New Shuttle PC Help please.

[Crucifer]

First of all, Hi everyone here at OCUK forums. I have purchased many things in the past from overclockers and have always had shuttles a long time ago. I have been out of the loop for some time now as i have had full towers and laptops but really want to move back to a shuttle now, here is what I want it to do and would appreciat help as I dont know what graphics cards fit and what I need for the task at hand.

I want the shuttle to be Intel dual core, have 4 gb ram and have a graphics card that will play sound and vision through HDMI as it will be wired up to my 32 inch samsung HDTV. Ive heard through reading here that only ATI do sound and vision through the HDMI lead so please help with a suggestion. The shuttle will mainly be used for playing WOW and WAR on when the Mrs is out of the house so doesnt have to be a fantastic graphics card but one that will do all these jobs without issues.

Hard drive wise I dont want anything bigger than 120gb as it wont be used for downloading or anything. So friendly people of OCUK forums spec me a cheap as possible shuttle that will do all that.

Thanks in advance - fingers crossed someone can point me in the right direction.

 

[Crucifer]

Ive got this so far but please point out any errors or cheaper builds.

Shuttle XPC SG31G2 Aluminium Barebones System - Intel Core 2 Duo (LGA775) - Black £157.99
(£185.64) £157.99
(£185.64)
Asus ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £114.99
(£135.11) £114.99
(£135.11)
Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 "LGA775 Allendale" 2.40GHz (800FSB) - Retail £79.99
(£93.99) £79.99
(£93.99)
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB) £32.99
(£38.76) £32.99
(£38.76)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (ST3160815AS) £27.99
(£32.89) £27.99
(£32.89)
LG GH22NP20 22x DVD±RW IDE Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM

 

[misterPK]

I personally would be tempted to go for the special bundle offer they have on this week rather than the barebones and 4850 you've gone for. OK, the graphics card isn't quite as good, but it should be ok and you can always upgrade later. Of course there is the major downside of having to use an extra cable for the sound too. On the plus side, you are getting a much better barebones with much more room for future expansion and upgrade. Also I don't really like the look of the G2 front, but thats a personal taste thing!

I'd also swap the E4600 with an E7300.

I'd just like to point out this is my personal opinion, I'm not an expert, I'm not 100% sure of how the 4850 compares with the 9600 GT and it won't actually save you any money.

PK!

 

[Crucifer]

Ok so if I do that, hen here is what the system will look like, can anyone see any blaring errors or incompatibilities?

** Exclusive ** Shuttle XPC SP35P2, XFX 512MB 9600GT & Far Cry 2 Bundle £269.99
(£317.24) £269.99
(£317.24)
Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.66GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £81.99
(£96.34) £81.99
(£96.34)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Black Dragon DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GB22GB8500C5DC) £28.99
(£34.06) £57.98
(£68.12)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (ST3160815AS) £27.99
(£32.89) £27.99
(£32.89)
LG GH22NP20 22x DVD±RW IDE Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.99
(£15.26) £12.99
(£15.26

 

[craptakular]

is audio via hdmi a must? does the 9600gt do audio over hdmi?

I have heard the new intel e5200 is a good chip if you overclock it, but I dunno how practicle overclocking is on shuttles.

 

[Crucifer]

Hi,

Im not interested in overclocking anything, what goes in the machine will stay stock and like I said the machine wont be used that much only now and again for playing WOW, im gathering that if I go for the 9600GT I will have have to use two leads from it to the TV for the video and sound for HD?

ATI cards do it all in one cable im sure to the TV, or thats what I thought I read. But if I can get the same result from the nvidia card by using two cables then I am happy for that to be the case. just hope those cables come with the box.