Critique my Home Theater PC Please

[otteridiz]

This is the beginnings of a ?Home Theater? PC. I will buy a video card and sound card in the future?The onboard will work for now. I already have a basic tuner which I will upgrade in the future.

Let me know if you see any problems or if I am ready to build!!

CASE: Antec Solution Series NSK2400 Black/Silver Steel MicroATX Desktop Computer Case 380W ATX12V v2.0 Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16811129014

MOBO: ASUS M2NPV-VM Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6150 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813131014

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Orleans 2000MHz HT 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819103633

MEM: CORSAIR XMS2 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit System Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820145566

HARD DRIVE: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16822148140

HEATSINK: Thermalright SI 120 (WILL THIS WORK with an AM2 Proc? IS there a better choice?)
http://www.jab-tech.com/product.php?productid=3076

FANS: 2 YATE LOON 120mm Case Fans (maybe a 3rd for the Heatsink?)
http://www.jab-tech.com/product.php?productid=3009

DVD/CD DRIVE: NEC Silver 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner ? OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16827152060

THANKS FOR THE HELP!!

 

[otteridiz]

Yays or Nays?

 

[Howard]

A few of the 7200.10 drives are really noisy, so if it's going to be close to you I'd get another HD.

The SI-120 will work but the fan will have a hard time pulling in air (only ~5mm clearance). Perhaps a Zalman CNPS7000/7700?

 

[Operandi]

Assuming the SI-120 will fit everything looks great except for the Antec case PSU combo. Their cases are average at best and I personally wouldn?t trust my hardware with an Antec PSU.

Zalman, Silverstone, and Lian Li both make very high quality and attractive HT PC cases, I would give all three a look. For the PSU in a HT environment noise is an important factor; Seasonic make some of the best PSU's available, they are also the quietest actively cooled out there.

Also as long as you choose the proper motherboard there is no reason to purchase a separate video (DVI, component out) and sound card (HD audio with digital out) for HT applications.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Check the SilentPCReview.com review of the NSK2400 for tips on making it quiet.

I just built a PC using an NSK4400 tower, Biostar TForce 6100-939, socket 939 X2 3800+ and Zalman 7000-alcu, and it's working well and near-silent so far.

I chose 939 over AM2 since it's more mature, RAM compatibility isn't an issue, and I don't plan to upgrade the CPU. The Biostar also includes digital audio outs (optical and coax) if you want that.

Newegg had a $160 combo deal on the Biostar + A64 3500+ earlier today, you might consider getting it instead of the Asus AM2 setup.

 

[saabman]

Following along with Dave's line of thought on the socket 939, I'd give the mATX MSI k8NGM2-FID motherboard a look, especially the extensive thread in the MB section. The 6150 chipset of the MSI and ASUS includes MPEG2 hardware decoding while the Biostar's 6100 chipset doesn't

No video card required for 720p or 1080i ouput to the TV/projector, and it includes accessories for an htpc like component and s-video TV output bracket plus SPDIF digital audio output bracket.