Well, assuming an ATI 4870 using an after-market solution such as the Thermalright HR-03 GT so as to keep the noise down, I am left with three questions. 1. With a quiet 92mm fan on the GPU, is there any point using a passive CPU cooler (the Thermalright HR-01 was the plan) 2. Will a SOLO require a ...

If I went with an Antec SOLO (as is my default choice unless advised otherwise), would I need to hook up the optional intake fans? If so, what are the best choice to keep things quiet?

OK, so I'm going with the dual core and 8GB of DDR2 1066 memory at 5-5-5-15. Soundcard will be an ASUS Xonar DX. If I put this setup in an Antec Solo case (it receives so much universal love that it's my default choice), am I going to get the necessary airflow? Does that then force me to choose a no...

Ah thanks for clearing that up, the DDR2 Vs. DDR3 thing is interesting, though it's tricky to find benchmarks based around the higher clocked DDR3 modules, most of the talk is around the 1066 stuff. Still, it does look like low latency DDR2 at 1066Mhz could be the way to go. As for the P45, it looks...

I'll be running Vista, so EAX isn't an issue anyway. For soundcard worries I'd be looking at OpenAL, but with the Miles system becoming so popular I think I'm free to use pretty much whatever on that front. Both Asus and Auzentech would be possibilities. I can't put up with Creative drivers any more...

I'm putting together a PC with the following spec * Intel Core 2 Duo, E8500, S775, 3.16 GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB Cache, OEM. Possibly changed for a Quad core later in life if necessary. * ATI - Radeon HD4870 - PCI-E (possibly two of them, they come with two slow cooling solutions which pump air out of the ...

I'm putting together a PC with the following rough spec: * Intel Core 2 Duo, E8500, S775, 3.16 GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB Cache, OEM. Possibly changed for a Quad core later in life if necessary. * ATI - Radeon HD4870 - PCI-E (possibly two of them, they come with two slow cooling solutions which pump air out ...

I believe that it was this topic that had a link to an article on codec quality for ATI and nVidia (PureVideo for nVidia). Ten days later that article was revised as ATI release AVIVO (or however you spell it) which blew them past PureVideo in terms of quality. The x1600 is a mimimum because it's th...

Yep, I'm still looking. The HFX case looked good, but I have doubts as to whether its all passive solution will cut it for the processor I'm looking at... any thoughts?

The only change to spec is the graphics card needs to be an ATI x1600 as a minimum.

:) I've been doing some more research today. I've started to nail down the specs. Bear in mind that while this may look a bit overkill to some, I'm trying to future proof it somewhat as I don't know whether it will end up as a pricey Sky+ box, or as a fully fledged media centre... I've never had one...

I am in the same boat and would definately like to hear opinions on the SP2504C

The originally posted should note that this very site carries the WD SE 2500JD (250GB) as one of their reccomendations. Whether this is the same as the WD 2500JD I can't say (but would like to know).

Hang on a sec, when did I develop a medical condition?

That HTPC store looks interesting, I'll have to poke around.

That was indeed the range of audio card I was considering.

Money is not a concern. I know that saving pennies now costs you pounds later and I would be looking to go the 939 route.

I'm not familiar with the term... maybe I got the wrong end of the stick. Damn this is complicated, if only I'd tried to silence a case before

I eagerly await the SPCR guide to building an HTPC

Sempron, reduced cache, isn't that going to hurt? Sorry, the Celeron has put an unrational fear of reduced cache in me.

I believe the general concensus around here is for some Seagate 250GB drive, yes?

Are their no fanless solutions for the newer cards then? I know Zalman used to make some.

It appears I know squat about the way the graphics card relates to an HTPC. Any online references for this?

I think I'm falling in line with a bog standard AMD64.

The thing is, I cannot say for sure that this machine will only do one thing at a time, after all the whole point of MCE 2005 is extenders, something I am quite likely to make use of later on. Therefore I may need that power boost. The 3800+ is the lowest X2. I might switch to the reccomended 250GB ...

A media centre PC will likely be doing several tasks at once, and while most apps aren't built for multiple cores/processors, Windows is, and thus dual core capabilities, at a very small cost increase, is worth it. As this is my first media centre I don't know how many of the functions I will end up...

I'm in new territory here, I've built tons of PCs, but never a media centre and never a quiet PC. I've bought bigger and somewhat quieter fans before, but more for better cooling than to keep the noise down, so I need some serious help :) I've speccing out a machine along the following lines: AMD X2...

Several manufacturers sell HTPC cases, i.e. cases designed to insulate noise (so I believe). That's what I'm referring to. I'd like to have as much HDD space as possible. With HD becoming bigger, I'll need all the space I can get. It also means you can keep the streaming on one disc and things like ...

For the first time ever, I've found myself needing to build a near silent PC. Not just quiet, but dead quiet. I'm building an HTPC box on which I will be installing Windows Media Centre 2005. The spec is going to be something along the lines of: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ 1GB RAM 2x 500GB hard drives 1x DV...

I'm looking to build a Windows Media Centre box for the front room, mainly because it excites me as a big nerd :) I'll be looking to put together a powerful rig that's as close to passively cooled as possible... but that's not why I'm here. There's tons of passive cooled PSUs, northbridges, CPUs etc...

I want to get an AMD 64 and use a Zalman CNPS7700-ALCU with it (was taken with the ThermalRight XP-120, but getting good, quiet 120mm fans is a bit tricky for me), but will the Cool 'n Quiet feature work with a non AMD heatsink and fan combo? Or more specifically, this heatsink and fan combo?