SFF HTPC w/Athlon 64 X2

[ghoward]

My girlfriend wants to replace her aging laptop with a sleek new desktop, and she's agreed to give building it herself a shot (with a little help). She's not at all interested in games or 3D-intensive applications, but she does want to be able to record and watch TV on the computer and is willing to pay a little more for some decent speed. Because we're both college students, space is limited and mobility is a plus, so I think a Small Form Factor system would be a good fit.

Dual-core seems to be the way to go these days, even for the average user (running MS Office, iTunes, and Firefox simulataneously while recording a TV show in the background or burning a DVD, for example). Originally I was planning on going with a low-end Pentium D (820 or 830), but the decent pricing of the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ gives me a much-appreciated chance to switch back to AMD. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should be pairing this processor with? Any experience with using an X2 in a SFF system?

I've been looking at the Shuttle ST20G5 as a possibility, but I don't know if I should go with an ATI Radeon Xpress 200 based solution over an nVidia nForce4 motherboard. The PCI slot is a must have for the TV tuner, and the integrated video and sound look sufficient, so it's an attractive option. I'm wondering how it compares to a SN25P, though, and if X2 compatibility is going to be a problem. Alternatively, I could drop Shuttle and go with a chassis manufacturer like Silverstone, which also has some nice, sleek-looking cases. Then I'd have to find a good MicroATX motherboard, and I have no experience picking out those.

Also on the table for the system are the following, from Newegg, of course:
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - Retail
MITSUMI Black USB2.0 & FDD Digital Card Reader/Writer W/FD (Black)INTERNAL - OEM
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 MCE White box PCI Interface WinTV-PVR-500MCE Windows XP Media Center Edition - Retail
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005 - OEM
Microsoft A9O-00007 WinXP Media Center Infrared Remote Control - OEM

In summary, I'm just wondering if anyone has tried to build an HTPC around an Athlon 64 X2 and what recommendations they might have. Any articles or other research you can point me at would be appreciated. After all, she's my girlfriend. I don't want to mess this up, haha.

Greg Howard

 

[QurazyQuisp]

The SN25P is having some problems with teh X2's, but supposedly with a new beta bios, it fixes the problems. I haven't heard anything about the ST20G5 and X2's yet. The ATI based one is smaller, and if she's not going to game, it's probably a good choice with the intergrated video and sound. For her needs, I'd probably recommend the ATI based one, it'll save you more money. I'm pretty sure it's on the compatiablity list for X2's aswell.

 

[jevans64]

You might want to head over to the SSFtech forums before getting an AMD-based Shuttle system. There have been lots of problems with X2 processors.

TBO. You really don't need a high end machine to record TV. A Shuttle SB61G2V4 with a P4 Northwood @ 2.8 GHz, 1 GB Patriot DDR400 RAM, A decent sized HD ( WD Caviar16, Maxtor DiamondMax 10, etc. ), and a mid-level video card like ATI x800xl or 6600GT will do you fine.

Looking at your sig, you can pick up another black NEC DVD±RW and Hauppauge PVR500 ( or PVR150/250/350 ).

If you want to go socket 775, you can get a SB77G5, SB81P, or SB95P. The smaller "G" systems come with a 250 watt PSU and the "P" systems come with a 350 watter. The 250 watt will handle a lot. My SB75G2 has a 250 watt and it has a P4C 3.2 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 300 GB HD, x800pro w/ 16-pipe mod running 500/560, and a Hauppauge PVR350. A 300 watt PSU is available for the "G" systems.

The SB83G5C is a nice little system that has a built-in VFD display.

 

[ghoward]

I know I don't need a high-end machine for a PVR/DVR (just built one around a P3-800 and a PVR250, actually), but I think dual-core is where things are headed, even for the casual multitasking user. That stuff in my "sig" is actually for the new system, not my current components, hehe. The video cards you're suggestion would definitely be good for mainstream gaming, but they're overkill in this case. Integrated video or an ATI X300 / nVidia 6200 will almost certainly do.

Both of your comments about the X2's compatibility problems with Shuttle systems concern me though. I suppose my second and third choices would be to build a Pentium D based system (any problems with those?) or find a solid microATX motherboard for a Silverstone or other HTPC case.

Anyone else have thoughts?

 

[jevans64]

OH! So you don't really have that stuff. You should know that the Hauppauge cards ( at least my PVR350 ) don't like HyperThreading. I have to disable HT to keep it from locking up. I am not sure about running Hauppauge PVR's with dual core procesors. You might want to ask Hauppauge. There is another PVR option, the ATI Theater 550, which looks promising. I have not been able to find any at my preferred e-tailers yet.

I am a member of SSFtech and there are a lot of pissed-off Shuttle owners now that were promised X2 compatability on their v1 and v1.2 AMD systems. I think the SN25P v1.3 with the latest BIOS works on the X2 but there seems to still be a problem with the USB ports ( make them 1.1 in order to work ).

As far as Pentium D, The SD31P seems to be free of problems but it has only been out for a couple of weeks. It uses the 945 chipset so NO Extreme Edition processors will work with it. The Intel Shuttle systems seem to have fewer problems than the AMD ones. I have been looking at this system myself.

 

[ghoward]

Hmmm, interesting. My primary system is a P4 2.8Ghz (C revision, 800Mhz FSB) with Hyper-Threading enabled, and both my Hauppauge PVR250 and my Hauppauge PVR500 have had zero problems. You might want to check your installation. Any idea how the ATI Theater 550 compares to the Hauppauge cards in image quality? Is it hardware encoding? I would assume an ATI tuner plays nice on an ATI chipset, but like I said, I'm wary of their cards ever since the crappy TV Wonder series.

I actually did post on SFFTech, but haven't yet figured out what the situation is there with respect to the ST20G5 and the X2. I've heard from at least one guy who's made it work, though he thinks his Shuttle floppy/reader bay is causing crashes in the BIOS on boot. Haven't heard anything about the versions yet. I'll see what I can learn, though a Pentium D based system is definitely a possibility if the X2 is still flaky. Know anything about microATX boards?

 

[tweakt]

Shuttle is working on the issue:
http://forums.sudhian.com/messageview.aspx?catid=43&threadid=81070&enterthread=y

I've got my 4400 on order and it's the last peice I need. As soon as I get it up and running I will be testing things out, but I mainly run Linux so Windows will be just for games, so I can be patient while they work out the issues. Most poeple are saying it's related to heavy USB usage, so it may be a driver or BIOS issue.

 

[REMF]

Shuttle have caught a lot of flak recently over at SFFtech so they appear keen to sort the X2/SN25P issue out properly.

 

[ghoward]

Any idea if the ST20G5 is experiencing the same issues? I don't think I'm going with the SN25P because of its lack of a PCI slot. Means I wouldn't be able to use a Hauppauge tuner. Are there even any good PCI Express 1x tuners on the market?

 

[jevans64]

Hauppauge is pretty quiet about the existance of any PCIe tuners. The ATI Theater 550 is SUPPOSED to be a PCIe part also, but I think ATI should concentrate on the problems users are having with the AGP part. These are the only two that should be considered anyway since they use hardware MPEG2.