Hi there, this is my first post on OCUK, sorry if it's too long but please keep reading! I'll start you all off with a chuckle - I built my last pc about 4.5 years ago; here's the spec:
AMD Athlon 1800+
256Mb RAM
Geforce3 Ti200 64Mb
Soundblaster Live! card salvaged from previous pc
Altec Lansing 2.1 speakers, damn good (cost £100) but left satellite is now on the blink
17" Viewsonic CRT, good but takes up too much space really
Once you've stopped laughing, you've probably gathered that my rig will no longer run the latest games - Deus Ex and Return To Castle Wolfenstein run fine, but Morrowind is choppy and I had to turn down the eye candy for the mighty NOLF2. I daren't even attempt any current games like Oblivion, Half-Life 2 etc. I figured it was time for a change, and rather than upgrade I thought I'd go for the gusto and build a new machine - a media centre in fact. I'm keeping my DVD drive as it's pretty new, my mouse is fine (Logitech MX500), and I've *ahem* 'aquired' a lovely new keyboard from work. Here's what I'm thinking for the rest:
Case & PSU CA-060-AN Antec Fusion HTPC Case - 430HE Watt PSU
CPU CP-127-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6400 "LGA775 Allendale" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Mobo MB-004-AK Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Hard disk 1 HD-079-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
Hard disk 2 HD-079-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
Software SW-008-MS Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre 2005 Edition - OEM - 1Pk (M93-00200)
Sound card SC-043-CL Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - OEM
Speakers SP-000-AE Acoustic Energy Aego M 2.1 Speakers (Black) - Retail
Memory MY-034-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
GFX card ???
Monitor ???
TV tuner ???
Now for the questions!
1) I gather that this motherboard won't allow for much overclocking. Bearing this in mind, have I chosen suitable memory, cpu, etc? I'd like to overclock it a bit, but I'm not that bothered about getting shedloads more performance out of it.
2) I'm unsure about what graphics card to get - I'm looking at getting a 22" monitor, possibly a 24", so I'll need something that can handle those resolutions. It needs to fit in that Antec Fusion case, and be fairly quiet. I'll be watching dvds, and gaming mostly. I'd prefer not to go over the £200 mark.
3) Monitor - is it within the realms of possibility that I could get a 24" in the near future for about £400? Or should I just go for one of the 22" jobbies for around the £200-250 mark? There seems to be lots of discussion on this in the Monitors forum so maybe I'll take a look over there.
4) I can't get a TV tuner yet as I first need to find out whether I can get freeview, but any suggestions for brands or ranges would be good.
Anyhoo, thanks for reading this far - any advice, suggestions, criticisms, etc gratefully received.
AMD Athlon 1800+
256Mb RAM
Geforce3 Ti200 64Mb
Soundblaster Live! card salvaged from previous pc
Altec Lansing 2.1 speakers, damn good (cost £100) but left satellite is now on the blink
17" Viewsonic CRT, good but takes up too much space really
Once you've stopped laughing, you've probably gathered that my rig will no longer run the latest games - Deus Ex and Return To Castle Wolfenstein run fine, but Morrowind is choppy and I had to turn down the eye candy for the mighty NOLF2. I daren't even attempt any current games like Oblivion, Half-Life 2 etc. I figured it was time for a change, and rather than upgrade I thought I'd go for the gusto and build a new machine - a media centre in fact. I'm keeping my DVD drive as it's pretty new, my mouse is fine (Logitech MX500), and I've *ahem* 'aquired' a lovely new keyboard from work. Here's what I'm thinking for the rest:
Case & PSU CA-060-AN Antec Fusion HTPC Case - 430HE Watt PSU
CPU CP-127-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6400 "LGA775 Allendale" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Mobo MB-004-AK Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Hard disk 1 HD-079-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
Hard disk 2 HD-079-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
Software SW-008-MS Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre 2005 Edition - OEM - 1Pk (M93-00200)
Sound card SC-043-CL Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - OEM
Speakers SP-000-AE Acoustic Energy Aego M 2.1 Speakers (Black) - Retail
Memory MY-034-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
GFX card ???
Monitor ???
TV tuner ???
Now for the questions!
1) I gather that this motherboard won't allow for much overclocking. Bearing this in mind, have I chosen suitable memory, cpu, etc? I'd like to overclock it a bit, but I'm not that bothered about getting shedloads more performance out of it.
2) I'm unsure about what graphics card to get - I'm looking at getting a 22" monitor, possibly a 24", so I'll need something that can handle those resolutions. It needs to fit in that Antec Fusion case, and be fairly quiet. I'll be watching dvds, and gaming mostly. I'd prefer not to go over the £200 mark.
3) Monitor - is it within the realms of possibility that I could get a 24" in the near future for about £400? Or should I just go for one of the 22" jobbies for around the £200-250 mark? There seems to be lots of discussion on this in the Monitors forum so maybe I'll take a look over there.
4) I can't get a TV tuner yet as I first need to find out whether I can get freeview, but any suggestions for brands or ranges would be good.
Anyhoo, thanks for reading this far - any advice, suggestions, criticisms, etc gratefully received.
