~$500 HTPC Build - Suggestions Welcome

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sommewt

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Apr 8, 2008
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1) This PC will primarily be used as a HTPC with 1080p content. I will also do some occasional "light" gaming and video encoding.
2) I have a loose budget of $500.
3) Location: Alabama
4) Purchasing from newegg:

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2HP - $79.99
AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION 2.5GHz - $144.99
Rosewill RP550V2-D-SL 550W ATX12V v2.01 - $64.99
OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) - $33.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s - $64.99
SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223F - $25.99
COOLER MASTER Centurion 541 RC-541-SKN1 Black Aluminum bezel, SECC chassis MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case - $44.99

5) Not reusing any parts.
6) Minor overclocking.
7) Using a 19" LCD and a 50" Kuro Plasma primarily.
8) Purchasing in the next week or so.
9) Not planning on using too many features on the motherboard. I will start out using the onboard video though with plans to add a single GPU later if needed.
10) I have a license for XP Pro.

I plan to add a Blu-Ray burner, a 1TB SATA drive, and a single GPU to this build at some point down the road. I'd like to use this as a Blu-Ray player eventually. Also, I'll add some 80 and 120 fans to that case.
 
Ditch the crappy Rosewill PSU. Grab something like the Antec EA500 instead.

You could save a couple bucks by going with some G.SKILL DDR2-800 instead, as you won't notice any performance gains with 1066, but that's actually a decent price.

If you're going to be playing high definition media on it, I would spring for at least an average video card up front. Your call, though.
 
kevinzak said:
Ditch the crappy Rosewill PSU. Grab something like the Antec EA500 instead.

You could save a couple bucks by going with some G.SKILL DDR2-800 instead, as you won't notice any performance gains with 1066, but that's actually a decent price.

If you're going to be playing high definition media on it, I would spring for at least an average video card up front. Your call, though.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I had reservations about that Rosewill. I've never used any G.SKILL RAM but I'll take your recommendation on it.
 
If you're going to be spending $100 on a case and psu then you should look at the Antec NSK2480. It comes with a Earthwatts 380 (good psu) and the case fits in to a hometheater very well.
 
+1 to SC85's recommendation. If the NSk2480 case can fit inside your home theather area, then I highly recommend getting that case/PSU combo instead.

Also, +1 to kevinzak's G.Skill Ram recommendation. For just $6 more, you can get 4GB of DDR2 800 RAM:
G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $40

Alternatively, you can save $13 by just getting 2GB of RAM:
Kingston KVR800D2N6/2G 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 RAM - $20

Avoid the Truepower I and II series of PSUs. Those PSUs were well known for their above average failure rates due to a poor choice of caps and cooling design. Don't waste money on those PSUs.

For just $10 more, you can get a faster drive plus an additional 140GB of storage:
Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $75

I also recommend spending the extra $10 for the better audio capabilities of the Nvidia 8200/8300 chipsets:
Asus M3N78-EM Nvidia GeForce 8300 HDMI mATX Motherboard - $90

Now if you really want that mATX tower design, I recommend checking out this case instead since it looks better (IMO) and comes with better cooling capabilities:
Cooler Master Elite 341 RC-341C-KKN1-GP MicroATX Case - $41
 
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