A complete newbie here looking for sane advice!

[AGxM]

Seeking to build first pc and want it to be a htpc to connect to my soon hope to get Tosh LCD...is this over kill? Will want to record off freeview and analogue, play dvds, browse net and access my external harddrive upstairs for music etc.

Silverstone LC20S-M Desktop chassis in Silver w. VFD+IR+Remote w/o PSU £109.92 £129.16
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe NF570 SLI, S AM2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £67.39 £79.18
2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, EPP £128.64 £151.15
256MB Sapphire Radeon X1600Pro PCI-E(x16) 12Pipes 800MHz GDDR3 GPU 500MHz D-Sub/HDMI/SPDIF Retail LP £65.49 £76.95
400 Gb Samsung HD400LJ Spinpoint T, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £61.99 £72.84
KWorld PE310 PCI EXPRESS Dual Hybrid £57.99 £68.14
AMD AM2 Athlon 64 5200+ Dual Core 2.6GHz, 2x 1MB Cache, Retail £125.99 £148.04
430W CoolerMaster iGreen Power Silent ATX ATX V2.2 12cm Fan 85% Eff' £36.29 £42.64
NEC AD-7170S-0S 18x DVD±RW/RAM silver internal SATA oem £18.34 £21.55
2 x 80mm Sharkoon 1000 "Golf Ball" Ultra Quiet 8.9 dB(A) Case Fan - 11.4 CFM £3.79 £8.91
2 x 92mm Akasa Amber Case Fan, 3 Pin, 2 Ball Bearing, Ultra Quiet and Long Life £4.19 £9.85
Netgear WG111T 108Mbps USB2 Wireless Adaptor £23.95 £28.14

Have I missed anything? Will it come with the cables?

And finally am I mad and should I just buy one

Any help, heckles gratefully received

[Clunk]

Go with core 2 duo mate, around the same price and faster

[scrandman]

No real need for you to get an SLI board - a bit overkill (especially with an ATi card - only nVidia cards are supported in SLI mode).

If you don't intend to game on it, a micro-ATX board with on-board 6150 vga will suffice your needs. You can always add in a PCI-E graphics card at a later date if you fancy.

Something like this:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=475263 (wifi version also available for about £8 more)

or this:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=496182

would do the trick. Both of them have DSUB & DVI connectors, so you can choose which is best for your TV.

Also, 5200 CPU is way overkill for an HTPC IMO. Agree with Clunk that Core2Duo is better value, but for an HTPC an AMD x2 3800 or even a single core AMD would probably be more than ample.

Otherwise, looks pretty good. Personally I'd go for the Seasonic 430W PSU myself.

[Biscuit]

i would get the 2000 RPM fans and a cheap fan controller. The 1000 ones do squat (as i recently discovered ) Also u have put down an SLI motherboard and a ATI graphics card. If you plan to run dual graphics cards then...

ATI = Crossfire motherboard chipsets
NVidia = SLI motherboard chipsets

I would avoid this though, i have a SLI chipset myself but i dont think il ever use it.

Deffo agreed with Clunk. C2D is a far superior system

[AGxM]

Wow thanks for the advice - have re-jigged spec

3 x 80mm Sharkoon 2000 "Golf Ball" Quiet 17.8 dB(A) Case Fan - 22.7 CFM
NEC AD-7170S-0S 18x DVD±RW/RAM silver internal SATA oem
AKASA AK-FC-06-SL Silver 3.5" Fan Controller
2 x Silverstone FN91 92mm Low Noise Case Fan 2100rpm
400 Gb Samsung HD400LJ Spinpoint T, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ
Abit I90HD Fatal1ty ATI, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667, SATA II, ATX, On Board VGA
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, Socket 775, 2.4 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, Conroe Core, 4MB Cache, Retail
480W XClio-SCF aPFC Super Silent SLi (21Db) 12cm Fan 8/20/24 ATX2/2.01 12vEPS + SATA+PCI-E Hi-End
SilverStone LC20S Desktop chassis in silver w/o PSU
2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC5400 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12
512MB Sapphire Radeon X1550 PCI-E (x16) 800MHz GDDR2 GPU 550MHz D-Sub/DVI/S-Video Retail

Better value - any issues that you can see?

[BlindMelon7]

I wouldn't bother with the e6600, the e4300 will do. Spend the money saved on an ATI x1950 pro in case you want to play games at some point.

[menthel]

It all looks extra overkill to do those simple tasks. If you are not going to play any games then get an am2 single core or cheapest dual core, mATX mobo 430 with 6150 inbuilt gfx and spend the money saved on extra internal hdds, as they are soon used up!

[AGxM]

Gotcha!

So:

Abit NF-M2 nView, NF430, S AM2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, uATX is sufficient with no separate graphics card as it has integrated GeForce 6150 & a much smaller 3800 x 2 AMD processor is enough also!

Great stuff - took over £100 off the prices.

Thanks for all the help

[menthel]

Sounds great to me. Makes things much cheaper and allowes for more storage room for recorded tv/video!

[dave87]

If its just going to be a HTPC, then the above is fine

[scrandman]

Gotcha!

So:

Abit NF-M2 nView, NF430, S AM2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, uATX is sufficient with no separate graphics card as it has integrated GeForce 6150 & a much smaller 3800 x 2 AMD processor is enough also!

Great stuff - took over £100 off the prices.

Thanks for all the help

Pretty much what I recommended at the start, but glad you got there in the end

[AGxM]

Thats the female mind for you......always want more than they actually need

[staffsMike]

I've heard those "silent" coolermaster psu's are more comparable to a tornado..

Just seen you changed it to an xclio...should provide you with a nice fireworks display lol

Rule of thumb...dont buy cheap PSU's lol

[dave87]

XClio aren't bad, but I'd recommend something like the 430w Seasonic

[staffsMike]

you again...lol

Then just to annoy i'll recommend overclockers again.

OCZ modStream 450W might serve you well..plus it leave room for for more power hungry components.

But as dave says seasonic are a good way to go with psu's

[dave87]

heh, yea me again

Yup, got a seasonic in my rig, has been faultless