My girlfriend wants to replace her aging laptop with a sleek new desktop, and she's agreed to give building it herself a shot (with a little help). She's not at all interested in games or 3D-intensive applications, but she does want to be able to record and watch TV on the computer and is willing to pay a little more for some decent speed. Because we're both college students, space is limited and mobility is a plus, so I think a Small Form Factor system would be a good fit.
Dual-core seems to be the way to go these days, even for the average user (running MS Office, iTunes, and Firefox simulataneously while recording a TV show in the background or burning a DVD, for example). Originally I was planning on going with a low-end Pentium D (820 or 830), but the decent pricing of the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ gives me a much-appreciated chance to switch back to AMD. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should be pairing this processor with? Any experience with using an X2 in a SFF system?
I've been looking at the Shuttle ST20G5 as a possibility, but I don't know if I should go with an ATI Radeon Xpress 200 based solution over an nVidia nForce4 motherboard. The PCI slot is a must have for the TV tuner, and the integrated video and sound look sufficient, so it's an attractive option. I'm wondering how it compares to a SN25P, though, and if X2 compatibility is going to be a problem. Alternatively, I could drop Shuttle and go with a chassis manufacturer like Silverstone, which also has some nice, sleek-looking cases. Then I'd have to find a good MicroATX motherboard, and I have no experience picking out those.
Also on the table for the system are the following, from Newegg, of course:
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - Retail
MITSUMI Black USB2.0 & FDD Digital Card Reader/Writer W/FD (Black)INTERNAL - OEM
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 MCE White box PCI Interface WinTV-PVR-500MCE Windows XP Media Center Edition - Retail
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005 - OEM
Microsoft A9O-00007 WinXP Media Center Infrared Remote Control - OEM
In summary, I'm just wondering if anyone has tried to build an HTPC around an Athlon 64 X2 and what recommendations they might have. Any articles or other research you can point me at would be appreciated. After all, she's my girlfriend. I don't want to mess this up, haha.
Greg Howard
Dual-core seems to be the way to go these days, even for the average user (running MS Office, iTunes, and Firefox simulataneously while recording a TV show in the background or burning a DVD, for example). Originally I was planning on going with a low-end Pentium D (820 or 830), but the decent pricing of the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ gives me a much-appreciated chance to switch back to AMD. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should be pairing this processor with? Any experience with using an X2 in a SFF system?
I've been looking at the Shuttle ST20G5 as a possibility, but I don't know if I should go with an ATI Radeon Xpress 200 based solution over an nVidia nForce4 motherboard. The PCI slot is a must have for the TV tuner, and the integrated video and sound look sufficient, so it's an attractive option. I'm wondering how it compares to a SN25P, though, and if X2 compatibility is going to be a problem. Alternatively, I could drop Shuttle and go with a chassis manufacturer like Silverstone, which also has some nice, sleek-looking cases. Then I'd have to find a good MicroATX motherboard, and I have no experience picking out those.
Also on the table for the system are the following, from Newegg, of course:
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - Retail
MITSUMI Black USB2.0 & FDD Digital Card Reader/Writer W/FD (Black)INTERNAL - OEM
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 MCE White box PCI Interface WinTV-PVR-500MCE Windows XP Media Center Edition - Retail
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005 - OEM
Microsoft A9O-00007 WinXP Media Center Infrared Remote Control - OEM
In summary, I'm just wondering if anyone has tried to build an HTPC around an Athlon 64 X2 and what recommendations they might have. Any articles or other research you can point me at would be appreciated. After all, she's my girlfriend. I don't want to mess this up, haha.
Greg Howard