Proposed HTPC

[Smirnoff]

I say HTPC, this will be the main use although gaming might creep into the equaton at some point


Silverstone Grandia GD01S-MXR Silver Desktop Alu' Case with Card Reader MCE/Vista Ready w/o PSU £117.05 £137.53


Gigabyte GA P35-DS4, iP35 Express, S 775, PCI-E x16, DDR2 1066/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £negotiable (depends on brother)


Intel Celeron Dual Core E1200, Socket 775, 1.6GHz, 512KB Cache, Retail £29.77 £34.98
or possibly a core 2...not sure yet


Scythe Mini Ninja Heatpipe CPU Cooler S478/LAG775, AMD S754/939/940/AM2 £22.99 £27.01


2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2 Pro, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-12 £47.64 £55.98


120Gb Hitachi Deskstar 0Y30013 7K250 (7200rpm,8Mb) - SATA £25.99 £30.54


750 GB Western Digital WD7500AYYS RE2, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms £96.49
£113.38


LiteOn LH-20A1H-487C 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, DVD-RAM x12, IDE, Retail, Lightscribe £18.40 £21.62


512MB Palit 8600GTS, PCI-E (x16), Mem 1000 MHz, GDDR3, GPU 675 MHz, D-Sub, Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI £75.67 £88.91


Edimax EW-7728In 802.11n *Draft"n" v2.0* 300Mbps wireless PCI card £16.89 £19.85


Keysonic KB-ACK-540RF v2 Notebook Cordless Keyboard, Touch Pad Mouse Included, Silver/Black £23.40 £27.50


Hauppauge WinTV-HVR3000 PCI Analog+DVBT+DVB-S Satellite (1138) £52.50 £61.69


O/s will probably be win xp mce.


Total price from scan.co.uk (excluding o/s and mobo) £629.87p inc carriage of £9.27p


Comments, suggestions etc

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would ditch the 8600GTS and get a HD3850 256mb for £91(including free postage) from ebuyer:

ATI HD 3850 Pro 256MB GDDR3 Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

This is a shorter Triplex HD3850 256MB too!!

Here is what it looks like:

Triplex-Graphic Card Manufacturer

The HD3850 will absolutely destroy a 8600GTS in gaming and also has better media playback capabilities too!!

Also I would get a Intel Pentium E21** series CPU as the 1mb less cache on the Celeron really affects performance!

[SiM]

Looks good, but I would suggest
e2xxx processor
cheaper ram can get better ram for £35 from scan
1TB hard drive better value, only £20 more at scan (but your choice is fine)
if you might game at some point then get ATI HD3850

[staffsMike]

What kind of gaming and at what resolution?

I would get this,

Antec Fusion with 430w earthwatts. £115
Abit Fatality or Intel G33 uATX - £60
Intel E2160 - £43
2GB Corsair PC6400 - £35
Scythe Mini Ninja - £27
Ati HD3650pro Passive - £50
Wester Digital 1TB drive - £135
Optical - £20
Keyboard, tv card and wireless - £100 (your choices)

Total is around £585 all in

That will run next to silent and give plenty of media flexability with a bit of gaming power. If you want more gaming power the HD3850pro is probably the way to go.

That's just what I would do, pick and choose at the suggestions as you see fit.