if not mistake, ur specs can only can get dts & dolby digtal sound not dts hd sound.
if u want dts hd sound u need

option 1 - asus xonar 1.3 sound card
option 2 - ati 5 series graphic card

using hdmi to get the dts hd sound.

His HTiB cant decode DTS-HD via HDMI input so no need to consider your option..

if HD audio isn't considered and not a gamer, and looking just to play 1080p mkv then by all means, an RM300 media player would suffice.

hi gurus and sifus, need recommendation on building a htpc. my budget is rm1500-2000.

my htpc is for playing MKV, youtube, surfing and PPS, that's all. =)

No pun intended but its like walking into shop and asking a salesman what he have for sale

In order to build a htpc, there are various factors to take into consideration. What sound system your running now? HiTB or AVR? What output do you need? HDMI or Composite? Optical or Bitstream? What future upgrades you looking at? You need to do a little research then ask the correct questions.

BTW all your requirements are already answered in all the previous post. Take some time to browse thru the past post then ask again with the proper questions. As for your question, anything spec will suffice in doing that. Thats all

forgot to mention, my video output will be hdmi and for sound will be spdif via toslink.

Guys - any good speaker cables and cost per feet? I'm going to do wiring for my 10 feet x 15 feet tv room. The cheaper the better...

Core i5 530 + Gigabyte H55M-UD2H + 2GB RAM + 1.5TB HDD + China ATX Casing + 400W PS + DVD Burner = RM17++

Outputs will be HDMI(Video), Optical(Sound).

Future Upgrade = DD TrueHD / DTS MA Bitstream capable AVR (thru HDMI), Bluray drive for BD playback.

Core spec will be able to handle most of your req there and future upgrade to support DD TrueHD and DTS MA is in place if you wanna upgrade your HT set. Hope this fits your budget

any particular reason in selecting core i5 when core i3 is enough?

My final decision (already back to intel) will purchase it within next week

INTEL CORE I3 530 (390) + Asus P7H55-M (300) (using the iGPU) + 2gb x 1 (170)

and the casing should be either one
4-a) E-SuperCase Series Micro-ATX
4-b) Cooler Master Elite 360

future update if needed ATI 5 series (HD audio bit streaming)

jalan pasar got plenty of pink color speaker cable veli cheap

Based on your budget, dont you wanna get the best hardware possible?

the core i3 paired with h55 is able to do hd audio bitstream. you don't need the ATI 5 series GC.

nope.
i'm gonna choose the lower end of the core series which could do bitstream (core i3-530) since the extra clockspeed won't improve the decoding performance (if software decoding is used) and won't affect anything if hardware decoding is used.
the lower clockspeed reduces the heat output, thus reducing the fan speed and noise.

the saved budget will be used to get the most important part in (any) HTPC (media library):
STORAGE.
RM300 saved is another 1.5TB of storage. i already have 6 and fully filled 5 of it.


then again, my requirement might not be the same as everyone.

so far away to get pinky wires. I'm going to window-shop at hardware store or the Car Hifi shops to get some quotes. Think of getting the white-colored cable pair. Luckily my wireman could not come today to rewire my tv room.

True that most ppl have different requirement from their HTPC. As per yikyeou request, i just provide a spec to match his budget. How he wants to change it is totally up to him.

For me, Processor play a bigger role than Storage cause occasionally i do some video/sound editing/authoring so the extra speed comes in handy. My HTPC is more like a transformer , when hooked up to my Monitor i use it to do general work, when hooked up to my AVR it transforms into a Media HTPC.

P.S Iam using Acer 6935G notebook as my workhorse and HTPC. Windows Vista for general work and XBMC for Media HTPC purpose.

This post has been edited by netherlord: May 22 2010, 02:53 PM

where can i get biostar am3 ddr2 785g board?
very hard to find lah..
need am3 ddr2 x 4 slots...785g...if anybody can recommend anything below 300..
tq...

Some info on cheap speaker cables:
1. The kinda thick cable pair with transparent plastic cover cost around RM45 for 40m per roll at Hardware shop. That will be around RM1.13 per metre.
2. One of the cables at specialist hifi shop that look the same as cable at hardware shop in #1 cost you RM5 per metre. But they provide you good buying experience lah .... aie-conditioned shops, can demo, give you reverse osmosis water etc. hehehe...

make sure that the core conductor is of heavy gauge. most cheap cables look big, but actually it's the insulation that's thick but with small core.

Yesterday, i managed to complete my HTPC setup.
p7h55m-i3-stock hsf(not bad)-2gb ram-1tb ram-powerlogic allegra 500. So evrything working fine, the only thing is. How can i disable the sound from HDMI, just let it go through spdif home theater set.

Show us ur new HTPC ~~