Buying the right hardware

Discussion in 'Tech Support' started by gar, 5 Feb 2008.

  1. gar

    gar Minimodder

    Joined:
    15 Sep 2004
    Posts:
    1,191
    Likes Received:
    8
    Hi there. Not really go much of a clue when it comes to building pc', but I am learning. I'm building a media pc, with no graphics card.
    I have already bought an A-BIT Matx Mobo with HDMI, a
    I also have a slimlime Pioneer optical slot loading drive and a slim line 300w psu.

    a. What connectors do I need to connect the optical drive to the motherboard?

    b. Could I use a 1.8 AM2 opteron?

    C. How much RAM could I install and what should I get

    D. The cables on my psu are too short can I get extenders for these and where do I get them?

    e. Wheres a good place to buy a 500 gig hard drive sata 2?

    Many thanks in advance. I just need to make sure really that the psu will cop ok.

    Gareth
     
    Last edited: 5 Feb 2008
  2. gar

    gar Minimodder

    Joined:
    15 Sep 2004
    Posts:
    1,191
    Likes Received:
    8
    Am I in the wrong thread filter?
     
  3. lworbey

    lworbey What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    23 Nov 2007
    Posts:
    130
    Likes Received:
    0
    a) Can you give the model number of the Pioneer drive?

    b & c) What motherboard model is it?

    d) You can get these, not 100% sure where

    e) www.scan.co.uk
     
  4. gar

    gar Minimodder

    Joined:
    15 Sep 2004
    Posts:
    1,191
    Likes Received:
    8
    Hi, and thanks for your reply!

    The Pioneer is DVR-K06/1

    The motherboard is an: ABIT AN M2 HD
     
  5. phillj

    phillj What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    18 Jul 2007
    Posts:
    37
    Likes Received:
    0
    A 500GB disk is a good place to start.

    Personally I have 2 x laptop 2.5" 100GB HD's for the main os drive as they are very quiet! I then have one 250GB SATA 2 HD for the tv recordings. They encode them in MPEG2 so they do get rather large. At the moment scan do a smasung 750 GB drive at < £100 with NCQ which will help a little. I would go for this and if your budget stretches and you have disk through put issues like me (not many people do) then I would get a smaller second drive for the os.

    I would have thought all the cables you need for you DVD drive would have come with your motherborad (probably an IDE one, i dont think pioneer do sata on dvd drives yet).

    As for RAM scan do corsair (some of the best memory) for £36 for 2gb. This is very good, especially now the prices have come down a lot recently!
     
  6. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    Just for HTPC - what software are you using and are you recording TV? Are you playing back HD content or just SD? What codecs (or file sizes/types)?

    The Nvidia 7025 chipset has no PureVideo acceleration so all of your video processing will be done by the CPU.

    What case are you using? You realise a slim-line will likely be noisy? You can get ATX extenders for very cheap, although it's quite easy to make molex extenders yourself.

    What's your budget?

    :)
     
  7. gar

    gar Minimodder

    Joined:
    15 Sep 2004
    Posts:
    1,191
    Likes Received:
    8
    Thanks Phil. I appreciate the advice I think I will go for the corsair ram as it seems the best value and is a decent name. As for the pioneer, well I do have ide that came with my mobo, but as it's a slimline drive the IDE won't match. What I really need to know is what connector I do need.

    I've had a look and 400 gb seems to be the best value for money at the moment.
     
  8. gar

    gar Minimodder

    Joined:
    15 Sep 2004
    Posts:
    1,191
    Likes Received:
    8
    Thanks Bindi
    I have bought a Freecom usb freeview stick and hope to record from that. To be honest even though I am hot very knowledgable I have designed a prototype of my case and will add dimsnsions to it once I have all the hardware bought and tested. The motherboard, dvd drive, and slim psu fit my design quite well as far as I can tell.

    The most pertinent question is how much ram and whats the best cpu I can get away with considering I've only got 300 watts to play with?

    I'm hoping around 200 pounds should buy the rest of my hardware.
     
  9. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    Make sure it all works before you build. 300W will be plenty for a small system. If you're watching HD or recording get a dual core Athlon - we ran a 2.6GHz in my latest review and that sufficed. Either that or grab a cheap BE-2150 and overclock it. :thumb:

    If it's for a HTPC you need it as quiet as possible, right?
     
  10. gar

    gar Minimodder

    Joined:
    15 Sep 2004
    Posts:
    1,191
    Likes Received:
    8
    Yeah, I suppose. I don't mind a bit of noise, but at the same time I don't wanting it sounding like a vacum cleaner. I have this thing about getting an opteron 1.8 Maybe it's just so I can boast about having one!lol

    I will tho be using it ALLOT to replace my normal tv. I'll just use a 22 inch monitor to keep me going. I do tho want everyting to run as quitly as possible without a gfx card. Does 4 gig cheap corsair seem undeeded.
     
  11. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    If you're watching HD, a 1.8 won't cut it imo. We had to invest in at least a 3800+ X2 to playback even medium bitrate 720/1080p HD.
     

Share This Page