Looking for feedback on this configuration. Its main job will be to decode MPEG h2.64 video. It will be hooked up to the Genpix Skywalker DVB card for FTA HD streams and an ATSC tuner card for OTA. I don't do any gaming and I have a standalone Bluray player. I know when I last looked into this several months ago HD would be choppy without the fastest CPU. I haven't kept up with what has transpired, so please forgive my newbness. Here is what a store proposed (sorry it is all jumbled together):


Processor (CPU) [1]AMD Phenom X4 9650 - 2.30GHz, 4MB Cache - Quad Core Processor - Socket AM2+ (65nm B3)
MotherboardASUS M3A78 PRO HDMI AMD 780G AM2+ 140W CPU Support ATI HD3200 GPU | HDMI | DVI | VGA | PCI-E 2.0 | 1066 DDR2 | GBLAN | 7.1 Audio | SATA2 | RAID | OC
Memory (RAM) [1]2x 2048MB (4GB kit) OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 Vista Performance Platinum Dual Channel - OCZ2P8004GK
Case / ChassisAntec Fusion Micro ATX Case w/ 1/(2) USB IEEE (Black)
Power SupplyOCZ 500W ModXStream Pro Power Supply w/ EZ Mod Cable Management
CPU Cooler [1]OCZ Vanquisher (S775/AM2/754/939/940) Silent CPU Cooler - OCZTVANQ
Hard Drive [1]Seagate 750 GB (7200) 32MB Cache Barracuda 7200.11 NCQ SATA2
CD Writer (CDR/DVDR)Lite-On iHAS220 SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe 20X DVD+RW/-RW X48 CDRW - Retail
I/O Controller CardOn Board SATA, RAID0, RAID1 Controller
Video Card (GPU)Sapphire ATI HD4670 750Mhz Core | 512MB 1000MHz DDR3 PCI-E DX10.1 | 2 DVI | HDTV | AVIVO | HDMI - AC3 7.1
Sound Sound Card (APU)Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi - Titanium Series For PCI-E (RETAIL)
Network CardOn-Board 10/100/1000 Gigabit Integrated Network Card

Operating SystemWindows Vista Home Premium Edition (64-bit) - English - Full Licence OEM DVD Virus ProtectionFree Avast! 4 Home Edition WarrantyStandard 1 Year Parts and 5 Year Labor Warranty Included Free
Subtotal

$1,556.84

sweet fancy moses!!!! you've got about 3 cores too many! looks like you've built yourself a gaming rig. unless you want to do encoding, i would cut back on those specs quite a bit. you can build a new blu-ray htpc these days for around $700, and an older one for under $500.

Even considering H.264 streams received by genpix aren't compliant and can't be harware accelerated, you have twice as much horsepower as needed.
If you take genpix usage out of the equation - even more. But hey, you can always install VMware on it and run everything else as well...

I agree. Overkill if not doing any gaming.

I would cut the processor in half and get rid of the extra video card.

Does the sound card do anything for you that the onboard doesn't?

Thanks guys. I kind of thought this was overkill. :o

I am curious why the Genpix can't be hardware accelerated. I assume it doesn't conform to the correct standard? And what is VMware?

So to do what I want, what would you folks suggest, keeping in mind I want to err on the side of extra horsepower.

Extra horse power always seems like a good idea until you get annoyed with ambient fan noise. All those fans (videocard + powersupply + CPU cooler) kills the Hometheater sound experience... thats if sound is an important issue with you. Otherwise just get a generic gaming rig.

$1500 for a HTPC's pretty steep.
Just keep in mind what ever machine you build, after 2 years its going to be an obsolete pile compared to what ever is current.

If I was building right now I think I would go with the

Gibabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H mobo
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850E processor
1 Tb Drive

no video card
no audio card
no PS needed with the fusion case because it comes with it.

I second the previous post. The GA-MA78GM-S2H and 4850e combo is really efficient, has bags of connectivity and can be purchased for under $200 - not bad at all!

It's been very stable for me so far with Vista Ultimate 32bit.

The onboard graphics of the board are even good enough to run some recent games too (although don't expect to max out the settings!).

While that is the combination I am running in my rig as well, if I were buying now I think I would go with an Asus P5N7A-VM and Intel Celeron E1400. The new GF9300 seems to edge out the 780g in both games (FPS) and playback (CPU utilization). It also supports 8ch LPCM over the HDMI connection and that combination can be had for about the same price. Or for a little more upgrade the CPU to a Intel Pentium E5200 to match the CPU power of the 4850e for other tasks.

above is a good suggestion as well. They have there tradeoffs as the 9300 I believe does not do 24 fps. I personally believe the 780 or the new 790 boards are better bang for buck if NO gaming is considered.

The OP is actually not going to need the 8 channel audio throught HDMI since he has standalone bluray. The other board will actually do 8 channel but not through HDMI.

He did mention H.264 media file playback however; which while I don't know if it is currently supported, I would not be surprised if 8ch was implemented soon in .mp4 and .mkv containers. I suppose AC-3 encodes would support Dolby True-HD so it should already.

As for 24p playback, I have not heard of that problem and the previous 8200/8300 series could do it so I would be surprised if there were problems. I know the Intel G45 cannot currently do it but that's the reason I did not recommend the DG45ID board.

FTA HD streams and an ATSC tuner card for OTA

24p playback is not used in those (?) i think
and yes the config overkill ( my old athlon 2400+ xp is doing ok with OTA)

The review I read had the 9300 as the new slight leader but it was more because of gaming.

for cpu

mpeg2 was better on 9300
vc1 was better on 780/790
avc was much better on 780/790

I may have mixed up vc1 and avc.

I still believe for HTPC with no gaming that the 780 or 790 is your best bet.

Excellent feedback! Thank you.

I'll throw in my 2 cents to confuse :)

I am an early adopter of 780G (Gigabyte mobo) - the HTPC serves my 1080p plasma and it has a dual HD optical drive inside. CPU is a dual core Black edition 5000+ @ 2.8GHz. I also have 3 other systems for other locations (like the kitchen). Fairly updated CCC/drivers and using PowerDVD7.

I tried various HD discs with hardware acceleration on and off. When the HA is enabled, the onboard Radeon 3200 is good in many discs but it is very jerky in quite a few as well. The way it is jerky is the unacceptable kind. The CPU usage is typically low when the HA is on.

When HA is off, the satisfaction rate is >95% and so could the CPU utilization be LOL, but the video is smooth.

I use Nvidia variants addon cards for my other rigs all with HA and none has any issues thus far. A 2GHz Athlon 3800+ x2 is enough to handle the chore.

I am curious why the Genpix can't be hardware accelerated. I assume it doesn't conform to the correct standard? And what is VMware?
I have to correct myself, I meant if it were the case and genpix output was out of H.264 specs of High@L4.1 (and for those hardware acceleration wouldn't work). I don't think this is the case.

VMware is virtualisation software. OS independent itself, allows to run Windows/Linux/Solaris on the same hardware at the same time. With overcommiting resources. Very nifty...

If no BD playback is planned, I'd go for the 780G as well.
Otherwise I'd go with NV 9X00 or Intel G45 (24p playback is overrated, I think and very few TVs do it as of now).