OK, how's this look for a cheap Media PC ?

[g8ina]

LN9376 AMD Athlon 64 3200+, Skt939 £38.76
LN12851 MSI K8NGM2-FID £46.99
LN16395 AKASA Athlon 64 939 HSF £5.75
LN10206 Sweex Internet Optical mouse £2.57
LN16583 Logitech Deluxe 250 Kbd Black PS2 £6.45
LN15198 AKASA Zen case £28.78
LN17027 460W Xclio StablePower PSU £38.18
LN6802 512MB (2X256MB) Corsair DDR PC3200 £28.58

Shoestring time !! This lot comes to just over £200, and I'll use my own DVD-RW, HDDs & XP Home OS. GFX will be onboard until I can afford a new card.

Needs : play DVD ISO's, HD videos - 720p mostly, no H.264. Must be silent.

TIA.

Will this do the job do you reckon ?? Thanks to the replies in the Scan thread :-)

[menthel]

Give it at least 1gb of memory if you plan to play stuff at 720p. However the processor is fine, I haev just taken one out of my pc which did the above stuff fine.

[g8ina]

Thought that might be the case. I can *just* squeeze 2x512MB out of my budget...

LN11240 1Gb (2X512Mb) Corsair Value Select DDR PC3200 £52.25

[g8ina]

revision 2

LN9376 AMD Athlon 64 3200+, Skt939 £38.76
LN12851 MSI K8NGM2-FID £46.99
LN16395 AKASA Athlon 64 939 HSF £5.75
LN10206 Sweex Internet Optical mouse £2.57
LN16583 Logitech Deluxe 250 Kbd Black PS2 £6.45
LN15198 AKASA Zen case £28.78
LN11240 1Gb (2X512Mb) Corsair DDR PC3200 £52.25

£182-55

and hopefully, a Tagan 480-U01 from private classifieds... £30

£212-55

[Steve B]

looks like a half decent spec
one thing i would say is, sweet talk someone whos got a 939 cooler that they dont use, then you can steal it for free and save a fiver

[iftiq]

Maybe think about a different HSF. I have an AKASA one and its horrendously loud. Then again mine is for socket 775.

[g8ina]

Ta very much !

Glad someone spotted that. Silence is golden.

Maybe I'll hang on another week and get the Artic Pro 64 like I already have in my current setup. Or beg one like Steve B suggested

I got the Tagan PSU sorted anyway.

[scrandman]

Get yourself the Seasonic S12 380W from scan or ebuyer. Cheaper than the Xclio and a top quality, quiet PSU to boot.

[g8ina]

Rev 3

LN9376 AMD Athlon 64 3200+, Skt939 £38.76
LN12851 MSI K8NGM2-FID £46.99
LN13081 Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro £11.14
LN10206 Sweex Internet Optical mouse £2.57
LN16583 Logitech Deluxe 250 Kbd Black PS2 £6.45
LN15198 AKASA Zen case £28.78
LN11240 1Gb (2X512Mb) Corsair DDR PC3200 £52.25

£187.94

Tagan 480-U01, private classifieds. £30

£217-94

Ordering today unless anyone says otherwise

Many thanks for all the pointers.

[Steve B]

why go for 2 512 sticks and not 1 gib stick?

[Lu-tze]

Do you need HDTV out? It doesnt say that it supports it if you do.

In which case, you may be better spending more on an am2 set-up based around a board like the asus m2npv vm (£52), 1 gig pc5400 (£50), and am2 athlon 64 3200 (£50)

[Steve B]

by the looks of things, the DVD-ISO's and HD Movies will be stored on the computer, so there's not going to be any HDCP

[g8ina]

2x512MB cuz Scan told me that would be the better option.

The DVI will go directly into the LG TV. The mobo supports 1360x768.

ISO's rips & downloads will be stored on the HDD.

Any probs with that ?

[Steve B]

lookin good.
the only thing i would say is if you were to consider upgrading to 2 gib in future, 1gib would be better, but if you dont plan to then its a null point.

Looks like a nice wee setup there,
be sure to take some photos of it once its finished

[g8ina]

Brilliant. Ordering now

[Howard]

Most coolers won't be silent when the PC is decoding 720p stuff. My HTPC is silent when it's idle, but louder when it's doing that. I'm used to it though