New HTPC parts list - did i miss anything?

F

Falls Included

I'm happy & gay too
Joined
May 30, 2003
Messages
3,701
spent a few hours last night picking parts for my new htpc. this is designed to be cool and quiet. it will sit under my tv, and it will not be used for gaming (obviously, lol).

Newegg Wishlist
Corsair 400W PSU 80+
Corsair 2x2GB DDR2-1066
WD 320GB 2.5" 5400 RPM
Asus M3N78-EM
Athlon 64 X2 7750
Cooler Master GeminII S 120mm HSF
LG Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM/16X DVD±R
Antec Fusion Remote Silver

all for less than 650 (with 40 in MIRs, making it 610+s/h)

what do you think? comments? problems? better hardware ideas?

thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:
I would use an Antec Earthwatts PSU instead of the Corsair. A 380w should do just fine.
 
ShepsCrook said:
I would use an Antec Earthwatts PSU instead of the Corsair. A 380w should do just fine.
Click to expand...

While true, the Corsair 400CX is about the same price as the Earthwatts EA380 380W PSU. So why not get a better and larger PSU for the same amount of cash?

Mobo wise, I don't see any reason to go with the 8300 when the 8200 performs about the same for HD content watching:
$73 -Asus M3N78-VM GeForce 8200 HDMI mATX Motherboard

RAM wise, AFAIK, DDR2 1066 does not provide a noticeable performance increase over DDR2 800 RAM sets. So I recommend this cheaper RAM set instead:
$43 - G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM
 
ShepsCrook said:
I would use an Antec Earthwatts PSU instead of the Corsair. A 380w should do just fine.
Click to expand...
the goal with the psu was to get something of very high quality, while still being realistic about wattage requirements.. if the earthwatts is a better quality supply (do you happen to know? lol), i will get that. i plan on taking the psu apart and de-soldering the wires i do not need to use.

Danny Bui said:
Mobo wise, I don't see any reason to go with the 8300 when the 8200 performs about the same for HD content watching:
$73 -Asus M3N78-VM GeForce 8200 HDMI mATX Motherboard

RAM wise, AFAIK, DDR2 1066 does not provide a noticeable performance increase over DDR2 800 RAM sets. So I recommend this cheaper RAM set instead:
$43 - G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM
Click to expand...
i will take a second look at the mobo.
the ram i picked is $34 after MIR...

Stereodude said:
Make sure you read up at http://www.silentpcreview.com/ on recommended silent parts, etc.
Click to expand...
thanks for the tip. i had planned on ditching the tri-cool fans, and running positive pressure already anyway, but i'm sure they can help even more.

CrimandEvil said:
Cooler: Mini Ninja. Fits perfectly into the case, was built for it.
Click to expand...
thanks. i had heard about the mini ninja, too. i looked on frostytech and saw that the gemini was the best performing low clearance cooler they tested... i planned on getting yate loons for case fans and an s-flex for the cpu. if you think the mini ninja is still a better buy, i'll go with that.
 
The only reason I suggest the Earthwatts is that it's a very highly recommended powersupply for media centers. Not to mention, it's a lower wattage which quite frankly... do you really need the higher wattage for an HTPC? I run a Q6600, 4GB ram, HD/BR drive, and a 640GB HD in my media center. I don't need a lot for it so I went with the 380W Earthwatts. I'm a fan of them. But the corsair is a great PSU. I'm not saying it's crap, just going off of what a lot of people are leaning towards for media centers is all.
 
ShepsCrook said:
The only reason I suggest the Earthwatts is that it's a very highly recommended powersupply for media centers. Not to mention, it's a lower wattage which quite frankly... do you really need the higher wattage for an HTPC? I run a Q6600, 4GB ram, HD/BR drive, and a 640GB HD in my media center. I don't need a lot for it so I went with the 380W Earthwatts. I'm a fan of them. But the corsair is a great PSU. I'm not saying it's crap, just going off of what a lot of people are leaning towards for media centers is all.
Click to expand...

The Earthwatts is a good quality PSU no doubt about it. It does show up a lot in HTPC builds, especially ones with the NSK 2480 case. While you might not actually need the extra amperage, why get a lower amperage PSU when a higher amperage PSU is the same price?

From a quality and actual power requirement standpoint, either PSU are good choices. But from a price to performance standpoint, the Corsair 400CX is a far better buy.
 
looks like a nice build, but one thing about the m3n78 boards, the vm does not have a firewire header, the em does. i didnt realize this until i had already ordered 2 the m3n78-vm's. just an fyi.

unless you are really concerned with power consumption, i would toss in a kuma and ditch the brisbane. you can use cool n quiet with the kuma, but when you enable it with the brisbane, playback gets hosed.
 
Danny Bui said:
The Earthwatts is a good quality PSU no doubt about it. It does show up a lot in HTPC builds, especially ones with the NSK 2480 case. While you might not actually need the extra amperage, why get a lower amperage PSU when a higher amperage PSU is the same price?

From a quality and actual power requirement standpoint, either PSU are good choices. But from a price to performance standpoint, the Corsair 400CX is a far better buy.
Click to expand...
ok, i'll stick with this one. thanks for the advice.

Veedo said:
looks like a nice build, but one thing about the m3n78 boards, the vm does not have a firewire header, the em does. i didnt realize this until i had already ordered 2 the m3n78-vm's. just an fyi.

unless you are really concerned with power consumption, i would toss in a kuma and ditch the brisbane. you can use cool n quiet with the kuma, but when you enable it with the brisbane, playback gets hosed.
Click to expand...
thanks for the info on the 1394. i don't recall a time when i have ever used it anyway... lol
power usage, i'm not too concerned with... it's heat output i want low, and consequently, noise.

if you think i should go with kuma, or even a different core, i have no issue. i sorted by lowest output wattage and picked the highest clocked, lol.
maybe i should research it. i haven't built an amd system since the days of the athlon xp 2500+
 
Well, I know for a fact the Earthwatts is a very cool PSU temperature wise. I can't speak for the Corsair. I almost got a Corsair for my main gaming rig but ended up just getting the 430W Earthwatts. My gaming rig is running Q6600, 8GB ram, GTX260, X-fi, DVDRW, and 2x 640GB HDs. So I wanted something that was cool, used very little energy, and could handle the load. Which it does beautifully. An upgrade from my 420W OCZ Powerstream.
 
ShepsCrook said:
Well, I know for a fact the Earthwatts is a very cool PSU temperature wise. I can't speak for the Corsair. I almost got a Corsair for my main gaming rig but ended up just getting the 430W Earthwatts. My gaming rig is running Q6600, 8GB ram, GTX260, X-fi, DVDRW, and 2x 640GB HDs. So I wanted something that was cool, used very little energy, and could handle the load. Which it does beautifully. An upgrade from my 420W OCZ Powerstream.
Click to expand...
well, at the efficiency these PSUs run, i wouldn't imagine the corsair being much warmer. in any event, either psu will not be taxed very high, so i would imagine the difference wouldn't be much. and seeing that the price is less for the corsair, i'll take a chance with it.

i added in the 7750 kuma.
i'm gonna try the gemini out. if it doesnt work good, its only 30 bucks...
i also changed to a 5400 rpm drive for less heat and -$15. this will only be a boot drive, but the cost of a lesser gb drive is negligible, so i stayed at 320gb
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top