HTPC Advice Needed :)

[aCid888*]

I was thinking of putting together a HTPC so I can watch Movies and play the odd game (CoD4 mainly) and general tasks like browsing and so on.

I have a budget of $600 Canadian and I'm only looking at DirectCanada for my parts to avoid Quebec provincial tax and the air shipping from there is cheap too!

I have come up with the following, I own a Dremel so the case will do fine as I intend to mod it and give it a spray job in black using DupliColor after seeking MK use it on his mods! - I plan on OCing both the CPU and GPU also.

Case: Compucase 7016
Graphics:: ATI 4830
PSU: CM Extreme Power+ 500w
RAM: Crucial Rendition 2x1GB @ 800mhz
CPU: E5200
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EG41M-S2H mATX G41
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 160GB SATA
Drive: LG DVD Writer

Total: $590.77 with Free ground shipping and tax inc.

I don't need the keyboard, mouse or OS as I have XP.


Just wondering what you guys can come up with but it must be from DirectCanada.


Thanks.

 

[aCid888*]

Reserved for updates.

 

[GameSinewPCs]

The $7 upgrade to a 250GB HDD may be prudent. I'm assuming you're using TigerDirect.ca and I can't seem to find the Case or motheroard that you listed...For the most part that build is solid for what you'll be doing.

 

[Jakl]

Thats a solid build there, for some reason I cannot load the pages

p.s dope gas mask

 

[aCid888*]

I'm using www.directcanada.com as that way I can avoid the provincial tax imposed by Quebec.

I will get the HDD that you pointed out instead...but I wont be lacking storage anyway as I will use 2x500GB SATA WD HDDs via NAS; plus my PC and on my girlfriend's laptop and PC.

 

[r9]

The $7 upgrade to a 250GB HDD may be prudent. I'm assuming you're using TigerDirect.ca and I can't seem to find the Case or motheroard that you listed...For the most part that build is solid for what you'll be doing.

+1 on 250GB upgrade
E5200 is great overclocker I`m not to sure about board how will play along it would be pitty to get board that don`t play well.

 

[EnglishLion]

Have you considered noise etc - where is it going to be housed. You don't really want a monster GPU fan or CPU fan whirring away while trying to watch movies.

I like the idea of modding a basic desktop case for a unique HTPC finish.

If you like you can check out my HTPC here - http://www.mods-n-clocks.co.uk/?p=42

 

[aCid888*]

I will be using a lapped Scythe Katana 2 heatsink that I already own, it will be more than enough for the E5200 and stay quiet too as its the fan on it at full speed is only around 30dB.

The GPU will be clocked down while watching movies and will also have the fan speed reduced to avoid unnessersary noise.

And lets not forget your HTPC, Lion....it looks great but that case is too expensive for my budget!

 

[JrRacinFan]

Heya acid,

If you not going to be doing some casual gaming you could pull down to a 4850e+780G and not use a video card.

Good luck with the build! Everything looks good. If you need any insight on overclocking the e5200 just ask.

@r9

e5200 will be just fine on that board. It's basically same thing you are running only differences it's mATX with onboard video.

 

[aCid888*]

I have to keep my girlfriend happy and let her play CoD4 on the 52" screen or I would be going with AMD!

And don't worry Jr, I have the E5200 OCing thread in sight!

 

[aCid888*]

Bump for more Canadian replies/more ideas on this build!!!!

 

[r9]

Heya acid,

If you not going to be doing some casual gaming you could pull down to a 4850e+780G and not use a video card.

Good luck with the build! Everything looks good. If you need any insight on overclocking the e5200 just ask.

@r9

e5200 will be just fine on that board. It's basically same thing you are running only differences it's mATX with onboard video.

If the chipsets have the same specs does not mean that it will have the same OC options in the bios.
I`m not familiar with that Gigabyte mobo if it has all the OC of my P43 board +1 here.
I had MSI P31 neo-f MSI P45 neo3-fr MSI P7N Platinum and J&W P35 pro and the current one MSI P43 neo-f. The P43 hands down it is the best board of all on OC point of view. The BEST bios other boards can`t compare. All the combinations in BIOS work multi/fsb/memory ratio which I can`t say for above boards.
And another thing that I just remembered about some Gigabyte matx boards that have x4 PCIE instead of X16 PCIE not because of chipset limitation but because Gigabyte figured that it cheaper to build X4.

 

[EnglishLion]

And lets not forget your HTPC, Lion....it looks great but that case is too expensive for my budget!

I like it

I decided that my HTPC was for TV recording/playback, Videos, Photos and Music solely - no need for gaming power. So I spent a lot on the case and bought bottom of the range on other items. My AM2 3600+ X2 in a uATX board with integrated 6150 GPU is quite cheap really.

The other thing I decided to spend a little more money on was the TV tuner card, so I got a Hauppauge Nova-T 500 dual digital tuner.

It all depends on where your priorities lie.