I'm in a process of selecting components for new HTPC (full HD: 1920x1080p) but there are several unknowns at the moment where I need help. Hopefully someone knows answers..
Some things that are clear:- case: Lian-li PC-C30B
- processor: Intel E6400 (or faster)
- memory: 512MB of suitable DDR2 (that is way too much but 256MB is not that much cheaper)
- DVB cards: existing TT Full Feature (v1.5) and C-1500 budget (later most likely DVB-S2 card)
- HD: 2,5" 160GB (Hitachi most likely)
Not so sure/unknown:
-NVidia 6600 or 7300: pixel shaders may be needed later for x.264 decoding so which one is better or are there better alternatives. Some requirements below:
- 1920x1080p via DVI and VGA (component output is additional bonus)
- open source drivers is aclear bonus
- drivers that work reliably under Linux
- Full screen support (with overscan control to crop picture if/when needed)
- XVideo or similar support is a clear bonus
-motherboard: Asus P5B-Plus looks from specifications exactly what I want:
- 1x PCI-E (16x)
- 3x PCI (3 at minimum)
- S/PDIF coaxial and optical (either is mandatory)
- 1Gbit/s LAN
- CPU fan speed controlling via BIOS
- Passive cooling of mboard chipset
..but there are several unknowns:
- Is there support in kernel for LAN chip?
- Is there support for audio chip (S/PDIF is the interesting part - not analogue channels)?
- Is there support in BIOS for wakeup times (NVRAM or ACPI wakeup - not via reboot but direct)?
..and if there are other mboards that fill my requirements then I'm all ears. I have no need to obtain Asus board. ASRock ConRoe945PL-GLAN seems also quite interesting (lacks S/PDIF rear panel connector though).
-IMON remote: seems that these remote controls are supported. Can someone verify?
The software part is following:
- FC or Ubuntu
- VDR with patches and several plugins (video output via xineliboutput most likely)
- LIRC or similar (VDR support needed)
- Some basic services: Samba, NFS etc.
TIA!
Help needed to make new HTPC
