mATX htpc bundle spec for ~£100

lozza

lozza

lozza

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As title i'm looking to get some recommendation's on kit to look out for, to build my first htpc - at the stated price of ~£100 new would be good but i realise i'l probably be looking a second hand.

mATX Motherboard with onboard sound/graphics
CPU
RAM

I'll be adding a TV card at a later date

The kit needs to be able to play DVDs, .avi files, music, browse the internet, record TV once the card is in place and ideally do HD stuff (thinking along the lines of the Abit Fatal1ty FI90HD) Though i could later add a HD2400pro to sort out HD
 
You're not going to get all that in £100 mate. :)

Closest I can find is...

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £44.64
Abit AN-M2 Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £51.69
Crucial 1GB (2x512MB) DDR2 PC2-4200C4 Dual Channel Kit £23.49

But even that goes a bit over £100.

I had to steer clear of C2D as the motherboards for it are close to £70, even though the E2140 is a good price.
 
Thanks for the reply Tute, As i said in the op, new would be good, but i realise i'll probably be looking at second hand for the price. I was sparked to ask the question as this kit came up in the MM:

E6300 + HSF - never overclocked - £50 inc
ABIT FATAL1TY FI90HD - 100% passive, x700 graphics and HDMI - £60 inc
1GB PC6400 DDR2 RAM - £20 inc

Total £115inc for the bundle

But i thought the E6300 was a bit overkill for a htpc - Would the E2140 be enough? or would i be better looking at the E2160/80?
A E2140 went on MM for £30inc
 
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I think any C2D processor would do, the F-I90HD will allow a mild overclock if you fancy it.

I would highly recommend a graphics card with HD decoding, that way your processor choice isn't so crucial.
 
I probably wouldn't attempt over clocking but i was wondering about that with onboard HD.

I think the HD2400pro may be an latter addition.

How about the E2140, have read a little about it being quite a cool running cpu, good for noise factor
 
My Vista Media Center has only got the following spec,

AMD Sempron 2800
Bog standard mATX ASUS MB
1GB DDR Ram

All three can be had for ~£80 if you shop around

I can watch all my films, music record to disc etc. I can play HD .mkv files and it is pretty nippy for its purpose. Fair enough I do not record HD or play games, but just as a bog standard storage box for my avi's/mp3's it works a treat... to be honest for £100, I would get something similar to this and upgrade it at a later date once you decide what your full requirements are.
 
Thanks Martin, i wont be doing any high end gaming if doing any at all.
I'm 100% on use being playing dvds & avi files, some mp3 stuff, internet browsing and not immediately but pretty soon, digital TV viewing and recording and HD stuff (adding blu-ray drive later maybe)

I'll have a look to see what i can find going on your spec.
 
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2140, S775, 1.6 GHz, 800MHz FSB, Allendale Core, 2x 512KB Cache, Retail £35.89 £42.17

1GB (2x512MB) Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC2-5300 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15 £17.54 £20.61

256MB Sapphire HD 2400 PRO PCI-E(x16) 64Bit 800MHz GDDR2, GPU 525MHz Dual DVI/S-Video, Retail £24.97 £29.34

Abit SG-95 SIS 662, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667, SATA I, SATA RAID, uATX, On Board VGA £23.90 £28.08

Net Total £102.30
Carriage: £5.99
V.A.T £18.95
TOTAL £127.24
 
Very interesting Biffa cheers, Though i can't seem to find that motherboard on ocuk?

Wanted to see if i could forgo the graphics card and get 2gig of the ram then get the card at a later date for the HD stuff
 
That will be why then ;)

Probably right about 2gb of ram - which depending on the mobo could mean i could get it just under £100m and add the graphics later

Cheers Biffa
 
I got all of this for a shade over £300 a few months ago:

Hiper Media PC Case (this is awesome, only 6cm high or thereabouts)
CPU Cooler for the above
AMD X2 3800EE
Abit NF-M2
1GB Corsair Value 667MHz
500GB Seagate
NEC AD-7630A (Slim slot loading DVDRW)
MS Media Centre Remote
 
Thanks guys, Seft that's a nice looking case but the whole spec is way over my budget.

the shadow - thanks for that combo, i've been a bit busy but will look into it as soon as i get 5 mintues - cheers
 
Hi, although I'm quite new to this I bought the following a few weeks ago:

Asus A8V-VM SE £30.00 new
2x1GB CrucialPC3200 £70.00 new
Athlon 64 3800+ £30.00 from ebay

I've since seen the same motherboard & ram on ebay for £20/£50 respectively which seems to meet your budget. I realise that socket 939 may not be state of the art but it has worked fine for me and has onboard graphics and 7.1.

I've just added a Sapphire 2600XT graphics card (£50 ebay) and Blu-Ray drive (£95 ebay) and it all copes fine at 760p.
 
Thanks guys, i've decided to use a mini itx system i have for the time being.

But i'll probably go with the following set up:
ABIT FATAL1TY FI90HD
E2140/E2160/E2180
2GB PC6400 DDR2 RAM

Adding at a later date:
256MB Sapphire HD 2400 PRO
nova-T 500 dual DVB tuner
 
I'd still really recommend the P5K-VM or G33M-DS2R and picking up the 2400 Pro straight away. They are far better boards and the 2400 Pro can do HDMI anyway IIRC.
 
I had a similar aim for my HTPC, i went for :

MSI K9GAM2, Sempron and 1x1gb Value ram. To be upgraded to an X2 chip and another 1x1gb in due course, when i get a HD drive.

HDMI output etc, top drawer :)
 
Tute said:
I'd still really recommend the P5K-VM or G33M-DS2R and picking up the 2400 Pro straight away. They are far better boards and the 2400 Pro can do HDMI anyway IIRC.
Click to expand...


What do you mean you still really recommend those boards - never recommended them in the first place - there was no mention at all of them ;)
But now you do mention them i will look at them and consider them

re: the 2400pro - I don't have a HDTV so to get one straight away would be a little pointless i feel - Prices will have dropped and better things will be about by the time a HDTV arrives.

Jellybeard i'll have a look at your mobo too!
 
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