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New htpc

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Lyuokdea   09-28-2009 at 03:28:40 AM

Hi All,

I'm building a small htpc for personal use....going to mostly be using it as a file/mediaserver, dvd player, always-on skype, watching hulu/youtube vids... might be playing a few games on it, but nothing overly intense (anybody know if the guitar hero for computers is any good?)

Anyway, how does this setup look?

CPU - AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz
Motherboard - Foxconn A76ML-K AM3 Ready / AM2+ / AM2 AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
RAM - 2 x 2GB ocz DDR2 800
Video Card - Asus GeForce 9600 GSO DDR3 128 bit 512 MB
Hard Drive - WD Caviar Green 1TB
Power Supply - COOLER MASTER Elite 460 RS-460-PSAR-J3 460W
Case - APEX TX-381-C Black Steel Micro ATX Tower Computer Case - Retail
DVD Burner - Not sure which yet....will get blu ray burner when prices go down
Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

The system is listed here for those who prefer reading off of newegg: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/ [...] er=9539134

Does this setup look reasonable for what I want it to do? The question for tonight is whether the case looks good for this system, since it has free shipping for the next 2.5 hours.

~Lyuokdea


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Lyuokdea   09-28-2009 at 03:58:18 AM

What's the performance difference on an integrated graphics card like that? While I'm not a heavy gamer or anything, I want to make sure I can eventually run blu-ray movies without any problems.....

also, what's the reliability like on the spinpoint? I've heard it was poor

thanks,

~Lyuokdea

Reply to Lyuokdea
rwpritchett   09-28-2009 at 06:29:10 AM

The 760G chipset you have chosen does not support hardware acceleration for blu-ray. Take hunter's advice, the 785G does support HA for blu-ray.

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Lyuokdea   09-28-2009 at 07:49:50 AM

Ah....very good to know... this is why i ask you guys.

Any other problems that people see?

~Lyuokdea

Reply to Lyuokdea
Lyuokdea   10-20-2009 at 07:34:50 AM

Hi All,

After sitting on my hands for awhile, i went back and redid the computer, gaining DDR3 support and adding in the IGP (785)...this build ends up being about the same price as before (I've already bought the case (the micro-ATX posted above) as well as the mouse/keyboard/speakers).

Does this make sense to everybody? A couple real quick questions:

1.) Is the DDR3 1333 system worth the extra $30 or so over the DDR2 1066 system/

2.) Is there a QUIET CPU cooler which will fit in a micro-ATX case while keeping everything cooler than the stock fans? (since it's an HTPC i'm looking for everything to be as quiet as possible)

Thanks for your help!

~Lyuokdea

Reply to Lyuokdea
taylorjes   10-20-2009 at 08:07:17 AM

I'm interest in what your plans are for cooling... I'm building a HTPC over at my thread and I'll keep following your build till I make my decision...

how much clearence does you case have (board to panel) for a heatsink.... I'm looking like ~ 5.5"

Reply to taylorjes
Lyuokdea   10-20-2009 at 05:39:10 PM

Probably about the same in terms of clearance..... no big plans in terms of cooling...the scythe fan is supposedly very quiet, as are the caviar green hds...however the power supply/heatsink fans will probably dominate the noise at this point

~Lyuokdea

Reply to Lyuokdea
Silver Home Brew badge shortstuff_mt   10-20-2009 at 05:47:48 PM

Zalman coolers are usually very quiet. Here's a nice low-profile cooler:

 

ZALMAN CNPS8700 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail $39.99


Message edited by shortstuff_mt on 10-20-2009 at 05:47:59 PM
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