HTPC first build, suggestions?

Greavesy

Greavesy

Greavesy

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23 Dec 2010
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Location
Birmingham
First post on the forums for my first ever build :) When it comes to pc's i have very little experience at building and upgrading, i have done a fair bit of research and one of my friends said he'l help me put it together and he has quite a bit of experience at doing it.

Back to the point im looking to create a HTPC to also do a bit of light gaming, i have a terrible monitor for browsing and my full HD 37" LG TV if i want to do anything awesome looking.

I may buy another monitor in the future but not just yet.


My ideas:
Case: ???? (great start i know)
Motherboard: Asus M4A88TD-M EVO
PSU:OCZ StealthXStream 2 500W
CPU: Phenom ii x4 955
RAM: Corsair XMS3 4GB (1600Mhz)
Hard Drive: 500gb or 1tb spinpoint F3?
Optical Drive: maybe bluray if funds allow :)
Graphics card: Preferably Ati was thinking 6850?
I will probably wait to see sandy bridge release before ordering to see if theres a better option.

I have a copy of Win 7 64bit so i wont need an os and any suggestions as to keyboard and mouse not crazily expensive preferebly wireless keyboard ( or long wire)

Tv has HDMI slots free and i may get an av reciever soon.
Dimensions ( where the pc will sit): 60cm(w) x 30cm(d) x 21cm (h)
I may be buying a 2.1 home theatre system and would like to intergrate the pc into this.

My budget is 550 pounds ( pound key wont work >.<) could stretch to 600 ish but that would probably require bluray.

I would really appreciate any help that you could send my way :D

P.S Il post up a picture of my current set up soonish.
 
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Spec looks fine.
But dimensions you're asking for to fit that spec are a problem. specifically the depth.
Closest i can see is the Lian Li PC-C50B HTPC with 325mm depth. rest seem to be over 40cm. Not sure if it will fit a 6850, you'll have to double check that.

What type of hometheatre system are you buying?
If its an AV receiver with HDMI in, the PC just plugs into that, and then from that into the TV.
 
i think for that sort of depth youll have to look at ITX.

replace the GFX card for a Sapphire ATI 4550 Passive, handles 1080 content and Blu-Ray flawlessly. and its smaller obviously.

edit - ah missed the gaming part.. not sure how the 4550 will cope with that to be honest. but i use 4650 for my "main" ITX desktop and it plays MW2 alright.
 
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With regard to the case & your requirement of a HD6850 you're going to be limited by choice.

Silverstones SG05/SG06 is going to be the most likely candidate for your case & GC requirements. Both these cases are available with a 450W 80+ bronze PSU & a case that size isnt going to take a PSU the size of the OCZ.

Putting a CPU like the PII 955 & the HD6850 in that size case, expect both to get a bit toasty especially in the summer. PSU should be OK but I have my doubts especially if you plan to overclock.

you can get AM3 boards to fit these cases but they are a tad expensive for what they are.

Blu-ray shouldn't be a problem with that budget, especially at this price.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-138-SA&groupid=701&catid=10&subcat=314

I paid 3x for mine 2 years ago.
 
The home theatre system is an av reciever so plug in will be straight forward i hope.

I did a bit of rearranging and managed to get a width of 70cm and depth of 36 cm. I am also looking at rearanging the room so that 2 more suitable places open up, one of which will have room for a normal tower case :)

Ignoring the case restrictions for now can someone help me decide the internal components, what i suggested above was just my first guess at what i could get but if anyone knows anywehre i could save money to improve perfomance somewhere else please say so.

Edit: The rooms been redone and i have room for a tower ( in which case il use a full size mobo) and another kinda smallish area thats maybe more suitable? 40cm x 50cm x 30cm (w x d x h ) those are the maximum values of the base it would sit on.

Thanks in advance and thanks for previous responses aswell.
 
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Which tv cards are the DVB-T2 capable ones :D ? And whats the benefot of having a TV card compared to the virgin box i currently have setup to the tv?

I have decided to go with a tower case and just put it to the side of the desk. I was thinking the Zalaman Z7. Any recommendations for a PSU i hope to OC the 955 in the future but not just yet.

What ive deciden on so far:
CPU: Phenom ii x4 955
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H
RAM: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB (7200 RPM)
Case: Zalaman z7
Sub total: £322.57
Im trying to get the GPU, PSU and Optical drive for 300 pounds max.
 
Greavesy said:
Im trying to get the GPU, PSU and Optical drive for 300 pounds max.
Click to expand...

There you go.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
HIS ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE CODMW2 Game HIS ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE CODMW2 Game £139.99
(£119.14) £139.99
(£119.14)
Antec TruePower New Modular 650W Power Supply Antec TruePower New Modular 650W Power Supply £71.99
(£61.27) £71.99
(£61.27)
Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BD-ROM / 16x DVD Writer Drive - Black (Retail) Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BD-ROM / 16x DVD Writer Drive - Black (Retail) £47.99
(£40.84) £47.99
(£40.84)
Sub Total : £221.25
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £40.47
Total : £271.72
Click to expand...
 
Probably should open another thread for this, about a week ago the family pc downstairs decided to stop working. Its about 3 or 4 years old its a Medion MD8818, basically when you try and turn it on the little triangle flashes on and you can here the fans spinning and then it cuts out, Dad called out a techy and he said the mobo had died, was wondering if its possible just to replace the motherboard because i read somewhere that it was a wierd size and hard to replace, somethign like that xD.
CPU: Core2duo E6300
I reckon il put in a new psu aswell just incase its only going to be for family browsing etc so dont need a graphics upgrade but i probably will upgrade the RAM if i can,
If it cant be fixed il probably just salvage the optical drive, any ideas?
 
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