New Build Advice

[roy]

I've been wanting to put together a new system to replace the first HTPC I built in 2008, to better handle the demands of HD. Been looking at components, then today the Newegg Fathers Day sale included several of the items on my wish list, so Happy Fathers Day to me. My head is spinning from all the choices/reviews of components, so I'm hoping for some advice or comments on my selections from the experts here on this forum. This system will be in the den, for my viewing pleasure on a 20" screen, but primarily to record cable TV and serve two PCH's in the house. I'll use my existing HVR2250 and DCR2650 tuners. This is what I have in my cart:

ASRock A75 PRO4 FM1 AMD A75 Motherboard ($80)

AMD A8-3850 ($100)

G.SKILL Ripjaw 8GB DDR3 1600 ($47)

Corsair 120GB SSD ($80 AR)

Samsung 2TB HD ($100)

Pioneer BD Writer ($80)

Cooler Master GX 450W ($35 AR)

I'm not really sold on either of these cases:
Cooler Master Elite 431 ($50 AR)
Rosewill Challenger ($40)

That's about $570, plus Win7. Any bad decisions there? Is the FM1 MoBo a good way to go? Is the A8 worth it over the A6-3500 ($80). Any suggestions on a nice mid ATX case? Or tell me it's all good so I can pull the trigger.

Thanks!
Roy

[mvallevand]

I am going through the same decision process now, my main Vista system is 5 years old and it's due for an update, before the fall season. For me Intel is ahead because of the way QuickSync is excelling in h264 transcoding http://www.anandtech.com/show/5835/testi...rinity-apu

Martin

[stustunz]

Intel all the way AMD are like a Ferrari with no brakes ............it always ends in tears or blue screens

[roy]

OK, so how about:

Core i3-2120 ($105) on a BIOSTAR TZ77B MoBo ($90)

[mikeh49]

You might take a look at this guide:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1302559/assass...guide#SBi3

His CPU and MB suggestions look pretty reasonable.

I'm very happy with my Intel main HTPC. It just seems "smoother" than the various AMD boxes I've had. But, I've never been really dissatisfied with AMDs either, and they cost less. This box is used for both recording and playback to the TV at 720p.

I think ShiningDragon had a post about the AMD A8 CPUs a while back.

[mvallevand]

You'd get a h/w transcoding but it is a slower Quick Sync then the new Ivy Bridge's . However for playback in an HTPC I don't think the integrated HD2000 will be nearly as good as you'd get with an AMD APU's or even with HD3000 or HD4000 CPU's, so I'd stick with your original choice.

Martin

[roy]

You might take a look at this guide:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1302559/assass...guide#SBi3

His CPU and MB suggestions look pretty reasonable.

That is a very good guide, thanks. I think I'm going with the i3-2120 and the Biostar MoBo, with an Antec 300 case.

[roy]

I built this new system, got the DCR2650 installed and running fine, PCH's connected. Today I pulled the HVR-2250 out of the old box and into the new, but the new system does not see it at all. Manually installed the drivers, but device manager still shows "This device cannot start. (Code 10)" and I can't figure it out.

Old system was Win7 32, new is 64. I've looked in the bios, but can't see anything there to set. Any suggestions to get the system to see this tuner? :confused:

Thanks,
Roy

[stustunz]

Remove all other cards see if its detected then and also try all slots
What size power supply you got?

[pcostanza]

http://www.shspvr.com/smf/index.php?topic=11747.0Long ago I had a similar problem where my 2250 would not show up in my device manager. For some reason, the OS had the wrong hardware ID. I'm not saying you're having the problem but that error code 10 is driver related.
For my problem, see this.
And, make sure you have the latest drivers.