htpc rig- this sound good?

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excellsior

Member
Nov 16, 2004
59
0
0
also looking for a lcd/tv anyone know anything, im clueless
around 1000$ is my goal 26"+


Case D3 Media Center Enclosure $179
Processor Athlon 64 3200+ $201
Motherboard DFI LanParty 250Gb $130
Ram Corsair Value Select 512 MB $75
Capture Card PVR 250MCE $99
Video Card 9800 Pro $195
CPU Cooler Zalman CNPS7000 $40
VGA Cooler Artic Cooling VGA Silencer $20
DVD Player Samsung 16X DVD $24.50
Keyboard/Mouse Gyration Combo $100
Hard Drive Samsung 160GB $88
Sound Card Chaintech AV-710 $25
$1,175
total

if you were to upgrade this system a bit, what would you do?
im thinking of the asus a8 mobo that everyones using, better ram,
and a nicer video card. what do you think?
 
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essasin

Platinum Member
Mar 4, 2004
2,777
0
0
The two most important parts in an htpc is
1. Ram - the tuner cards are resource hogs especially when you use software encoding
2. HD space - you needs tons of space to store all your recordings and movies
 
S

Slugbait

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
3,633
3
81
The HTPC News article is OK for a starting point, but I don't completely agree with everything Sticky has to say. He did pick out a nice case, tho' I think it's been discontinued, so you might not find one.

If noise concerns you, you might wanna dump the no-name PSU that comes with the D-Vines. I've got a Sparkle, and I can only hear the rush of air, the fan itself is dead quiet.

Agreed with essasin on the storage, if you want to use high quality settings for recording, you might consider a larger hard drive. Mine is 250G, and as long as I regularly delete shows I've watched, I've got plenty of space.

Disagreed on RAM, I'm running 512megs, it's absolutely fine. My 250MCE doesn't take up that much resources, much less suck my memory.

I've got a P4B-533 mATX board that has onboard audio, with coax output as well. It's hooked into my ES receiver and sounds perfectly fine.

I dropped my Plextor 708A in. Just a standard player doesn't cut it on any system, imho. Besides, I need a burner in order to archive favorite shows and free up disk space.

MaxPC did a shoot-out between budget/midrange/high-end cards a few months ago, comparing ATI and nVidia. In MPEG playback quality, ATI lost in all three price categories (they published rather large screenshots to show how big a difference there was). I've got an FX5200, which doesn't have a fan, plus it has S-Video Out...works great, zero noise. Of course, I'll likely need a new card if I upgrade my TV, but for now it's perfect. And I got it for $25...
 
N

NuroMancer

Golden Member
Nov 8, 2004
1,684
1
76
I'm not sure if ATI has it as well but hardware decoding of video, like the 6600gt is nice to have.
 
Firsttime

Firsttime

Platinum Member
Mar 31, 2005
2,517
0
76
Are you going socket 754? If you are there is no point in getting an A64 you might as well save a few dollars and get a Sempron. Also you would be better off with a 6600gt instead of the 9800pro.
 
Patrick Wolf

Patrick Wolf

Platinum Member
Jan 5, 2005
2,443
0
0
I'd recommend one of these ASUS DVD-ROM drives.

And I don't know why you chose that keyboard/mouse combo, but I'd suggest something cheaper, look here.

Wouldn't a 512MB Kit running in dual-channel be better? Dual-Channel

I don't know squat about HTPC's but wouldn't a better sound card be in order?
 
E

excellsior

Member
Nov 16, 2004
59
0
0
i really dont know much about computers. i found that article and thought it was a good way to start.
im pretty solid on the amd 3200 or higher, depending on price
i also saw a lot of people using asus mobo, so i will probably jump on that since everyone else is
ram i want 1gig since i will be playing a few games, the article above is a bit old, so i think that why the ram was expensive
hd, im probably going with seagate because i like their warranty and service. im thinking 1x 80gig and maybe 2x300gig i want to setup something to backup my date, but i dont know how.
raid perhaps? but i dont know squat about it. also heard about making copies of hd data called ghost or image or something so that if you need to restore it, you can just pop in the cd with the ghost/image on it and restore it all.
sound card-- yeah dont know too much, probably a decent one around 75$ as im only going 2.1 sound
video- probably take your advice on the 6600gt
everything else i can probably put together myself. only other main thing is the LCD/tv... i have no clue which one to get!! and i want to build my computer this week....
 
I

InlineFour

Banned
Nov 1, 2005
3,194
0
0
Case D3 Media Center Enclosure $179
Processor Athlon 64 3200+ $201
Motherboard DFI LanParty 250Gb $130
Ram Corsair Value Select 512 MB $75
Capture Card PVR 250MCE $99
Video Card 9800 Pro $195
CPU Cooler Zalman CNPS7000 $40
VGA Cooler Artic Cooling VGA Silencer $20
DVD Player Samsung 16X DVD $24.50
Keyboard/Mouse Gyration Combo $100
Hard Drive Samsung 160GB $88
Sound Card Chaintech AV-710 $25
$1,175
total
Click to expand...

those prices are extremely high for old hardware.
 
E

excellsior

Member
Nov 16, 2004
59
0
0
well i have cable tv, but only because i split my cable internet and plug it into my tv.
if this doesnt work (as i would like to record some shows) then ill toss the HD card, the rest of the computer should still suit my needs, as i have a lot of data.
i also get videos from my friend who downloads it and records, so its no biggie.
so does my rig sound fesiable? plus any info on a tv?
 
I

InlineFour

Banned
Nov 1, 2005
3,194
0
0
this is what i would put together:

pentium-d 930
ASUS P5LD2
corsair valueselect 512mb x 2
pvr 150mce
zalman 9500
nec 3550
seagate 250gb SATA
silverstone htpc case
fortron 450W

are you planning on gaming?
 
E

excellsior

Member
Nov 16, 2004
59
0
0
i read an article from here http://www.maximumpc.com/2006/02/how_to_build_a.html
and it said for a media computer to use a squeezebox music networking device... i get the idea, but why spend 300 bucks when you can just play the songs through the network...

i want to play a few games, dod, aoe 3, possibly wow, medival total war (the new one), not really into mmorpg anymore as i rather spend my time at the beach.
 
I

InlineFour

Banned
Nov 1, 2005
3,194
0
0
Originally posted by: excellsior
i want to play a few games, dod, aoe 3, possibly wow, medival total war (the new one), not really into mmorpg anymore as i rather spend my time at the beach.
Click to expand...

EVGA 7600GT.
 
SparkyJJO

SparkyJJO

Lifer
May 16, 2002
13,357
7
81
A radeon 9800 pro for $195??? you gotta be kidding me, those can be had for less than $100. The 3200+ should also be less than $200 considering I got my 3700+ for $200. Also, I got my Samsung 250GB SATA2 HD for $90 so the HD price seems a little high as well.
 
P

phatj

Golden Member
Mar 21, 2003
1,837
0
0
you are literallly paying DOUBLE what you could be paying for just about every component in there.... shop around FS/FT and check out hot deals. Save urself hundreds.
 
E

excellsior

Member
Nov 16, 2004
59
0
0
i guess it was an old article. ill look up some stuff and repost my new config for you guys to critique.
for the most part, should i buy all from newegg? or should i look at other site, b/c the only other one i know is buy.com
 
E

excellsior

Member
Nov 16, 2004
59
0
0
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price

Update ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: A8N5X
** This item is warranted through the product manufacturer only. what's this?
Remove Remove Move To Cart Move To Wish List
$78.99 $78.99
ATX Computer Cases
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price

Update COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: CAC-T05-UW
Remove Remove Move To Cart Move To Wish List
$49.99 -$5.00 Instant
$44.99
CD/DVD Burners (RW Drives)
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price

Update LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD Burner W/LightScribe and 5X DVD-RAM Write Black ATAPI/E-IDE Model SHM-165H6S - Retail
Model #: SHM-165H6S
Remove Remove Move To Cart Move To Wish List
$58.99 -$10.00 Instant
$48.99
Internal Hard Drives
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price

Update Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: WD2500KS
** This item may only be returned for a replacement of the same make/model within 30 days only. what's this?
Remove Remove Move To Cart Move To Wish List
$89.99 $89.99
Memory - System
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price

Update Patriot 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model PDC2G3200LLK - Retail
Model #: PDC2G3200LLK

$55.00 Mail-in Rebate
Remove Remove Move To Cart Move To Wish List
$184.99 $184.99
Power Supplies
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price

Update ASPIRE ATX-AS520W BLACK ATX 520W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: ATX-AS520W BLACK
Remove Remove Move To Cart Move To Wish List
$59.99 $59.99
Processors
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price

Update AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA3200BPBOX
** This item is warranted through the product manufacturer only. what's this?
Remove Remove Move To Cart Move To Wish List
$154.00 $154.00
Sound Cards
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price

Update Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail
Model #: 70SB046000007
** This item is warranted through the product manufacturer only. what's this?
Remove Remove Move To Cart Move To Wish List
$121.99 $121.99
Speakers
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price

Update Creative Inspire P7800 90 Watts 7.1 Speaker - Retail
Model #: 51MF7025AA000
** This item is warranted through the product manufacturer only. what's this?
Remove Remove Move To Cart Move To Wish List
$86.00 -$7.00 Instant
$79.00
Video Cards
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price

Update eVGA 256-P2-N549 Geforce 7600GS 256MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: 256-P2-N549

$15.00 Mail-in Rebate
Remove Remove Move To Cart Move To Wish List
$129.00 $129.00



total was like 991
newegg...
im looking to see if i can get cheaper parts elsewhere.
also, here are somethings i left out...

vid card- 7800gs was the one i chose, i gues its good for around a bill- ish price tag
primary hd- does it need to be sata? and since hds are so cheap, instead of getting an 80 like i was, why not for 30 more bucks get 200+??
kb/mouse - im picky and i didnt have time yet, kb probably an el-cheapo, and mouse something with many buttons
speakers- not sure, i just picked what newegg had as a deal. plus its 7.1
moniter- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824179026 ??? good ???

will zipzoonfly or tigerdirect be cheaper?
 
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