YET another HTPC thread - what do you think of this build?

[gregthomas77]

1 Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS 1TB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $69.99

1 Rosewill RNX-N300 IEEE 802.11b/g/n Wireless-N 2.0 PCI (1T2R) Up to 150Mbps Data Rates/ WPA/WPA2 (AES, 64,128-WEP with shared-key ... $19.99

1 Rosewill RKM-800RF 2.4 GHz Cordless Slim Keyboard and Mouse Combo $29.99

1 PQI TURBO 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PQI26400-4GDB $79.99

1 Intel Celeron E3300 Wolfdale 2.5GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor BX80571E3300
Item #: N82E16819116264 $51.99

1 LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA Model iHOS104-06 - OEM $59.99

1 hec Black 0.7mm Thickness SECC Steel 7K09BBA30FNRX Micro ATX Media Center 300W Power Supply / HTPC Case $49.99


1 ECS G31T-M7 LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

1 EVGA 512-P3-1213-LR GeForce 210 512MB 64-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

COMBO $69.98


TOTAL AFTER COUPONS (with shipping): $412.90 (plus another 40 bucks in mail-in rebates brings it to 372.90.


EDIT: OR, for about 3 dollars more, I could change out the motherboard, processor, ram and graphics card for :

MSI R4350-MD512H Radeon HD 4350 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-4GBPK

AMD Sempron 140 Sargas 2.7GHz Socket AM3 45W Single-Core Processor SDX140HBGQBOX

Foxconn A6GMV AM3 AMD 690G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

The processor would not be dual core, but it would draw less power. Also, the RAM would be considerably faster.

 

[Megazell]

Sounds good.

Enjoy!

 

[gregthomas77]

Edited with a second, slightly different option.

 

[gregthomas77]

bump

 

[keiblerfan69]

Switch out the PQI ram for GSKILL and call it a day.

 

[gregthomas77]

but does anyone have an opinion on the cpu's

 

[BigPopov]

You should be fine with either one. The AMD will draw less power. I prefer AMD on my HTPC to be honest.

If you set it up properly, the GPU will be doing the decoding, so the processor power doesn't really matter. (I currently have an old AMD 3200 dual core which cannot handle 1080p, but when I put in a ATI HD 4350 and offloaded the decoding to the GPU, my CPU usage on 1080p went to about 10% and silky smooth 1080p videos)

You may want to consider a bluetooth wireless setup. RF range is much less. In my apartment I would have a really bad connection anything over 5ft with a RF mouse, and the dongle was at the front of the PC. I put in a bluetooth reciever (about $20), a Microsoft 3000 bluetooth (about $30 at the time from Amazon) and everything works great now. (make sure you buy a bluetooth mouse not a "bluetrack", bluetrack is a laser technology that has nothing to do with the wireless frequency)

(I have yet to buy a BT keyboard, using on screen keyboard for the very few times I need it)

 

[gregthomas77]

[quote name='BigPopov']You should be fine with either one. The AMD will draw less power. I prefer AMD on my HTPC to be honest.

If you set it up properly, the GPU will be doing the decoding, so the processor power doesn't really matter. (I currently have an old AMD 3200 dual core which cannot handle 1080p, but when I put in a ATI HD 4350 and offloaded the decoding to the GPU, my CPU usage on 1080p went to about 10% and silky smooth 1080p videos)

You may want to consider a bluetooth wireless setup. RF range is much less. In my apartment I would have a really bad connection anything over 5ft with a RF mouse, and the dongle was at the front of the PC. I put in a bluetooth reciever (about $20), a Microsoft 3000 bluetooth (about $30 at the time from Amazon) and everything works great now. (make sure you buy a bluetooth mouse not a "bluetrack", bluetrack is a laser technology that has nothing to do with the wireless frequency)

(I have yet to buy a BT keyboard, using on screen keyboard for the very few times I need it)[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the advice. I actually have an extra bluetooth adapter laying around here somewhere.

 

[BigPopov]

Sorry, Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 5000 not 3000. I have 2 of those now. They are still like $25 on Amazon w/ bulk OEM packaging (no dongle). Think I've had mine for 3 months now with the same battery (not that it matters, I use rechargable)