christiangordon

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I am wanting to build a HTPC with parts I have. I will need to buy a few parts but wanted to get some input on what I should get.

I have a HTPC case
GPU ATI 5770
HDD WD 640gb green
Antec 400w psu
Blu-ray/DVD player/writer
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
XBMC

This will hook up to a 1080p HDTV


I need a CPU, motherboard, and RAM

I don't have a budget for the parts that are needed. I just want something that can handle watching movies and playing music without a issue. I want this system to be quiet as well.

I was thinking AMD Athlon II X 255 and 1.5v 2x2gb RAM. I am not sure if the motherboard needs usb 3.0 or sata III. I am also thinking that I can just use the sound on the GPU to my receiver to get 7.1 audio.

Or should I wait for Sandy Bridge/Bulldozer to come out and see about using one of those for lower watts and more power?

I appreciate any suggestions.

 

christiangordon

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I will be encoding/transcoding in the furture, but I was thinking it would be better to create a different desktop for that. A nice intel i5 2500k with a powerful cuda core gpu.

I like the article you sent!

so my choices are:

Sempron 64 3500+ (59watt) $15
FIC motherboard $28
DDR2 - 800 2x2 $58

--$101

or

Sempron 140 2.7ghz (43watt) $34
Foxconn/ECS/ASRock MB $40
DDR3 - 1333 2x2 $40

--$114


i am leaning towards the newer technology just for the reliability factor.


 

christiangordon

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I am thinking I should just make this machine future proof.

i3-2120 or i5-2400
1155 motherboard
4GB DDR3 RAM

or

AMD 455 rana
890 motherboard
4GB DDR3 RAM

with my
5770

use this as a desktop and a Media center and run the HDMI cable across the room to my receiver and TV
If I were to use this as a desktop I would use a 90GB vertex 2 as the primary HDD
 

christiangordon

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I was just looking that up. for $50 to have the computer anywhere in the room allowing me to use it as a desktop for work and media would be better. I will change the GPU to a 560 for the encoding I do.

Thank you everyone!