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What do you guys think about this HTPC case?
#133128 03/24/06 12:55 AM
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http://www.directron.com/x232.html

Ahanix cases are normally pretty expensive without silent psu's and fans.


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Re: What do you guys think about this HTPC case?
#133129 03/24/06 01:39 AM
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You have a PM Randy.

Re: What do you guys think about this HTPC case?
#133130 03/24/06 02:50 AM
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I like it, I've ordered from Directron several times as well without any trouble.

Re: What do you guys think about this HTPC case?
#133131 03/24/06 05:34 AM
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axiomite
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I like it. It seems like a good value. However, I think that Ahanix cases use non-ISA power supplies, but that you can get some kind of adapter if you want to use a standard one.


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Re: What do you guys think about this HTPC case?
#133132 03/24/06 03:25 PM
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Guess I'm not sure what non-ISA refers to? The website says it is a Standard ATX PSU. I know Ahanix is one of the most popular cases for HTPC's.


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Re: What do you guys think about this HTPC case?
#133133 03/24/06 04:46 PM
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Ok, I just bought the case from Directron, seemed like an awesome deal once I checked other websites like Newegg and ZipZoomFly.

Now for the next questions...

I'd like some suggestions on good motherboards. In the past I've used MSI and Biostar, but for this HTPC project, I don't want to overlook anything. I've been searching Newegg and other websites and just can't decide. I'm planning on a Socket 939 setup for now, but am open to any feedback.

I just purchased the D4 from Directron which comes with two silent fans and Silent 350 CPU. http://www.directron.com/x232.html I think the sale price is pretty good.

I'm a little confused on all the various chipsets available (6100, 6150, nforce4, etc.) I assume this is just the onboard video that comes with the motherboard? I plan on getting at least an Nvidia 6600GT or higher, so I suppose the onboard video doesn't apply?

Also, I plan on using SPDIF out to my Denon 2805 AVR. Is it best just to find a motherboard with SPDIF out, or actually get a seperate sound card?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Randy



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Re: What do you guys think about this HTPC case?
#133134 03/24/06 04:56 PM
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If you will only use that HTPC to play movies then a motherboard with SPDIF is good enough since the sound would be sent straight through to your receiver. No need for any bells and whistles really.

Now if you want to have bit perfect music playback then you will have to watch out since a lot of motherboards/sound cards will resample output PCM at 48Hz and higher instead of the usual 44.1Hz sampling rate, which will degrade the sound quality.

Last edited by skyhawk669; 03/24/06 05:15 PM.
Re: What do you guys think about this HTPC case?
#133135 03/24/06 05:10 PM
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I think I will most likely use it for DVD movie playback, as I have a Sony Carousel for CD playback. I may also save MP3/WMA etc. to a hard drive, so if that matters let me know...Randy


M80s VP180 4xM22ow 4xM3ic EP600 2xEP350
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Re: What do you guys think about this HTPC case?
#133136 03/24/06 05:28 PM
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Since you will have a separate CD player I don't think that it would matter, the sound quality then would mostly depend on how you encoded your mp3/WMAs.

The bottom line is that for audio you want a card that can output at a sample rate of 44.1Hz IF you don't want to lose some sound quality due to the resampling. But honestly it doesn't make much of a difference to me (except for DVDAs and Super CDs). I already have most of my CDs ripped in my PC and they sound good enough to me! I'm sure some people might disagree and I hope they'll chime in.
It's really up to you; how do MP3 rips of your music sound to you?

Bottom line if you will use this rig for movies and ripped CDs then I think you would be fine with whatever you chose (onboard sound w/ SPDIF, sound card).

Re: What do you guys think about this HTPC case?
#133137 03/25/06 11:18 PM
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Well I think I've narrowed down the following list for my HTPC.

Case: Ahanix D4


Gigabyte Motherboard GA-K8NF-9


Gigabyte GV-NX66T128D-SP Nvidia 6600GT Passive Cooled


CORSAIR 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Memory


AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz HT 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor E6 (very overclockable)


WD Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive (for O/S)





M80s VP180 4xM22ow 4xM3ic EP600 2xEP350
AnthemAVM60 Outlaw7700 EmoA500 Epson5040UB FluanceRT85


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