Ok people I've had good responses in the past to this kind of thread so here goes with another... I've got a bit of money coming in over the next couple of months and it's definitely about time I did something with my Silverstone case (like this one) so I'm after people's input into some decent components to put inside it. Need a motherboard, CPU, RAM and graphics card that will work together in perfect harmony An AMD 64-bit system is ideally what I'll end up with. Couple of considerations, as always: This is a small case as you can see so I'm after components which aren't likely to generate a great deal of heat, including a CPU which will work with a fairly low-profile cooler - a full size ATX motherboard will fit, though! I mainly intend to use the machine for internet browsing, development, and image creating/editing with Photoshop The case is only equipped with a 220W power supply If you don't think it would be worth building a computer in here for whatever reason (i.e. possible temperature issues) then don't be hesitate to say so. It's a nice case I've been meaning to use for a while and it would be nice to use it as my main machine, but I'm not too bothered if I end up having to buy another case to accommodate some more modern components. Budget is £250ish. Again, if this is unrealistic, let me know. I'm not really a massive hardware enthusiast so don't keep up with market prices. Not overly bothered with details such as PCI-E vs. AGP or SATA vs. ATA. As long as you think it'll accomplish my goals I'm happy I look forward to hearing people's input. Sam
On 220W you're going to need a fairly low power and low heat system. C2D is the way to go, so maybe get an e4300. Cheap motherboard from ASrock such as the 4CoreDual-VSTA That will let you use AGP graphics if you have one knocking about and also DDR or DDR2, whichever you prefer.
I take it this is going to be used as a HTPC? With a low form factor case like this, it really is going to be easiest to use onboard graphics if you can, particularly as the only riser cards available are AGP and PCI. I've had a quick scan of parts at OCUK (don't buy from them, they're a terrible store): Abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD - £72.84 Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 - £77.54 Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-5400C4 - £55.21 Total: £205.59 The motherboard comes with an onboard X700, which is pretty good for integrated. It has full DX9 support, so it could run Vista with ease (if you wanted to). It also had an onboard HDMI connector. I'm amazed by how cheap that RAM is though, £55 for 2Gb.
Well Intel C2D (Core2duo) have the better CPUs at the moment; faster, cooler & more power efficient. However AMD have some great cheap CPUs, plenty of great mobos and arguably the best longevity as their up-coming CPUs will work in the current AM2 CPU Socket (with DDR2). Don't overlook the cheap and flexible combo of E4300/4400 with LGA775 ASrock VSTA, as already mentioned. Are you happy to overclock at all? Ideally you'll want to combine any of the above with 2x1GB for 2GB RAM. Graphics don't matter much if you aren't gaming, any remotely modern card should do you fine, juts one that's DX9 if you want pretty (useless) Vista.
Thanks so much everyone for your input Not necessarily going to use this as an HTPC (although it will most probably be used for DVD and MP3 playback, thinking about it...), and overclocking isn't something I'm really interested in doing, especially with the heat it will most likely generate. oasked, thanks for your suggestions, I never really considered onboard video but that does seem like a decent idea considering I'm not a gamer and considering the space constraints of the case. If I were to go for this setup what sort of CPU cooler would be best? Would the stock cooler suffice? I'm only worried about this because it needs to be a fairly low-profile cooler to fit in the case. Sam
Overclocking needn't produce any extra heat, compared to the official CPU running at the same speed heat output should be the same. It's only if you want to push the part by adding extra voltage that heat can become significant. The E4300/4400 run at only 1.8ghz and are well known to hit 2.4-3.0ghz on stock voltage. You probably don't need any extra power but just to cover it. The main reasons to replace the stock cooler is to better cool the CPU when it's o/c'ed or to cool it more quietly (if not both). If you're running at or close to stock speed then the standard cooler should be fine but you may find it a little noisy.
