Gaming htpc parts and spec help £600/ $900

[sherpa67]

Hi, am thinking that its about time i replaced my 6 year old htpc and was want to try and build my own this time (have never built a pc before).Have no idea realy what parts i would need as i like to play games online and need a decent graphic card to do this, the game i play most is called entropia universe and has the following specs to play at high to very high ( i currantly play at medium settings)
Below are the system requirements for each Graphics Quality option.

Very High Settings
Internet Connection: ADSL or better

Operating System: Windows XP, Windows Vista

Computer Processor: Intel I7 / AMD Phenom II

Computer Memory: 4096 MB RAM or more

Graphics Card (with latest drivers): NVIDIA GeForce 285 / ATI Radeon 4870 or better

DirectX: Version 9.0c or later

Sound Device: Direct X compatible sound device

Screen Resolution: 1024 x 768 pixels

Hard Drive Space: 10 GB of free space


High Settings
Internet Connection: ADSL or better

Operating System: Windows XP, Windows Vista

Computer Processor: Intel Core duo or AMD Athlon 64 X2 Series or better

Computer Memory: 2048 MB RAM or more

Graphics Card (with latest drivers): NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Series or better / ATI Radeon 2900 series or better.

DirectX: Version 9.0c or later

Sound Device: Direct X compatible sound device

Screen Resolution: 1024 x 768 pixels

Hard Drive Space: 10 GB of free space


Medium Settings
These requirements should be considered the minimum system requirements for Entropia Universe:

Internet Connection: ADSL or better

Operating System: Windows XP, Windows Vista

Computer Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.8g hz or AMD Athlon 64 Series or better

Computer Memory: 2048 MB RAM or more

Graphics Card (with latest drivers): NVIDIA GeForce 7800 Series or better / ATI Radeon 1900 series or better.

DirectX: Version 9.0c or later

Sound Device: Direct X compatible sound device

Screen Resolution: 1024 x 768 pixels

Hard Drive Space: 10 GB of free space

I have a case i can use what i bought for my old htpc the antec fusion remote veris black matx media case and have a corsair vx450 psu that i would reuse as well as well as a keyboard and mouse. would also need a duel tuner freeview card or duel tuner HD freeview if possible, would need a 500GB hard drive as well and windows 7 os. the rest of the spec i have no clue about and this is were i need you help, would like to play my games at high to very high settings if possible. have about £600 to spend on this build



Approximate Purchase Date: next 6 weeks


Budget Range: £600 / $900


System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, watching tv,surfing the internet, watching movies


Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, moniter, speakers, have a antec fusion veris remote media case and a corsair vx450 that i will reuse


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: any british websites


Country of Origin: england


Parts Preferences: by brand or type, none


Overclocking: Maybe in the future but not essensiall


SLI or Crossfire: no


Monitor Resolution: have a grundig 26 inche lcd tv 1368x768


Additional Comments: would like to be able to get at least to high settings on most of the games i play

thanks for any help you can give this newbie to the pc building world


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[Silvune]

I don't think I'm exactly clear what case you have. I think it is this one:
http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=MTIwMQ==
which has two 120mm fans.
In which case it can fit full height cards up to the length of a mATX motherboard, which would make it much easier to get components that could play Entropia Universe on 'Very High Settings'.
There is another case similar to that which is smaller and can only take low profile cards, which would limit you to 'High settings'. I don't think that's the one you have, but not entirely sure.

i5-2400S £147 65W TDP
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-core-i5-2400s-s1155-sandy-bridge-quad-core-25ghz-gpu-850mhz-6mb-cache-65w-retail
I have gone for a low power version because the reduced heat might be appreciated in a small HTCP case like the Antec Fusion.

Scythe Shuriken Big 120 £30
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/scythe-shuriken-big-120mm-fan-low-profile-3-heat-pipe-htpc-ready-s754-939-am2-am2plus-am3-1366-1156-
The Antec Fusion that I'm thinking about has 120mm fans 'above' the motherboard, so that should mean that heatsinks under ~100mm tall will fit.

Zalman ZM-STG2 3.5g syringe £4
http://www.ebuyer.com/173350-zalman-zm-stg2-super-thermal-grease-3-5g-syringe-zm-stg2

You will need a mATX motherboard, H67 chipset if you don't mind foregoing the possibility of overclocking, P67 or Z68 if you do.
Asus P8H67-M Rev 3 £76
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-p8h67-m-rev-30-intel-h57-s-1155-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-raid-sata-pcie-20-(x16)-vga-on-board-micro-
Asus P8P67-M Rev 3 £95
http://www.ebuyer.com/261057-asus-p8p67-m-r3-0-socket-1155-8-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-p8p67-m-r3-0

G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 4GB (2x2GB) 1600MHz CAS9 1.5V F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL £25
http://www.ebuyer.com/240501-g-skill-4gb-2x2gb-ddr3-1600mhz-ripjaws-memory-kit-cl9-9-9-9-24-1-5v-f3-12800cl9d-4gbrl

Powercolor Radeon HD 6850 PCS+ 1GB GDDR5 AX6850-1GBD5-PPDH £123
http://www.ebuyer.com/280047-powercolor-hd-6850-pcs-1gb-gddr5-dvi-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-graphics-card-ax6850-1gbd5-ppdh

Windows 7 64-bit Home Premum SP1 OEM £71
http://www.ebuyer.com/259863-microsoft-windows-7-home-premium-w-sp1-licence-and-media-1-gfc-02050

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB £42
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb-samsung-hd103sj-spinpoint-f3-sata-3gb-s-7200rpm-32mb-cache-89ms-ncq

Total: £517/537

If you don't have the case I'm thinking of and it can't fit the components I'm thinking of then it might be possible to buy a replacement HTPC case that will fit these components while still remaining within the £600 budget.
Otherwise you'd have to get rid of the aftermarket cooling and find the highest spec low profile card possible to hopefully facilitate 'High settings'.

 

[AdrianPerry]

EDIT

 

[sherpa67]

Thanks silvune for your help, sorry if i was not clear enough about the case i have. it is the fusion remote black that i own http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=MTIwMw== think this case is bigger then the one you mentioned so i should have no problems with the parts you reccommened

 

[Silvune]

I made some kind of mistake here, not exactly sure how. The case you linked to is the one I was thinking about for most of the time I was writing my response. But the case I linked to is the one I was worried you had, which would have been too small.

But anyway, yes the parts I recommended will fit in the Fusion Remote Black.

Another thing I want to say is that the Scythe Big Shuriken comes with a 120x12mm fan, which can be replaced by a normal 120x25mm fan if you ever feel the need.

 

[sherpa67]

can any one reccomend any amd builds to me? would like to see what kind of performance to cost i could get, otherwise i will be going with silvune reccomendation