How is this for a HTPC/Secondary PC?

[LOUISSSSS]

How is this setup for a HTPC/ secondary PC?
will be used for random stuff, but minimal gaming. If there will be gaming, i will add in a video card.

MB: Gigabyte MA785-US2H
CPU: AMD Phenom X4 9650
RAM: Corsair 2 x 2gb DDR2 800
BOLD = NEED TO BUY TO COMPLETE PC, everything else i have lying around.
HD: WD Raptor 150gb + Seagate 320gb 7200.10
Sound: none
PSU: 3 year old FSP FX600-GLN
Case: LL V1000B
Cooling: Yate Loons and Tuniq Tower on the CPU if i have the AM2+ mounting available, please suggest some just in case.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H / Sempy 140: $93 shipped to your front door.

The Gigabyte 785g AM2+ has rotated back to the top of the 'combo deals' at the Egg so you have a lot of great inexpensive options for less than $150.

The x4 9650 would be fine --- but you could snag a combo with the AM3 A-II 620 Propus for $159 that would move to a DDR3 rig down the road.





--

 

[LOUISSSSS]

i'd like at least a fast dual core or a quad of any flavor though... not interested in single core technology =(

here are some prices that i'm getting for the parts above:

GB US2H: $60
9650: $75
Corsair Ram: $82

comes out to about $230 shipped from my employee discount

 

[jae]

Go with the Athlon II x4 620. Its right behind the Phenom II x4 when encoding.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

but isn't the Phenom x4 9650 faster than the Athlon x4 620?

My prices for the 9650 is $75, and the 620 is $95...

if buy in combos:

US2H + 9650 = 135
US2H + 620 = 155

which is the better performing package?

 

[heyheybooboo]

From the Egg: Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800: $82

Here is the mobo combo page. The Regor 240 combo would bring you in at less than $200 overall.

With the Sempy 140 you would stand a better than even chance of unlocking. As an HTPC, even capturing/recording HD at 4Mps with C&Q enabled you are looking at 1v/900MHz at 25% CPU utilization (that would be unlocked).

If you feel like the Quad is for you the 620 Propus overall comes in at $240 or so ...

The AM3 Propus would slobber-knock the 9650



--

 

[LOUISSSSS]

From the Egg: Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800: $82

Here is the mobo combo page. The Regor 240 combo would bring you in at less than $200 overall.

With the Sempy 140 you would stand a better than even chance of unlocking. As an HTPC, even capturing/recording HD at 4Mps with C&Q enabled you are looking at 1v/900MHz at 25% CPU utilization (that would be unlocked).

If you feel like the Quad is for you the 620 Propus overall comes in at $240 or so ...

The AM3 Propus would slobber-knock the 9650



--

by that, do you mean the AMD x4 620 is much faster than the phenom x4 9650? how about the 9750?

 

[heyheybooboo]

by that, do you mean the AMD x4 620 is much faster than the phenom x4 9650? how about the 9750?

At best with the 65nm Phenoms you will top out 2.7-2.8GHz. The 45nm Propus will run cooler and should top 3GHz+ with ease.

The dual core Regors will run comfortably at 3.6GHz and up ...

You could compromise with an X3 Rana combo, save some bucks, and most likely unlock to an x4 ...

 

[LOUISSSSS]

i see, so the 620 CPU is the better performing overall, even if there will be no OCing?

 

[Fayd]

i see, so the 620 CPU is the better performing overall, even if there will be no OCing?

the 4 digit phenoms are from the last era of phenoms. they're heavily outdated technology.

the reason everyone's suggesting the athlon 2's over them is that the old phenoms ran really hot. I can't in good conscience recommend someone buy an old phenom now, when new phenoms are available, and when the athlon 2 series is available.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

ended up getting this from Newegg:

GB MA785GM-US2H
AMD Athlon II x4 620
G.Skill 2x2gb Blue

all other components i have

 

[alyarb]

i sure hope you got the combo. it was $20 off.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

yep i got the -$20 on my order

 

[LOUISSSSS]

parts arrived today and i started building inside my LLV1000 case. Damn this thing is empty: no Video card, no sound card, no big cooler (well read below)

I have a Tuniq Tower sitting around, but i don't have the AM3 mounting mechanism for it. I've messaged Tuniq and they say "we do not have this part," which is BS because it comes with other Tuniqs, I just lost mine a while ago. Any way i can get my Tuniq mounted on this MB?

 

[LOUISSSSS]

update: okay, finished building the PC today, Connected the Video Output to my HDTV via HDMI from the MB.

everything was working in the BIOS for a few minutes. I had enough time to check through everything, which was set to defaults. I didn't change anything, and my temperatures were very good (30-35c idle with stock cooler.)

Heres the problem, after some minutes, i completely lose video. I've tried to isolate the problem and have tried this:

VGA out -> HDTV. Everything worked
DVI out to HDMI converting cable -> HDTV. Same problem as with HDMI cable alone, no signal.

Bios was set to defaults with the VGA cable and i tried again with the HDMI cable, still no signal. Is there a specific setting in the Bios that i should be looking at to get HDMI/DVI output to work?

the fix: manually selecting output of "D-Sub/HDMI" output in the Integrated Graphics option in MIT in the BIOS