2012-11-07, 15:47
OK, so based on the feedback I received on my previous design, I have drawn up the following provisional parts list for my build:
Case: FC5WS EVO Black No Optical Fanless HTPC Aluminium Chassis - £175 to £200
CPU: AMD A10 5700 3.4GHz Socket FM2 4MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor - £91.34
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-F2A75M-D3H A75 Socket FM2 VGA DVI HDMI 7.1 Channel Audio mATX Motherboard - £65.40
RAM: Corsair 8GB DDR3 1866MHz Vengeance Red Heatspreader Mem - £36.92
SSD: OCZ 120GB Agility 3 SSD - £69.99
PSU: Minibox 12v 160W picoPSU-160-XT - £38.49
Total Cost: £502.58 ($804.40)
What does everyone think?
I decided to go with Dougie's suggestion of the A10-5700 to base the build around as it seemed a good compromise.
One question I have is around the onboard sound capability of these motherboards. Are they any good? The mobo I have chosen is capable of providing 7.1 channel audio, but if the onboard audio is not up to scratch I could swap it for this which is £15 cheaper, and practically identical to the Gigabyte apart from the audio capability, and then purchase a sound card to go in it instead.
Is 8GB of RAM in a HTPC excessive? If it is I could cut down to 4GB and save some money here as well.
I am also considering holding out on buying that specific case to begin with, and going for a very cheap m-ATX jobie. The reason being, that I will be moving home at some point in the next 6 months, and it may be that when I do move (wherever that may be) I will be able to hide the HTPC away somewhere out of site and sound. If that's not possible however, the set up above will allow me to buy the pretty (yet expensive) case, and go silent.
Case: FC5WS EVO Black No Optical Fanless HTPC Aluminium Chassis - £175 to £200
CPU: AMD A10 5700 3.4GHz Socket FM2 4MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor - £91.34
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-F2A75M-D3H A75 Socket FM2 VGA DVI HDMI 7.1 Channel Audio mATX Motherboard - £65.40
RAM: Corsair 8GB DDR3 1866MHz Vengeance Red Heatspreader Mem - £36.92
SSD: OCZ 120GB Agility 3 SSD - £69.99
PSU: Minibox 12v 160W picoPSU-160-XT - £38.49
Total Cost: £502.58 ($804.40)
What does everyone think?
I decided to go with Dougie's suggestion of the A10-5700 to base the build around as it seemed a good compromise.
One question I have is around the onboard sound capability of these motherboards. Are they any good? The mobo I have chosen is capable of providing 7.1 channel audio, but if the onboard audio is not up to scratch I could swap it for this which is £15 cheaper, and practically identical to the Gigabyte apart from the audio capability, and then purchase a sound card to go in it instead.
Is 8GB of RAM in a HTPC excessive? If it is I could cut down to 4GB and save some money here as well.
I am also considering holding out on buying that specific case to begin with, and going for a very cheap m-ATX jobie. The reason being, that I will be moving home at some point in the next 6 months, and it may be that when I do move (wherever that may be) I will be able to hide the HTPC away somewhere out of site and sound. If that's not possible however, the set up above will allow me to buy the pretty (yet expensive) case, and go silent.