Member since??? Needs advice on MCPC for frien

[sitka]

Hi,
It's been a very long time since I've logged in. I'm an old modder. It set me on a path to become a programmer and that has been great. An old highschool buddy found his way back to the company I work for and after we got a 46" 1080p Samsung to display live design schedules in the Engineering Department he followed suit and upgraded his home to the same. Now I have been very patient as far as LCD's go. whenever I wanted to code and watch TV on one they all fell short except on dedicated computer displays with a TV card in the PC, until 1080p. Now it works. 1920x1080 is a comfortable rez to code in. But it is also good for the consumer. PIP web and the big game are seamless and it's just cool. But when a friend asks how to set an 8 year old web browsing computer to his home entertainment center. Reality strikes hard and he is now in the position where he should go with a SFF cube/book Vista or WMC and move on.

Here are my gut instinks and I'm not up on the latest and greatest.

Geforce 7900 (I bought one about 3 months ago)
Shuttle cube
500 gig 7200 SATA (a quiet oine)
2 gig of PC2xxx

value point right now on Intel proc I think is the Q6600...
don't know AMD

So how can I get this guy.....

A build sheet for a sweet cube thaat will disappear into his Home entertainment unit
OR
a dell/hp price point machine that will carry a Geforce 7900 or better (directx10) power supply and connectors

Thanks for playing gently with an old man. It is the time of year where people seek this kind of advice and the tales of me machining water blocks out high thermoconductivity material and swipping isobars out of the tool crib seem to surface when others in the IT deparment get overloaded with recommendations for distant family members. Even though getting what "I" need is now like breathing, easy obvious and neccessary. Helping others in the best way seems a huge effort.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

The shuttle cube is your biggest limitation on what you can do as they come with weak PSUs and less than stellar thermal limits. If you want it to disappear, why not do an HTPC case? You have several great choices such as:

Silverstone Crown CW02 $399

Zalman HD160XT $549

and the Silverstone DG01MX $249

For a PSU, if you choose an HTPC case, you'll want quiet, and Seasonic is still reaping in the glory for that one. I still recommend the trust Seasonic S12 430. I have one that's 4 years old and still ticking away. This year they have their new Series II S12 series. Touts 85% efficiency and is cooler and quieter than ever. And I still can't hear mine even with my ear up to it.

Seasonic S12 II SS-430GB

Graphics is still a concern in Multimedia PCs. If you use a shuttle case. You need a fan as the system just doesn't have the cooling ability to do one passively without overheating.

It's well agreed however, that the best card to get right now is the 8800GT. Any of these are terrific choices. Search around for the best price.

If you do an HTPC case however, you can do a passive card. I would recommend Sparkle's new 8800GT. The temperatures are intense but there haven't been any signs of shutdown. Just don't overclock it. It's not out yet but will be soon. AnAndTech's Review.

For the hard drive, Samsung's Spinpoint series still maintains the record for the coolest, quietest hard drives.

For the motherboard, you have lots of choices.

In a shuttle PC, the motherboard is already decided so no guessing there,

In HTPCs, you can use Micro-ATX and sometimes full ATX mobos. In the micro, you have two good choices.

The Asus P5K-VM is great for its features and can overclock with good memory and cooling.

If you are willing to go stock without overclock, there is a terrific Intel mobo available that integrates Dolby Home Theatre and other nice Media Center features. That mobo is the DG33TL.

For memory, there's a lot of debate there. I just usually stick to Corsair Value Select. You'll want at least DDR2 800 memory if you intend to overclock.

So, I apologize, I'm tired, and that's all that's coming to mind right now. If you have more questions, feel free to ask. I'm sure other's here can help and I can again tomorrow.

Welcome back to the forums!

EDIT:

Oh yeah, the CPU. I will say I just would NOT recommend putting a Q6600 in a shuttle case. In an HTPC case sure, but not a shuttle case. I would stick to the Dual Cores. Unless you're gaming, you really don't need that much processing power anyways. You never mentioned if this dude intends to make this a gaming rig as well?