How does this SFF HTPC look?

[Manzelle]

Antec ARIA Aluminum MicroATX Case w/ Antec 300w PSU
Chaintech 7NIL1-SUMMIT nForce2 Ultra 400 Motherboard
AMD Athlon XP-M 35w 2400+ CPU w/ Speeze WhisperRock II CPU Cooler
512MB Corsair PC3200 Value Select
Sapphire Radeon 9550SE 128MB DVI/TV Out 8x AGP

Price: $398.46 shipped from Newegg...

I already have an extra Maxtor 120GB 8MB 7.2K HDD and a USB Audigy2 NX I will use for the soundcard since the onboard sound probably sucks...how does it look? Any thoughts?

 

[kami333]

Onboard sound should be pretty good.

 

[tfinch2]

everything looks to be okay except for that vid card...

 

[Manzelle]

Originally posted by: tfinch2
everything looks to be okay except for that vid card...

What's wrong with the video card? This machine is just for HT - not games...it should be fine I think...what would you suggest as an alternative?

 

[konakona]

aria is really cool and nifty... but cooling isnt too great. get yourself a rounded ATA66/133 cable unless you have a SATA HDD. i use a 92mm panaflo running at 5v and that helps it to be one of the quietest cases I ever seen (yes quieter than those dells). you could replace the PSU fan for better cooling / less noise, but make sure you get 120x120x25 fans. i shot myself in the foot by ordering 120x120x35
not sure how good the chaintech is, got my biostar refurb from newegg for $51 and i guess i am quite pleased so far
oh btw IGP looks HORRENDOUS @ 1280x960, it cant even do 32bit while at that

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: Manzelle

Originally posted by: tfinch2
everything looks to be okay except for that vid card...

What's wrong with the video card? This machine is just for HT - not games...it should be fine I think...what would you suggest as an alternative?

as long as you don't play any games it should be good then. passive cooling = teh win!