What would you do with £1000?

mikester

mikester

mikester

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So it seems HMRC have overtaxed me the last few years, and I might be looking at a £1600 (or more) refund.

Suffice to say it's got me fantasizing a bit.

I've been meaning to build myself a SFF system for a few months now, and this windfall is my ticket.

Ideally, I want to build a multi-purpose rig for the following:

  • Moderate gaming (CS:S, D3, BF, etc.)
  • DVDs, Blu-ray, HD 1080p movies
  • Server for a large collection of music, movies and pictures
  • Sound system/General TV shows and etc.

All in all, a system with plenty of space (maybe two 1TB HDDs), a powerful graphics card, a high-end C2D processor, and a good sound card for use with high-def speakers. I'd be adding a crisp 22" LCD, a Blu-ray drive, a gaming mouse and a keyboard as well (naturally).

My question to you all is this: what would you do with £1000?

If there is anything I've missed, please feel free to correct me. I've never built anything like this before!
 
spoogle said:
Isn't there like 20 of these threads a week?

Close
Click to expand...

There a few, granted, but since most are aimed specifically at performing a single function while mine would perform multiple I figured it might be good to have an independent thread. I didn't want to write up a standard "spec me" thread for this very reason.

If I am wrong, then Mods are obviously free to close.
 
mikester said:
That little? Please elaborate!
Click to expand...

Case - £50 can find with power supply OCUK value HTPC case 500W PSU
Mini ITX - £120
OR
M-ATX - £50 with Core 2 duo e6700£65
Graphics £140-160
Ram £60-90
Hard Drives 2x1TB - £90/£100 infact for that money you could get 2x2tbs

Total for PC alone £460 ish and that will run all those games fine, then that leaves you plenty for a £200 sound system I cant link as im at work and dont have enough time to get you a list right now

EDIT

Forgot the blu ray £60
 
You want good sound that means sound card that means mATX.

If you want to pimp the build out then how about this:
unledos.png


Or maybe some cheaper HDDs/optical drive/psu/case and get an H50 and an SSD who knows? £1000 is a fair amount of dosh, no need to stick with a C2D.

Or did you mean to include the Keyboard, mouse, monitor and sound system in the price too?
 
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Well you could get a board with a digital output to go to your sound system with an ITX board and that would be good but really onboard sound is only "ok" at best. If you are a big audiophile or want a decent surround setup then onboard sound is not your friend.

Edit: That doesn't explain it very well. A digital output will be as good as the system you attach it to but the onboard decoding (going from a digital signal to the analogue output that comes out of the 3.5mm connectors on the motherboard) is poor at best.
 
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gropingmantis said:
You want good sound that means sound card that means mATX.

Or maybe some cheaper HDDs/optical drive/psu/case and get an H50 and an SSD who knows? £1000 is a fair amount of dosh, no need to stick with a C2D.

Or did you mean to include the Keyboard, mouse, monitor and sound system in the price too?
Click to expand...

Yeah, will be looking for 20"-24" monitor. Maybe something like the BenQ 24" with Zowie Gaming Accessories?. Three birds, one stone.

Sound system is already covered.
 
You have a grand to spend*, and are looking at a Core 2 Duo based system?

Why the hell?

*if this isn't just dreamland procrastinating.
 
I doubt very much the Tax man will give you a rebate of £1600 in a lump sum more likely you will get an allowance added to your tax code for the next year!

Sorry to burst your bubble!!!

TBH with a Grand to kit out a Media PC I would be going i5 on M-ATX with a 6950/70 and still have cash left over!
 
BigBoy said:
I doubt very much the Tax man will give you a rebate of £1600 in a lump sum more likely you will get an allowance added to your tax code for the next year!

Sorry to burst your bubble!!!

TBH with a Grand to kit out a Media PC I would be going i5 on M-ATX with a 6950/70 and still have cash left over!
Click to expand...

No he won't he'll send you a cheque with accrued interest. Otherwise he'd have to do a complicatated calculation of interest due over the period that you regain the money, and you might not earn enough to get paid all that back in one period.

Missus has just had a similar cheque through the post, for about the same amount of overpaid tax in the two prior periods ;)
 
If you wanted that screen with 3D support you're better getting a nvidia card.

Having a V354 myself I'd check that you want something that big. Yes they support m-atx and not atx, but my god they are big for a media centre.
Depends where you're putting it, mine fits perfectly into a shelf, but I'd look at HTPCs if you're putting it near a TV and possibly something like the SG01 otherwise.
I do like it, but its not what I'd call SFF.

How about a shuttle and forget the 3D? Gives you space for a audio card and GPU:-

Shuttle SH67H3
i5 -2400
8GB DDR1600
ATI HD 5770 single slot
ASUS Xonar PCI-E 1x sound card (or find a miniPCIe sound card and have a dual slot GPU)
2x 1TB SATA3 drives
DBrom
Windows Home premium

Away you go
 
Cheers for all the suggestions guys. I've decided to take the pragmatic approach and pay off most of my debts. I will start saving a few months from now and (hopefully) repost with a plea for advice on a new rig.

Luckily I had some cash left over, and managed to upgrade my netbook, Macbook and phone. Yay consumerism!
 
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