Yet *another* "rate my build" thread!

A

AGampher

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 20, 2003
Messages
109
I'd like to build a budget HTPC that will (hopefully) fulfill the following duties:

1. Stream HD quality content from my WHS
2. Allow us to play "low-impact" games like Plants vs Zombies and Worms Reloaded via Steam
3. Allow us to Skype
4. Allow us future capability to record cable TV (not tackling that one, yet)
5. Allow random surfing/email usage (figured I'd add this one just to round out the list)

I'm tentatively looking at the following build (stole several items from this post, thanks Danny Bui!):

1. Antec New Solution NSK2480 MicroATX case w/ 380W Power Supply
2. ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
3. AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor
4. CORSAIR 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory
5. PowerColor Go! Green AX5450 512MK3-SH Radeon HD 5450 (Cedar) 512MB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
6. WD Raptor (74GB, already own)
7. Windows 7 Home Premium

With combos figured in, it comes out to around $420.00 on the egg (no HDD).

Questions:

1. Is the video card needed, or can the onboard video handle it?
2. Is that the best mobo for the job? It seems pricey, but the ones that were $20 or so cheaper didn't seem to fit the bill as nicely.
3. If a video card is needed, is the one I chose up to the task?

I'm new to the HTPC realm, so I appreciate any suggestion you have.

Thanks!
 
Your onboard will handle it, and if it can't the 5450 won't be that big of an improvement. Everything seems to be in order.

I paid about $300 for my system which is very similar except I have Vista 64bit and no GPU (using the onboard 4200).
 
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