Spec me a crap but functional PSU/Mobo/CPU combo - sub £100

[Marmotta]

OK, I've got about £100 to spend on a PSU, Motherboard and CPU for a Media Center PC.

This is what is not important:
- The PSU - I'm happy to go with Q-Tec for the timebeing, or it there's anything cheaper, bring it on!
- PCI-E. My graphics card for this is AGP, so no need for it.
- SATA. Again, the drive I'm using is IDE.

Just for the record, the RAM I'm using is PC3200 DDR400 184-pin. I would also prefer if it were a mTX motherboard. Thanks

 

[lee87]

CP-138-AM AMD Sempron 64 2800+ 1.6GHz (Socket 754) CPU - Retail (CP-138-AM) 1
£40.95 £40.95
FS-024-AS Asus Vintage AE1 Barebones System - AMD Socket 754 (FS-024-AS) 1
£47.95 £47.95
Subtotal £88.90
VAT £15.56
Total £104.46

The Asus barebones is a Mobo, PSU and case.

 

[squiffy]

Asking a bit much, a HTPC needs a fast processor if it's for video and scaling, looking at £50 for motherboard, £70+ for CPU, and another for a decent PSU.

You can buy a PSU for about £6, if you want to risk rest of your HTPC, go right ahead. You'll then need to re-buy what every has been damaged plus a new PSU. So you'll have spent more than just buying a PSU in the first place.

"Saving money" never works out, it works out more expensive in the end. Like buying a MOT right off, it might work occasionally, but to get it working reliably, everyday would mean spending hundreds of pounds (worthwhile just to buy a car in good condition in the first place)

 

[div0]

Second hand is probably the best bet....

 

[Marmotta]

I was hoping to get an Antec NSK2400 chassis, hence I just added mATX to my initial description.

What are the advantage of AMD over a Pentium or Celeron? I've never used AMD before, so just wanted to know.

Intel Celeron D 336 2.80GHz (LGA775) - Retail (CP-098-IN) £42.24 inc VAT
Asus P5VDC-MX VIA P4M800 Pro Micro ATX (Socket LGA775) Motherboard (MB-137-AS) £41.07 inc VAT

Total: £83.31 inc VAT

 

[sean]

Definitely pushing it TBH but how about this?

£20 MB-063-MS MSI K8MM-V (Socket 754) Motherboard (clearance)
£15 CA-000-SP Sparkle FSP 300W ATX Power Supply (clearance - 18A @ 12V. Sufficient for a media PC)
£49.95 CP-136-AM AMD Sempron 64 3100+ 1.8GHz (Socket 754)
Subtotal £84.95
VAT £14.87
Total £99.82

 

[hp7909]

{snip}The PSU - I'm happy to go with Q-Tec for the timebeing, or it there's anything cheaper, bring it on!{snip}

QTec's Triple Fan 650W is clearly a joke power supply. From the triplet of cooling fans that battle against each other to cool very little, to the supposed ratings that don't even add up to 650W, finishing with the massive failure for the PSU to get anywhere near its rated output. At 350W the outputs started to fluctuate rapidly before settling down.

By 450W, efficiency was dropping like a stone, input power increasing at a very rapid rate. At 50% efficiency and 900W of input power with the PSU making a horrible screeching sound, PD and I stood well back and recorded its demise on video. At 1100W of input power (1.1 kilowatts), it popped with a massive bang, the internal fuse letting go in impressive style.

For its rediculously low cost, the QTec Triple Fan 650W can only be described as a clown's supply. Buy at your own peril and don't say we didn't warn you. The worst supply on test by quite some margin and a complete misadvertisement of capabilities, suckering people into a poor purchase.

Recommended system: None whatsoever.

How to pick a PSU

 

[squiffy]

What is the HTPC going to be used for?
If it's just music a P3 1ghz will be sufficient, but if it's for videos, and you're going to scale need a bit of power. On a 2.2ghz A64 it's around 65% CPU usage for Mpeg-IV AVI's, and even higher when scaling DVD-Videos.

I don't think a Celeron would be upto the job.