I'm planning on a new desktop PC next month (after cpu price cuts) but am unsure about some bits, so how does this lot sound? Anything I've missed? Any alternatives I should consider (cheaper would be nice)?
I didn't want a big tower case as I want something smaller that the monitor can sit on. Although I play games I don't play the fps/rts types so I don't need monster graphics. I've picked parts to give some degree of future proffing (as best as I can) so that a future upgrade won't require anything too major (maybe cpu, graphics, RAM, H/D, DVD drive when prices drop/I need better). I do plan on using the PC for freeview/satellite TV and media centre, and want HDCP on the graphics card just in case. The TV card is for FTA sat only probably German at 19.2e as I have Sky+ anyway.
Main uses for the PC will be:
Games - no FPS/RTS just RPG/strategy like FM2007, CivIV, Neverwinter Nights 2, Guildwars
Offices Apps - MS Office 2007, Dreamweaver, photo editing, basic video editing to put on DVD using programs like TMPenc DVDAuthor
Internet/downloading/msn
Watching TV and DVD's possibly HiDef in the future, recording TV, listen to music/audiobooks
Here's what I've come up with:
22" Samsung SM226BW Widescreen LCD Monitor 2ms Black DVI 3000:1 swivel tilt £234.99
Aplus Black Media Center Case ATX/MATX With Brushed Aluminium Front Panel - No PSU £34.98
535W Enermax FMA EG565AX-VE(G)-FMA (20+4Pin) PCI-E R aPFC Quiet £52.86
Gigabyte GA P35C DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard MB-086-GI £84.59
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750, S775, 2.66 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, Conroe Core, 4MB Cache, Retail £129.24
Sapphire HD 2600XT 256MB GDDR3 Dual DVI TVO PCI-E £63.84
Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache OEM £65.82
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR3000/PCI analog+dvbt+sat card (1138) £83.41
Netgear WG311 54mbps 802.11g Wireless PCI Card £18.76
Newlink 5 Port USB 2.0 PCI Card with 4 External Ports and 1 Internal Port £4.26
I already have:
MS Vista Home Premium OEM
Crucial 2GB kit (1GBx2) DDR2 PC2-5300 CL=5 UNBUFFERED NON-ECC DDR2-667 1.8V
LG GSA-H42LBL 18x DVD1RW DL/RAM Lightscribe Internal - Black Bare OEM
Seagate 250Gb 8Mb cache/7200RPM SATA H/D from existing PC
My current PC is a 3 year old Biostar iDEQ210P with Athlon64 3400+ CPU, NForce3 chipset, 2GB PC3200 RAM, GeForce 7600GS 256Mb graphics, Vista HP but it's starting to struggle a bit with some of the things I want it to do like record TV while listening to music and gaming (eg. had to turn game settings down or music was stuttering) and with it's 250w PSU, AGP and Socket 754 I've taken it as far as I can really so it'll become a HTPC in the lounge.
Cheers
I didn't want a big tower case as I want something smaller that the monitor can sit on. Although I play games I don't play the fps/rts types so I don't need monster graphics. I've picked parts to give some degree of future proffing (as best as I can) so that a future upgrade won't require anything too major (maybe cpu, graphics, RAM, H/D, DVD drive when prices drop/I need better). I do plan on using the PC for freeview/satellite TV and media centre, and want HDCP on the graphics card just in case. The TV card is for FTA sat only probably German at 19.2e as I have Sky+ anyway.
Main uses for the PC will be:
Games - no FPS/RTS just RPG/strategy like FM2007, CivIV, Neverwinter Nights 2, Guildwars
Offices Apps - MS Office 2007, Dreamweaver, photo editing, basic video editing to put on DVD using programs like TMPenc DVDAuthor
Internet/downloading/msn
Watching TV and DVD's possibly HiDef in the future, recording TV, listen to music/audiobooks
Here's what I've come up with:
22" Samsung SM226BW Widescreen LCD Monitor 2ms Black DVI 3000:1 swivel tilt £234.99
Aplus Black Media Center Case ATX/MATX With Brushed Aluminium Front Panel - No PSU £34.98
535W Enermax FMA EG565AX-VE(G)-FMA (20+4Pin) PCI-E R aPFC Quiet £52.86
Gigabyte GA P35C DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard MB-086-GI £84.59
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750, S775, 2.66 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, Conroe Core, 4MB Cache, Retail £129.24
Sapphire HD 2600XT 256MB GDDR3 Dual DVI TVO PCI-E £63.84
Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache OEM £65.82
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR3000/PCI analog+dvbt+sat card (1138) £83.41
Netgear WG311 54mbps 802.11g Wireless PCI Card £18.76
Newlink 5 Port USB 2.0 PCI Card with 4 External Ports and 1 Internal Port £4.26
I already have:
MS Vista Home Premium OEM
Crucial 2GB kit (1GBx2) DDR2 PC2-5300 CL=5 UNBUFFERED NON-ECC DDR2-667 1.8V
LG GSA-H42LBL 18x DVD1RW DL/RAM Lightscribe Internal - Black Bare OEM
Seagate 250Gb 8Mb cache/7200RPM SATA H/D from existing PC
My current PC is a 3 year old Biostar iDEQ210P with Athlon64 3400+ CPU, NForce3 chipset, 2GB PC3200 RAM, GeForce 7600GS 256Mb graphics, Vista HP but it's starting to struggle a bit with some of the things I want it to do like record TV while listening to music and gaming (eg. had to turn game settings down or music was stuttering) and with it's 250w PSU, AGP and Socket 754 I've taken it as far as I can really so it'll become a HTPC in the lounge.
Cheers
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