Cheap build challenge: ~£250 delivered

[Pob255]

Scythe gental typhoons are great for water cooling or anything else that has a need for good static pressure.
I'd not say they are the best of fans generally as you can get fans far cheaper that will perform just as well for far less.

The sliverstone FN122 is a great low noise fan for under £5 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/120mm...bearing-design

The Shrakoon system fans are decent as well http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/120mm...8A%29-Case-Fan

For a bit more the thermalright fans are worth a look http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Therm...at-max-1000RPM

The thing to remember when looking at fan of the same size is that rpm is the most important factor in terms of air flow & noise
Execpt when you get into the 1000rpm or less area when motor &/or bareing noise starts to become louder than the sound of the fan
Still even then the loudest motor/bareing is still pretty quiet.

EDIT:the sunbeam cases are also screwless, the main the going for the coolermasters is slightly higher build quality, a different look and internal layout.
the sunbeam's can only take 3 hard drives, where as the CM elite 330 can take 5 and has less restrictive air flow over the hard drives.
Although I personally prefur the 90 degree hard drive layout as I find it far eaiser to access hard drives.

[nibbler]

At 1150rpm I cannot hear my gentle typhoon which I reckon is pretty impressive. It's on the CPU cooler, so it does make a difference what speed it runs at and how much air it shifts.

[strengthofmind]

Pretty much gone firm on the build specs, Sunbeam + HD4200 mobo + x3/x4, however I'm now suspicious that my Samsung L40C580 won't pass through digital 5.1 onto the TOSlink, so the simplicity of connecting all the HDMI etc to the TV with a single TOSlink from the TV to the amp has gone. May need to get a TOSlink switch and many metres of TOSlink cables. But that's probably a query for AVForums...

[ERU]

Pretty much gone firm on the build specs, Sunbeam + HD4200 mobo + x3/x4, however I'm now suspicious that my Samsung L40C580 won't pass through digital 5.1 onto the TOSlink, so the simplicity of connecting all the HDMI etc to the TV with a single TOSlink from the TV to the amp has gone. May need to get a TOSlink switch and many metres of TOSlink cables. But that's probably a query for AVForums...

Don't forget to post a list of what you get before you press that 'buy' button I'm VERY interested in what you finally go for

[strengthofmind]

Whilst I'm sure there are at least a few people out there who have found this useful, unfortunately I've been overruled by the other stakeholders and they've bought a Currys' PC.

So now with most the budget depleted and a shocking motherboard, we now have £50ish to get a GPU that can simultaneously output HD on HDMI and VGA/DVI and and a soundcard that can output 5.1 on TOSLINK. The GPU only needs to match the HD4200 IGP and if there's one out there that does audio too that would be ideal as a cost-saver. (I have checked, the PC has 1x 16xPCI-E and 1x 1xPCI-E (according to the website)

Any tips?

[strengthofmind]

From what I understand, the optical outputs don't pre process the signal, which is fine, as the Logitech Z5500 will do that, so something like this would be fine:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164495

And for a GPU, a 5450 DDR3?
http://www.scan.co.uk/Shop/Computer-...%2880-Cores%29

[scaryjim]

For a GPU that can do HDMI + one of DVI or VGA, I wouldn't look past an nvidia 8400GS @ £22 - I've got one of those and it's a good, quiet, cool-running GPU. The only thing it won't do (iirc) is audio over HDMI: if you need that feature then you'll want an HD4350 instead.

But, having said that, are you sure the onboard sound & GFX from the Curry's machine won't do the job? Which one did they get?

[strengthofmind]

You're definitely overestimating the hardware highstreet vendors put in their PCs:

1 x VGA (Intel GMA X4500)
1 x Audio line out
1 x Headphones out

Compare that to the ASROCK M3A785GMH we were considering:

1 x VGA/D-Sub Port
1 x VGA/DVI-D Port
1 x HDMI Port
1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port
HD Audio Jack: Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone

So 8400 vs 4350?

[strengthofmind]

Any tips on the best software setup? I know MPC + CoreAVC used to be popular. Seeing some people using KMPlayer, or just MPC HC, or integrating MadVR. With hardware acceleration will something like VLC be suitable?