$200 Web/TV build?

L

LateraLex

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 14, 2008
Messages
391
Definitely on cheap end... I need a PC for my bedroom. Just for web, watching/recording TV, and movies.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Just for web, watching/recording TV, and movies.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Can this be done for less that 200? The less the better...

3) Where do you live?
Boston

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Mobo, CPU, RAM, Case, Harddrive.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Hauppauge HVR-1600 (http://www.amazon.com/Hauppauge-1178-WinTV-HVR-1600-Internal-Recorder/dp/B000MGGTY8/ref=pd_cp_e_2)
Keyboard & Mouse
Speakers

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
24" SOYO (Already own it)

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
In the next 3-4 weeks, not a huge rush

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
No... only "nice to have" is a small form-factor & quiet case

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Already have... will use a Vista Home Pro, or potentially Windows 7
 
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Unless you get used parts from Ebay or maybe someone here, i dont see this happening at all.

Lowest i could get using half decent parts, i wouldn't build a computer with anything less.
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Ok, I'm definitely flexible on the price. If the budget was larger (say 300), is there a particular case that is good for this build? I'd like it to be quiet and small if possible...
 
You can do a pretty small case + setup for under $300:
$50 - Intel Celeron E1500 CPU
$51 - ZOTAC NF610I-D-E Nvidia GeForce 7050 Mini ITX Motherboard
$24 - Crucial 2 x 1GB DDR2 667 RAM
$50 - Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$27 - Samsung SH-S223B SATA DVD Burner
$56 - Apex MI-008 mITX Tower Case w/ Allied 250W Power Supply w/FS
----
Total: $257 plus tax and shipping.

The dual-core Celeron should be enough for web and watching SD TV and Movies.
 
This is helpful. As I have a few weeks to build it, I'll try to scope out deals on similar parts. Thanks
 
Thanks Danny, I've got a HDD to use, and will skip the DVD drive.
I got the:
$51 - ZOTAC NF610I-D-E Nvidia GeForce 7050 Mini ITX Motherboard
$24 - Crucial 2 x 1GB DDR2 667 RAM
$56 - Apex MI-008 mITX Tower Case w/ Allied 250W Power Supply w/FS
and an e5200 CPU. Can't wait to put it together.
 
Thanks. A quick question for anyone who has built a system in the Apex mITX case:
Can I run my system without a CPU cooler? It looks like the stock fan on my e5200 doesn't have a prayer of fitting in there...
 
LateraLex said:
Thanks. A quick question for anyone who has built a system in the Apex mITX case:
Can I run my system without a CPU cooler? It looks like the stock fan on my e5200 doesn't have a prayer of fitting in there...
Click to expand...

:eek:

What's the TDP of the E5200? Can you get a lower profile side-cooler?

EDIT: I have run my older Tbred-B without a fan on the heatsink - the way I did it was to use a nice heatsink and a duct straight from the heatsink to the exhaust fan. Maybe that's an option with plexiglass or cardboard? I wouldn't just leave it passive though.
 
Mark Larson said:
:eek:

What's the TDP of the E5200? Can you get a lower profile side-cooler?
Click to expand...

Not sure, I had to google TDP to know what you were talking about :)

Any idea how I can find this out? I think I will find a place for an 80mm fan in the case if I can't attach the CPU cooler.
 
Can you dumb that down a little for me? It sounds like the chip requires additional cooling. What is normally done in this situation? I could try and get another CPU cooler, but in the meantime?
 
The chip gets too hot to run without a heatsink. In the meantime, you can take the fan off (leave the heatsink) and monitor temps, but I don't think the PSU fan is enough.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article905-page5.html
Between the case floor and the bottom of the power supply there is only 5cm of clearance. When you include height of the risers, the width of a motherboard PCB and CPU (of a "normal" motherboard, in this case the Zotac GeForce 8200-ITX pictured above), there is room for only a 4cm high heatsink — most stock cooling solutions exceed that. One could use a 1U server heatsink, but for a more quiet solution we recommend replacing the power supply with a picoPSU — that will improve power efficiency, increase ventilation and give you 10cm of clearance for a CPU cooler
Click to expand...

Reviews on newegg have people using the same CPU w/ stock heatsink as you, but flipping the PSU upside down.
 
I read some more about the E5200, and it turns out that the power dissipation is actually only about 30W, not 65W. You could probably rig up a small fan running at 7v and have enough heat dissipation if the stock HSF really doesn't fit.
 
I think you found the same review that got me thinking about this ;)

I appreciate the help. When you say a small fan at 7v, would that just be a case fan, or would that need to be directly on the CPU.
One thing going in my favor is that I won't be installing a DVD drive. So I might suspend my hard-drive like what was done in the review, and ultimately have better airflow as a result. Fingers crossed.
 
At 30W, the heatsink alone should be good, with the PSU fan above it. Try it and see how your temps are. Keep them around 30°C for idle and under 60°C for load, use CoreTemp or RealTemp.
 
It was a bad time for the empire...

So the CPU cooler definitely doesn't fit, so I cut the fan off it, and just installed the heatsink. Got everything setup just right, and when I tried to boot it up, a few LED lights but no beeps. It stays in an inifite reboot cycle (no POST or video display). I tried disconnecting different items (ram modules, HDD, tried both power voltages on the PS, etc) but never got any other results.

Sounds like it could be the CPU, motherboard, or powersupply. Any easy way to figure out what? :(
 
Mark Larson said:
You should assemble everything outside the case and install it once you've got it running.
Click to expand...

Yeah I tried that. The only thing I haven't tried is re-seating the CPU, but I don't actually see how you can do that wrong.

If I have 3 questionable parts (CPU, PS, and Mobo) how do I figure it out without spare parts around? What would newegg say if I said they weren't working?
 
Try plugging in a fan to the HS header, see if the motherboard isn't detecting a fan and shutting down.
 
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