Budget HTPC build for my mum!

SouthEastBlue · 24 Feb 2011 at 13:30

Been asked to spec a cheapy PC that would be connected to my Mums Panasonic Plasma TV, with the budget of around £200 or just over.

Half the items below are from OCUK, the other half from another component site. Prices are rounded off.

Items from Overclockers UK:

Coolermaster Elite 430 Case and 500w power suppy £65
4GB OCZ Platinum DDR3 ram £29
Seagate Barracuda 500GB hard drive £28

Items from elsewhere:

Athlon II X3 445 3.1Ghz £58
Biostar A780L3L 760G (on board HD3000 GFX) £36
Nexos 2.4Ghz wireless media keyboard with touchpad £18

Total £234

PC will just be used for web browsing, kids java/flash games, youtube, maybe DVD playback with the possibility of maybe adding a Bluray drive.

Does the above build look adequate for the money, and will the onboard graphics on that motherboard be OK for HD content @ 1080p? I'm assuming Plasma TVs are fine with PCs connected up? I haven't had a proper look at it but it was a fairly recent and pricey TV so assumed it would be up to the job.

Tythus · 24 Feb 2011 at 13:44

You can watch HD on it and yes the TV should be fine as long as it has a HDMI or something like it there also.

edGfaCTor · 24 Feb 2011 at 15:58

That setup will be fine have you thought about adding a blu-rau drive in they are cheap now and what made you choose that case there are smaller cases you could have gone for.

SouthEastBlue · 24 Feb 2011 at 16:32

Cool as long as the on board graphics can handle all video content then it should be good enough, no other proper gaming will be done or anything that too complicated.

I forgot to put an optical drive on the list of parts anyway, so will have a look at Blu Ray drives otherwise I'll just use the cheapest black DVD-RW I can find.

Thanks for the replies.

Oh and only chose that case as Coolermaster make decentish cases, and the PSU is semi decent. Is there any other combo for cheaper that is reliable/decent build quality? Was looking at Antec Earthwatts 380w 80+ Bronze PSU's for under £40, but couldn't see any decent cases although I only had a quick look.