Gaming HTPC For Mass Effect 2 and StarCraft II

Captain_Brian · July 2010

I need some advice from people that have tried this sort of thing before...

I've got a 42" 720p Panasonic Plasma with HDMI input and I want to use it to play Mass Effect 2 and StarCraft II at max settings (or max that 720p can handle) with a good FPS.

Form Factor
I'd just want something that is short enough to fit on an entertainment system shelf and something that won't look ugly or out of place.
Was thinking something this size: Antec New Solution NSK2480 Black/Silver 0.8mm cold-rolled steel MicroATX Desktop Computer Case 380W Power Supply

Graphics
This is problematic, not sure if this is possible. I Need something that will run those two games, support HDMI, and it's gotta be quiet, but not water cooled. (Heatpipe cooled maybe?)

EDIT: Found this, looks decent for these games but I'm not sure it'll fit: Gigabyte Radeon HD5750 Silent Cell

Sound
Will be coming from the TV so just basic stereo preferably from the HDMI

I tried a few different setups on newegg and I'm just not sure about the 380W Power Supply being enough or the graphics card fitting into the case properly. Plus I'm not sure if it will even look good at 720p or what the resolution will be (I also want to do some web surfing and programming on it), but I'll be sitting 7-8ft away from the TV if that helps.

Has anyone here attempted a Gaming HTPC recently, and can you give me any warnings\recommendations?

Thanks

Improvolone · July 2010

AVSforum has an intense HTPC thread that every month is updated with suggested builds in different categories.

Captain_Brian · July 2010

I checked out that thread but even though they have "gaming" builds they don't really seem to be very well optimized. All of the builds' GPUs have fans in them and they are either specced out too expensively or just shy of running what I want.

That GV-R575SL-1GI GPU that I found looks great for this use, but I can't find any dimensions on it. Most of the MicroATX cases I found only allow for 10" long graphic cards, but I'm pretty sure this model is longer but I'm not sure.

The other thing I was wondering is the power supply, I really would want to put a corsair in it, but does anyone know if these microATX cases use a special type of PSU, or would a regular corsair PSU fit in it?

GrimReaper · July 2010

I have an AMD 240e cpu and AMD 4550 gpu in mine. The 4550 is the most powerful passively cooled gpu out there at the moment (the 5450 is very slightly less powerful but it has some newer features that the 4550 doesn't)

My HTPC runs very quiet, if I remember correctly the Mass Effect 2 demo ran ok on it at 720p (mine is a 40" 1080p Sharp), I think though you may have to turn down some graphical niceties.

I recently installed Vista on there so I could use DXVA2 on the upcoming XBMC release. So if you like I can stick the ME2 demo on there and do a benchmark with fraps.

Captain_Brian · July 2010

GrimReaper wrote: »

I have an AMD 240e cpu and AMD 4550 gpu in mine. The 4550 is the most powerful passively cooled gpu out there at the moment (the 5450 is very slightly less powerful but it has some newer features that the 4550 doesn't)

My HTPC runs very quiet, if I remember correctly the Mass Effect 2 demo ran ok on it at 720p (mine is a 40" 1080p Sharp), I think though you may have to turn down some graphical niceties.

I recently installed Vista on there so I could use DXVA2 on the upcoming XBMC release. So if you like I can stick the ME2 demo on there and do a benchmark with fraps.

I couldn't find any benchmarks, but spec wise the 5750 seems to be about 4 or 5 times as powerfull and from what I can tell it is passively cooled:
Gigabyte Radeon HD5750 Silent Cell

Though a benchmark would be awesome and would put my mind at ease about performance!

Also, how is web surfing and text editing on 720p?

GrimReaper · July 2010

Captain_Brian wrote: »

GrimReaper wrote: »

I have an AMD 240e cpu and AMD 4550 gpu in mine. The 4550 is the most powerful passively cooled gpu out there at the moment (the 5450 is very slightly less powerful but it has some newer features that the 4550 doesn't)

My HTPC runs very quiet, if I remember correctly the Mass Effect 2 demo ran ok on it at 720p (mine is a 40" 1080p Sharp), I think though you may have to turn down some graphical niceties.

I recently installed Vista on there so I could use DXVA2 on the upcoming XBMC release. So if you like I can stick the ME2 demo on there and do a benchmark with fraps.

I couldn't find any benchmarks, but spec wise the 5750 seems to be about 4 or 5 times as powerfull and from what I can tell it is passively cooled:
Gigabyte Radeon HD5750 Silent Cell

Though a benchmark would be awesome and would put my mind at ease about performance!

Also, how is web surfing and text editing on 720p?

Sorry, thought since it was a HTPC it'd be a low profile case you'd be putting it in. My case is low profile cards only. (the 4550 is the best low profile passively cooled card you can get, a 5750 should annihilate it for performance)

My HDTV is 1080p, so I browse at that res. However, i've set the screen dpi up a fair bit.. which resizes/scales stuff. So, Firefox etc is perfectly usable. For example, the HTPC before was on XP. Whilst you can resize a webpage the user interface is a whole other matter. On XP I had to get the largest theme for Firefox I could find whereas on Vista it scales everything. (except games etc of course)

I'll post a screen shot tomorrow or something.

EDIT: (spoiler because it's 1920x1080)

blackranger3d · July 2010

Improvolone wrote: »

AVSforum has an intense HTPC thread that every month is updated with suggested builds in different categories.

Dude get off PA and get on the AVS forum. They guy who updates that crazy thread is quite nice and answers almost every question that people post.

Penny Arcade

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