Build for boss

[Chewy]

Ok so a friend/boss of mine wants me to build a mini gaming/home entertainment pc.. Since she just bought a house and did renovations, were going to try and keep this fairly cheap.



Antec Fusion 430 HTPC Desktop mATX Case $182.46
http://www.sysopt.com/features/cases/article.php/12024_3624281_3

Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-5400C4 2GB 2X1GB PC2-5400 DDR2-667 CL 4-4-4-12 $74.99
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18582&promoid=1019

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Dual Core Processor Socket AM2 Brisbane 2.5GHZ 2X512KB 65NM 65W Retail Box $104
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=21940&promoid=1019

Biostar TForce TA690GAM2 mATX $91.63
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=23754

HIS Iceq Turbo Radeon HD2600 XT 512MB GDDR3 $179.99
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=25112

Vista Home Premium $127.42

320GB Harddrive $80.00



The case comes with a Antec psu thats made by Seasonic.. its a 430watt duel rail with 16amps on each 12v rail... I think that should fairly easily power this system.. there wont be any overclocking atleast for now.

the price of this comes to $1045 Canadian Shipped with express RMA.. I will have to do some price-matching with other stores.. might get it cheaper.

Anyone have experience with that motherboard?

 

[panchoman]

you sure you can fit that video card in a matx? also get some crucial ddr2 800 memory instead. its cheaper and better. getting a brisbane when your boss isn't gonna oc= waste. with the money of a brisbane, you can probably get a x2 5200 EE windsor.

 

[pt]

why not get a cubic case?
and try to find a 256mb hd2600xt

 

[panchoman]

why not get a cubic case?
and try to find a 256mb hd2600xt

how bout a sapphire, those are always great.

 

[pt]

sapphire is the most oc on tpu atleast

 

[panchoman]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...mpareItemList=N82E16820146565,N82E16820145015

60.00 vs. 59.99 ..

keep the cpu, theres no 4800 windsor and 5200 windsor is 20 bucks more then 4800. and plus a even 2.5 is good lol.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102700

didn't even have to find it, card just popped out at me right when i went to the video card section

 

[pt]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...mpareItemList=N82E16820146565,N82E16820145015

60.00 vs. 59.99 ..

keep the cpu, theres no 4800 windsor and 5200 windsor is 20 bucks more then 4800. and plus a even 2.5 is good lol.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102700

didn't even have to find it, card just popped out at me right when i went to the video card section

he lives on canada
forget about newegg

 

[panchoman]

lol well was just using newegg to pull up products

 

[panchoman]

http://www.crucial.com/international_guides/international.aspx?country=CANADA

i think crucial ships their memory free if you buy it directly from em.

 

[Chewy]

ok I was looking at the winsor cpu but its actually more @ Ncix.com than the Brisbane by $10 at normal prices but the brisbane is on sale to so its currently $40 cheaper.

I should of added links to the items at the store I shop.. will edit my post.

And the 2600xt 256mb is only $20 less for me + the extra memory might come useful for 1080p? well its only $20 more so I said whynot it will help gaming at higher resolutions on a tv n such.

and no overclocking so I figured that nice HIS heatsink will help keep the system nice n quiet.

 

[panchoman]

check the crucial memory prices with the corsair and pick the cheapest one.. as for the cpu, stick with the brisbane then and we suggest sapphire products. you can grab the sapphire 2600xt instead of the his one.

 

[wiak]

try lanbox lite
http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Chassis/miniCase/lanboxLite/vf6000bws.asp
i have buildt a system with

MSI K9AGM2-FIH
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+
PowerColor Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB GDDR3
OCZ GOLD XTC 2048MB Dual Channel (2x1GB kit)
Seagate Baracuda 7200.10 500GB

works fine with a antec basicq 500W psu

 

[Chewy]

The Sapphire is $144 for this one http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26341&vpn=11110-09-20R&manufacture=SAPPHIRE

Im not to sure about its stock cooler.. I know my 1900gt's stock cooler that was a single slot cooler like this was quiet noisy + the duel slot HIS cooler exhausts some of that hot air outside of the case.. I dont think she will care much for overclocking and with that stock Sapphire cooler you would need to run the fan at 100% which would prob sound like my 1900gt's stock cooler which I had to get rid of since I dont like noise

so yeah I think I'll keep with the HIS. its worth the extra $35 for this build since it will help keep the heat out of the case so the cpu fan wont have to work as hard either..

its near impossible to find a cpu heatsink with a side mounted fan for this case/mobo.. I was looking at this Scythe Mini Ninja but it has the same base size as its larger counter part... so it will probably cover over 2 ram slots on a m-atx board (covers one and almost 2 on a regular atx intel board). so stock amd cpu cooling for now.
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=25517&vpn=SCMNJ-1000&manufacture=Scythe&promoid=1019

 

[tkpenalty]

I would honestly stick with what you just put up. The Sapphire runs cool but its loud... the HIS as you guess will run almost silently. I'd beef up the processor however, but its generally not needed for a home entertainment system.

Anything better than that will make it a waste of money.

 

[Chewy]

try lanbox lite
http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Chassis/miniCase/lanboxLite/vf6000bws.asp
i have buildt a system with

MSI K9AGM2-FIH
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+
PowerColor Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB GDDR3
OCZ GOLD XTC 2048MB Dual Channel (2x1GB kit)
Seagate Baracuda 7200.10 500GB

works fine with a antec basicq 500W psu

humm, I never took a close enough look at that case.. its very nice! and has a way better cooling configuration + upgradibility.

I'll take a better look at both cases later, for now I need a break.

 

[Chewy]

I would honestly stick with what you just put up. The Sapphire runs cool but its loud... the HIS as you guess will run almost silently. I'd beef up the processor however, but its generally not needed for a home entertainment system.

Anything better than that will make it a waste of money.

Yeah just some minor gaming.. I was talking to her and well see about putting down an extra $300 for amd 6400 3.2ghz black box edition and 8800gt graphics card, so the build will last longer before needing an upgrade.. this will mean we need a bigger power supply so that lanbox case would work perfectly.. but cost a bit more witha good PSU aswell.

 

[tkpenalty]

Antec Fusion is overall superior, in terms of cooling. Do you need the system to be silent? I'd look at using intel instead, with the G33 Boards, example Gigabyte G33 + E2140. Solid caps are nice, with the inclusion of more power phases so the board wont run so warm.

EDIT: This is sounding more like a gaming system... she is a boss, she doesn't have that much time to worry about how her games run, moreover, with the 8800GT, I'd expect the stock cooler to be loud. as I said, keep it as it is, you will introduce some further complications if you install a GPU like the 8800GT. You lose HDMI as well.

 

[panchoman]

hmmm, perhaps an ocz 600w psu should do the trick. and as for the video card, the his should be fine.. and gaming isn't too cpu intensive so you can jack down the cpu a notch if you want to up the video card.

 

[tkpenalty]

That would be a waste of money... antec's PSU are more than capable of powering that system .

 

[panchoman]

well if her boss wanted to upgrade the hardware and stuff you know. as for the 500W, should power a single 8800gts and a 6400 fine, but for sli, you'd wanted to jack some more power in there.

 

[tkpenalty]

well if her boss wanted to upgrade the hardware and stuff you know. as for the 500W, should power a single 8800gts and a 6400 fine, but for sli, you'd wanted to jack some more power in there.

LOL... I highly doubt a home entertainment PC used to listen to music and movies would be used to play the latest games, and I doubt that someone like her would be eager to play crysis. Be a bit more realistic ._.

No even the 430W PSU is enough to power an 8800GTS + 6400X2 fine. Its seriously overestimating the power usage to go that that setup will require such a PSU. The absolute most that setup would use would be 320W (8800GTS+6400X2). Yes you have to keep under the max rating, but we are nowhere near that.

 

[hat]

that case is horrible, the price of it is horrible. Get a mid-tower

 

[Chewy]

EDIT: This is sounding more like a gaming system... she is a boss, she doesn't have that much time to worry about how her games run, moreover, with the 8800GT, I'd expect the stock cooler to be loud. as I said, keep it as it is, you will introduce some further complications if you install a GPU like the 8800GT. You lose HDMI as well.

yeah the stock cooler on the 8800gt would be loud but than we'd have to go with an aftermarket cooler to fix that which = more money.. so I think more than likey it will be the 2.5ghz amd cpu with the 2600xt.. she will do some light gaming and has a copy of Ages of Empire 3 but her laptop is 3 years old and dying.. so I figure get some extra power so you can play some newer and upcoming rts games such as Rome Total War elc.

So you think that the seasonic/antec 420 watt psu with 2x 16amp 12v rails will have enough power to run a stock clock 8800gt? the psu is atx 2.0 upgradeable so thats a + for down the road if more power is needed..

 

[panchoman]

psu should be fine.

 

[B1gg3stN00b]

I have the 2600XT and a 6000+ Athlon X2 64

Great pair!

Can run World In Conflict at max settings and not dip below 55 fps, and that's directx 10 gaming with 4 messengers and windows media player going!