$400-450 help me build a basic htpc

M

mekanikal

Weaksauce
Joined
Jan 3, 2005
Messages
87
hey guys so im a student and im pretty broke but i do have some bday money at my disposal right now, my old rig just failed im not sure whats wrong with it but when i try to reformat it keeps failing to install parts of windows. i havent really looked into whats out right now because this is kind of an unexpected build, i havent done any research because of my busy school schedule, finals and all. i have to figure this out quickly because money doesnt last too long in my hands. so any help would be much appreciated, id also really like to stick with newegg unless theres a great deal somewhere else.

so i want to build something pretty basic, id like it to play 1080p video.my tv supports dvi and hdmi. I do need a pretty good power supply since i will be adding a gfx card later and probably a few hd's. I dont need a blu ray player, and i want to do without a gfx card right now, im talkin about the bare essentials. i have a hd that will work for the OS, and i dont need windows 7 yet, i can still use xp. i also dont need an htpc case a normal mid tower case will be fine. also keep in mind that i may upgrade this later to do some very low end gaming.
thanks for the help.
 
Last edited:
 
What HDD will you be re-using? model # pls. If you need a new HDD, the Samsung F3 is good:
$55 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200RPM SATA300 16MB Buffer

Shiro's build is good. If you want to save more money, go with an AthlonII X2 240 instead, as it should be good enough for the usage you listed as well as gaming (and it OC's nicely, too):
$138 - COMBO: AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz AM3 + ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX
 
enginurd said:
What HDD will you be re-using? model # pls. If you need a new HDD, the Samsung F3 is good:
$55 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200RPM SATA300 16MB Buffer

Shiro's build is good. If you want to save more money, go with an AthlonII X2 240 instead, as it should be good enough for the usage you listed as well as gaming (and it OC's nicely, too):
$138 - COMBO: AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz AM3 + ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX
Click to expand...

im not sure what the model number is, the hdd is pretty old its a 500gb western digital but it still works well enough for now. that build looks pretty nice but i was leaning towards intel rather then amd is there a reason to go amd?
 
785g has very powerful video card for onboard and athlon2 out classes the low end celerons and pentiums in its price range.
 
mekanikal said:
im not sure what the model number is, the hdd is pretty old its a 500gb western digital but it still works well enough for now. that build looks pretty nice but i was leaning towards intel rather then amd is there a reason to go amd?
Click to expand...

Intel's onboard GPUs don't really encode/decode HD video well.

For low-budget builds like yours, AMD boards and processors offer a bigger bang for your buck than the Intel "equivalents."
 
tiraides said:
Intel's onboard GPUs don't really encode/decode HD video well.

For low-budget builds like yours, AMD boards and processors offer a bigger bang for your buck than the Intel "equivalents."
Click to expand...

Indeed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top