Building an HTPC - AGP, PCI Cards and Connections

There's no special order to installing PCI cards and your AGP graphics card, but there are some tricks to getting the best possible performance out of the configuration.

AGP Graphics Cards

We recommended the use of a GeForce4 MX440 card. This is what we felt to be a good 'bang-for-buck' card that will provide decent VGA performance at a bargain price. For those desiring to spend a little more for the best and acquire something that can be used for capturing and playing back CATV, we recommend an ATI Radeon AIW 9700Pro or 9800Pro series. The ATI All-In-Wonder cards include an RF jack and integrated TV tuner for use as a CATV [playback/capture] card. There are also some incredible HD cards available now which include scan doublers, etc. Depending upon your setup, your mileage may vary.

One thing to note when installing your video card is that you may want to leave the adjacent PCI slot open. On several motherboards this PCI slot will share an IRQ with the video card, not to mention that it often reduces air flow to the video card's heatsink/fan.

PCI Audio Card

With respects to Audio, we recommend a budget solution of the SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 OEM card. This card has SPDIF output through a 1/8" mini jack on the back of the card. Simply use a 1/8" stereo mini jack to stereo RCA and enable SPDIF digital output on the card to send AC3-encoded signal out the card and into your receiver's coax digital input. These 16-bit cards will pass Dolby Digital 5.1, 6.1, DD EX, DTS and DTS-ES signals. For those seeking a 24-bit audio solution, feel free to upgrade to the Audigy2 line of products. There are more selections and manufacturers of course, including the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz and the M-Audio Revolution, and we encourage you to work with a solution you are comfortable with. If you are determined to have a solution that features optical TOSLink SPDIF, you want to look into getting an Optical Digital I/O Card II from SoundBlaster. It will work with both SB Live! 5.1, and Audigy2 cards.

In selecting a PCI slot for your audio card, we would recommend placing it in the last PCI slot (farthest from the AGP). This usually (but no, not always) results in the sound card receiving its own IRQ, or at least one separate from the video card, resulting in reduced bottlenecks. I have found the basic SB Live! 5.1 OEM card to be more than adequate for sending digital signal to my receiver for decoding DVD content.

Step Six: Making Connections

When making connections, including hard drives, power, USB connectors and the like, the key is accessibility . Start with the most remote, hard to reach connection and work towards the easier to reach connections. In the case of the Vision II, you'll want to connect the VFD serial cable first, followed by the hard drive(s), and then proceed to the CD/DVD-ROM drives. Connecting power to the Vision II can be a struggle as the distance between most strung power connectors is too short to go between two optical drives. We recommend getting an extender for use with one of the drives.

Your HTPC can easily end up looking like spaghetti inside if you use standard cables. If you are a neat freak, it may be a good idea to spring for some round IDE cables and tie wraps.

Step Seven: Hook it up to your system!

Hook it up! This is the easy part. You'll want to plug in the optional VFD to the serial port, running it through the provided opening on the back of the Vision II chassis. For other cases, the rest of the instructions are identical. Connect your VGA output (or S-Video output if you aren't connecting to an HD monitor or projector), the SPDIF output to your receiver's coax digital input (optical if you purchased a breakout box or sound card with a TOSLink connector) and your RJ45 connector to your hub or wireless access point.

Some Nice Extras

If you can manage the extra money, we really encourage you to go the distance and make your HTPC look as good as your other audio gear. As someone who had a PC hooked up to my Reference System for some time now, I can tell you it's an amazing difference, one that I feel is worth the extra money.

With respects to the Vision II, some of the nice extras were the presence of sophisticated audio input and output jacks on the front of the unit as well as a USB port. Each of these came with a standard ATX connector as well as split-out pins for a pin-by-pin connection to legacy or non-standard motherboards. You may want to invest in some round IDE cables - they not only look nicer, but keep your chassis cooler as well by encouraging greater air flow.