So can anyone get hold of these, or are using them? I can only find Lexar SSDs available, which dont look as robust as what is needed for a desktop SATA disc.

 

I was thinking about one for an HTPC - I figure 16gb would be about right for Win + a few media apps... unless anyone can correct me.

Solid State Disc?

 

How fast are they?

I think the speeds are about the same as HDDs, sub SATA 2 speeds. The biggest selling points are that they are dead quiet, use way less power and generate less heat. Perfect for a windows and applications disk in an HTPC, eventually good for desktops too.

 

From what I have read, the main problem is the number of read/write cycles they can take. The new ones coming out are designed differently to compact flash cards/USB thumb drives and can withstand more frequent use (ie like a normal magnetic HDD).

This months APC magazine has a write up on them. whats good / bad etc etc

 

If your interested then take a look.

 

Your right in regards to the read/write cycle issue - some of them can be very slow.

If you only plan on getting a small drive, then just get a normal hdd they are relatively quiet and don't get all that hot anyway. It's only the bigger drives that get really hot. Though you'll have to settle for a fairly old drive as they don't make small hdd's anymore unless you go to a laptop drive. These come in SATA now so should work perfectly with a normal PC. You might want to do some investigation into that though.

 

You won't pay a premium for new technology (well a slight premium, but I would image SSD's would be far more expensive compared to laptop hdd's).

 

Laptop hdd's don't get all that hot either. Even if they did get mildly warm, they are small enough to have a low noise/rpm fan blowing over them.

Cheers Darth will check it out.

 

I thought about a lappy HDD, but new tech is soooo much fun to show off! In your living room = extra technerd points.

Only useful if your misses is a technerd too. Pretty unlikely..

you could get one of those RAM HDD's which go into a PCI slot. I hear they are quite good, and the price of RAM atm would make it a fairly cheap venture.

i-ram? Nah they are like $200 for the card + $300 for 4gb DDR400. $500 vs SSD 16gb ~$300? I think.

 

Would get extra high technerd points though. Bonus Level!!

Well I know I need more ram,but what the simplest/cheapest/best option?.was thinking of just getting an exhd or DDr ,but 16 gig for 300 bucks sounds good-I just need to get the number off my m-board to ensure compatibilty don't I ?.

(not a technerd -all I know about pc's I learnt off you guys as a rule).

$300 for 16gb?

 

Dude you could buy 3x500GB's for $400

 

Enough to use as storage discs in the HTPC for alot of recording, movies, mp3s etc.

 

Use the dosh wisely, screw the new technology crap.

My vote goes with the lappy drive. Tiny, big space, and quiet. Or if you are really adventourous, you could always do the bootable USB thumbdrive thing.

Well I know I need more ram,but what the simplest/cheapest/best option?.was thinking of just getting an exhd or DDr ,but 16 gig for 300 bucks sounds good-I just need to get the number off my m-board to ensure compatibilty don't I ?.

(not a technerd -all I know about pc's I learnt off you guys as a rule).

 

Bahlye there's a few things you'd need to know before ordering some RAM:

-how much RAM do you currently have?

-Is it in one stick, two sticks or four (you may need to look in the case)?

-what is the type (DDR or DDR2) and speed (DDR 400mHz? DDR2 800mHz? etc) You could use the app CPU-Z if you dont have records. http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

- what is the max memory your mobo can take + does it have spare slots + is there physical room in your case for more sticks?

- what is the model of your mobo (just to be sure).

 

I wouldnt worry about more than 2gb ATM unless you've got Win Vista.

Edited September 26, 200717 yr by McCloud

thx m8,thats the info I was after....will have a look in the case tonite.

Hey dude, as long as you have a good case you should be right with the hard drives. The noise will be very little with hard drives these days anyway. Probably look for noise features on the SATA hard drives as they are some designed for this task.

 

I'd though I'd post a design I'm going to get, this one was done up 3 months ago and would cost then around 4k. But it should be closer to 3k now.

 

Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T7200 Dual Core CPU, Socket 478, 2.0 GHz, 667MHz FSB, 4MB L2 Cache, FCPGA6

 

ABIT iL-90MV M/board - i945GT, 667MHz FSB, Dual DDR2-667, PCI Express x1, Int. VGA, HDMI 1.2, SATA 150 RAID, GbE LAN, USB2.0, 7.1-Ch, mATX

 

2xCorsair VS2GB667D2 G 2GB Value Select PC-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 RAM, 256MBx64non-ECC, 240-pin DIMM, Unbuffered, CL5, lifetime warranty

 

3x320GB 'ST3320620AS' SATA II 3Gb/s HDD - 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 5-year warranty

 

SilverStone LC16M SILVER ATX HTPC Case

 

32-bit MS Windows Vista Home Premium 1-Pack OEM DVD Operating System

 

Logitech diNovo Edge

 

Hauppauge Nova-T-500 MCE(OEM) Dual DVBT SD/HD tuner, Full support for Microsoft Media Center, Low profile Bracket Included, Remote&Manual not Included (one of the best tv cards on the market )

 

LOGITECH Harmony 525 Remote

 

NEW! Hightech ATI Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB 128-bit DDR4, 2 x Dual Link DVI, HDTV, HDCP, HDMI, PCI-E X16, Fan

 

750W "SilverStone" ST75ZF Power Supply, Black SLI ready, 80mm fan, 4 x PCI-E 6pin connectors, Four SATA connectors, Active PFC

 

With this you can go all the way up to 3TB, its also got allow of umpphh is very quite and looks dam fancy, with the remote and cool keyboard at the same time being very pratical. If you have a decent sound system then throw in a X-fi sound card for around $200 and your laughing. Although I reccommend you got Vista Ultimate providng you have the monies.

Be careful cause if you try to do things cheaply and cut corners, with a HTPC it hurts bad, and I mean badly. Better spending money on something you will be happy with then spend say 2k on a crappy noisy box that does half the job.

 

With that TV card you can record 2 channels and watching another all at once or just watch several channels at once. It also allows you to change formats and quailty of the recorded file too. With the inversal remote you can make it control everything, and if you want to surf the net push a button on the remote control grab the keyboard/mouse thingy and your off.

Edited September 27, 200717 yr by Flowkcalb

Cheers for the info DFA. Do you use the HDMI output on the gfx card?

 

That TV card looks awesome.

D.F.A, why don't you get a fanless graphics card instead? Asus and Gigabyte make a series of silent cards. The Gigabyte ones have "silentpipe" technology and the Asus ones are just have "silent" in their names.

 

Asus

http://www.asus.com/a_search_products_r.aspx?l1=2&l2=0&l3=0&l4=0&order=0&rows=10&pages=1&keyword=silent

 

Gigabyte

http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/VGA/Default.aspx

2k for a HTPC??? That is overkill.

I'm looking to put one together from my old core system (cpu/mobo/ram).

 

It depends on your needs but I agree some parts are a bit harder to compromise on - to minimise noise (the case, HDDs) and to get quality display & features (TV tuner, graphics card, sound card). $2K all up seems about right to me for a decent HTPC.

naa its not. Yeah I would do.

 

You need allot of power

need a very quiet case ie decent

need allot of memory, especially HD vids.

Need power don't want to see lag while halfway through a movie, so CPU and graphics card need to be powerful as well.

 

A media PC/HTPC is not just something you watch vids on. It plays your music, does slide shows, can store bank and house details, you can use it for designing parts of your house with the right software. It needs to be eye pleasing. For example what I like to do is when the Sony Bravia X series 42inch isnt being used. It be nice to have a dreamscene vid running in the background. turns your big black TV into a nice window/picture frame.

 

So quiet case with an IR reciever in built so you can use your remotes on it. Such case as HTPC cases. You want it quiet if your having a ****load of Hard drives and power so a decent one is a must. Thats $300-800 even more depending on style.

 

You need a 2600Radeon AT least or a 8 series Geforce. Why? if its a PROPER HTPC your running say on a 42inch in Hidef or HDMI, with Vista. If you dont have these cards then you WILL get some choppy play back while playing movies for sure. Those heatsinks are good, but they're on the low end cards without the features. If you look up the card I've got, you'll see radeon PWN geforce in video playback features. But radeon 2600 and up series will soon be released with heat pipes so keep an eye out for them.

 

Now with the hard drives 320GB is the best bang for buck. ie gigabyte per $.

So cheapest way to do is get several of these in RAID. Having a ****load of them draws ALLOT of power so a good PSU unit comes in as well.

 

The mobo and CPU, best way to do this is go laptop parts all the way. Why? they can be powerful as desktops and they are DAM quiet, plus they use less power when needed. Especially when your HTPC is on 24/7.

 

The TV card, well you want quality PICs and to be able to record stuff at good quality at the same time do multiple things at once. You can go cheaply and get a crappy/low end one. Doing so will limit you to being able to watch a single program or record but not both at the same time. You have to be careful here to. So your looking at spending allot here too!

 

Then the UI to top it off. the Logitec remote it the best one on the market. I use it for our system. if the components arent in the online database which is MASSIVE. Then you can teach the remote how to work the device. Its great. but not cheap.

 

Lastly the keyboard speaks for itself.

 

You could cut down on the keyboard and remote and just get the system. Go the next model down on the TV card to save some cash and start low with the mem and slowly increase it over time. But its not cheap.

 

2k is bound for you to get something crappy and sacrifice something like a noisy machine that doesn't have allot of mem, will probably die in the next thunderstorm loosing all your data to playing crap quailty pictures back on a 42inch LCD. Try building a 2k HTPC and see what you come up with One thing is for sure this machine would last a hell of allot longer and will do 6 times as much as a 2k for 1k more.

 

no probs Mate, glad to have helped.

PS sorry about the different account having issues logging in.

Edited September 27, 200717 yr by Nicko95

Urgh im not getting into another debate about PC's.

 

Will have to agree to disagree. I know for a fact this can be done on a small bugdet as I've done it and it works flawlessly without having to compromise on anything.

Post your design or setup done by another company and then I'd believe you. hell even a link to a pre made one. All I'm doing is posting a decent machine that will last him, ie. helping him.

Edited September 27, 200717 yr by Roddi

C'mon, show us yer hooters daveeee!!...errr...I mean puters!

A8N-SLI Premium

X2 3800+

2GB Generic RAM

500gb Samsung HDD

SATA DVD drive

8600GT

HDA Digital X-Plosion 7.1 DTS DDL encoding

FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital

External IR receiver, stolen from a Dell Media PC

Cheap HTPC case

400W PSU

 

Cost around $800~, alot of it was second hand. But if you're on a budget you're on a budget. Currently sits at my dads house doing everything he needs it to do.

 

Records TV, can watch TV while recording it. All running through a 720P LCD, it's not running on a 1080P screen but it plays prison break 1080P content without skipping a beat, even while recording TV.

 

Also runs 2x 320GB drives networked in his main PC, but he had them before he wanted a HTPC.

 

I'll admit it could be alot more efficient, but that is easily fixed with a newer CPU/Mobo/RAM combo.

 

Even then you can get an E6750, motherboard and RAM for $500, which only just puts it around $1300. Possibly need a new PSU, but you can something that will power it for around $100 which brings it to $1400.

 

Sell off the x2, RAM and motherboard for $200 and we're back to $1200.

 

There we have a very very capable HTPC that you can throw pretty much anything at without it struggling.

 

Now do you really need to spend $3000? Maybe if you were buying a relatively cheap TV to go with the HTPC......

Nice one. I've got a 3700+ I was going to use, do you think the dual core makes a significant difference for HTPCs? I can only think of multitasking in terms of watching one thing while recording another.