Media PC / Storage

Chris C · 27 Mar 2014 at 13:09

Hey guys, I haven't built a PC for so long now so I'd appreciate some help deciding what to put next to my TV.

I've decided to get this case http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-r4-black-pearl because it takes 8HDD and I don't want to have a seperate NAS. I already have a full set of HDDs to fill it with.

Feel free to recommend another case if it has 8 HDD bays

I need a motherboard - preferably with onboard GFX and 4+ SATA connectors (i'll get a PCI card for the others)
Ram
CPU
PSU

I don't need an OS or anything, the PC will be running Windows 7 + XBMC
Oh and I'd like it to be quiet !

thanks for any help

korgtronix · 27 Mar 2014 at 13:22

What is your budget?

Chris C · 27 Mar 2014 at 14:45

without the case I don't really want to spend more than about £250-£300
it's basically a glorified file server that needs to play XBMC / stream stuff to the TV but if a few extra £££ is going to get me something better than thats fine

something like this

Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3 AMD 760G (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard
AMD A4-5300 3.40GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD5300OKHJBOX)

plus some RAM ?

korgtronix · 27 Mar 2014 at 15:32

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-6800K Black Edition 4.10GHz (Socket FM2) APU Richland Quad Core Processor (AD680KWOHLBOX) £103.99
1 x MSI A88X-G45 Gaming AMD A88X (Socket FM2+) ATX Motherboard £94.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYD38G2133HC11ADC01) £53.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 450W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £43.99
Total : £306.56 (includes shipping : £8.00).

This would be perfect if you are set on that case, woould give you the power to play some games on the PC thanks the the APUs iGPU. The board was the only one I could find with 8 sata ports without going to the older intel chipsets or breaking your budget

Chris C · 5 Apr 2014 at 11:26

thanks for the tips, I've settled on this for starters mainly because i won't ever be playing games on it so I can save some money on the CPU. Plus that mobo has 8 SATA ports, OcUK says 7 but the Gigabyte website shows 8.

YOUR BASKET
1 x gigabyte f2a88x-d3h amd a88x (socket fm2+) ddr3 motherboard £62.99
1 x amd a6-6400k 3.90ghz (socket fm2) apu richland dual core processor (ad640kokhlbox) £44.99
1 x corsair xms3 4gb (2x2gb) ddr3 pc3-10666c9 1333mhz dual channel kit (tw3x4g1333c9a) £37.99
total : £155.57 (includes shipping : £8.00).

couple of questions though

i want a non-stock cooler because i want it to be quiet. the best one i can find i think would be

Scythe Samurai ZZ Rev.B
But OCuK don't sell it. Also OCuK don't appear to have noise levels on their cooler info, so which is the quietest FM2 cooler OCuK sell ?

next question is the PSU

do I go with....

1 x SuperFlower Golden Silent 500W Fanless "80 Plus Platinum" Power Supply - Black £99.95

or

1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £59.99

basically its an extra £40 for a fanless PSU. I think 500W is gonna be enough for 8 HDDs and a blueray drive with that APU. or can I get away with the 430W fanless ?