Help Spec me up £1k

Shock_Xe · 5 Jun 2006 at 22:29

ok, heres the thing. Looking to build new pc, use existing stuff as htpcso need a good fast machine all rounder and good for gaming plus the extras needed for htpc.

So far my spec which will be used for htpc

AMD XP mobile 2600+, 1.5GB Ram, 6800GT, Abit AN7 Board, 120GB SATA Hdd, Wireless Netgear card, NEC DVDRW, Onboard sound, Thermaltake Butterfly psu, thermalright cooler and few bits....

Going to keep my existing thermalke tsunami case, dvd drive and floppy, everything else internal to be done, plus I already decided on a Case for HTPC @ £100 so with a budget of £900 in mind I need new gutts for my machine and anything else for htpc (Think im just missing a tv card?)

go on lads spec me up as I lost touch with current tech out there

Shock_Xe · 5 Jun 2006 at 22:53

CP-152-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM) 1 £161.95 £161.95

HD-018-SA Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-018-SA) 1 £43.95 £43.95

MB-092-AB Abit AN8-32X nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-092-AB) 1 £104.95 £104.95

MY-079-CS Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 (MY-079-CS) 1 £124.95 £124.95

CD-035-NE NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE) 1 £19.95 £19.95

FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR) 1 £14.95 £14.95

CA-004-UX Ultra X-Connect 500W ATX2.0 Cable Detachable PSU - Blue with UV Orange (CA-004-UX) 1 £49.95 £49.95

NW-011-NG Netgear WG311 54Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter (NW-011-NG) 1 £25.95 £25.95

GX-028-HA Hauppauge WinTV PVR-500 Media Centre Edition Dual TV Tuner (GX-028-HA) 1 £94.95 £94.95

GX-079-LT Leadtek GeForce 7900 GT Extreme 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-079-LT) 1 £199.95 £199.95

Subtotal £841.50
VAT £147.27
Total £988.77

got this so far, slightly over spent, but what changes would u guys make to spec??

Quixote · 6 Jun 2006 at 00:26

I'd say there's better PSU's for that money - Custom PC Magazine tested a bunch about 6 months ago - the Ultra X-Connect blew up under 100 % load. It's also inefficient.
I'd recommend Akasa Paxpower, Seasonic, Tagan or FSP for example. It depends how badly you want a modular PSU. Some more experienced users might be able to recommend a reliable modular PSU in the £50 ish price range.
That motherboard also might be overkill for your budget - the 2*16 lanes PCI-E don't really have an advantage over 2*8 as of yet. It's your call though & if you want it for other features then go for it.
Everything else looks dope - I'm a fan of the Spinpoint drives myself.

Indy500 · 6 Jun 2006 at 00:32

Get the Pioneer 111 DVD-RW.

ACESHIGH · 6 Jun 2006 at 02:24

Change the graphics card. You can get the cheaper & faster X1800XT instead.

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
Price: £139.95 (£164.44 Including VAT at 17.5%)

hp7909 · 6 Jun 2006 at 06:34

Did not fully understand OP but, this what £900 can get you nowadays:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-079-SE) £49.95
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM) £161.95
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL) £104.95
HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1800 GTO ICEQ3 SILENT TURBO 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-054-HT) £119.95
NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE) £19.95
Thermaltake Blue Orb II Socket 939/754/775) CPU Cooler (CL-P0257) (HS-005-TT) £15.95
Lian-Li PC-V600 Aluminum Mid Tower - Black (CA-058-LL) £72.95
Tagan TG430-U15 430W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-007-TG) £46.95
Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150 Media Centre Edition TV Tuner (GX-027-HA) £50.95
Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-131-AS) £109.95
Subtotal £753.50
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £10.95
VAT £133.78
Total £898.23

hp7909

Shock_Xe · 6 Jun 2006 at 10:22

thanks for your input guys

PSU wise, i chose that one for its ability to disconnect leads that are not being used, but like u say tagan etc are better and i will take that advice and switch from the ultra x to something different

m/board wise, ive always had abit but open to other types, Im looking for something that has good cooling from stock and potentially clock well with future proof features and abit seemd to fit bill but if ppl can recomend a better alternative then great ill take it on board

as for g/card, ive always been an nvidia man, but im looking for performance and if the ati is better then great thats fine with me,

reason i chose the cooler i did cause a lot of ppl seem to use them, basically i want something that will cope with potential oc'ing

HDD wise, would i be better going for 2 smaller hdd's or one bigger? as i was thinking one for games/os other for storage

RE: Tv card for htpc. I dont understand these 100% what i wanted was a tv card that could have digital signal and accept sky, therefore allowing me to tape 2 channels at once?? i.e. sky and freeview???

as i said i dont need a case but everything else is up

Shock_Xe · 6 Jun 2006 at 10:25

*deleted*

Shock_Xe · 10 Jun 2006 at 20:52

Shock_Xe · 11 Jun 2006 at 10:32

updated

CP-166-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM) 1
£181.95 £181.95
HD-078-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-078-SE) 1
£66.95 £66.95
MB-142-AS Asus M2N32-SLi-DLX nForce 590 SLi (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-142-AS) 1
£114.95 £114.95
GX-079-LT Leadtek GeForce 7900 GT Extreme 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-079-LT) 1
£205.95 £205.95
MY-012-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5300 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-5400PHU2-2GBLA) (MY-012-GS) 1
£99.95 £99.95
HS-021-ZA Zalman CNPS9500-AM2 Aero Flower (Socket AM2/939/754) CPU Cooler (HS-021-ZA) 1
£25.95 £25.95
CD-038-PO Pioneer DVR-111DBK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM (CD-038-PO) 1
£21.95 £21.95
GX-026-HA Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1300 Media Centre Edition Freeview TV Tuner (GX-026-HA) 1
£69.95 £69.95
CA-008-TG Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG) 1
£61.95 £61.95

hp7909 · 11 Jun 2006 at 10:51

Shock_Xe said:
RE: Tv card for htpc. I dont understand these 100% what i wanted was a tv card that could have digital signal and accept sky, therefore allowing me to tape 2 channels at once?? i.e. sky and freeview???

OcUK have Dual TV Recorder cards but one doesn't have Freeview and the other only does DVB-T (& can't input S-Video or composite - Sky):

Hauppauge WinTV PVR-500 Media Centre Edition Dual TV Tuner (GX-028-HA) £111.57 incl. VAT
Terratec Cinergy 2400i DT DVB-T TV Tuner (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-000-TT) £93.94 incl. VAT

Other option is to buy 2 TV cards, e.g. Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1300 & Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150

Shock_Xe said:
CP-166-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM) 1
£181.95 £181.95
HD-078-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-078-SE) 1
£66.95 £66.95
MB-142-AS Asus M2N32-SLi-DLX nForce 590 SLi (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-142-AS) 1
£114.95 £114.95
GX-079-LT Leadtek GeForce 7900 GT Extreme 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-079-LT) 1
£205.95 £205.95
MY-012-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5300 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-5400PHU2-2GBLA) (MY-012-GS) 1
£99.95 £99.95
HS-021-ZA Zalman CNPS9500-AM2 Aero Flower (Socket AM2/939/754) CPU Cooler (HS-021-ZA) 1
£25.95 £25.95
CD-038-PO Pioneer DVR-111DBK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM (CD-038-PO) 1
£21.95 £21.95
GX-026-HA Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1300 Media Centre Edition Freeview TV Tuner (GX-026-HA) 1
£69.95 £69.95
CA-008-TG Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG) 1
£61.95 £61.95

Looks good

See http://sysbuild.corsairmemory.com/report.aspx?id=4 :cool: