gives off heat. Even hard drives. I use one 500 GB for my system, and external HD for backing up my system. I would tsuggest to play with adding / removing components and run prime95 to see if anything affects your temperatures. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinnypotbelly Posted April 1, 2007 Posted April 1, 2007 Looks like we have similiar systems. I'm getting ready to try my Opty 170 in my system. Just a couple of suggestions. Have you tried to lower the clock speed? Even though you don't need to raise the voltage, I believe that overclocking the chip will make it run hotter. I'm not sure how much heat that a 7800 GTX puts out, but the card seems overkill for an HTPC. Unless you plan to do some serious gaming. People get by with X1300s and 7300s for HD playback. Also, is there any other way that you can reduce the number of components in your case. Everything gives off heat. Even hard drives. I use one 500 GB for my system, and external HD for backing up my system. I would tsuggest to play with adding / removing components and run prime95 to see if anything affects your temperatures. What kind of temps are you getting? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuff72 Posted April 1, 2007 Posted April 1, 2007 What kind of temps are you getting? CPU - Idle 35C Load 50C Chipset - Idle 40C Load 44C The load temp is after 30 minutes of Prime95 I'm happy with my chipset temps. I'd like to work on the CPU still. I have some things that I want to rearrange in my case. I'm going to wire my house soon, so that I can remove the wireless card that I currently have in the case. I'm also going to lap my heat sink. It's a Thermaltake RX K8 that has a pretty poor finish on it. It's quiet though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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