First Time Budget Semi HTPC

[frosty7]

Hey, just wanted final thoughts on this set up, was going to order it in a few days for my friend. He basically just wants to use it for movies/tv. Please let me know if you see something that is not compatible, or something that should be swapped out.



APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: next few days BUDGET RANGE: ~600

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: movies, internet, games
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: monitor, video card, sound card
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: ncix.com

PARTS PREFERENCES: amd cpu with nzxt apollo case

OVERCLOCKING: No

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: want it to be fairly quiet, doesn't need to be absolute



NZXT Apollo ATX Tower Case 5X5.25 1X3.5 4X3.5INT No PS Front Audio USB Firewire Blue

Corsair TX650W 650W ATX 12V 52A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 120MM Fan

Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200RPM 32MB Dual Proc 3.5IN SATA Hard Drive OEM 5YR Mfg Warranty

Crucial Rendition 2GB 1X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 240PIN DIMM Memory

(Probably going with 4GB of ram if on sale at time of purchase)

LG GH22NS30 Black DVD+RW 22X8X16 DVD-RW 22X6X16 DL 16X/12X 2MB SATA OEM

AMD Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition Dual Core Processor Socket AM2+ 2.7GHZ 3MB 65NM 95W Retail Box


Biostar TA790GX128M ATX AM2+/AM3 AMD790GX 2PCI-E 2PCI RAID Video Sound GBLAN CrossFireX Motherboard





Thanks!

 

[AKM880]

You won't be needing that 650W Corsair. The 550W should work.

 

[Cpt Deadboots]

^ Agreed. Do you have a discrete GPU to power, or will you be using the 790 GX's onboard video?

 

[jaguarskx]

If you are not going to add a video card even a good quality 400w PSU can power the system.

 

[Cpt Deadboots]

^ What I was thinking.

 

[frosty7]

We were going to use the onboard and see how it handles some older games and movie playback (reviews said it did well), but if my friend ever wants to upgrade I didn't want to limit him with a smaller PSU. In the future he may want to add a video card, more HD's, sound card etc, and probably in a few years will want a new system so then I can just reuse the power supply.

Also, I read quite a few reviews suggesting this particular PSU is very quiet, especially if it won't be taxed (in this set up) which was another reason for the choice.

Thanks for the quick replies, was there anything other than the PSU that could be swapped out for better but equally priced parts or any other suggestions at all?

 

[AKM880]

The onboard GPU will be able to handle HD movie playback including Blu-ray. It'll game older games but don't expect it to perform great in newer games today.

 

[frosty7]

Yeah he has an Xbox 360 so all newer games for both platforms he will be playing on that, probably he will only play stuff like Civ and Red Alert. Thanks for the responses, I think I will go ahead and order the parts this weekend.

 

[AKM880]

Good luck with it frosty.