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HTPC Version 3
My third attempt at an HTPC. This one has a full ATX mobo, an Athlon XP 1700+, a DVD drive, and some more
junk. All the stuff is housed in a black Dvine 5 case. This case is super sexy. I've considered making
sweet love to it on many occasions. It's almost the perfect HTPC case, except that it's a little noisy
and it only accepts Flex ATX power supplies. I mean, wtf? Flex ATX? Anyway, they (Ahanix) do make a PSU
for this, but it's insanely loud -- probably around 50 decibels. I bought two 60mm Panaflo L1A's and
am running them at 7v volts now. Replacing the internal fan was waaay too difficult, though. 25mm deep fans
dont fit inside, so I tried to mount it on the outside of the PSU chassis. It wouldn't fit there either, due
to case obstruction, so I had to mount it on the rear of the case itself. Combined with a video card cooler
I made out of spare erector set parts and a Zalman flower heatsink, the computer is almost completely quiet.
It's only audible if you put your ear up against the rear of the case itself.
Right now the HTPC does the following:
- Plays animation DVD's
- Plays digital video and audio from the CD drive, hard drive and network shares.
- Emulates a few video game consoles
- Scales video output and does some filtering
- Compiles my Quake III maps : )
Currently I use my XP50 to play regular DVD's only. I really don't like the image it puts out from most animation
DVD's. when I get around to it, I'll migrate all DVD functions to the HTPC.
Also, I use myHTPC for the interface and Zoom Player as the media player.
