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First time building a pc

lazyGUY
edited June 2010 in General
Anyone want to critique my selection for an HTPC. Keep in mind I've never built a PC before, let alone an HTPC. Any suggestions are welcome. I'd like to order everything from Newegg.ca though if you have any recommendations on different parts.

-Newegg combo deal http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboBu...t=Combo.353782
-nMEDIAPC Black 5000b (takes a atx power supply)http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16811204035

-COOLER MASTER Elite 460 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-046-_-Product

-Lite-on Bluray drive http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16827106326

Comments

  • wh0whatwhere
    edited March 2010
    IMO

    NCIX is the best place to get parts.
  • NukeChem
    edited March 2010
    Yeah screw newegg.ca; you can get almost the same prices from NCIX and with a lot less hassle, too, since they're immediately available.

    Buy this thing:

    http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=50265&vpn=SG41-J1-BK-V1&manufacture=Shuttle&promoid=1101

    Shuttle's product site.

    Buy either a Core 2 Duo E7500 or a Pentium Dual Core E6500 and drop in 2 x 1 gig DDR2-800 for 2 gigs of RAM, which is more than enough when paired with XP Pro. Vista will tolerably behave well in 2 gigs. No idea about Win7 though I've heard Win7 is a bit less demanding, actually.

    A Core 2 Quad might put out too much heat for that case so be very judicious about your choice of CPU. If you MUST get a quad core for some reason, get the one with the lowest nominal TDP you can. Duals should be fine for most purposes.

    If no hard drive is installed I highly recommend snagging This WD 1 TB Caviar Green. It is optimized to go into power saving mode more quickly when you don't need to use it, but will still be fine for HTPC purposes. There are two 3.5" bays. Use either one for the HD.

    Um, DVD drives - just get something like this Samsung SATA DVD reader/writer.

    Let's see; if you need HDMI you might consider buying a more robust video card than what the Intel GMA will give you. I don't know if any old DVI -> HDMI adapter will work with it.

    The GT210 should be OK for video out but I have no idea if it's rated for 1080p.

    I have an ATI HD4350 actually, or a Geforce 8400GS, if you'd like to talk to me about obtaining either for HTPC purposes. :)

    Um, what else... I think you're pretty much set except for the operating system, which I leave to you to sort out.
  • ikkaku
    edited March 2010
    for an htpc one of the most important things is COOLING

    definitely invest in a good cooler, or get a well ventilated case! You'll have to do more research as coolers are generally big, so you'll have to do some calculations or check them out first hand to see if it'll fit inside a matx case.

    my friend previously built one, forgot which antec case he had but he had to custom cut a hole in his case because his GTX260 could not fit inside lol
  • illicit
    edited March 2010
    use ncix, then pricematch using shopbot.ca
  • lazyGUY
    edited March 2010
    Why do all of you guys prefer ncix? Newegg.ca has lower prices by a huge margin, and that combo is a pretty great deal.

    If I have to pricematch, do I have to go to an ncix store, or can I do it online? Seems like a hassle since newegg has the lowest prices anyways. What am I missing here?

    I've decided I'll try to sell the gt220 in the combo (the cost of the card becomes negligible compared to the combo savings). Would sticking an HIS radeon hd 5670 be better? It takes up an extra pci slot in addition though. A lot of people prefer ATi 5000 series because they encode multi channel dts and dollby true hd apparently.

    Anyone looking to buy a gt220? Thanks for the advice.
  • lazyGUY
    edited March 2010
    http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161319

    Link to the 5670
  • edison
    edited March 2010
    lazyGUY;63808 said:
    Why do all of you guys prefer ncix? Newegg.ca has lower prices by a huge margin, and that combo is a pretty great deal.

    If I have to pricematch, do I have to go to an ncix store, or can I do it online? Seems like a hassle since newegg has the lowest prices anyways. What am I missing here?

    you are from BC right? cause NCIX has 3 locations in the lowermainland (richmond, burnaby near metrotown, and langley) .. they have the same price as online.

    newegg is cheaper, but after shipping, it will cost more than ncix.

    +, ncix is very easy with pricematching. just tell them the price you saw on pricebot, and they will 90% of the time price match it in store.
  • NukeChem
    edited March 2010
    lazyGUY;63808 said:
    Why do all of you guys prefer ncix? Newegg.ca has lower prices by a huge margin, and that combo is a pretty great deal..
    By a huge margin? Yeah, until you work in the cost of shipping and the GST + PST. Once you do that it's basically a no-brainer to just hit up NCIX especially on an in-store sale.

    Also an FYI

    If you're looking into a bit more elbow room for an HTPC-type machine than the Shuttle case you might want to check out the Apex TX-381 case. It's the neatest damn thing. Small, easy to work with and has a HANDLE to carry it. It doesn't get any better than that until you buy yourself a Cooler Master Storm Scout.
  • lazyGUY
    edited March 2010
    NukeChem;63816 said:
    By a huge margin? Yeah, until you work in the cost of shipping and the GST + PST. Once you do that it's basically a no-brainer to just hit up NCIX especially on an in-store sale.

    Also an FYI

    If you're looking into a bit more elbow room for an HTPC-type machine than the Shuttle case you might want to check out the Apex TX-381 case. It's the neatest damn thing. Small, easy to work with and has a HANDLE to carry it. It doesn't get any better than that until you buy yourself a Cooler Master Storm Scout.
    Well if you can price match, than I'll go to ncix without issue. Will they price match for every component though?

    I really like the nmedia 5000b http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811204035for a case though. It will assimilate into my home theatre cabinet, and its as roomy as you standard audio receiver. The case is about 15 dollars cheaper at newegg though, and my shipping total only came to 30. Add he savings of all the other components vs ncix and its obvious what ones cheaper.
  • ikkaku
    edited April 2010
    there's 2 way to pricematch at ncix

    You can do it online through their site, and you can do it at the cashier. Personally, I prefer doing it at retail, they seem to be more lenient, or they may feel more pressure to do so. From my experience with my many visits at NCIX, the sales are pretty friendly and won't hesitate to try and pricematch unless the margin is massive. Hell, one guy even checked a few additional sites for me to see if I am getting the best deal.

    There is shopbot, pricebat.ca and pricecanada.com for you to look at competitor prices. One thing to note is that they are more inclined to pricematch directcanada and bestdirect, because they are actually owned by ncix. Sometimes they will not pm newegg and say it is below value.

    What I would do is calculate the total costs including shipping if I were to buy something from newegg. If you think waiting for a few days for shipping and the shipping cost is still well worth it then go for it. I personally like getting the stuff when I order it, but that's just me being impatient.
  • edison
    edited April 2010
    the drawback is, if some componet is defective, you have to go through the PITA process of sending it back to NewEgg.

    NCIX has pricematch 90% of what i bought. Those that didnt go through were usually below cost for NCIX. (like 60% + difference)
  • buflibufli
    edited April 2010
    my 0.02$:

    if you want to build a small HTPC stick with a core i3 or i5 they use a lot less power than core2duo or core2quads (they run a LOT colder)

    i also don't think you should get the 5670... see this
    i ordered two xfx4770's last week. if my crossfire setup wont live up to my expectations ill prob end up selling one by the end of the week ;)

    Edit: as for OS stick with windows 7... don't get windows vista since its a memory hog... don't bother with xp since its not really designed for multi core processors

    also keep an eye on neweggs shell shockers they change every night and sometimes they have epic deals with free shipping ;)
    also i would recommend joining tigerdirect.ca's fb group they also sometimes have some crazy sales (ex i picked this up from tigerdirect for 30$ and love this thing... it controls my tv and pc)
  • NukeChem
    edited April 2010
    XP Service Pack 3 has patches to allow it to work well with multicore. That said Win7 is the OS to get as its memory footprint is smaller than Vista's. :)
  • yoghurtfarmer
    edited June 2010
    Use pricecanada.ca to look for the best prices, then pricematch with NCIX.

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