Piracy!
Piracy in the digital age – An essay about piracy in the digital age. Is it really that bad?
The WWW is not the internet!
A real geek should know the difference, do you? Learn the difference and stop being a n00b.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silent HTPC build guide: Pt VI – RAM, GPUs, & HDDs
Posted on December 1, 2012 by Jingles | No Comments
Flash back time, Pt I of this guide covered deciding what you want in a HTPC, Pt II was all about building vs buying, Pt III was about cases, in Pt IV we covered cooling fans, and Pt V covered motherboards, CPUs, & CPU coolers. This time in Pt VI we look at RAM, GPUs, & HDDs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silent HTPC build guide: Pt V – Motherboards, CPUs, & CPU coolers
Posted on November 30, 2012 by Jingles | No Comments
So far this guide has covered deciding what you want in a HTPC in Pt I, then Pt II was all about building vs buying, Pt III covered cases, then in Pt IV we covered cooling fans. Now in Pt V I’ll cover motherboards, CPUs, & CPU coolers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silent HTPC build guide: Pt IV – Fans
Posted on November 29, 2012 by Jingles | No Comments
In Pt I we nailed down what we wanted from our HTPC, then in Pt II I looked at building vs buying, and Pt III was all about choosing the perfect HTPC case if you chose to build. This time in Pt IV of this HTPC build guide it’s all about fans, what too look for, and which fans to choose.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silent HTPC build guide: Pt III – The case
Posted on November 28, 2012 by Jingles | No Comments
So Pt I of this HTPC build guide covered nailing down what you want from your HTPC because that will help you in Pt II of the guide which was all about deciding whether to build or buy. If you have chosen to build then you will have the fun task of shopping for some sweet new kit, one of my favourite things to do. Today in Pt III it’s all about cases and what to consider when looking for the perfect HTPC case.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silent HTPC build guide: Pt II – To build or buy?
Posted on November 27, 2012 by Jingles | No Comments
In Pt I I discussed nailing down what you want your HTPC to do because that is going to help you decide whether to build or to buy which is today’s topic in Pt II of this HTPC build guide.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silent HTPC build guide: Pt I
Posted on November 26, 2012 by Jingles | No Comments
This post is the first post in a series on building a silent HTPC. Over the next 8 days I’ll post the rest of the guide in parts. This guide is meant to be an introduction to building a silent HTPC with off the shelf parts.
First I want to clarify what this guide is and isn’t, what it hopes to teach you and what it won’t teach you. This guide is aimed at helping you plan your HTPC build by teaching you how to choose the best parts for the build regardless of whether you have built a PC before or not. I am going to assume that you have a basic understanding of the parts that make up a PC and how to build a PC, if not then you have some more research to do. Building a HTPC is no different to building a normal PC, the only difference is part selection, hence this guide won’t cover building or setting up your HTPC, those topics are for future posts. There are plenty of great how to guides on building a PC on the internet, just ask your favourite search engine how to build a PC.
What this guide will cover is:
Building vs. buying a HTPC and what to consider when deciding whether to build or buy.
What to look for when choosing parts for your HTPC.
Things to consider and tips to help you build a silent or ultra quiet HTPC.
In this first part we look at what you want to do with your HTPC, this will help you plan your build and choose your parts later.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Actively cooled HTPC chassis round-up
Posted on October 31, 2012 by Jingles | No Comments
If fans don’t drive you bat sh!t crazy and you want a high quality actively cooled HTPC case then I might just have something for you for you. I have saddled up my metaphorical horse and rounded up some of the best actively cooled HTPC cases about.
The usual suspects like Silverstone and Lian Li do have some pretty sweet HTPC cases but they are not the only ones that can make some sweet cases.
Origen AE, Wesena, and Moneual probably aren’t the first names that you think of, or names that you think of at all unless you are a HTPC enthusiast. Which is a bit strange as their chassis are every bit as good, if not better, than any of Silverstone’s or Lian Li’s offerings. [Read more...]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A real HTPC?
Posted on October 28, 2012 by Jingles | No Comments
Recently I have been thinking about what constitutes a HTPC? I mean what makes a real HTPC? Is it the way a PC is configured, is it the things it can do? Is it the way it’s used? Is it combination of the afore mentioned things? Is there even such a thing as a real HTPC?
HTPC is a generic acronym that means different things to different people so first lets define what a HTPC is. At it’s most basic a HTPC is a pre or custom built PC (usually a desktop PC, although SFF, and ultra SFF PCs are becoming more popular as HTPCs) that lives in the living room or entertainment area, is connected to a large wide screen TV, and is used primarily for media duties like playing movies, music, pictures, streaming audio and video etc…
I think it is fair to say that any computer that can be connected to and display content on a large wide screen TV or a projector could be called a HTPC. Ergo a HTPC is defined by how a PC is used.
So if we define a HTPC by the way it’s used then you could say that any custom or pre built built PC, like Foxconn’s Nano PC, a Dell, HP, or a Lenovo desktop is a HTPC. Even if the PC wasn’t built for HTPC purposes it can still be used as a HTPC to fulfil the role of a HTPC although it may not preform as well as a PC built specifically for HTPC duties. Even a laptop, a tablet, even a smart phone could be considered a HTPC although these devices aren’t commonly used as HTPCs.
A real HTPC isn’t a thing, a real HTPC is merely what you think it is. What makes a real HTPC depends on what you want in a HTPC, if you want a HTPC for streaming media to the TV but don’t care about PVR or DVD/Blu-ray DVD playback then you could call a Foxconn Nano PC a real HTPC. What is a real HTPC to one person might be just another PC to someone else. Personally I don’t consider a HTPC to be a real HTPC unless it can perform PVR duties, play DVDs, and Blu-ray DVDs as well as all the other usual tasks like paying videos, music, pictures etc… But that’s just because of the requirements that I have for a HTPC.
Ultimately there is really no such thing as a real HTPC, just different HTPCs, some better than others but HTPCs none the less.
What is a HTPC to you? What do you think makes for a real HTPC?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-Tech Fabrication 2800HP HTPC chassis review
Posted on October 21, 2012 by Jingles | 6 Comments
Back in 1989 PCs came in beige boxes, ASUS was founded, Intel introduced their Socket 1 486DX processor which ran at a blisteringly fast 25 MHz! And A-Tech Fabrication was born. The young A-Tech Fabrication started out life specialising in designing and building state-of-the-art suspension systems and shock absorbers for high performance off-road racing vehicles.
Fast forward to 2001 and A-Tech Fabrication sprung (pardon the bad suspension pun, dad jokes ahoy!) their first HTPC case on the world, the Heatsink 3000. It was designed and built specifically as a HTPC case. The Heatsink 3000 was one of, if not the first proper HTPC cases built, there was nothing else like it at the time. It featured a built-in Touch-Screen Display, a VFD Display, an Infrared Receiver, DVD Control Buttons, and a volume/control knob. Bare in mind this is 11 years ago, in 2001 when Windows Media Centre wasn’t even a thing and HTPCs were nowhere near as popular as they are today. A-Tech Fabrication was ahead of it’s time. Fortunately, unlike other pioneers that were ahead of their time, A-Tech Fabrication still exist today and still makes the most awesome HTPC cases I have seen. Since the release of the Heatsink 3000 A-Tech Fabrication have built up a small but excellent range of high end HTPC/set top box, storage/NAS cases, even an Xbox 360 case.
Today I’m going to be looking at A-Tech Fabrications passively cooled HeatSync 2800HP Mini-Client HTPC chassis. [Read more...]
Tags: 2800HP > A-Tech > A-Tech Fabrication > HTPC > passive cooling > passively cooled PC > review > Silent HTPC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HTPCs in 1997
Posted on October 12, 2012 by Jingles | No Comments
It’s time for another Friday flashback, grab your jelly babies, don your scarf and jump in the TARDIS, today were going back to 1997. HTPCS were officially a thing in 1997 after the term was coined in 1996.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Donate!
Please donate if you enjoy Kulture and dig what I do. It takes time and work to hook you up with all of this awesomeness and free stuff. I need to pay for my web hosting some how and they want cash, apparently love and gratitude isn't an accepted form of payment.
Currently reading
"Where Wizards Stay Up Late" is the exciting story of the pioneers responsible for creating the Internet.
Buy Where Wizards Stay Up Late now from Fishpond & get FREE shipping!
Checkout my other recommended reads.
Your author
I'm Jingles, I'm like the Keith Miller of geeks, i.e. an all rounder, I'm a web scientist, an A+ certified (it means I'm not a “noob”) computer technician, and this is my blog. I'm your curator of all things awesome, cool and geeky on and off the net. More...
Kulture RSS feed
Subscribe to the Kulture RSS feed and never miss a post!