new hardware

[stustunz]

has not crashed yet
im liking the dual core and the new video card no more fse happy about that
now i have 5 tuners all going at once (3 analog 2 digital) sweet

yeah i know what your saying about blaming the crashes on not doing fresh install
i didnt think it would go as smooth as it did the biggest problem was getting the mouse to work but once that was going i just loaded the system board drivers and the video driver the tuners all loaded back up on their own
the only other driver was the imon (lcd display)
and the extra tuner had to download driver for that (it had not been in the machine due to lack of pci slots )

it runs cool/quiet the fans are hardly even turning (controlled by system board)
the layout of the board is way better than my last systemboard the cables just seemed to be in the right places apart from the case fan plug but you cant have it all

[HtV]

Congrats, I must say I'm a little surprised that it went so smooth. Even chipset-drivers etc must have loaded fine. Now find the time to watch it all.

Hans

[Lindsay]

Good one. Not really surprised it worked w/o a fresh install. The dual processors make such a difference in responsiveness.

Happy hunting.

[krypton_john]

thinking of upgrading

q1 anyone now of a good motherboard with 4 pci slots or just a good motherboard (not interested in onboard video so dont go there thanks)

q2 do i need a quad core or will a dual core do ?

q3 intel or amd ?

any other thoughts on what makes a good STABLE!!!! system

i now its all been asked before but this way i can ask questions that suit me

Hi Stustunz,

I was thinking about one of the ASUS m2n mobos with the hdmi+component video onboard. Just looking to save money and maybe power and noise. Is there something about onboard video like this I should avoid for a GBPVR server?

Cheers
JohnO

[stustunz]

only reason i dont like onboard is cause then you are tied into that video card and basically thats what makes a good htpc in my opinion
and considering the 8600gt only cost about $160 for a great card that can do pretty much any video out there at the moment its cheap
as for mother board i just wanted one with the most pci slots and no stupid small fan on the motherboard
as a bonus this motherboard is well layed out has gigabyte lan 7.1 surround sound and dynamic range of the sound is way better than last board
and man it runs cool the case fan isnt even going half the time(controlled by system board)
unless you can get nvidia 8500 onboard video then i wouldnt do it thats just my opinion

the reason been is the 8500 and the 8600 are the best cards on the market at the moment for htpc other than the 9600 but $$$$$ for no real gain

as for ati cards i had 2400hd man it ran hot and the picture was no good but others say the 2600 is a good card but once bitten twice shy