First Time HTPC

[PC_Commando]

I'm looking for advise on building a media pc. I will be connecting to a 32" Samsung LCD TV. I will eventually be playing Blu-Ray movies on it but that will come later. My budget is $500 including taxes and shipping.

This is what I have come up with so far.

AMD Athlon II X4 620 2.6GHz
Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-US2H
G.Skill F3-106666CL8D-4GBRM Ripjawas PC-10666 4GB DDR3-1333
WD Cavair Blue 500GB SATA2
LG GH24LS50 24x SATA DVD±RW
OCZ StealthXStream OCZ400SXS 400 Watt

Price: $415.71 before taxes
Shipping is free from Direct Canada

Everything else (keyboard, mouse, remote control, case, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, wireless NIC) I have

Do you think the quad core processor and 4GB of ram is overkill?

[Perineum]

I would say ditch the quad for and get the 550BE, it's 3.1ghz dual core which would probably make more sense. As a side bonus I've been unlocking them (which is supported by the motherboard you have picked out) and turning them into quad then overclocking them to 3.8ghz.

RAM is overkill too, but I typically purchase lots of RAM so I wouldn't necessarily ditch it, especially if you're within your budget.

[lowfat]

Core i3 530 $130
Gigabyte H55M-S2H $94
2GB Geil DDR3-1333 $65
500GB WD Green - $53
CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX $60
+ any random $25 DVD drive

$10 or so more. However if you want good bluray playback this is the way to go. It is one of the few ways to bitstream audio and it most definitely is the cheapest.

[PC_Commando]

What about the Intel Pentium Dual Core G6950?

[Perineum]

That's an interesting build lowfat. Never priced it out but didn't think it would come in that cheap.... I think AMD is in trouble.

[lowfat]

Originally Posted by PC_Commando

What about the Intel Pentium Dual Core G6950?

That would work as well I suppose.

Originally Posted by Perineum

That's an interesting build lowfat. Never priced it out but didn't think it would come in that cheap.... I think AMD is in trouble.

Comes out to $425. I just forgot to post the links. But I grabbed all the prices from shopbot.ca

[kendallcschm]

Originally Posted by Perineum

I would say ditch the quad for and get the 550BE, it's 3.1ghz dual core which would probably make more sense. As a side bonus I've been unlocking them (which is supported by the motherboard you have picked out) and turning them into quad then overclocking them to 3.8ghz.

RAM is overkill too, but I typically purchase lots of RAM so I wouldn't necessarily ditch it, especially if you're within your budget.

i agree with you.. i think the dual core or a higher speed triple core are better ways to go.. especially since they unlock into quad cores.. :-P

[Perineum]

Yeah, but really hard to ignore that socket 1156 build that lowfat pointed out.... now I'm curious how powerful the on-cpu-video is...

[PC_Commando]

I'm curious as well. I'm going to research that.

[lowfat]

Originally Posted by PC_Commando

I'm curious as well. I'm going to research that.

Core i7, i5 & i3 LGA1156 Processors Thread: Clarkdale Supports HD Audio Bitstreaming! - AVS Forum Massive thread can be found here