Your media PC (photos and info!)

Zardon · Nov 5, 2009, 01:49 PM

Well im a massive media junkie so I thought id share a few messy photos of my media PC(s).

In shot you see the CRYO we reviewed recently, and its hooked up to a NAS system (QNAP 639 pro) with 6x2TB hard drives over a belkin 16 port GIGABIT switch.

In shot you see part of my panasonic 600hz Plasma which is off, and an additional LG screen for downloading my files and general use (seems daft having a huge plasma on all the time unless im watching movies).

Attached is a Graham Slee SOLO AMP which is a mid way point between the on board Creative XFI which feeds a pure signal to the MAKO speakers I use for MP3's and general use. im not a massive follower of 5:1/6:1/7:1 systems so this is what I selected.

To the left is a PS3 and an ESATA Raid 0 drive with 2x2TB storage for local HD downloads and under that is a 2TB LACIE backup drive with all my music on it (around 95,000 MP3s to date I think). Just out of shot under that is a Silverstone Raven 2 which is also hooked into the plasma which is a Phenom 965BE based system with 285 2GB card and GTS250 for physX (keyboards and mice are sitting on it). 8GB of 1600mhz ram and inside that is a 2TB HD with an intel 160GB M25 new revision for the boot drive.

You can also see a fully pimped out mac mini above the media center which is used sometimes, but not so often now and out of shot are a few more PC's.

Anyway id like to see what you guys have at home for media.

Cow_160483 · Nov 5, 2009, 02:10 PM

Holly hell thats 1 sweet system you have there Z , as for me my media PC is my main rig

nothing special specs to the left

Bolletje · Nov 5, 2009, 02:55 PM

You forgot your Xbox 360 :o

Well, not that a media junkie here, but I'm having a Celeron 430 (E5200 tomorrow) and a 9500GT. It can do 1080p, but my television isn't that good. It's a 42" Full HD LCD; Xbox 360 displays 1080p just fine, but with my PC attached the screen gets blurry

niceguyrichy · Nov 5, 2009, 03:21 PM

well the media setup looks nice

but thats a rubbish mirror..

I'm not jealous, really

***craig5320*** · Nov 5, 2009, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by niceguyrichy

well the media setup looks nice

but thats a rubbish mirror..

I'm not jealous, really

I don't think that's a mirror, unless a Brian May lookalike is sitting in his lounge, look closely.

**MIG-31** · Nov 5, 2009, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by niceguyrichy

well the media setup looks nice

but thats a rubbish mirror..

I'm not jealous, really

I can't see whos in the frame but thats now mirror..

niceguyrichy · Nov 5, 2009, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craig5320

I don't think that's a mirror, unless a Brian May lookalike is sitting in his lounge, look closely.

thought that was Allan..

SeraphicSorcerer · Nov 5, 2009, 03:42 PM

LMAO nice guy.....

Nice setup, I expected more HD space really, 6x2GB? Or terabytes?

Zardon · Nov 5, 2009, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeraphicSorcerer

LMAO nice guy.....

Nice setup, I expected more HD space really, 6x2GB? Or terabytes?

Glad I don't leave near you if they still sell 2GB hard drives ! fixed the typo smartass

moshpit · Nov 5, 2009, 11:56 PM

Sweet setup. My media PC is the cast offs of my last PC, not so hand picked like yours is. In fact, my media center is more of a re-tasked mid-range gaming machine then anything else

Takaharu · Nov 6, 2009, 11:09 AM

I built one for the household a while ago as a cheap alternative for a Blu-Ray player (with more features). It's been upgraded by a part or two here or there.

Processor: AMD X2 3800
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M61SME-S2
RAM: OCZ RAM Memory (2x1024) Platinum Series DDR2 800MHz, decreased to 1GB, upgraded to 2x 2GB DDR2 800MHz
HDD: Western Digital 160GB SATA-2, changed to 250GB IDE (first one died)
Soundcard: Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro 7.1 (using optical out)
Graphics: Sparkle GF 8500 GT, upgrade to Sapphire 4350 (if memory serves), as the Sparkle card wasn't HDCP
Optical Drive: BD-ROM drive
Case: Colors IT case 8027 with 400W PSU
OS: Wnt between XP MCE, XP Pro, Vista Home Premium and settled on Windows Vista Ultimate x64 (as it was spare after Win7 arrived)
Screen: 52" Panasonic Viera
Speakers: Onkyo TX-SR507 Amp with Kef KHT3005SE 5.1 surround speakers

isaak · Nov 7, 2009, 03:52 AM

I was avidly into media centre PCs for a while...I think this thread is a good idea

Takaharu...I was going to order those KEF speakers... How are they?

Brilliant setup Zardon, my dream to have everything hooked up to a NAS and all computers/media centres accessing it... very jealous

SeraphicSorcerer · Nov 7, 2009, 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

Glad I don't leave near you if they still sell 2GB hard drives ! fixed the typo smartass

you know I <3 ya Allan

In all seriousness they still sell 2 GB scsi drives around here, but I knew you had to mean 2TB

But... My media/file server is currently down, as the motherboard decided to fry, it's only got 3 Terabytes max space on 14 Total Drives, so I plan to upgrade it to 4x2 TB with a AM3 board, and the 955 I have in this machine and get a new C3/4 stepping for my gaming rig.

Judas · Nov 7, 2009, 04:25 PM

i still have a bit of a mess at home as i've yet to find a decent desk/shelf combination that suits my needs, and will fit the cosmos 1000 in it, WHILE fitting the xbox/wii/modem/router/and other devices including the UPS where i can see and access them all nicely.

However the Overhead projector is nice to EVEN if it's only 720p. It's nice to watch things on a properly painted wall @ 126-146+ inches.

Still pushing the 8gb PC8500 ram, Phenom II x4 940, Asus M4A79 Deluxe, HD4870x2, 320gb hardrive with 750gb Seagate Freeagent Sata/USB drive, Blu-Ray Drive, and still haven't pulled the Corsair 1000 watt out of the case to send it away... i gotta get on that.

Takaharu · Nov 8, 2009, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by isaak

Takaharu...I was going to order those KEF speakers... How are they?

Pretty decent; high-quality with HD sound, couldn't ask for more unless you're an audiophile. However, they do rely a lot on their amp. Also, I don't know if it's common knowledge but those speakers didn't come with their own speaker wire; that was already owned.

comp_ali · Nov 10, 2009, 04:21 PM

Media PC , you mean anther computer for viewing media , Nope . Only one computer for everything .
I wish I had like this badass though

DJ BIG T · Nov 10, 2009, 05:45 PM

z i love the set up man...

your my new buddy so when are you going to send it to me..lol jk

Takaharu · Nov 10, 2009, 11:53 PM

A MAC, a Buffalo Terastation, a laptop and three mice? Sod the rest, that puts me off.

I like the choice in games consoles, though, as well as the décor (except for the awkward seating position). Very strange sound system setup they've got...

**Mousey** · Nov 11, 2009, 01:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by comp_ali

Media PC , you mean anther computer for viewing media , Nope . Only one computer for everything .
I wish I had like this badass though

What's with the guns? Watching a movie with that guy? Do not want

IvanV · Nov 11, 2009, 06:32 PM

No films? Maybe a football match would be more after your taste?

Zardon · Nov 11, 2009, 09:24 PM

made a few changes to the internals of the media PC - the same Cryo one I reviewed here a few weeks ago (and is in the picture at the start of this thread).

I swapped out the overclocked 275 GTX for a 2gb 285 GTX.

I added a 1GB Gainward GT220 as a dedicated physX card and nicely enough it fit perfectly beside the 2GB 285 GTX and the GT220 just fell shy of the start of the fan on the 285 GTX so it gets perfect air flow - its also handy as it doesnt need any PCI power leads. As you know I was using a 92mm fan stuck over the northbridge, but while I had the sides off the little silverstone chassis I put a couple of diodes on the memory and the mobo on the CPU side of the GFX. the temps were quite high (70c ish), so I took out the 92mm fan, and decided to try one of the swiss designed, white, 120mm arctic cooling fans they sent us recently. I fed the little header cable under the graphics cards and to the only free header on the mobo and managed to get the actual fan part past the H50 between the 285 GTX and mounted it with a little zalman bracket so it is just above the head of the H50, pointing downwards directly over the NB heatsink and pipes but will disperse a lot of airflow over the capacitors.

Mobo temps are down about 15c, NB is about 53c now as well and so much air is getting hammered across the mobo that the 285 GTX has even dropped about 5c to around 49c Idle.

It is all still surprisingly quiet. just audible from about 2 feet distance, but whisper quiet. Not bad for a 920 I7 @ 4.15ghz with two graphics cards, 6GB of DDR3 @ 1600mhz and a few terrabytes of storage.

comp_ali · Nov 11, 2009, 09:44 PM

Quote:

I put a couple of diodes on the memory and the mobo on the CPU side of the GFX

Temp sensors for fan control ?

Zardon · Nov 11, 2009, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by comp_ali

Temp sensors for fan control ?

no they are individual diodes attached to a hand based sensor. they are used for monitoring, not really intended to be used inside a chassis 24/7 - useful to get accurate readings from specific components then you can adjust the build to improve the situation.

isaak · Nov 12, 2009, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

made a few changes to the internals of the media PC - the same Cryo one I reviewed here a few weeks ago (and is in the picture at the start of this thread).

I swapped out the overclocked 275 GTX for a 2gb 285 GTX.

I added a 1GB Gainward GT220 as a dedicated physX card and nicely enough it fit perfectly beside the 2GB 285 GTX and the GT220 just fell shy of the start of the fan on the 285 GTX so it gets perfect air flow - its also handy as it doesnt need any PCI power leads. As you know I was using a 92mm fan stuck over the northbridge, but while I had the sides off the little silverstone chassis I put a couple of diodes on the memory and the mobo on the CPU side of the GFX. the temps were quite high (70c ish), so I took out the 92mm fan, and decided to try one of the swiss designed, white, 120mm arctic cooling fans they sent us recently. I fed the little header cable under the graphics cards and to the only free header on the mobo and managed to get the actual fan part past the H50 between the 285 GTX and mounted it with a little zalman bracket so it is just above the head of the H50, pointing downwards directly over the NB heatsink and pipes but will disperse a lot of airflow over the capacitors.

Mobo temps are down about 15c, NB is about 53c now as well and so much air is getting hammered across the mobo that the 285 GTX has even dropped about 5c to around 49c Idle.

It is all still surprisingly quiet. just audible from about 2 feet distance, but whisper quiet. Not bad for a 920 I7 @ 4.15ghz with two graphics cards, 6GB of DDR3 @ 1600mhz and a few terrabytes of storage.

You've just made me even more jealous

A media PC with a GTX285

Zardon · Nov 13, 2009, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by isaak

You've just made me even more jealous

A media PC with a GTX285

Might put a 5870 in it over the weekend if I get time. Not sure though, its a bit long, might be a bit tight.

comp_ali · Nov 13, 2009, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

Might put a 5870 in it over the weekend if I get time. Not sure though, its a bit long, might be a bit tight.

Playing DX11 games , maybe Dirt2 or something

Zardon · Nov 13, 2009, 08:42 PM

Hey maybe even the 5970 ! (review next week btw but sssh).

Lowfat · Nov 13, 2009, 09:21 PM

specs are under HTPC in sig.

Running Beyond TV for HD PVR. And XBMC for my media front end. However I have MPC as the actual playback software.

However my TV (and $1200 in blurays) were stolen this past Monday, so it really doesn't look like this anymore.

Tyrsonswood · Nov 13, 2009, 10:00 PM

Bummer on the theft lowfat, hope insurance covers some of that for you.

comp_ali · Nov 14, 2009, 09:06 AM

That's sad man , hope you get atonement.

Nov 5, 2009, 01:49 PM	#1
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,481 Rep Power: 162	Your media PC (photos and info!) Well im a massive media junkie so I thought id share a few messy photos of my media PC(s). In shot you see the CRYO we reviewed recently, and its hooked up to a NAS system (QNAP 639 pro) with 6x2TB hard drives over a belkin 16 port GIGABIT switch. In shot you see part of my panasonic 600hz Plasma which is off, and an additional LG screen for downloading my files and general use (seems daft having a huge plasma on all the time unless im watching movies). Attached is a Graham Slee SOLO AMP which is a mid way point between the on board Creative XFI which feeds a pure signal to the MAKO speakers I use for MP3's and general use. im not a massive follower of 5:1/6:1/7:1 systems so this is what I selected. To the left is a PS3 and an ESATA Raid 0 drive with 2x2TB storage for local HD downloads and under that is a 2TB LACIE backup drive with all my music on it (around 95,000 MP3s to date I think). Just out of shot under that is a Silverstone Raven 2 which is also hooked into the plasma which is a Phenom 965BE based system with 285 2GB card and GTS250 for physX (keyboards and mice are sitting on it). 8GB of 1600mhz ram and inside that is a 2TB HD with an intel 160GB M25 new revision for the boot drive. You can also see a fully pimped out mac mini above the media center which is used sometimes, but not so often now and out of shot are a few more PC's. Anyway id like to see what you guys have at home for media.

Nov 5, 2009, 02:10 PM	#2
Cow_160483 HH's only cow moooooo... Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: BOTSWANA Posts: 4,770 Rep Power: 157 System Specs	Re: Your media PC (photos and info!) Holly hell thats 1 sweet system you have there Z , as for me my media PC is my main rig nothing special specs to the left __________________ Decode! Muhahahahah!

Nov 5, 2009, 02:55 PM	#3
Bolletje HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 1,204 Rep Power: 62 System Specs	Re: Your media PC (photos and info!) You forgot your Xbox 360 :o Well, not that a media junkie here, but I'm having a Celeron 430 (E5200 tomorrow) and a 9500GT. It can do 1080p, but my television isn't that good. It's a 42" Full HD LCD; Xbox 360 displays 1080p just fine, but with my PC attached the screen gets blurry

Nov 5, 2009, 03:42 PM	#8
SeraphicSorcerer HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Florida Posts: 2,221 Rep Power: 135 System Specs	Re: Your media PC (photos and info!) LMAO nice guy..... Nice setup, I expected more HD space really, 6x2GB? Or terabytes? __________________

Nov 5, 2009, 11:56 PM	#10
moshpit DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Pit, pit, pit, in the pit! Posts: 71 Rep Power: 41 System Specs	Re: Your media PC (photos and info!) Sweet setup. My media PC is the cast offs of my last PC, not so hand picked like yours is. In fact, my media center is more of a re-tasked mid-range gaming machine then anything else __________________ Ci7 860/8Gb Patriot Viper/EVGA P55 SLI/2x HIS Radeon 5870 CrossfireX/2x Patriot Torqx 128G/750Gb ES.2 Ci7 920@3.6Ghz/6Gb Corsair DDR3 1600/GA-EX58-UD3R/ATI Radeon HD 4870/4x 750Gb Seagate ES.2 (Media Center) C2Q Q6600/4Gb G.Skill Pi Black DDR2 800/IP35 Pro/EVGA 8800GTS 640/2x 200Gb SATA Caviar (wife's rig)

Nov 6, 2009, 11:09 AM	#11
Takaharu I can fart in 7 languages Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: England, UK Posts: 186 Rep Power: 11 System Specs	Re: Your media PC (photos and info!) I built one for the household a while ago as a cheap alternative for a Blu-Ray player (with more features). It's been upgraded by a part or two here or there. Processor: AMD X2 3800 Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M61SME-S2 RAM: OCZ RAM Memory (2x1024) Platinum Series DDR2 800MHz, decreased to 1GB, upgraded to 2x 2GB DDR2 800MHz HDD: Western Digital 160GB SATA-2, changed to 250GB IDE (first one died) Soundcard: Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro 7.1 (using optical out) Graphics: Sparkle GF 8500 GT, upgrade to Sapphire 4350 (if memory serves), as the Sparkle card wasn't HDCP Optical Drive: BD-ROM drive Case: Colors IT case 8027 with 400W PSU OS: Wnt between XP MCE, XP Pro, Vista Home Premium and settled on Windows Vista Ultimate x64 (as it was spare after Win7 arrived) Screen: 52" Panasonic Viera Speakers: Onkyo TX-SR507 Amp with Kef KHT3005SE 5.1 surround speakers __________________ I don't get paid to know the answer, therefore I'm far more likely to give you a straight and honest answer.

Nov 7, 2009, 03:52 AM	#12
isaak HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 1,440 Rep Power: 42 System Specs	Re: Your media PC (photos and info!) I was avidly into media centre PCs for a while...I think this thread is a good idea Takaharu...I was going to order those KEF speakers... How are they? Brilliant setup Zardon, my dream to have everything hooked up to a NAS and all computers/media centres accessing it... very jealous __________________ Q9450 @ 3.2GHz ~ P5K Pro ~ 6GB @ 961MHz ~ 4870 512MB ~ 60GB Vertex SSD + 1.32TB ~ Antec 650W ~ CoolerMaster HAF932 Intel Atom 330 @ 1.6Hz ~ Zotac IONITX-G-E ~ 2GB @ 800MHz ~ nVidia Ion ~ 1TB ~ Generic 300W ~ Custom Lego

Nov 10, 2009, 04:21 PM	#16
comp_ali Sniper Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Egypt Posts: 6,154 Rep Power: 161 System Specs	Re: Your media PC (photos and info!) Media PC , you mean anther computer for viewing media , Nope . Only one computer for everything . I wish I had like this badass though

Nov 10, 2009, 05:45 PM	#17
DJ BIG T DH FaN BoY Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: ORLANDO,FL Posts: 908 Rep Power: 56 System Specs	Re: Your media PC (photos and info!) z i love the set up man... your my new buddy so when are you going to send it to me..lol jk __________________

Nov 10, 2009, 11:53 PM	#18
Takaharu I can fart in 7 languages Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: England, UK Posts: 186 Rep Power: 11 System Specs	Re: Your media PC (photos and info!) A MAC, a Buffalo Terastation, a laptop and three mice? Sod the rest, that puts me off. I like the choice in games consoles, though, as well as the décor (except for the awkward seating position). Very strange sound system setup they've got... __________________ I don't get paid to know the answer, therefore I'm far more likely to give you a straight and honest answer.

Nov 11, 2009, 06:32 PM	#20
IvanV HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 3,692 Rep Power: 104 System Specs	Re: Your media PC (photos and info!) No films? Maybe a football match would be more after your taste? __________________ Feed the porkers and don't touch the buttons!

Nov 11, 2009, 09:24 PM	#21
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,481 Rep Power: 162	Re: Your media PC (photos and info!) made a few changes to the internals of the media PC - the same Cryo one I reviewed here a few weeks ago (and is in the picture at the start of this thread). I swapped out the overclocked 275 GTX for a 2gb 285 GTX. I added a 1GB Gainward GT220 as a dedicated physX card and nicely enough it fit perfectly beside the 2GB 285 GTX and the GT220 just fell shy of the start of the fan on the 285 GTX so it gets perfect air flow - its also handy as it doesnt need any PCI power leads. As you know I was using a 92mm fan stuck over the northbridge, but while I had the sides off the little silverstone chassis I put a couple of diodes on the memory and the mobo on the CPU side of the GFX. the temps were quite high (70c ish), so I took out the 92mm fan, and decided to try one of the swiss designed, white, 120mm arctic cooling fans they sent us recently. I fed the little header cable under the graphics cards and to the only free header on the mobo and managed to get the actual fan part past the H50 between the 285 GTX and mounted it with a little zalman bracket so it is just above the head of the H50, pointing downwards directly over the NB heatsink and pipes but will disperse a lot of airflow over the capacitors. Mobo temps are down about 15c, NB is about 53c now as well and so much air is getting hammered across the mobo that the 285 GTX has even dropped about 5c to around 49c Idle. It is all still surprisingly quiet. just audible from about 2 feet distance, but whisper quiet. Not bad for a 920 I7 @ 4.15ghz with two graphics cards, 6GB of DDR3 @ 1600mhz and a few terrabytes of storage.

Nov 13, 2009, 08:42 PM	#27
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,481 Rep Power: 162	Re: Your media PC (photos and info!) Hey maybe even the 5970 ! (review next week btw but sssh).

Nov 13, 2009, 09:21 PM	#28
Lowfat HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Grande Prairie, AB, Can Posts: 4,079 Rep Power: 72	Re: Your media PC (photos and info!) specs are under HTPC in sig. Running Beyond TV for HD PVR. And XBMC for my media front end. However I have MPC as the actual playback software. However my TV (and $1200 in blurays) were stolen this past Monday, so it really doesn't look like this anymore. __________________ 27" iMac: i5 750 * 80GB X25-M G1 * 4GB DDR3 * HD4850 Workstation: i7 920 * 80GB ioXtreme * 30GB Vertex * 9GB DDR3 * 8800GTS * 1000W Antec * CM Stacker 832 * 2BDROM + 2HDDVD

Nov 14, 2009, 09:06 AM	#30
comp_ali Sniper Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Egypt Posts: 6,154 Rep Power: 161 System Specs	Re: Your media PC (photos and info!) That's sad man , hope you get atonement.