Hi All,

I'm about to build my first HTPC using KnoppMyth and wanted to get everyone's insight into the hardware choices I've made before I actually place any orders. I built a proof-of-concept HTPC with some old hardware and KnoppMyth a few weeks ago and everything works fine, but there's no way it has the WAF required to get it in the living room permanently.

My goals are:
1. Watch and record 1 SDTV show. If I want to be able to watch/record more, I will go with a frontend/backend system at some point in the future.
2. Watch HDTV someday in the not-too-distant future without any hardware upgrades. I'm hoping the CPU and GPU are pretty future-proof for A/V use.
3. Watch DVDs in 480p today and higher resolutions in the future.
4. Listen to digital audio. My receiver has both optical and coax digital inputs.
5. Control the entire unit, including on/off, with a remote.
6. Use with my existing TV, which only has 480p YPbPr, S-Video and composite inputs. My preference is to use the component YPbPr inputs.

Here's the hardware I'm considering. Based on what I've read in the forums so far, these choices seem acceptable, but I just want to double-check everything.

Case: Silverstone LC20B-M
I've confirmed that this passes the WAF test. It also has the iMon IR/VFD which means I can control on/off, assuming this works with LiRC.

This case doesn't come with any fans. I'm hoping that due to low power components and a good CPU HS/HSF, I won't need any fans. Thoughts on this?

Motherboard: Asus M2NPV-VM
This has the YPbPr outputs I need for my TV. However, it lacks an SPDIF out. I've contacted Asus to determine where I can purchase the SPDIF out bracket. Any help on this is appreciated.

Another thing I've read is that this only has analog CD input. This doesn't make sense to me, since I don't think my CD/DVD-ROM drive has a DAC in it, but if anyone can confirm, I'd appreciate it.

I've also read about lots of memory issues with this board, but that seems to have subsided in the past few months.

CPU: 65nm AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+
New CPU, but seems to be getting good reviews and there don't appear to be incompatibility issues with Linux. 65W is great for a HTPC.

Heatsink: Thermalright SI-128
Expensive, but very quiet. Does anyone know if this will fit in the LC20B-M case? Based on the specs, it looks like it will.

Heatsink Fan: Scythe S-FLEX SFF21D
Required for the heatsink. Silent PC Review gave this a great review.

Power Supply: Corsair CMPSU-520HX
520W is probably way too powerful. But, this is a quiet PSU and is modular, which are both good things. I couldn't find a less powerful PSU that was both quiet and modular. If anyone knows of one, please let me know.

RAM: Kingston KVR800D2E5K2/1G
1GB is probably too much, but I couldn't find less than that in a name brand paired DDR2 800 memory. Also, ECC might be overkill, but I prefer to be safe over sorry when it only costs a few bucks more.

I plan to reuse a PATA hard drive, a Hauppauge PVR150 and a Linksys WMP54G v4.1 (rt61pci) PCI 802.11g card from the proof of concept system.

Thanks,
Matt

I have an Asus M2NPV-VM with a 3200+ and 512Mb RAM as a frontend system which works fine for SDTV and HDTV, so I suspect your intended Motherboard/CPU/RAM combination will work fine as well. Some comments:

I have the LC10M with the VFD/IR receiver. I like the VFD module, but the IR receiver was very slow to react and intermittently missed key presses (with any remote I tested it with, even the included one). Perhaps the drivers have been updated since I last tested them, YMMV. I have been using a serial IR receiver from http://www.irblaster.info/ together with a Harmony 688 remote and have been very happy with the performance, as are the wife and kids. I have never tried to configure the power on/off via the remote so I don't know if that would work.

I am using a PCI sound card so I'm afraid I can't comment on the audio options of the motherboard, sorry.

As the M2NPV-VM uses system RAM for video memory, I think 1Gb is a very good idea, especially since this system appears to be a combined BE/FE at this point.