$600 HTPC + CAD Build

[silentfoot]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: later this week

BUDGET RANGE: $600

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: HTPC (HD playback), CAD

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitors, keyboard/mouse, speakers, OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com

PARTS PREFERENCES: I've always gone with an amd/ati build, but never built and HTPC before so i'm open to any suggestions

OVERCLOCKING: No

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Its for a friend and he's getting a 55 inch LED TV, not sure what resolution the HD vids he wants to use the HTPC for will be displayed at for it to look prettiest.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: as stated above, the rig is meant to be for watching HD movies and stuff. I understand he wants to watch HD NFL using his season pass online on the 55 inch LED TV. also, his wife wants to do some CAD on it, so will prob need 4 gigs of ram. A small case would be nice. Thanks!
-silentfoot

 

[Proximon]

Can they deal with an mATX tower or do they need an HTPC case?

 

[silentfoot]

mATX would be fine

 

[Proximon]

Athlon X3 445
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103872

Gigabyte 880G board and Win 7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.437524.13-128-445

Mushkin DDR3 1333
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146748&cm_re=4gb_ddr3_1333-_-20-146-748-_-Product

CM elite 341 case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119193

Antec EA-380D
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033

Gigabyte 5550
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125329

Caviar Green 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136490&cm_re=Caviar_Green-_-22-136-490-_-Product

Optical
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827140042

I didn't add it up but that's probably in the zone

 

[silentfoot]

thanks proximon. looks great. is it complicated to set up the pc so that it outputs sound and vid (through the 5550 i assume) out to the amplifier and on to the tv?

 

[Proximon]

I don't do HTPC beyond this point but I think as long as the receiver is HDMI compatible you are OK.

 

[silentfoot]

i'll check with my friend but i recall it having HDMI. thanks!

 

[silentfoot]

Best answer selected by silentfoot.

 

[silentfoot]

so proximon i got a rig put together almost identical to the one you posted. so far its been ok, except for one comment from the person i ordered it for: when he streams the HD NFL in mozilla or IE...he says that the size of the video streaming (when not fullscreen) is smaller on the new pc than it is on his older laptop. not sure how thats relevant...but he really wants an answer! they're both running on 1080p res.

 

[Proximon]

So it's the same display in both cases? He's connecting the TV to the laptop?

If you want my guess the laptop is NOT 1080p. Since theere are fewer pixels being output by the laptop, the stream takes up more of them.

Let's say the streaming HD content is 720p. And let's say his laptop has a 900p height. When the desktop is displayed on the TV, the 720p takes up 7/9ths of the visible area.

Now the new GPU is set to a higher resolution, so the default view of the NFL stream takes up LESS of the total area.

Does that make sense, and does it answer the question?

If the laptop is really providing the same 1080p.... then it's just a matter of the default view in Windows or the browser.

 

[silentfoot]

Thanks for the reply proximon. The laptop is outputting at 1080p according to him. sorry for noob-ish questions but where would make the default view the same? personally i do not see this as an issue but he does and since i put the rig together for him he wants an answer. many thanks!

 

[Proximon]

I would expect it to be in the controls of the software for the HD stream, probably a flash player.

Quicktime? Shockwave? Some proprietary thing?

Or they can try simply selecting view and zoom in Firefox.