Rate my HTPC setup under $550

[seer37]

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

ASUS M3A78-EM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131324

Antec earthwatts EA430 430W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.0 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371006

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

EVGA 01G-P3-N959-TR GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.202697

AMD Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition Kuma 2.8GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core Processor Model AD785ZWCGHBOX - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.202697

 

[shortstuff_mt]

The build looks pretty good, but there are a few changes that could be made. What is the intended use of your HTPC (1080 HD playback, BluRay capability, TV recording and playback, etc...)? You don't need the separate GPU since the 780G's integrated GPU can play 1080p content. This is the system I would recommend:

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.204212 $94.94 (Case + RAM combo)

AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103681 $87.00

GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-UD4H AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128384 $119.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008&Tpk=400cx $59.99 - $20.00 MIR

Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.175855 $89.99

Total - $451.91 - $20.00 MIR

That build leaves room for a Blu-Ray player too, if wanted.

LITE-ON Black 6X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-Ray DVD Drive & DVD Burner with LightScribe Model iHES206-08 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106277 $89.99

 

[seer37]

It's main use will be to play back 1080p video files (.mkv, .wmv etc) to my Samsung 52" 1080p LCD as well as output audio to my 7.1 home theater receiver.

Issues I've had with on-board video before was the video would get out of sync with the audio, although I purchased the coreavc licenced and it fixed it, but also put in a 7600gt in the old machine too, so not sure what fixed it, guess I was thinking better safe than sorry.

But if you feel that Gigabyte board will be able to output the audio and video perfectly fine and support 1920x1080 resolution, I'm all for it.

Also is the Regor a decent processor vs say http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680 for only about $15 more?

 

[Helloworld_98]

the 550 will make little difference in what you are doing with the PC, or it could be worse since it has less L2 cache.

 

[seer37]

Appreciated very much