HTPC AGAIN arrgh!

[SiriusB]

*sigh* Right, this is the last time I ask for speccage on a HTPC.

In case none of you remember last thread basically my brother wants a PC that he can use to watch movies and tv on and view other media such as photos and have internet access.

His budget is JUST £330 quid and he will not budge on that, ie he wont spend more than my proposed spec below. Now luckily for you guys monitor is NOT included in the spec, nor is a CD/DVD-ROM.

He is pretty set on the case so assuming there isn't anything fundamentally flawed with it you may not need to spec a PSU either - assuming the one in the case is adequate.

Here is what I have chucked together and I think it is pretty good - gonna have to do some measurements to make sure the cooler fits though.

MB-098-AB Abit NF95 GeForce 6100 Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-098-AB)
£38.95 £38.95
CP-117-AM AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) (CP-117-AM)
£64.95 £64.95
MY-005-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL)
£54.95 £54.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£14.95 £14.95
HD-018-SA Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-018-SA)
£44.50 £44.50
CA-021-AN Antec Aria Micro ATX Cube Case - 300W PSU (CA-021-AN)
£59.50 £59.50
Subtotal £277.80
VAT £48.62
Total £326.40

So what do you guys think? Just to make a point, the mobo needs to be Micro ATX if you aren't changing the case. Also, if you decide to change the case it has to be another one of similar size - in the very least no taller.

SiriusB

 

[Logan09]

Seems a decent spec. I would go for the Asus A8N-VM CSM Micro ATX mobo instead of the Abit one as it has GeForce 6150 as it has support for HD hardware decoding. You could also consider the Antec Minuet or Overture cases as an alternative to the Aria, as they'd fit in better with A/V gear(although you'd probably have to change the cooler if you did - not sure it'd fit).

If he wants to save money then 1GB is not essential for a HTPC, 512MB woul be fine.

 

[semi-pro waster]

I'd probably agree on changing to the Asus motherboard as I think overall the chipset is slightly better. I think the specified cooler will be fine in terms of height but since it is a retail CPU and you presumably aren't going to be overclocking much(if at all) then the retail cooler will be ok to use to maintain the overall cost because the Asus is a tad more expensive.

 

[squiffy]

looks ok, need ir remote/receiver also.

 

[Lanz]

The freezer 64 wont fit in a Aria case, you're limited on what type of heatsink.

Im using a Arctic Cooling Silencer 64 Ultra TC CPU Cooler in my Aria, it just about fits (if you offset the fan a bit)

 

[SiriusB]

Okay thanks for the replies guys.

I think I shall go for the better Asus board and drop the 64 Pro for now. The TV receiver is coming from my parents - forgot to mention that.

I think I will stick with 1GB of RAM because it isnt that expensive and it means his system will be more responsive.

SiriusB