I am moving into my new house soon and want to build a HTPC for the living room. I have priced up a system on Ebuyer that I think is adequate for the job. Antec NSK 2480 MATX Desktop Case Black & Silver - With 380W EarthWatts PSU Scythe Mini Ninja Socket 478/775/754/939/940/AM2 Heatpipe Cooler Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 2.8GHz Socket 775 1066FSB 3MB L2 Cache OEM Processor Asus P5N7A-VM GeForce 9300 Socket 775 onboard VGA DVI HDMI Display Port 8 channel audio mATX Motherboard OCZ 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 Reaper Memory HPC Edition Dual Channel Samsung EcoGreen F2 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 32MB Cache - OEM I already have a blu-ray drive so no need for that. I am planning on running Windows 7 as I heard the media centre is pretty good on it Will that system be ok? Or will Win7 slow down with it? Thanks for your help in advance!
Just to add the price of the system inc delivery comes to £396.61. Not to bad I think, though I am more than happy to spend more to ensure everything runs ok.
Plenty of juice for Win7. I've even run it on an underclocked Dothan 1.7GHz without any problems. The Mini ninja cooler is perfect for that case (and the Fusion) too, should be able to get it very quiet.
Nice one cheers. I have heard the fans on the case can be quite audible on medium speed. I may just replace them for quieter ones at a later date though. Would you recommend that CPU/Motherboard over an AMD option such as AMD Athlon II X2 250 + Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H? The AMD option is a bit cheaper, but only by about 30 quid. I am not too bothered about the budget anyway
I've got a AMD 4850e in a 780G board in my HTPC with no complaints. Plays 1080p without any problems which is all I ask of it. Managed to undervolt the CPU quite a bit too so can cool it using a Mini Ninja with the gentlest of breezes from a 120mm Nexus fan at 5v on the side of the case (in an Antec Fusion, essentially the same as the NSK2480) I would personally go with a 785g board with a 250e (out soon, imo worth waiting for if you want it as quiet as possible), but that's only because I've had such a good experience with my current setup. Couldn't comment on a 9300+E7400 setup.
