mikinho

[mikinho]

For a similar budget I would recommend an AMD E350 board.  Overall I’m not happy with them as a primary HTPC but at the same time for the cost you do get a good value.  

[mikinho]

My biggest suggestion, and one I’m sure people are sick of hearing, get a board with an on-board Intel network card.

[mikinho]

[quote=brennok]

My plan is to record locally. Even when I build a HTPC it will be for local recording only.

[/quote]

OK, then you really shoudn’t have any issue unless you are pegging the CPU.  I do recommend have a dedicated drive for recording to prevent any I/O bottleneck but otherwise there is very little RAM or CPU requirements for a modern system.

[mikinho]

Do you plan to use it a network tuner using bridging for Live TV or record locally?

Depending on your usage a much bigger concern will be with your Realtek 8111D network cards.

[mikinho]

[quote=jrandeck]

Were you testing it at the rated speed or a step slower?   In every system I’ve ever tried to put 4 sticks of memory into over the last several years I’ve had to back the memory clock off one step to make the system stable. (Of course it hasn’t been that often, really.)

I’ve never tried buying a matched set of 4 sticks to get around that, but from what I’ve read, that’s the fix for the issue.

[/quote]

Yes.  I tried as far as 800MHz and still not stable.

I ended up going w/ a recommendation from Mike Garcen with Kingston HyperX that was half the price for 16GB and it works w/o issue at top speeds.

Second time Corsair has really let me down.  The first was a similar issue with my server and 32GB of RAM.  Went with Crucial there.

[mikinho]

[quote=DavidStein]

that price is low enough to tempt me to go to 16GB, even though i have absolutely no reason for more (heck, even 8GB is overkill) 

[/quote]

I wouldn’t suggest using this RAM w/ 16GB.  I’ve tested it in 12 systems and at 16GB it is NOT stable.

 

Edit: I posted from wrong account…cutpaste as me 🙂

[mikinho]

I hope early next week.  I’ll address a few points here tomorrow though.

[mikinho]

I like NVIDIA GPUs, it is just their nForce network card that is unreliable when taxed.  We have a review unit Zotac ZBOX ZBOXHD-ND22-U that I’m extremely delayed in publishing a review for.  It works very well…except for 1- the network card. 2- no HD Audio bistreaming support.

I put network cards very high, higher than most, on my feature list when looking at motherboards and OEM builds so maybe take what I’m saying with a grain of salt.

[mikinho]

I’ll echo Andrews remarks on starting a new build on older hardware.  You cut your hardware lifespan down considerably and if you do have issues you increase the changes that you won’t get a fix.

I would also highly stay away from nForce chipsets for a HTPC.

[mikinho]

When I get caught up one a few reviews I have pending I’d like to setup a guide.

[mikinho]

You may also want to consider the Intel CIR + Remote (see http://cgi.ebay.com/IR-Receiver-w-Cable-CIR-MB-MCE-Back-Lit-Remote-/330581178980?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf82c7a64)

It offers some advantages over the generic USB IR Receivers as it doesn’t use a USB port and can power on from S5.

 

Edit: Ignore me…looks like Aaron and Andrew already recommened it

[mikinho]

Can you PM me your ticket #?  Typically this occurs when bridged w/ an Ethernet card that has older drivers.

[mikinho]

Sorry John I didn’t follow up.  Can you do a quick test, from the command line run the below

C:Windowsehome>ehtray.exe && mcupdate.exe -uf

Does it show then?

Note: For any other users trying this…make sure under Control PanelAll Control Panel ItemsNotification Area Icons that “Windows Media Center” is set to “Show icon and notifications”

[mikinho]

Note: If anyone else is having issues w/ repeated blocks please send me a PM so I can troubleshoot.

[mikinho]

Love the USB charging power plug.  I have them all over the house now.

[Author]

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