Final spec: thoughts/improvements?

Squidward_not_squidward

Squidward_not_squidward

Squidward_not_squidward

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16 Oct 2008
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So my front room is 50% painted, the new HD TV is ordered and will be here by the end of Nov (its meant to be for xmas so i didnt want it in the house too long due to temptation :)). I gots my money stacked up and ready.

PC is for HD media centre viewing on my new TV in the front room. Needs to play games at a reasonable level. needs to be QUIET!

I ran an answer in the "spec me" thread and ive taken that and made a few personal adjustments:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.83GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor

Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express)

Silverstone Grandia GD01B-MXR HTPC Case - Black

Asus P5E-VM HDMI Intel G35 Micro-ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit

Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache

Enermax Modu 82+ 425W EMD425AWT Modular ATX2.3 Silent PSU

Compro VideoMate Vista T500F DVB-T Hybrid Internal PCI TV Tuner

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2

HP dvd1070i 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black)

Noctua NF-R8 80mm Silent Case Fan - x 4


So a few hows, whys and questions:

(1) Quad core vs Dual core: I build a new system once every 3 - 4 years so futureproofing is more important than performance. Also with games using the GPU more and more i figured a good GPU would cover a lot of bases. I have a small concern that adding *** Quad will mean my PSU is not sufficient?

(2) Dropped a 1tb HDD to help cover the quad and GFX, figured meh i can always get another later.

(3) what soundcard with this? I just cant decide. Xonar?

(4) This doesnt really need buying until just before xmas should i buy now or wait?

thanks for taking the time to reply in advance :D

Squiddy
 
I think that PSU needs bumping up to a 500 or 600W.

425W probably is enough in real life, but I'd want the extra headroom.

Also, you don't want a 1TB HDD as your boot drive.

A 320GB or 640GB would be much better. Keep the 1TB for storage.
 
I'd say that that psu wasn't powerful enough.

Also, if you want quiet, I'd change the cooling on the gfx card if I were you.
 
 
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