HTPC upgrade

Last December the HTPC got a complete makeover, only the case and the PSU were reused. The upgrade was needed to be able to playback HD content. While I was at it, I decided to throw in a Solid State Harddisk. All media is streamed from the server anyway, so there's no need for terabytes of storage on the HTPC.

This is the new setup:

- Greenpower HTPC case GL-1c with VFD display

- ASUS M4A785G HTPC micro ATX mother board, 785G chipset

- 2.8GHz AMD Athlon II X2 240e CPU, socket AM3

- Stock AMD heatsink and cooler

- 2GB memory, Kingston ValueRAM, DDR2, 800MHz, PC2-6400, CL6

- 30GB SSD, OCZ Vertex Turbo Series, 2.5", SATA-300

- Coolermaster PSU 400W

- ASUS BR 04B2T BluRay optical drive, ROM, 4x, Serial ATA, 5.25"

- Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium operating system, English

- Logitech Harmony 655 remote

- MCE USB infrared receiver

- BTC 9029URF III keyboard

Server Upgrade

Today the server got an upgrade: 1.5 TB of additional storage. Installing was a breeze, Windows Home Server takes care of the formatting and adding it to the storage pool.
I chose another Samsung Spinpoint, because I like how silent these are. Soon I'll remove the 160GB Maxtor hard drive from the server, because I don't need a third disk and I want to minimize power usage.

The server setup is now:

• CPU: Intel Celeron 440 2.0GHz, 800MHz FSB
• Mobo: Gigabyte EP35-DS3, Intel P35 Chipset, ATX
• Memory: 1x Kingston Dimm 1GB DDR2 PC2-6400
• Video: none
• Sound: MoBo intgrated
• CPU cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX 2
• HD 1: Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB, SATA, 3.0Gbps
• HD 2: Samsung Spinpoint F2EG 1.5TB, SATA, 3.0Gbps
• HD 3: Maxtor 160GB harddisk, PATA
• Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5
• Power: Medion Power Supply 250W
• OS: Windows Home Server UK
• TV card 1: Hauppauge PVR350
• TV card 2: Hauppauge PVR150

Samsung TV

Finally, I own a digital flatscreen TV. After long and careful consideration I put my money on the Samsung 40B7020. It's full HD, 100Hz. The all new LED backlighting technology results in deeper blacks, a relatively low power consumption and a very thin - only 3 cm - screen. This particular model comes with an ethernet connection and all kinds of network and internet functionality. It's a Media Center in itself!