New HTPC spec

SeriousPigeon · 27 Oct 2006 at 16:18

My old HTPC is getting a bit slow.

I can't decide what to go for in a new one though.

I am torn between skt939, AM2, or Intel setup. Requirements are
1. Dual core, as my wife often uses it for other tasks.
2. Cheap as possible.
3. Mobo must have decent sound and HD capacity/RAID.
4. Silent.
5. 1Gb RAM.
6. Not bothered about overclocking.
7. Vista compatible would be nice too but not essential.

I only need Mobo, RAM, CPU, CPU cooler and GFX card.

Thanks.

semi-pro waster · 27 Oct 2006 at 16:59

This might do, the motherboard has onboard graphics but I don't know how good the sound is. It is passively cooled however so should be silent apart from the CPU fan which is pretty quiet anyway.

MB-004-AK Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-004-AK)
£45.99 £45.99
MY-030-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB5300DC) (MY-030-GL)
£79.99 £79.99
CP-102-IN Intel Pentium 4 820 Dual Core "LGA775 Smithfield" 2.8GHz (800FSB) - Retail (CP-102-IN)
£64.99 £64.99
HS-017-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-017-AR)
£14.99 £14.99
Subtotal £205.96
VAT £36.05
Total £242.01

SeriousPigeon · 27 Oct 2006 at 17:12

Are the P4 dual cores ok then?

semi-pro waster · 27 Oct 2006 at 17:33

Perplexed said:
Are the P4 dual cores ok then?

In what sense? They work and work well if that is what you mean, you said you wanted it to be cheap and this is about the cheapest way to do it unless you buy secondhand parts where you might get an X2 for a similar price or better. I'd normally suggest a Conroe based system but that is probably overkill for what you need and would more or less double the budget.