I love putting together new computers and if you have been reading my reviews you know that one of my recent projects was to put together a Home Theater PC (HTPC) using the MSI Media Live case. We all know that version 1.0 never works out the way we expect, so there must always be a 2.0. This time around I am building the HTPC using a different case, motherboard and adding an additional tuner card. I have chosen to use the Antec Fusion Remote Black case, the GigaByte GA-MA78GPM-DS2H motherboard, and the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 tuner card.
Features
Each part that goes into an HTPC is very important because it must serve a specific purpose. For this reason I chose very specific parts. For the case I chose the Antec Fusion Remote Black. For the motherboard I chose the GigaByte GA-MA78GPM-DS2H. Finally, for the TV tuner card I am using the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250. If you haven’t already, I recommend that you read the reviews I did of each individual part. I am also reusing the CPU and tuner card from the MSI HTPC that I built earlier.
Performance
By this point you should have read all the other reviews and familiarized yourself with all the features and parts. The only thing left to do is put it all together and use it.
As I mentioned before, this case it taking the place of my old MSI Media Live case, so I am using much of the hardware from that machine, the only thing I had to add was a motherboard and power supply (PSU). Putting everything into the case is fine, I did not have any trouble with cables being too small or with pieces not fitting.
Install Complete
As far as power goes I used an Antec EA 380 PSU. This has an 80 PLUS power supply, which means that it is very efficient and because it is only 380 Watts it uses a very small amount of power. I chose this PSU because the HTPC will be running 24/7 and I want it to use the least amount of power as possible. As you can see from the images below, this machine uses between 80 and 90 watts, which is well under the 380 Watts that are available. This means I have a lot of room to grow.
Idle Power
High Load Power
With everything put together I am left with only one thing to do, it is time to install Windows Vista and try it out. This is my first time using Vista in an HTPC, so I was curious to see how it compared to XP Media Center. The interface is quite a bit different, but as far as I am concerned, the basic functionality is the same. It still has a two analog and two digital tuner limit which is extremely frustrating. There is also some additional functionality, like internet video, that does not affect the ability to schedule, record and watch TV.
I could go through a bunch of benchmarks and give you all sorts of numbers to show how fast the system is, but the point of building an HTPC is not to get the fastest machine, it is to get one that works. I am happy to say that the HTPC does work, and it works really well. I am able to watch and record TV shows in both standard and high definition. I can utilize all 6 of my tuners at the same time without any system slowdowns. I am very happy with this setup and have not yet found anything to complain about.
Warranty and Support
Because this is a do-it-yourself project you have to provide your own support and hopefully you bought parts that had their own warranties.
Conclusion
I am really happy with the parts that I have used this time around. I don’t foresee the need to change anything unless a new operating system comes out that has much higher requirements. For now this setup should last me a long time.
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I like your Kill-A-Watt EZ. Where did you get it? I looked up in amazon and it’s $26.
Doug
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I have had it for a couple years and I don’t remember where I got it. I usually buy from NewEgg or Amazon so I am sure it was one of those. If you can get it for $26 then you are getting a good deal. When I got mine they were quite a bit more expensive.
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Are you able to get ATSC sub-channels with this tuner and software?
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I have not had any trouble receiving any ATSC channels, including the sub channels. I have not used the Hauppauge software because I use Windows Media Center for TV watching and recording.
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I wonder if the Antec /Imon IR system(like Fusion remote case/ Multimedia Station-(Front Panel Bay Devices)) works with Microsoft MCE remote keyboard. I see mention of MCE2005 support but that could just mean the OS/driver. I know the earlier Imon IR reciever did not do RC6 /MCE 2005/Phillips remotes/keybrd but later ones did, from Imon(as per their site). It has made me unsure and i can find nothing to help me. I have tried adapting several Microft IR recievers from remote kits and modding them into 3.5 inch SD/CF/MMC card readers with a handmade internal usb cable (ugly and no nice fits). I see enlight UK had a similar design the unit must be out of production or vaporwear.. I want to use several older htpc cases with the nice antec front panel vfd/ir reciever for some bling.. Any thoughts?? Have you tried an RC6 microsoft remote with the fusion remote case? I think the Xbox360 uses the same remote i speak of, as well. Thanks and sorry to stray of topic so much.
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How much RAM do you have in the system? Also, it appears from your Windows 7 review that you installed it on this machine. Are you still using it at all? Any impressions now that it’s been out for a while and download servers are presumably turned on?
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I put 2GB of RAM into my HTPC.
About Windows 7, I am thrilled about some of the new features, like raising the tuner limit to 8, but I am frustrated by others, like the WTV file format. If Microsoft updates older operating systems so they can also play WTV files then that issue will go away.
I am not using it at the moment because of the WTV issues. I often will watch the TV programs that I record on other computers, and with Windows 7 that is not possible.
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Hi Ryan,
I’m building an HTPC with the Antec Fusion case and wondering what hard drive you used. I’m considering the Western Digital 1TB drives (Black-WD1001FALS vs Green-WD10EADS) and am trying to resolve the speedier vs cooler tradeoff.
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If I were you, I would choose the green drive. Since HTPCs are usually left on 24/7 I think the savings in power would be well worth the slight loss of performance.
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Agreed. Just wondering if the cache and speed on the Black drive makes any diff when using the hard drive as a dvr for recording off the tv
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If you have more than one tuner or you plan on streaming to multiple devices at the same time then the extra cache and speed will be useful.
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OK, that’s what I figured. Going to explore a bit more on the Black model’s heat levels. I probably WILL use a double tuner card or the equivalent, and it will be quite possible that 2 displays might be involved. I’ll let you know if I get useful add-on info about this. Thanks again.
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