HTPC spec and advice.

Nick1881

Nick1881

Nick1881

Soldato
Joined
4 Feb 2007
Posts
9,899
Location
Nuneaton, UK
My dad wants a HTPC to play films on a 42" LCD, some will be at 1080p.

He doesn't want to spend a great deal, I told him it should cost about £250 and he was happy with that.

Here is what I have come up with

Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2 NVIDIA GeForce 7100 / nForce 630i Chipset (£51.74)
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2200 (£50.59)
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB) (£21.84)
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (£14.99)

I already have a 320Gb Sata HDD to use.

Not sure which case to go for, the Antec fusion is nice but I really like the Lian Li PC-C36B Muse but it puts the price up a lot.

Will the onboard graphics run 1080p films? I have a X800 GTO I could possibly borrow if the onboard wont work, but then this might not fit.

Can I save money anywhere else? think I might trawl MM for a used cpu to help drop the price a little.
 
Revised spec. My dad would be happy with the Antec Fusion.

Antec Micro Fusion Remote 350 HTPC Case - Black/Silver (350W PSU Included) (£114.99)
Asus P5QL-CM Intel G43 Micro-ATX PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (£74.74)
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (£18.39)
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (£14.99)

E2160/80 second hand about £30
320Gb HDD (already have)

Is this mobo better? It says something about 1080p in the description and it has DVI where the Gigabyte was VGA.

Brings it pretty close to £250 now. I'll put Vista on. Anything else I would need?

If its all ok I will go ahead and order it soon.
 
Does he want to go intel for a cheap HTPC? AMD is widely regarded to be better for the job these days.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom