# HT Computer Build



## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

Hey there guys, i am building a HT computer and trying to decide on a sound card as i am a little confused on which card to get. The system is a hi end system and firstly let me give you an idea of the parts i am certain on using and put you in the picture of what i am going to do in the next 2 weeks here is a list of parts. 1 Video card, The new nvidia GTX 690 which is on order and should arrive any day now. Motherboard is Asus rampage 4 extreme, CPU is the intel 3960X 6 core processor and 64 gig of vengence ram.They are the backbone components which tend to matter the most when it comes to speed and performance. And then it brings me to the sound card which for home theatre use is just as important than the above listed.I am looking at the Ausentech X-FI Home theatre HD HDMIV1.3a PCie Sound Card and i am also lookin at the Asus Xense Premium Gaming Audio Set Soundcard and headset Accoustics powered by Sennheiser.I plan to run this gear into my AVPA1HDA Denon Processor but i am uncertain at which way best to go about getting the best possible sound.Also i need to team this up with the correct compatale bluray drive and dvd drive which i am also not sure on. http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-fi_hometheater_hd.php http://www.asus.com.au/Multimedia/Audio_Cards/Xonar_Xense/ i left a couple of links for both cards also i am not worried about the headset i can do without that if it means getting a better card for home theatre use.I look at it this way if its good for home theatre its good for gaming.Please help Regards Grassy


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

The Auzentech is a great card to be sure....My suggestion however is this one... The HT OMEGA CLARO http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271005 mainly because it offers not only really good audio specifications but a 7.1 analog output as well... so before you say "well its not HDMI !!" let me tell you I have an ASUS HDAV 1.3 DELUXE which offers HDMI. optical and 7.1 analog out and I can say flat out that the ANALOG sound puts the HDMI in its place every time .... Ive also taken it to work and through our demo system all agree with me.... As for BLuRay audio your new BR drive and software are going to decode the Master HD or Dolby HD soundtracks and output through the analog, so it will only be necessary to have MULTI CHANNEL inputs on your receiver ..... it will also feed the optical for digital out if you desire that..... You wont be dissapointed and even if you should be for some reason, Newegg has a good return / exchange policy.. The ASUS I have can still be had if you want to go all out....its on Ebay ....these particular sound cards can also be upgraded very easily to sound even better....
As for BluRay drives I have been using PIONEER and it is much faster than my ASUS or PLEXTOR drives....
The ASUS HDAV though hard to get, also comes with TOTAL MEDIA THEATER...an excellent HD software player.....


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

Heres the BluRay drive ...its very fast at burning if you need that feature ...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129067


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

RTS100x5 said:


> The Auzentech is a great card to be sure....My suggestion however is this one... The HT OMEGA CLARO http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271005 mainly because it offers not only really good audio specifications but a 7.1 analog output as well... so before you say "well its not HDMI !!" let me tell you I have an ASUS HDAV 1.3 DELUXE which offers HDMI. optical and 7.1 analog out and I can say flat out that the ANALOG sound puts the HDMI in its place every time .... Ive also taken it to work and through our demo system all agree with me.... As for BLuRay audio your new BR drive and software are going to decode the Master HD or Dolby HD soundtracks and output through the analog, so it will only be necessary to have MULTI CHANNEL inputs on your receiver ..... it will also feed the optical for digital out if you desire that..... You wont be dissapointed and even if you should be for some reason, Newegg has a good return / exchange policy.. The ASUS I have can still be had if you want to go all out....its on Ebay ....these particular sound cards can also be upgraded very easily to sound even better....
> As for BluRay drives I have been using PIONEER and it is much faster than my ASUS or PLEXTOR drives....
> The ASUS HDAV though hard to get, also comes with TOTAL MEDIA THEATER...an excellent HD software player.....


Thankyou so much for your feedback on this,it sounds pretty awesome and i like the sound of 7.1 analog out. I didnt know that the software can give me HDMA and dolby Hd .Does the software give actuall lossless audio? pardon my ignorance as i am new to all this computer side of things. I am mainly looking for a huge cinema sound. Is it correct in saying that my denon AVP will do a lot of the processing also.?

Sent from my iPad using HTShack


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

Yes I believe the decoded audio would be lossless or uncompressed.... there audio tweaks within whatever software settings you will use to play movies as well as settings within the audio driver of the soundcard... so take that to mean that either of the sound cards I mentioned will give you exactly the cinema dynamics your looking for... All but the ASUS DELUXE HDAV will require a PCI slot which are still available with many new motherboards.... As far as motherboards go Ive had very good experiences with EVGA motherboards....whichever you choose be wary of CREATIVE LABS.... horrible - bloated and buggy software...
please feel free to ask any questions...thats what we do :wave:


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

RTS100x5 said:


> Heres the BluRay drive ...its very fast at burning if you need that feature ...
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129067


Its funny that you gave me that link as thats the drive i was going to go with anyway.I think i will give that sound card a try and see how it goes.Before the install i will be doing one last check on all my gear and a tech will be there also so i can run some questions by him to make sure.But as for the sound card it sounds a good choice and i appreciate your advice and will ollow it from here.Thanks again

Sent from my iPad using HTShack


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

Awsome - you wont be disappointed.... let us know when you fire that baby up


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## vann_d (Apr 7, 2009)

Although I'm sure analog out from the card recommended is fantastic, I'm not sure why you're not planning to use the HDMI output from the video card you selected. You have a good video card and a good Denon processor. Why not let them do their job?

The only reason I could imagine the analog output stage of a discrete soundcard being better than the HDMI input/output of an A/V receiver is the DAC of the soundcard being better than the DAC of the receiver. I would not believe this to be the case in your situation.

I mean, c'mon, you're paying good money for a very nice Denon processor. I would go digital to it and let it handle the DAC.

If you don't want to use it's capabilities, buy the cheapest AVR with pre in/out (or no AVR altogether) and get a nice soundcard as recommended above.

Otherwise, what are you really trying to accomplish but a glorified spec list of components? Spend the extra on speakers or a sub...


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

Well he clearly stated that he was looking for a soundcard.... As for analog vs HDMI with the sound card upgrade he can go either way as I said .... that sound card will also transcode any source to DTS or DD which is another plus... In my case the analog sound is far superior to the HDMI even with my SC35... the HDMI is by no means a substandard SQ ...the analog is just that much better .... Its like going from a 9+ to a 12 on a scale of 10 ...obviously its my biased opinion based on having built PCs for 10+ years :rubeyes:


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

vann_d said:


> Although I'm sure analog out from the card recommended is fantastic, I'm not sure why you're not planning to use the HDMI output from the video card you selected. You have a good video card and a good Denon processor. Why not let them do their job?
> 
> The only reason I could imagine the analog output stage of a discrete soundcard being better than the HDMI input/output of an A/V receiver is the DAC of the soundcard being better than the DAC of the receiver. I would not believe this to be the case in your situation.
> 
> ...


Hi Vann, thanks for your response. I see exactly where you are coming from and tatally agree with your fair reasoning on the dac issue. It does make complete sense to take advantage of the HDMI connection and let my reciever do the work. I have understood that to be a very logical assesment of my situation to achieve good Home Theatre sound. I know for a fact that the Avpa1hda processor is one of the best around for what i am using it for. This is another reason i have not opted for a gaming card as the denon does an incredible job on my ps3 games in bitstream especialy. I figure that if its doing an incredible job for my ps3 it will do an incredible job for my computer also. For the price of the denon AVP it should also be given the opportunity to do its work.I see exactly where you are coming from and it would be unwise for me not to take that into consideration. The denon cost me $11,000.00 and has not let me down so far. For my situation i think you are correct.

Sent from my iPad using HTShack


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

RTS100x5 said:


> Well he clearly stated that he was looking for a soundcard.... As for analog vs HDMI with the sound card upgrade he can go either way as I said .... that sound card will also transcode any source to DTS or DD which is another plus... In my case the analog sound is far superior to the HDMI even with my SC35... the HDMI is by no means a substandard SQ ...the analog is just that much better .... Its like going from a 9+ to a 12 on a scale of 10 ...obviously its my biased opinion based on having built PCs for 10+ years :rubeyes:


Hey Rts, thanks again for your input, i think i will take advantage of the Hdmi input and go down that path as that was what i was feeling in my gut. I was not really sure what i was thinking, but like i said when it comes to computers i know very little and value your expert knowelege on the computer side of things.At the end of the day i have to intergrate it with my processor and feel that if i go down the HDMI path i will learn a little from my own gut feeling. I might be wrong in choosing my existing card but at least i will only have myself to blame if i dont like it. Believe me your 10 years+ has not gone to waste on me. I believe you bought out a few good points on the card you advised and appreciate your experience.But i will definately be using the disk drive you mentioned.

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## vann_d (Apr 7, 2009)

I'm seriously considering the pci version of the recommended soundcard for my rig. Looks great. I just didn't think it made sense for this particular situation.


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

vann_d said:


> I'm seriously considering the pci version of the recommended soundcard for my rig. Looks great. I just didn't think it made sense for this particular situation.


Yea, thats what we are all here for is to give each other our opinions so we can help an individual make up their minds. With me, because i know so little its good to be reassured that the choice i origionally made was ok.It sort of works both ways I know very little about computer hardware and putting it together but its all a learning experience for me.But the journey has been great so far and ive had some really good support.

Sent from my iPad using HTShack


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

Here is a few pics of my hardware so far...


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

Starting the build with the rampage 4 extreme and the 3960x processor and 64 gig of vengence ram installed.


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

WOW , sweet rig ya got there :T = jealous


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

I dont think I like the case but it does have a wow factor of 9+ 

Im anxious to hear your results especially curious how the HDMI vs 7.1 ANALOG compares.....


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

RTS100x5 said:


> I dont think I like the case but it does have a wow factor of 9+
> 
> Im anxious to hear your results especially curious how the HDMI vs 7.1 ANALOG compares.....


Yea its the kind of case thats not to everyones taste:dontknow: But dont forget the beatles were laughed at in scotland(give it time)hehehe.I will get the audio up and running in the next couple of days providing the rest of the build runs smoothly and post a first hand impression on the audio and video.Thanks for your kind comments Grassy:T


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

Ok here is the pictures of the fan installation. These fans have a 17 db rating which helps to keep the computer at low level noise control and shift the air perfectly better than most.


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

Here is some pics after cable management and a finished product. This was my first build and i must say there are a few things i would do differently in my next one but they are only minor. This build has been a lot of fun and i have learnt a lot of things including Assenbly, tools, where to buy, how components work,cable management,tech talk, the whole lot really. I would definately build again over buying a pre essembled machine anyday and finally thanks everyone for there help as it has been much appreciated.:wave:


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

Great job with the cable management, that's one of the most time consuming parts of the build (for me at least!). It looks like you have a Stormtrooper on your desk!


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

Infrasonic said:


> Great job with the cable management, that's one of the most time consuming parts of the build (for me at least!). It looks like you have a Stormtrooper on your desk!


Yea thanks infrasonic, your too right about the cable management it is time consuming and i would welcome more space at the back of these cases. My case here, has only little room at the back for management and putting the back cover on was atricky task. I do believe though that it would not be a hard job to allow an extra 15 to 20 mm on all cases for cable management. It should'nt be a struggle. I personally would welcome the change and would be prepared to spend that little extra for a lot less frustration.The power supply cables and pci- E and sata cables aint thin cables, and havnt been for a long while and the companies that make these cases surely must realize this. While i was managing the cables i was blown away by such little space. They do make room for bigger video cards and so on, but they dont take 2 hours to fit.( hehehe).
Oh yea i forgot to mention that on my sound card is 2 HDMIs one input and 1 output so when i went to plug my hdmi cables in to test them out i found that one hdmi input is situated near the end of the bracket on the card, and around 3mm of the hdmi connection goes behind a metal plate attached to the case, so i had to cut this piece of metal so i could plug my cable in. Just an example of a little bit of thought that should be applied by these manufacturers.That was something i personally put down to experience and will think about for next time.But overall i completely enjoyed the experience of building my own computer.
Sent from my iPad using HTShack


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

Some cases are better geared for clean cable management than others, any case reviewer worth their salt will now list the side (back) panel depth. Sometimes though form wins over function and we end up trying to figure out how to get a few extra millimeters here and there.

Good job getting the hdmi cable to fit! It can be frustrating but it's very fulfilling to build your own PC, plus you can save some cash 

Let us know your thoughts once you get everything configured.


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

Here is a pic which was the problem as you can see to the far right hdmi in that i have snipped it out with tin snips and then bent it with pliers to break it of otherwise i would have had to use a hack saw and put too much vibration through the case and components that are already installed.


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

I am running windows 7 64 bit and with my Bluray Disc Drive i recieved a media suite 8 software package which consists of Power dvd 9 BD, power2go 6.1LEP, Power director8.0HE,power producer5.0 BD, instant burn 5.0 standard. When i install this media suite software bundle it always has problems either registering or installing in general and it freezes up. What could be the story with this. I have installed other programs with no problem at all, its just tthis cyberlink software i am having probs with.


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

If you can run the installer exe as an administrator (right click). You could also try running with the XP compatibility mode.


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

Infrasonic said:


> If you can run the installer exe as an administrator (right click). You could also try running with the XP compatibility mode.


 I tried that and for some reason it didnt work. Anyways, i installed that program on my daughters computer instead and no probs at all. I on the other hand had a good excuse to buy the "cyberlink power dvd 12" for bluray playback and have downloaded it from cyberlinks website for $92.00 and i must say it plays back video and audio just great with all the dts-ma you would need. I havnt connected the computer up to the dennon AVPA1HDA yet as i need a hdmi cable long enough to reach and will be running it through the celing and down the wall.I have tested the bluray blayback on my computer monitor and it works great. I recomend this software if you havnt got it already.I used windows dvd maker for the first time today and was pleased with what it did. It took awhile to encode the movie file but did a splendid job with the finished product.


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

I finally configured my video card and sound card with my denon AVPA1HDA Processor and all went great after a few attempts at tweeking it all up and i must say amazing sound and picture as good as any dedicated sourcs i have listened to.The Auzentech sound card manual was a big help and made things easy after i decided to read it(stupid me) and the dtsma audio which i recieved was second to none. I was actually listening to crystal clear sound. The auzentech home theatre sound card is just magic. As for the video cards manual, it was unexplanitary and showed very little in how to connect to an amp of any sort.But the picture it produced was stunning i must say. I have included a screen shot of Thor in 7.1 dtsma and the temparary set up until i get my HDMI lead that is long enough. The picture of the screen shot does not do it justice, but from inside my theatre here it looks great. What you see in that screen shot is only 1080i not 1080p.With a new projector that is in the pipeline things will only get better. But overall its a great starting point for what i am going to achieve. I am going to do some comparisons with my ps3 and other dvd bd sources and try to see the differences between them. The connections consisted of "Projector dvi to denons monitor 1 output via HDMI" with dvi to hdmi cable+ " Soundcards hdmi output to dennons hdmi input"+ "videocards dvi output to soundcards hdmi input with dvi to hdmi cable.It seems now that the hard work is mostly done.I went into the "power dvd 12s settings and only used the basics to play the bluray content and left the rest to the soundcard and the denon and videocard only. The subwoofer worked the same as it does no matter the source and never had to touch it. The tricky part was the videocard to the sound card, but once that i decided to read the manual it all made sense.


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

here are the pics


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## megageek (Oct 27, 2011)

Far out!! That mother board looks wicked!!


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## megageek (Oct 27, 2011)

Just curious, whats your windows performance index? 7.9?


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

megageek said:


> Just curious, whats your windows performance index? 7.9?


 All i need is an ssd and away i go


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## megageek (Oct 27, 2011)

Yep! Mines stuck at 5.9 too!!


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

Looking good grassy!

Just to confirm your external physical connections: you have an HDMI cable going out from your videocard into your sound card then another HDMI cable from your sound card to your Denon correct?

Not that you need it but if you want an SSD I would highly recommend the Samsung 830.

Congrats again on the sweet system! :thumb:


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

Infrasonic said:


> Looking good grassy!
> 
> Just to confirm your external physical connections: you have an HDMI cable going out from your videocard into your sound card then another HDMI cable from your sound card to your Denon correct?
> 
> ...


Thanks infrasonic,Yea thats correct, the tricky part of that setup was running the dvi to hdmi cable from video card to the sound card, at first i just couldnt get my head around it. I tried an optical from the soundcard to the dennon but couldnt get dtsma and then i decided to look at the soundcards manual and then it all came together. I thought that i would explain and point out to everyone in this thread how i did it as informed guidence on this topic explained is rare to find and most people including myself find it hard to explain the question properly due to lack of knowelege. As far as the SSD goes i will take a look at the samsung for sure and will keep that in mind.

Sent from my iPad using HTShack


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

Thanks for confirming. I figured that's how it should work but I've never worked with those components before, all of my stuff is much older!

My only other question would be if the videocard could bitstream the dtsma to the receiver by itself (using the HDMI port without the soundcard in the computer) and whether there would be an audible difference. But that would be a pain in the rear to test so don't worry about it!


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

Infrasonic said:


> Thanks for confirming. I figured that's how it should work but I've never worked with those components before, all of my stuff is much older!
> 
> My only other question would be if the videocard could bitstream the dtsma to the receiver by itself (using the HDMI port without the soundcard in the computer) and whether there would be an audible difference. But that would be a pain in the rear to test so don't worry about it!


Great question, i never looked at it that way but i will definately give it a go and see what happens. I will keep you posted.

Sent from my iPad using HTShack


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

Ok, i did some tests and found that the video card(Nvidia gtx 690) can bitstream high def through hdmi to get dtsma. To add to that i just had to use 1 lead which was a dvi(video card) to hdmi (denon). Also i had to go into my sound settings through the nvidia control panel and tick the "Nvidia hdmi output) as you can see in the pic. Amazingly though i did detect a noticible difference in volume especially as the sound card test and the nvidia test volume settings were the same, and from my ears and the wifes ears the sound card had a more detailed and louder edge than the video card. The video card was really good but the volume was a noticible difference. I guess the more dedicated you go in this instance the cleaner the sound also. The video was the same and there was no changes in that department. Both demos were of the same movie "THOR" in 7.1 with dtsma as you can see in the pic.At first i thought it might have been a waste of time getting the sound card, but after swapping the demo back and forth between the 2 cards the sound card was well worth buying. Note to that there was a difference combined with the system i am using and can only go by my system and not everyones system is the same as mine. Also too we need to take into account that my denon is a processor not an amp and that a seperate amp was used with it also. How they could compare running to a intergrated reciever might change one way or the other.I am really not one to split hairs, but in this case i think your question which was a fair question has been answered to the best of my ears. So yes, it can bitstream direct to the processor without the sound card.:wave: The cable in the pic was the cable that originally went from the video card to the sound card and was not used in the video card demo as i didnt want any interferance between the two demos.


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

Thanks a lot for checking!! 

I was very curious about that and couldn't find anything online other than the specs of the videocard which made it seem like it was possible. Obviously we know now that it is possible and there is an audible difference when not using a dedicated soundcard.

I had thought that if it's only sending the digital bitstream and not using any sort of DAC on the computer side the audio should be the same but that's not the case. Very good to know! Looks like i'll have to spend on a nice sound card like that one in the next year or so when I build a new computer. 

Thanks again for your help and time! :clap:


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

Not a problem at all, infact i enjoyed doing it. Eventually at some point in time i would have come across a situation like this and then i would be left wondering if it was possible.


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

Any chance youll be testing the 7.1 analog output for comparison to the hdmi multi channel ??:whistling:


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

RTS100x5 said:


> Any chance youll be testing the 7.1 analog output for comparison to the hdmi multi channel ??:whistling:


 Thats definately on my list shortly, i am in the process of shuffling a few things around and will definately do it soon, just bear with me and i will keep you posted for sure.


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## 8086 (Aug 4, 2009)

_Your choice of CPU is one I would like to critique_ because it is out of date and the newer IVY Bridge chips are out. Not only are they faster than the CPU you link in the opening post, but the chips which end with the letter K are well adapted for video transcoding, decoding, and playback. My recommendation is an LGA1155 3570k for $190 at microcenter (no shipping) or $240 at newegg.com. Its a much cooler runnign chip (which means much less noise), it has a higher IPC rate than the sandy bridge architecture, and has a higher clock speed. It's really a fools choice to buy a slower obsolete CPU at a ridiculous price. 

For video cards, I would go with AMD (ATi) which historically has more experience and better quality with 2d decoding than nvidia, its cheaper too. Nor do you need to spend much of a video card to decode blu-ray. Less than $100 will do and there are some fanless models made for HTPC use. As for audio, ASUS makes a few XONAR cards intended for HTPC and I would certainly give those a good hard look. As for the OS, Windows Ultimate and in a retail box to make upgrading your HTPC less costly and less painful than an OEM disc.


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

8086, I think grassy's goal was to build a Best-of-the-Best system, not a powerful system on a budget. I wouldn't say his CPU is out of date, it's the best Sandy Bridge chip on the market and is faster than the best Ivy Bridge chips in a lot of aspects. Check out some of the benchmarks here.

You mentioned AMD who do make some great cards but have lost the top spot to Nvidia, did you notice he didn't buy a $100 card?

Would I build a system like he did? No. But that's only because money is my limiting factor. He built a powerhouse that can play any game at max settings for years to come.

You could probably give great advice to those budget HTPC builders on this site but this machine is a completely different animal.


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

Infrasonic said:


> 8086, I think grassy's goal was to build a Best-of-the-Best system, not a powerful system on a budget. I wouldn't say his CPU is out of date, it's the best Sandy Bridge chip on the market and is faster than the best Ivy Bridge chips in a lot of aspects. Check out some of the benchmarks here.
> 
> You mentioned AMD who do make some great cards but have lost the top spot to Nvidia, did you notice he didn't buy a $100 card?
> 
> ...


 Thats correct infra, what you are saying is of great importance to me as i have saved my pennies for a while and because of that i had no issues with the wife on the amount of money i have spent.(hehehe) This was my very first build, but it was never really a gamble as i knew i would get the most out of this system that i can possibly get, which i am going through the process of doing now through the learning experience. I have a friend of mine coming over soon as he runs a high end home theatre shop/ buisness and we are going to get into the anolog side of things and give it a good test soon.I spoke with him on the phone yesterday and told him of my experience with this soundcard and the quality it produced, so now hes coming over.Most of my experience has been over HDMI and i know very little about analog compared to my mate, but between the two of us i recon we could give the sound card a good test. I have to purchase a couple more cables first though. Its good to spend the money if you can get the most out of what you buy. I'm attacking this home theatre caper from all angles.(hehehe)I Just love home theatre:wave:


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## 8086 (Aug 4, 2009)

Infrasonic said:


> 8086, I think grassy's goal was to build a Best-of-the-Best system, not a powerful system on a budget. I wouldn't say his CPU is out of date, it's the best Sandy Bridge chip on the market and is faster than the best Ivy Bridge chips in a lot of aspects. Check out some of the benchmarks here.
> 
> You mentioned AMD who do make some great cards but have lost the top spot to Nvidia, did you notice he didn't buy a $100 card?
> 
> ...


Most current generation low end video cards are more then sufficient for video playback. If he isn't going to game on the system, then I don't see the point. Generally HTPCs are for audio and video playback. A cheaper card will use less energy, output less heat, and can be passivly cooled to keep noise levels to a minimum. 

But if gaming is part of his goal, then sure a good graphics card is certainly in order. As for the CPU, the 15mb cache certainly is nice but its also 3x the price of the best ivy bridge for only a marginal improvement in performance. Best bet, is to go ivy now, then put the $650 you saved aside and wait for intels next tick for a tock then drop in a new processor. Engadget reported a 14 or 15 core ivy bridge due out some time soon.

Personally, even if I can afford it; I don't see it being worth the $700 premium for a small performance margin in only a few areas. For HTPC, IVY bridge used 128w max vs 211 for Sandy Bridge and 229 for the AMD FX8150. Its not going to be a quiet theater. 
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5626/ivy-bridge-preview-core-i7-3770k/9


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## grassy (Aug 25, 2011)

8086 said:


> Most current generation low end video cards are more then sufficient for video playback. If he isn't going to game on the system, then I don't see the point. Generally HTPCs are for audio and video playback. A cheaper card will use less energy, output less heat, and can be passivly cooled to keep noise levels to a minimum.
> 
> But if gaming is part of his goal, then sure a good graphics card is certainly in order. As for the CPU, the 15mb cache certainly is nice but its also 3x the price of the best ivy bridge for only a marginal improvement in performance. Best bet, is to go ivy now, then put the $650 you saved aside and wait for intels next tick for a tock then drop in a new processor. Engadget reported a 14 or 15 core ivy bridge due out some time soon.
> 
> ...


 Hi 8086, Your quite right most low end video cards are more than sufficiant for video playback and most of the general public would not even think about buying a high end video card, but i have the gtx 690 and its there when i need it. As far as gaming goes thats another avenue i have to look forward too but believe me i will be testing it out. Your also quite right when you say Home theatre pcs are for audio and video playback but what about home theatre gaming surely that falls into that category with the sound card and video card that i have. Check out the specs on the Auzentec home theatre x-Fi HD soundcard and see what it says about it for gaming.The sound card has it covered. Yes, and home theatre pc's are for audio and video playback and that is why i have temmed it up with the best possible components that i can afford and this includes my dennon processor and other products that i have. I look at it this way, if i was to go fishing i would not take a small whippy rod with a massive reel on it , so instead i would match the hatch so to speak. And thats basically what i so far have achieved with this system.The dennon processor that i have demands the best gear available otherwise i then would not be justifying the money spent on the dennon. Really why on earth would i go the other way.(hhehe)I believe once you start something one way finish it the same way.Dont get me wrong this isnt about wasting money its about getting something that you have worked hard for as thats the way i see it. On the other hand you might see it different. On the point of it not being a quiet theatre i can understand where you coming from on paper or in logical terms, but i can assure you now that i can hardly hear this computer at the moment and when a disc goes in your quite right it wont be a silent theatre unless the movie decoding permits it. As far as the ivory bridge is concernd, yea i supposed i missed out by not waiting a little while longer, but then thats the game we are in and thats how this game goes there is always going to be something else coming out that is better or there is always "but what if?" or "you should have," it never ends. But with the system i have now i dont have to worry about that because i have pleased my little soul and the wife is happy.A happy wife a happy life. Thanks for your comments.


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