HTPC i7 Setup (£1500 limit) sense check

JohnnyAceIsAce · 19 Jan 2009 at 14:15

Basically I am looking to build an i7 HTPC rig. Will mostly be used for gaming and playing DVDs/Blu-Ray etc. Looking to spend about £1500. Here is the spec I've put together:

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
EVGA GeForce GTX 295 1792MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (017-P3-1291-AR) £369.99
(£425.49) £369.99
(£425.49)
Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail £219.99
(£252.99) £219.99
(£252.99)
Corsair 6GB DDR3 XMS3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz (3x2GB) Triple Channel DDR3 (TR3X6G1600C9) £158.99
(£182.84) £158.99
(£182.84)
Gigabyte EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £149.99
(£172.49) £149.99
(£172.49)
Silverstone Lascala LC13B HTPC Case - Black (No PSU) £76.99
(£88.54) £76.99
(£88.54)
Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103UJ) £68.99
(£79.34) £137.98
(£158.68)
Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU £65.99
(£75.89) £65.99
(£75.89)
LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray Reader & HD-DVD ROM Serial ATA Drive - Retail £62.99
(£72.44) £62.99
(£72.44)
Logitech Cordless 1500 Rechargeable Desktop - OEM (920-000538) £26.99
(£31.04) £26.99
(£31.04)
Compro VideoMate DVB-T100 Digital TV Internal PCI - Retail £21.99
(£25.29) £21.99
(£25.29)
Belkin F5D7051UK 125Mbps Wireless USB 2.0 Network Adapter £19.99
(£22.99) £19.99
(£22.99)
Compro K100 Remote Control Upgrade Kit - Retail £17.99
(£20.69) £17.99
(£20.69)
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) £5.99
(£6.89) £5.99
(£6.89)
Sub Total : £1,335.86
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DHL Select Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £14.99
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £202.63
Total : £1,553.48

I've got a few of questions regarding the setup. The first being does it make sense to use the Silverstone Lascala LC13B HTPC Case? Is it going to be able to handle the thermal output of the setup above? And if so, what would be the best aftermarket CPU cooler? Is it worth considering a water based solution? Any other general comments regarding the rest of configuration also appreciated.

Conan257 · 19 Jan 2009 at 16:31

I'd go for the Antec htpc case if you want one of that size... its got better cooling than the silverstone.... You could also watercool using this case...

If you dont overclock, i'd stick with the stock cooler for now, there is little in the way of small i7 coolers around.

Ranger07 · 19 Jan 2009 at 18:17

Thats a lot of money for a HTPC, are you not better to build a cheap HTPC for Movies etc and have a seperate gaming PC?

Think of the power that thing will use and the heat it will kick out, not to mention the noise.

JohnnyAceIsAce · 19 Jan 2009 at 21:44

Ranger07 said:
Thats a lot of money for a HTPC, are you not better to build a cheap HTPC for Movies etc and have a seperate gaming PC?

Think of the power that thing will use and the heat it will kick out, not to mention the noise.

Was thinking more along the lines of building an all-in-one gaming/htpc using my 46" LCD as the monitor....

May change the case for a midi tower in order to solve the heat issue and slam either a water cooler or a big heatpipe job on the CPU then clock it to 4.0 and roll...

benwoodcock · 19 Jan 2009 at 21:47

I would definitely consider an E8400 and a separate i7 build.

TheRedZealot · 19 Jan 2009 at 21:49

I would change the case to something like an antec 300 and get a TRUE

JohnnyAceIsAce · 19 Jan 2009 at 22:01

TheRedZealot said:
I would change the case to something like an antec 300 and get a TRUE

Yeah.. That's exactly what I was thinking... Plus beef up the motherboard... Get the Extreme version of the Gigabyte...

Katoom · 19 Jan 2009 at 22:03

And a dual tuner TV card

AWPC · 19 Jan 2009 at 22:08

JohnnyAceIsAce said:
Yeah.. That's exactly what I was thinking... Plus beef up the motherboard... Get the Extreme version of the Gigabyte...

Extreme is a waste of money unless you are using water cooling. If your not bothered about SLI & Crossfire the motherboard you have chosen is fine otherwise save a bit and go for the UD5 as it does both SLI & Crossfire. Also GTX295 is probably overkill as you only get the full benefit above 1920x1200 & I presume you do not have a display capable of 2560x1600 so go for a GTX285 instead and save a bit otherwise 4870X2 is also a good choice although a little noisy.

JohnnyAceIsAce · 20 Jan 2009 at 09:11

AWPC said:
Extreme is a waste of money unless you are using water cooling. If your not bothered about SLI & Crossfire the motherboard you have chosen is fine otherwise save a bit and go for the UD5 as it does both SLI & Crossfire. Also GTX295 is probably overkill as you only get the full benefit above 1920x1200 & I presume you do not have a display capable of 2560x1600 so go for a GTX285 instead and save a bit otherwise 4870X2 is also a good choice although a little noisy.

Looking to play Crysis at 1900x1200 at a reasonable framerate. You recon GTX 285 should be sufficient?