Rate this PC

[Pyramix]

This is an HTPC that is not to be used for serious gaming. Please keep that in mind. I've used quiet PC parts where I could. Any suggestions/comments are welcome.

Prices include shipping.
* - After mail-in rebate

$061* - Antec Solo miniTower case
$137 - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
$212 - Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 (1333 FSB, 2.66GHz)
$050 - Zalman CNPS9500 AT Heatsink/Fan 92mm
Hoping this will fit in my mini case. The stock thermal paste should be good enough, right?
$079* - 2x1GB Patriot Extreme Performance PC2-6400 800 Mhz DDR2
Is it worth upgrading to 1066 Mhz?
$088 - Enermax Liberty 400W Quiet Power Supply
$240 - 2x500 GB Samsung SpinPoint T Quiet Hard-drives
$115 - Sapphire Radeon HD2600XT
$043 - Samsung 18X DVD+/-RW (Quiet)
$026 - Asus SATA DVD ROM (supposedly quiet)
$023 - MSI Turbo G Wireless Adapter
$090 - Windows Vista 32-bit Home Premium (EBay)
Has support for 64-bit improved enough to warrant getting it?
$146 - Logitech diNovo Edge
$115 - Logitech 5.1 THX z5300-e speakers
Not sure about getting this set. I've heard bass is too loud for apartments?
Do I need to improved on the on-board audio card?
$106 - WinTV-HVR-1800 PCIe w/ Remote
$1300 - Westinghouse 42" 1080p HDTV w/ tuners

Other accessories: (I'm building the system from scratch. Please let me know if you think I am missing any accessories.)
$020 - TDK 4.7GB 16X DVD-R 100 Pack
$007 - Yate Loon D12SL Silent case fan
$011 - 2x10" SATA II Cables
$013 - 2x18" SATA II Cables
$013 - HDMI to DVI cable
Not sure what other cables I need.

Grand Total: $2895

 

[Pyramix]

Bump.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

isn't there a silent version of the hd2600xt?

 

[Pyramix]

Hmm, not sure. Let me go do some research.

 

[Pyramix]

bump

 

[Blain]

"$061* - Antec Solo miniTower case"
I've got one of these Antec cases. While the construction and finish is Grade-A, there's not a lot of room around the MB area. But drive space is plentiful.
The case uses two 92MM fans in the front to cool the HDs. The 92MM fans aren't included.

"$050 - Zalman CNPS9500 AT Heatsink/Fan 92mm"
The Zalman is nice, but you can save some $$ and still have good quiet cooling with the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

"$088 - Enermax Liberty 400W Quiet Power Supply"
I would bump that up to at least the 500W version.

"$106 - WinTV-HVR-1800 PCIe w/ Remote"

The unit you linked to doesn't include a remote. It's a "whitebox" version.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Pyramix
This is an HTPC that is not to be used for serious gaming. Please keep that in mind. I've used quiet PC parts where I could. Any suggestions/comments are welcome.

Prices include shipping.
* - After mail-in rebate

$061* - Antec Solo miniTower case
$137 - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
$212 - Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 (1333 FSB, 2.66GHz)
$050 - Zalman CNPS9500 AT Heatsink/Fan 92mm
Hoping this will fit in my mini case. The stock thermal paste should be good enough, right?
$079* - 2x1GB Patriot Extreme Performance PC2-6400 800 Mhz DDR2
Is it worth upgrading to 1066 Mhz?
$088 - Enermax Liberty 400W Quiet Power Supply
$240 - 2x500 GB Samsung SpinPoint T Quiet Hard-drives
$115 - Sapphire Radeon HD2600XT
$043 - Samsung 18X DVD+/-RW (Quiet)
$026 - Asus SATA DVD ROM (supposedly quiet)
$023 - MSI Turbo G Wireless Adapter
$090 - Windows Vista 32-bit Home Premium (EBay)
Has support for 64-bit improved enough to warrant getting it?
$146 - Logitech diNovo Edge
$115 - Logitech 5.1 THX z5300-e speakers
Not sure about getting this set. I've heard bass is too loud for apartments?
Do I need to improved on the on-board audio card?
$106 - WinTV-HVR-1800 PCIe w/ Remote
$1300 - Westinghouse 42" 1080p HDTV w/ tuners

Other accessories: (I'm building the system from scratch. Please let me know if you think I am missing any accessories.)
$020 - TDK 4.7GB 16X DVD-R 100 Pack
$007 - Yate Loon D12SL Silent case fan
$011 - 2x10" SATA II Cables
$013 - 2x18" SATA II Cables
$013 - HDMI to DVI cable
Not sure what other cables I need.

Grand Total: $2895

Do you want a HTPC or a home machine for computing plus the ability to record tv? Do you have digital cable, analog cable + QAM, or OTA HDTV or just OTA SDTV?

 

[Pyramix]

Blain, thanks for the heads up on the WinTV-HVR-1800. I'd have been ticked off when I got it.

dclive, I don't have any cable subscription. I'm just gonna use OTA HDTV initially (I'll get an antenna if needed), and use the system mainly for watching and recording a couple of TV shows and watching movies. I wanted a Blu Ray player, but since they're so expensive, I'm gonna wait a while before I get one. At some point this system might also become my primary workstation, but I don't see it happening just yet.

 

[dclive]

OK. Bear in mind that cheapest analog cable (typically $16-$18, pure analog, no box) gives you free clearQAM, which in English means you get to get perhaps 5-15 HDTV channels via cable plus perhaps tens or dozens more in SD Digital (640x480 digital), plus you get to watch any TV your neighbors are watching via PPV, as long as you have a TV that can decode QAM (or HD Homerun from Silicon Dust, attached to your PC).

 

[Pyramix]

Originally posted by: Blain
"$061* - Antec Solo miniTower case"
I've got one of these Antec cases. While the construction and finish is Grade-A, there's not a lot of room around the MB area. But drive space is plentiful.
The case uses two 92MM fans in the front to cool the HDs. The 92MM fans aren't included.

Blain, so, the 120mm Yate Loon D12SL will not fit in this case?

 

[yosuke188]

If you really want quiet, I would get a Seasonic PSU, probably 430W.

Good choice on the Samsung hard drives by the way.