spec me to matchthis board

[Thekwango]

Well well well, I was lucky enough to be runner up in this competition so am now the proud owner of the Asus F2A55-M LE motherboard.

Now I'm not the type to win something and then sell it on so thoughts went to what should I do with it and I suppose the most obvious answer is build a htpc.

So, I already have had my own thoughts and mullings over, but I'd like some of you helpful souls to 'Spec Me' because to be honest you'll probably do a better job than me!!

Uses, streaming from my main pc, the net and mild gaming- the usual really

This is what I don't need...

k/b or mouse.

Ram i have these http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-ddr3-pc3-12800-low-voltage-special-ops-edition.html sitting in a drawer gathering dust, hoping they would work?

And what I do need....

CPU

PSU

Case

HDD

OS - well I've never used linux, xbmc or the like (but willing to give it a go if it's an easy enough set up)

Budget? Well I don't really have one, but let's start with as cheap as possible and go from there?

Many thanks in advance

 

[stulid]

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A8-5600K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD560KWOHJBOX) £76.79
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £69.98
1 x Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (SH103S3/120G) £64.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 400W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £40.00
1 x Zalman T1 Mini Tower Case - Black ** OcUK Exclusive ** £24.98
Total : £288.74 (includes shipping : £10.00).




Thats if you fancy Windows?

 

[Remote_zero]

Seeing as its a HTPC and will most likely be sat in your living room, i'd reccommend a case more like this...

YOUR BASKET
1 x Lian Li PC-V355B Aluminium Micro ATX Cube Case - Black £94.99
Total : £105.49 (includes shipping : £8.75).



Knock off Windows from Stulids spec (go with xbmc) and it will cost the same.

 

[Thekwango]

nice work gents.

must say i like the ssd stulid. never actually considered that as an option, would make everything run rather zippily along!

just as a curiosity is the quad core a necessity for the outlined usage?

Remote Zero, nice a case as it is, I maybe should have stated that I'd never pay big ££'s for a htpc specific case. I'd rather go with a 'normal' case and hide it if needs be.

 

[stulid]

Well you want a "K" CPU so you can overclock it nice and high, so it's the A6-2400K or A8-2600K (you dont want to spend money on the A10 do you?)

 

[Thekwango]

much as all as the A10 looks tasty, if i wanna be able to upgrade my own system in the next 2-4 months i gotta keep this baby on the low low!!

 

[Thekwango]

btw stulid are you mixing and matching your cpu's A6-2600K & A8-2600K. should it not be 5400K & 5600K

 

[stulid]

btw stulid are you mixing and matching your cpu's A6-2600K & A8-2600K. should it not be 5400K & 5600K

Yeah, sad thing is I checked what I typed twice before posting, that must be the intel fanboi in me.


Edit..bedtime I think, laters.