Htcp using current pc parts

ScBHavoK

ScBHavoK

ScBHavoK

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Joined
24 Mar 2009
Posts
152
Location
Newcastle Upon Tyne
Hi im after knocking up a htcp/Living room friendly pc with the parts i have in my current pc
(built 4-5 years ago).
I dont really play games just a bit photo editing, browsing and movies so the above has served me well so far.

My specs are: Asus M4A88TD-V evo/usb3 880g am3 atx mobo
Amd Phenom 2 X4 955 black ed 3.2G
4 GB Corsair XMS3
G force 8800GT
Samsung spinpoint F3 1 Tb sata2 Hd (os)
Sony Dvd rw
Coolermaster GX650w Psu ( i think 80 bronze cert?)
Currently in a Coolermaster CM690 2 Case
Windows 7 HP 64 Bit

Im unsure on a case at the minute but do like the look of the silverstone cases aswell as Cooltek G3
I would like to upgrade the Hd to a ssd and possibly up the memory to 8Gb?

Does anyone think these parts would be ok for what i need? anything you would change/add

Thanks
 
Looks fine, 4GB is fine for a home theatre.
8800GT will do 1080p
Just want it to be quiet.
Quiet cooler?
Fanless PSU?
Isolate your HDD's
 
mickyflinn said:
Just checked the spec of the Cooltek G3 and all your parts will fit in it.

Thought they might it's the biggest of this type of case iv looked at.
Thanks

http://www.cooltek.de/en/jonsbo-powered-by-cooltek/g3/151/g3
Click to expand...

jpod said:
Looks fine, 4GB is fine for a home theatre.
8800GT will do 1080p
Just want it to be quiet.
Quiet cooler?
Fanless PSU?
Isolate your HDD's
Click to expand...

I just used the stock cooler supplied and it seems pretty quiet
(nothing to compare with)

Not sure on the Psu could you recommend one? At the time was bundled with the case

Not sure what you mean by isolating my hd? I was planning on getting a ssd (recommendations welcome!)for the operating system.
I not long bought an external 1 tb hd i intended to use that for storage. Unsure wether to use the Samsung hd at all? (Another external maybe)

I would still like to upgrade my memory as they seem quite cheap now. I currently have 2 2gb sticks I believe there is still two free slots so might get the same again to double it to 8gig? Unless recommended otherwise

Wasn't sure on the graphics card but pleased to hear you think it will be fine. One less expected cost!

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Hi

PSU - I have old Silverstone fanless PSU's which I have used in the past. If you have a noisey PSU fan and want it quieter you can look in the 'less than 450W' psu section.

I like Seasonic, look for long warranties and you could go fanless if you want as quiet as possible, they are expensive.

With a fan https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=ca-020-ss&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2462

without
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=ca-299-sv&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2462

personally (i am old school and a rookie by the way) i would just use a large conventional hdd. it's a home theatre pc and i don't do anything fast and you can set it to standby. save your cash and don't bother with a ssd. fill up your massive hdd with music and movies.

you can isolate the hdd from the metal case - i use elastic cord to suspend the hdd so the ticking and vibration is kept to a minimum, google it.

personally you are not going to see any more performance paying music or vids with 8gb compared to 4gb. put the £40 quid towards something else :p

sure that card is fine for 1080p, you can get silent cards too.

i like foobar for playlists (mp3 and flac)
http://www.foobar2000.org/

and vlc for vids http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.en_gb.html

You may like something like this, never got round to using it http://kodi.tv/

My pal uses a remove too, never explored that.

Finally if you have a mega hifi you could consider adding a soundcard.
 
jpod said:
Hi

PSU - I have old Silverstone fanless PSU's which I have used in the past. If you have a noisey PSU fan and want it quieter you can look in the 'less than 450W' psu section.

I like Seasonic, look for long warranties and you could go fanless if you want as quiet as possible, they are expensive.

With a fan https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=ca-020-ss&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2462

without
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=ca-299-sv&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2462

personally (i am old school and a rookie by the way) i would just use a large conventional hdd. it's a home theatre pc and i don't do anything fast and you can set it to standby. save your cash and don't bother with a ssd. fill up your massive hdd with music and movies.

you can isolate the hdd from the metal case - i use elastic cord to suspend the hdd so the ticking and vibration is kept to a minimum, google it.

personally you are not going to see any more performance paying music or vids with 8gb compared to 4gb. put the £40 quid towards something else :p

sure that card is fine for 1080p, you can get silent cards too.

i like foobar for playlists (mp3 and flac)
http://www.foobar2000.org/

and vlc for vids http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.en_gb.html

You may like something like this, never got round to using it http://kodi.tv/

My pal uses a remove too, never explored that.

Finally if you have a mega hifi you could consider adding a soundcard.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

I think my first step is getting my current parts in the new case and see how quiet it is and go from there.

I originally thought SSD for qquietness aswell as speed but I'm gonna look into what you said about isolation of current hd ( I think it's the noisiest part of my tower)

Thanks again
 
New case came yesterday and iv transferred all components into it. Everything seems to work as it should! Thought I'd have to reinstall windows but didn't have too which was a bonus

Seems very crammed! Pretty much impossible to have any cable management due to the layout
Ran it for a couple of hours streaming a 1080p movie and temps were 45oC cpu and 38oC mobo. This seem ok? Only one case fan 120mm next to the cpu blowing heat out I believe

In a previous comment someone mentioned hdmi. The graphics card installed only has Dvi output so using dvi to hdmi cable
Wonder if it's worth pulling out the graphics card and using the onboard gfx as it has a hdmi output? And will aid with cooling and noise?

On another note how do you upload pics again?

Thanks
 
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