PVR - Choosing Motherboard/CPU & Set up

[Just17]

I am presently trying to decide on a m/board & CPU combination to fulfil the following criteria. Suggestions and opinions would be welcome  

The motherboard should have the following:

mATX or ITX
HDMI on board
DDR3 memory slots
SATA-600
PCI-e x 16  
USB-3 if at all possible
Gigabit NIC

The CPU needs to generate as little heat as possible, as it is to be used in a HTPC case in a quiet room so should run near silently.

It must have capability of displaying 1920x1080 from various video files of differing formats, DTT HD, Sat HD etc.

I considered a CPU something like a Celeron G530, but the only m/boards I came across in this locality with the required specs appear only to support Core i3, i5 & i7.

Using such CPUs raises the cost over budget ....  the difference between the G530 and the i3 is about €70!

I had at first considered an  Asus E45M1-M PRO A50M Hudson M1 DDR3 uATX fanless m/board & CPU combination .... €140.

If the CPU was stronger this would probably suit ....  but for some general PC use it is somewhat underpowered I believe.

As an example I looked at (amongst a lot of others) an
Asus P8H61-M PRO REV 3.0 LGA1155 Intel H61 DDR mATX (B3 Stepping)

which seems to require an i3 or better.

The cost of both together here would be €200 plus about €25 for 4GB RAM.

If a motherboard with the required on board functions could be sourced, to suit (for example) an
                    Intel Celeron G530 2.4GHz LGA1155 2MB
which costs about €70 less than the i3, that would bring things back within budget.

Ask for more info if required .......  all suggestions appreciated.

BTW ...  I have, for the most part, not considered AMD CPUs due to the heat generated within what should be a near silent case .....  as little air flow as I can get away with.

Maybe I am wronging the AMDs .....  if so please correct me  

By my reckoning, a CPU of 65W would be manageable within the case.

Thanks for reading ....  and any suggestions you might have.

[Just17]

Ordered the motherboard and CPU .......  and praying I got it right 

MSI H61MA-E35 (B3) - Socket 1155 - Micro-ATX  Intel H61 - 2 x DDR3 - SATA600/USB3.0
€63.95


Intel Pentium G630 - 2.7 GHz - 2 cores - LGA1155 Socket
€65.15


Corsair Value Select - Memory - 8 GB : 2 x 4 GB - DIMM 240-pin - DDR3 - 1333 MHz / PC3-10600 - CL9
€47.95


The motherboard seems to tick all the boxes, so hopefully it will do what is required of it.

[bicol_willem]

I always simplify my choice for a motherboard: Has it Intel?  OK, skip that and move on!

(Never feed the dragon's, not like a dog, they bite your feeding hand!) 

[CaptainSarcastic]

I personally prefer AMD, but that's really neither here nor there.

I just wanted to mention that, if you have more than enough horsepower with that CPU, that you could try intentionally underclocking it to reduce heat output.  Throttle it down a little, like to 2.4 or 2.5ghz, and you might be able to knock the heat production even lower.

[Just17]

I personally prefer AMD, but that's really neither here nor there.

I just wanted to mention that, if you have more than enough horsepower with that CPU, that you could try intentionally underclocking it to reduce heat output.  Throttle it down a little, like to 2.4 or 2.5ghz, and you might be able to knock the heat production even lower.

Thanks for the suggestion ...  that is something useful to bear in mind ...  it might help with the noise level due to cooling in a small case 

I always simplify my choice for a motherboard: Has it Intel?  OK, skip that and move on!

(Never feed the dragon's, not like a dog, they bite your feeding hand!) 

I have never purchased an Intel set up before .....  but 'horses for courses' .....  low heat generation is the absolute for this application and Intel processors run that bit cooler than any equivalent AMD I have ever used.
My last few main PCs have all been Intel (recovered PCs not bought) and I am very pleased with their performance.
I have no beef with Intel 

[bicol_willem]

recovered PCs not bought

I hear you and it made probably sense. At least you don´t feed the dragons, someone else did that 

[Just17]

recovered PCs not bought

I hear you and it made probably sense. At least you don´t feed the dragons, someone else did that 

Probably?      When you get hold of a Quad Core 4 GB ex-gaming machine because the motherboard is faulty .....  for no cost ....  delivered to door ......  and have PCLOS running on it since that day without issue, I don't think 'probably' covers it   

[aguila]

Hi Just17,

I'm having the exact same project in mind, a media PC / central host for pics and videos, to enjoy videos and photos on the big screen and to watch movies from DVD / BlueRay. As an HTPC it should of course be as quiet as possible.

Would be nice if you kept us updated how it turned out to you.

TIA

aguila

[Just17]

No problem.

Motherboard, CPU and RAM should be here by week end.

I will use a temporary PSU, HDD and case to see how it fires up with PCLOS installed.

The intended final case for it is this ...

http://www.dabs.ie/products/silverstone-gd04b-grandia-htpc-matx-black-7C9Z.html

I am still researching PSUs for the best that fits in budget that also run quite silently.

So as decisions are made I will add to this 

[Just17]

Small update as requested ......

received motherboard, CPU and RAM .....  banged them together and put them into a case I had here.

...  this is the interesting bit .....  the case is an IBM Netvista which is almost the same dimensions as the Grandia I have on order ....  it is a bit deeper  but otherwise about the same.

The IBM case has a small PSU .....  about 250/300 watts I think ...  and it powered the board without problems.
That case is monstrously heavy though    and the front panel is not quite as nice as the Grandia.

I put a SATA-300 drive into it, booted from USB and installed PCLOS 64bit.

All worked fine ...... but I hit a suspend problem ....  not working .....  S2R or S2D.

So I backed it down to the 2.6.38 kernel and have now S2R & S2D working.

Once the 2.6.28 kernel was running I noticed that the CPU is now 'stepping' frequency, which it was not previously, with the 3.2.18 kernel.

M/board
MSI H61MA-E35 (B3) mATX LGA 1155

CPU
Pent Dual Core G630 2.7Ghz

Stock cooler.

At idle the CPU is about 38C, and under load ...  playing 1080p video reaches 56C.

Up to nearly 80% CPU use during playback though is not good looking.

I tested with sound out to a pair of USB connected speakers, and did not get a chance to try the HDMI out.

I am a little worried about the sound on the HDMI ....  never having used an onboard HDMI I don't know how it should appear (if at all) to the OS.

At the moment there is nothing to indicate any sound channel on the HDMI (in audio controls).
Maybe it switches from internal to HDMI automatically .....  or worst case maybe there is no audio on the HDMI ......  time will tell.

At least I have the suspend situation sorted with the 2.6.38 kernel, which also sorted the frequency stepping situation that I had not noticed prior to installing it.

later  

EDIT:
          I forgot to say that from the Grub selection page to usable desktop (auto login) takes about 42 secs when using KDE, and approx 22 secs when using LXDE.

Makes me wonder how much of an improvement I will see when I add a SSD drive in place of the SATA 300 ......

[Just17]

I am hopeful I can get some help with a sound problem .......  but first an update.

I have hooked the device to the TV and have output on HDMI. So all appears well.

Problem:
              Although the sound stream is going to HDMI it is not being reproduced by the TV.

According to Display Settings in KDE CC I am using HDMI2 .....  and HDMI1 is greyed out.

Is this normal or is there something wrong?

I am thinking that the sound stream might be going to HDMI1 which is obviously not in use.

Other than that thought is there some requirement for the audio for playback on TV that I am not taking into account?

Idea welcomed 

[Just17]

The sound problems I had are resolved.
At first I had no sound on the HDMI cable ....  editing the ~/default.pa file fixed that as detailed here

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,109361.msg934544.html

That showed up that I had no sound from Browsers while playing the likes of a Youtube video.
Also resolved as per this post

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,108896.0.html

In addition I enabled cpufreq in the system services and edited the required files to get it properly operational .....  see here ....
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,93564.0.html

The results at this time are ......

playing 1920x1080 video, the CPU use is about 55% max, and mostly well below that.
CPU temp is hovering around 42C without the fan speed going high or noisey.

The CPU throttles back to 1.6Ghz most of the time and hits its normal 2.7Ghz when the load requires it.

I have at present, both KDE and LXDE installed to compare them, and things appear a little better with LXDE ....  but not really noticeable.

My remaining problem is that HD video is NOT as good as I would like it.
At 1920x1080 the playback is not completely smooth.
No frames are being dropped .....  but there is jerkiness present at times.

I will, next week hopefully, be trying a larger PSU which *might* (although I doubt it) improve matters. It would improve things if the present supply is producing unclean voltage lines.

I think the reason for the bit of jerkiness I am seeing is the lack of threads on this CPU.
It has two cores but no hyperthreading.
I suspect if it had HT then the jerkiness would be eliminated.
...  or so the thinking goes at present ......

Maybe an i3-2105  2 core with HT (4 threads) and HD 3000 graphics would have been a better buy (at approx twice the price of the G630)

Of course it might be that some edits of video settings will do the job too.
If I find anything definite I will be sure to post it.

Did I post that I have HD DTT working perfectly?
No problems at all.

That's it for now .....

[Just17]

Update:

The new rig is built ...  with the exception of requiring a new PSU, so using an old one at present.

The old PSU is unsuitably noisy .....  fan/s are not as quiet as required.

One case fan working at minimum - controlled by BIOS setting.
One CPU cooler fan, temp controlled .......  CPU temp set to 40C which is the minimum - BIOS setting also.

CPU idles at ~38C .....  ramps up to ~55C on full load, without the CPU fan making much noise at all.

Graphics throughput is great .......  have had six instances of VLC running at the same time, displaying six different TV stations from a DTT dongle. All running without a glitch .....  and the CPU load at about 55 to 60%

Signs are good that it will do all I need of it .....  next job is to get a new PSU and also a suitable Satellite card or cards, and also internal card for DTT.

I will quite likely have to put a second case fan running with those plugged in.

The case I am using now is a SilverStone GD04 .....  nice front and plenty space inside.
I also added a SATA DVD player/burner .....  had to fill the hole with something 

I think that's about it for the moment.

Decisions need to be made between Blackgold and TBS tuner card/s.
Blackgold have not yet released the drivers .....  and they only make drivers available for specific kernels to date, so I might have to forget them

Blackgold have all I need on one card, which would be preferable given the build type and the affect on airflow of multiple cards.

Will update again sometime 

[Just17]

Thought it about time I updated this thread for those with any interest ....

The SSD, new PSU etc are now assembled in the Silverstone case.
The new PSU is near silent, so there is only a small air flow 'noise' from the unit .....  I need a silent room and concentration to hear it.
Very satisfied!

I was rather pleased with the boot time .....  about 8 secs from press of Enter at the Grub screen to desktop!
Here is a bad video to give you the idea .......

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5838889/booting_PCLOS_LXDE.avi