Looking to build this - Any thoughts?
#1
Hi all.

I've followed the stickies, and all of these parts are actually from the stickies.

My concern is the price, it's almost double what it'd cost in the US. Sad

I want to;

Be able to play Blu-Ray/3D (I'll buy the reader another time, I just need it to be capable of playing said quality
Have a smooth interface (We use a laptop with an old dual core at the moment and it sort of skips when moving through the menus, and takes a little time to load DVD covers)
Be able to play the sound nicely through the 5.1 surround system.
Boot lightning quick.


The setup so far is;

Phenom X4 965 Black Edition Quad-Core 3.4GHz AM3 125W
Amazon £108.54

ASRock 880GM-LE AM3 μATX
Amazon £55.30

ASUS GT430 2GB DDR3 128-bit Low Profile
Amazon £61.52

SILVERSTONE ML03B μATX
Amazon £75.73

Antec EarthWatts 430W ATX12V
Amazon £52.68

Patriot Torqx-2 2.5" SATAII Trim 32GB Read:270MB/s Write:230MB/s
Amazon £59.98

Kingston HyperX 4GB 2x2GB DDR3
Novatech £25.99


TOTAL: £437

(I'm aware this doesn't include Windows, I have a spare myself)


My only concerns;
The power supply, that was the recommended for the GT210 version of this build, should I upgrade the power supply?

Sound - will the onboard soundcard do for playing through my speakers?
It has 2 expansion slots, but I imagine I'll use them for a wireless card and a TV tuner.

It's quite expensive... but I suppose this can't be helped.
With the parts installed I suppose I could always install Steam on it and add a few of my games I could play with a controller.


One question I also have, though I can always ask in another part of the forum but figure I may aswell do it here.
Can I tell the remote I have to tell the PC to go on standby when I press the power button on the remote?
The plan is to be able to put it to standby to save power, then be able to press it again and it'll go straight back to XBMC.


I think that's all...

What do people think?

Thanks in advance for any tips.
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#2
PSU is ok, no need to upgrade,
however, scan.co.uk sells the Silverstone Strider 400W for £46 shipped.
i'd go with that!
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/400w-psu-...e+shopping


the video and audio will both travel through your video card's HDMI OUTPUT...
if your going with windows O/S, you can even get this £37 card here which does 3D
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004XANNSE/re...B004XANNSE


this Standby/wake feature using remote is achievable using the FLIRC.TV dongle....
but shipping to UK might be pricey i dunno,,,,
i even tell u how to do it here
http://forum.flirc.tv/index.php?/topic/3...st__p__196

you can do this too using an HARMONY REMOTE, cheapest is the 300 model,
ebuyer.com sells it currently at £20.57 shipped!!
http://goo.gl/3MlYX
but you have to buy an ~£10 MCE IR Receiver to go with it...
this could work http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Philips-OVU412...45f861bf91
or even this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Philips-OVU412...3cb56e03f2


Also, you can save money by shopping well...

example, dabs.com has your Silverstone case for £53.96 shipped
http://goo.gl/6BjSC

Scan Computer has your CPU at £99.94 shipped
http://goo.gl/KYvk9

RAM £19.49 shipped
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Hyper-D...omputers_2

Smile
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#3
That CPU isn't really necessary. That a lot of power that probably won't be tapped. You can drop to a triple core or even a dual core and still see a very snappy interface.
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#4
true but some are just power hungry Tongue
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#5
All I know is that with a 125W CPU your setup is going to be loud as hell.
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#6
unLess you tone it down to %50 speed using SpeedFAN application

or

Buy a new CPU Cooler
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#7
Even with fan throttled down to 40% I notice the fan on my 65W CPU quite a bit, I can't even imagine how obnoxious a 125W sucker would be with the cooling required.
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#8
my 95W triplecore is quiet at 50% tho,,,

its more my generic PSU thats making me go nuts :/

those 80mm fans equipped PSU's are crazy!
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#9
Quiet is relative. I've had people describe their setups to me as "quiet" and found them to be obnoxiously loud.

If I can hear the fans at all during movie playback, such as during dialogue only scenes, etc, then it is probably too loud for me to be 100% happy with it.
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#10
honestly.
u cant hear the 95W amd triple-core at 50% fan speed during dialogue only scenes...

bu the PSU makes a high pitch noise kinda, i really hate it,,
probably due to its poor 80mm fan...
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