Critique my AMD HTPC Build!

[mitchafi]

PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS420X 420W ATX12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5050e Brisbane 2.6GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 45W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

ASUS M3A78-EM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

All parts from Newegg.com and will be purchased domestically

REUSING:

NEC 2500A CD/DVD Burner PATA
200GB Seagate HDD
BFG NVIDIA 9600GT
Antec Case

Already have the monitor, kb/mouse, speakers.

Right now this puts me at approximately $200 after a few MIR's, which seems like a steal, but I wouldn't be opposed to going up to the $250-260 level for a significant performance increase.

This is going to be used primarily for watching HD movies directly from the HDD. While keeping down the cost is one of my primary concerns, I do not want to sacrifice a significant amount of performance to save just a few bucks. I know that there is a lot happening on the Intel side of things, particularly a price drop on Jan 18th that would put the Intel E5300 within my price range. Waiting is not an issue, but can this AMD processor with a microATX motherboard present as compelling of a setup for an HTPC as AMDs 780G platform? The low power consumption definitely appeals to me, which is why I opted not to go with an X3 8650 toliman. While I will do some light gaming, I am not concerned with being able to play at the highest settings, and I do not plan to overclock the processor significantly.

TIA,
Mitch

 

[krnmastersgt]

What I suggest you do is check out AT's igp roundup, check out how the Geforce 7/8/9 igp's fared against the 780g. From there you choose the cpu, whether it be the 5050e which you've already chosen, and looks to be a nice bang-for-buck cpu or maybe an e5200 if the gf7/9 win over the gf8/780g.

 

[JTsyo]

Are you outputting to just the monitor or a TV also?

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: mitchafi
PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS420X 420W ATX12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5050e Brisbane 2.6GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 45W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

ASUS M3A78-EM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

All parts from Newegg.com and will be purchased domestically

REUSING:

NEC 2500A CD/DVD Burner PATA
200GB Seagate HDD
BFG NVIDIA 9600GT
Antec Case

Already have the monitor, kb/mouse, speakers.

Right now this puts me at approximately $200 after a few MIR's, which seems like a steal, but I wouldn't be opposed to going up to the $250-260 level for a significant performance increase.

This is going to be used primarily for watching HD movies directly from the HDD. While keeping down the cost is one of my primary concerns, I do not want to sacrifice a significant amount of performance to save just a few bucks. I know that there is a lot happening on the Intel side of things, particularly a price drop on Jan 18th that would put the Intel E5300 within my price range. Waiting is not an issue, but can this AMD processor with a microATX motherboard present as compelling of a setup for an HTPC as AMDs 780G platform? The low power consumption definitely appeals to me, which is why I opted not to go with an X3 8650 toliman. While I will do some light gaming, I am not concerned with being able to play at the highest settings, and I do not plan to overclock the processor significantly.

TIA,
Mitch

That a nice mobo. I used it on a SFF office rig. I didn't encounter any problems with it. Just flash to the latest BIOS, mine was an older BIOS.

 

[mitchafi]

it's actually outputting to an Optoma HD65 720p projector

 

[darkmandaddy]

U might consider GF7100 chipset or 740g as they are cheaper than 780g and still plays HD files with integrated video. If you want, you can get a GF8200 chip, and you can SLI that with your current card with the integrated. U also need good rebate ram.
And if you're outputting to a monitor, you won't need hdmi, because DVI is the same signal, so DVI --> DVI is good enough.