Hi folks, first of all, in the last six months i've gotten fairly interested in PC hardware. Spent way too much time looking around and researching things, but finally it paid off, and now my new PC kicks bum. I'm hoping some MEA members might be able to make use of this list.

The content of this thread is pretty well lifted directly from the Hardware and Technology forum within the PCPowerPlay forums and so all credit should be directed at the folks in there who've helped to build and maintain it.

I aim to keep tabs on this post as it is updated atleast once a week in PCPP, and i'd like this one to be current also. Anyone who's looked into computing hardware, realises how quick things become obsolete. It is a comprehensive "recommended"* list of systems at a range of price points.

Some shopping tips first!
-RRP is for those silly enough not to ask questions! www.staticice.com.au will assist you greatly in finding the best prices available.
-Be wary of ultra-low-too-good-to-be-true prices and remember to factor in shipping to your cost.
-Try to negotiate a discount if you buy everything from one place!

Note: i would imagine that most of the component prices listed below would have been gotten from Umart or MSY.

Once again, i'd like to mention the PCPowerPlay forums, this is where this list comes from, and it is updated by a member there under the name of ]{ing Nothing, top bloke.

For much much much more information, the top two forums i can recommend are PCPP and OCAU (though it requires membership), mainly becuase they're the only ones i've really visited.

A Few Manufacturer Links
Asus
Intel
Gigabyte
Corsair
Thermaltake
Thermalright
AMD
Western Digital
Seagate
BFG
XFX
Samsung
Logitech
Pioneer
HIS
Coolermaster
A-Data
Crucial
Creative
Zalman
Seasonic
Antec
Kingston
Leadtek
NVidia
Patriot Memory

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Under $300
This will run your web browser and excel spreadsheets, and burn DVD's. Will also play Commander Keen and Minesweeper at blistering speeds.

AMD Based:
Motherboard: Gigabyte M61SME-S2 $59
Cheapest available. Supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1.
Processor: AM2 Sempron LE 1150 $34
Faster than a 1.6ghz Celeron. Does what you need this machine for.
Graphics: Integrated
Onboard video will handle everything the budget user requires.
Sound Card: Integrated
Onboard sound will suit the majority of people as most provide support for 7.1 speakers.
RAM: 1GB Generic DDR2 800 $23
512MB is all that's needed for web browsing.
Hard Drive: Seagate 80G SATA $45
Cheap and adequate storage.
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 216 $34
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case with included Power Supply: SHAW Xtreme 550/Tornado 500 $39
Cheap. Will suffice for this system because it doesn't draw that much power. Whether you choose Sonata or Tornado is based on aesthetics.
TOTAL - $234

Intel Based:
Motherboard: Asus P5GC-MX 1333 $52
Cheap and loaded with features.
Processor: E1200 $45
Entry level dual core.
Graphics: Integrated
Onboard video will handle everything the budget user requires.
Sound Card: Integrated
Onboard sound will suit the majority of people as most provide support for 7.1 speakers.
RAM: 1GB-800 Generic $23
512MB is all that is needed for web browsing.
Hard Drive: Seagate 80G SATA $45
Cheap with ok storage.
Optical Drive 1: Pioneer SATA 215BK $34
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case with included Power Supply: SHAW Xtreme 550/Tornado 500 $39
Cheap. Will suffice for this system because it doesn't draw that much power.
TOTAL - $238

Forum Verdict: If you're buying a computer in this price range, it's because you want something cheap. However, even though the price difference is enough for a cheap peripheral or two, the Intel as a dual core will provide better longevity, and is worth the extra money for the extra mileage you will get.


Under $500
Will run some games, but don't expect the latest titles to be smooth.

AMD Based:
Motherboard: Gigabyte M61SME-S2 $59
Supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1.
Processor: AM2 DualCore 5000+ $74
Mid-Lower end of the AMD dual core scale
Graphics: 512MB 9600GT Generic $120
The most awesome budget card around.
Sound Card: Integrated
Onboard sound will suit the majority of people as most provide support for 7.1 speakers.
RAM: 2G Generic DDR2 800 $39
Bare minimum for an aspiring gamer.
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 160G $52
An ok size for your games and downloads
Optical Drive 1: Pioneer SATA 216 $34
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case: Cooler Master Elite RC-330 (no PSU) $53
Tool-free design. Air filter. 120mm fans. Nice case at a good price.
Power Supply: Gigabyte 460W $55
Plenty of power for this system.
TOTAL - $486

Intel Based:
Motherboard: Gigabyte 945GCM-2SL $55
Cheap and loaded with features.
Processor: E2180 $83
Overclockable chip, and dual core.
Graphics: 512MB 9600GT Generic $120
Awesomely cheap. Great performer.
Sound Card: Integrated
Onboard sound will suit the majority of people as most provide support for 7.1 speakers.
RAM: 2G A-Data 800mhz DDR2 $43
2gb of medium quality RAM - should get a decent OC.
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 160G $52
An ok size for your games and downloads
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 216 $34
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case: Cooler Master Elite RC-330 (no PSU) $53
Tool-free design. Air filter. 120mm fans. Nice case at a good price.
Power Supply: Gigabyte 460W $55
Plenty of power for this system.
TOTAL - $499

Forum Verdict: The AMD system here is still faster at stock speed, and the Intel is still more able to overclock. Both these systems are getting decent with 2GB RAM each. With a generic brand 9600GT instead of the 8600GT they are now quite decent gaming rigs!


Under $800
A decent gaming rig for cheap!

AMD Based:
Motherboard: Asus M3N-HD HDMI Hybrid/SLI $199
Hybrid SLI and regular SLI, supports 1066MHz RAM and Phenom
Processor: AM2 DualCore 6400+ $168
Best available AMD dual core
Graphics: Asus 512MB 9600GT $132
The new king of low-cost, high-performance video cards.
Sound Card: Integrated
Onboard sound will suit the majority of people as most provide support for 7.1 speakers.
RAM: 2G 800mhz A-DATA $46
Any serious gamer wanting to play recent games should have at least this much RAM
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 160G $52
Decent amount of storage for a system at this price.
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 216 $34
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case: Cooler Master Elite RC-330 (no PSU) $53
Tool-free design. Air filter. 120mm fans. Nice case at a good price.
Power Supply: Coolermaster Extreme 500W $69
500w of good solid power.
TOTAL - $753

Intel Based:
Motherboard: Gigabyte EP45 DS3 $139
1600MHz FSB, 1200MHz DDR2, 2x16 PCI-E CrossfireX
Processor: E7200 $147
2.53GHz Wolfdale with great OC potential.
Graphics: 512MB Powercolour HD4850 $199
High-end card, awesome mid range price.
Sound Card: Integrated
Onboard sound will suit the majority of people as most provide support for 7.1 speakers.
RAM: 2G A-DATA 800Mhz $43
Minimum amount for any serious gamer wanting to play the latest games.
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 160G $52
Decent amount of storage for a system at this price.
Optical Drive 1: Pioneer SATA 216 $34
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case: Cooler Master Elite RC-334 (no PSU) $53
Tool-free design. Air filter. 120mm fans. Nice case at a good price.
Power Supply: Coolermaster Extreme 500W $69
500w of good solid power.
TOTAL - $736

Forum Verdict: The Intel CPU is overclockable to just shy of 4GHz, however. A massive boost for the minimal price you pay, and even without overclocking, is the better CPU. There's upgradeability in both - the AMD with SLI 9600GT and the Intel with Crossfire HD4850. The Intel is probably going to just beat the AMD in the frames per second stakes, though. If you've got a little more money to spend, consider upgrading the PSU to a Corsair HX-620 Modular ($100 more) - this will provide more solid power for overclocking and upgradability should you want to go dual-GPU later on. The Intel's cheaper, and our system of choice.


Under $1000
Gaming with a bit more to spend.

AMD Based:
Motherboard: Asus M3N-HD HDMI Hybrid/SLI $199
Hybrid SLI and regular SLI, supports 1066MHz RAM and Phenom
Processor: AM2 DualCore 6400+ $168
High-level AMD dual core
Graphics: 512MB 9800GTX Asus 176
Your games at fast speeds, with good quality image.
Sound Card: Integrated
Onboard sound will suit the majority of people as most provide support for 7.1 speakers.
RAM: 4G 800MHz OCZ Platinum $103
4Gb of high-quality goodness.
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 500G $88
Good storage for a system at this price.
Optical Drive 1: Pioneer SATA 216BK $34
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case: Cooler Master Elite RC-330 (no PSU) $53
Tool-free design. Air filter. 120mm fans. Nice case at a good price.
Power Supply: Coolermaster Extreme 550W $72
550w of good solid power.
TOTAL - $893

Intel Based:
Motherboard: Gigabyte EP45 DS3 $148
1600MHz FSB, 1200MHz DDR2, 2x16 PCI-E CrossfireX
Processor: E7200 $150
Overclock to get the most out of this core
Graphics: 512MB Generic HD4850 $189
Your games at fast speeds, with good quality image.
Sound Card: Integrated
Onboard sound will suit the majority of people as most provide support for 7.1 speakers.
RAM: 4GB 1066MHz OCZ Platinum $139
Minimum amount for any serious gamer wanting to play the latest games.
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 500G $88
Decent amount of storage for a system at this price.
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 20x 216BK $34
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case: Cooler Master Elite RC-330 (no PSU) $53
Tool-free design. Air filter. 120mm fans. Nice case at a good price.
Power Supply: Coolermaster Extreme 550W $72
550w of good solid power.
TOTAL - $873


Forum Verdict: Intel is managing to reclaim the "cheaper" alternative long held by AMD, and doing it with superior technology and performance. Even without overclocking, the Intel will show AMD who's boss. Both are upgradeable, but really there's no competition. Get the Intel.

Under $1500
Fast, with room for expansion.

AMD Based:
Motherboard: Asus M3N-HD HDMI Hybrid/SLI $199
Hybrid SLI and regular SLI, supports 1066MHz RAM and Phenom
Processor: AM2 DualCore 6400+ $168
AMD's fastest dual core CPU.
Graphics: 1GB GTX280 Generic $504
GTX280 in under 1500? Yes please.
Sound Card: Integrated
With the Creative suite of cards having driver problems in Vista, combined with the quality of on-board solutions these days, there's really no need to pay the excessive cost of the x-fi series.
RAM: 4GB 800Mhz OCZ Platinum $103
2G of 800mhz RAM = good.
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 500G $88
This will hold a fair chunk of your “downloads”.
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 216BK $34
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case: Coolermaster CM 690 $119
SLI certified, black and stylish, with cable management. What more could you want?
Power Supply: Corsair HX-620W $159
While this system still won't use 620w, you'll want this PSU for SLI, and its delicious modular cabling.
TOTAL - $1374

Intel Based:
Motherboard: Gigabyte EP45-DS3P $172
Solid Caps, Supports Quad Core and RAID.
Processor: Q9450 $385
Fast, cool, quad core and overclockable
Graphics: 512MB HIS Asus 4870 $335
AMD's newest and most awesome single-GPU contender
Sound Card: Integrated
With the Creative suite of cards having driver problems in Vista, combined with the quality of on-board solutions these days, there's really no need to pay the excessive cost of the x-fi series.
RAM: 4GB 800Mhz OCZ Platinum $103
4GB of high-quality 800mhz ram for overclocking goodness.
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 500G $88
For all your data storage needs.
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 216BK $34
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case: Coolermaster CM 690 $119
SLI certified, black and stylish, with cable management. What more could you want?
Power Supply: Corsair HX-620W $159
While this system still won't use 620w, you'll want this PSU for CrossfireX, and its delicious modular cabling.
TOTAL - $1395

Forum Verdict: Price difference is negligible. The Intel's quad core means it will be the better option if you're heavily into multi-tasking, video encoding, 3D rendering etc. Game performance in both systems is fantastic, but the AMD is likely to pip the Intel to the post here, thanks to the rendering power of the GTX280. If you have slightly more money to spend consider a decent 750W+ PSU for future video card expansion.

Under $2000
Fast, with room for expansion.

AMD Based:
Motherboard: Asus M3N-HT SLI $275
Asus. SLI. RAID. Cheap.
Processor: AM2 Phenom 9950 $259
Phenomenal. Baha. Nah, it's pretty good.
Graphics: 1GB GTX280 Asus $534
NVidia's fastest current offering
Sound Card: Integrated
With the Creative suite of cards having driver problems in Vista, combined with the quality of on-board solutions these days, there's really no need to pay the excessive cost of the x-fi series.
RAM: 4GB 800MHz OCZ Platiunum $103
4G of RAM is what you want.
Hard Drive: 2x Seagate SATA 750G $270
So much storage you won't know what to do with it.
Optical Drive: Pioneer 20x SATA 216BK $34
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case: Antec P182 $195
External fan speed control for top and rear fans and cable organisers make this an awesome case to own.
Power Supply: Corsair TX-750W $215
While this system still won't use 750w, you'll want this PSU for SLI.
TOTAL - $1885

Intel Based:
Motherboard: Gigabyte X48-DQ6 $342
Supports Quad Core and RAID.
Processor: Q6600 $238
Fast, cool, Quad core and overclockable.
Graphics: 2GB Generic 4870X2 $649
AMDs latest and greatest.
Sound Card: Integrated
With the Creative suite of cards having driver problems in Vista, combined with the quality of on-board solutions these days, there's really no need to pay the excessive cost of the x-fi series.
RAM: 4G Kit-1066MHz OCZ Platinum $139
4gb 1066 for overclocking craziness.
Hard Drive: 2x Seagate SATA 500G $176
For all your data storage needs.
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 216BK $34
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case: Antec P182 $195
External fan speed control for top and rear fans, and cable organisers make this an awesome case to own.
Power Supply: Corsair TX-750W $215
You'll want this PSU for Crossfire.
TOTAL - $1988


Forum Verdict: Let's get this straight. Both systems here rock. Hard. The main points to consider are: The AMD has 1.5TB of usable storage space! - and it has room to add another GTX280! The Intel system is quad core, is more overclockable and is running the latest ATI/AMD Crossfire single card solution! Both of these systems will handle anything you can throw at them - and handle it on a 30" widescreen at max detail as well (maybe not Crysis). For our money, the Intel system is where it's at. The 4870X2 is a behemoth, and convincingly decimates the GTX280.

Optional Peripherals:

Low-Budget
Monitor: 19” Acer P193WB Piano Black Gloss $223.
You could find a monitor second hand for probably $50.
Keyboard/Mouse: Gigabyte Desktop GK-6/7PB $18
You could pick up a generic kb/mouse for $5-$7 each, but this is the cheapest combo MSY have.
Speakers: 180W $7
Make no mistake, these sound tinny, but at least you will have sound

Mid-range - Gamer
Monitor: 22” 5ms Chimei 221D $295
Low refresh BenQ at the same price as the Chimei 19".
Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech Cordless Desktop Laser1500 $55
Mouse will suit lefties, its 1000dpi laser will give better response than an optical. It's black/grey. I don't think Logitech are actually making this anymore, so get them while they last.
Speakers: Logitech X530 5.1 $79
Cheaper than Creative's cheapest 5.1, these speakers will keep the majority of gamers happy.

High-end Gamer
Monitor: 28” 3ms DVI Viewsonic 2835WM $699
Screen is HUGE and awesome.
Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech G5/G7 mouse $78/$105 Logitech G11/15 Keyboard $77/$99
Whether to buy the weighted and corded G5 or the naturally heavier but cordless G7 will be an eternal debate, but if you're a gamer your choice is between these two. The keyboards are essentially the same - the 15 has an LCD display; the 11 doesn't.
Speakers: Creative Gigaworks S750 $726.00
THX-Certified Speakers, 7.1 channel, 700W RMS total, EAX, wireless remote control.

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HTPC Subsection

Alrighty, combining stereo/AV with computers explicitly; Home Theatre PC systems!!!!

or, taken from the Wiki: Home Theatre PC

QUOTE

A home theater PC (HTPC) or media PC is a convergence device that combines the functions of a personal computer and a digital video recorder. It is connected to a television or a television-sized computer display and is often used as a digital photo, music, video player, TV receiver and digital video recorder. Home theater PCs are also referred to as media center systems or media servers.

The general goal in a HTPC is usually to combine many or all components of a home theater setup into one box. They can be purchased pre-configured with the required hardware and software needed to add television programming to the PC, or can be cobbled together out of discrete components as is commonly done with Windows Media Center,

The most packed Build Guide i've seen to date appears in the AVSForums in the 'Guide to building a HD HTPC' . This guide covers building (component selection and imformation) of HTPC systems as well as Home Media Servers (which i mention as NAS (Network-attached storage))

Update 24/4 - Another great HTPC resource here at the HardForum

For the moment i'll leave this as the extent of the HTPC section, if it seems users of MEA would benefit from it expanding, i could contact the author of the abovementioned HTPC build guide requesting permission to extract the main details of that thread to be put in here. Until then, i'll just be listing some case manufacturers more often associated to HTPC building. In my searching for PureAV interconnects (these folks keep a chunk of HTPC stuff as well as general bits and pieces); just discovered Megabuy.com.au - worth checking out.


SilverStone
OriginAE
Moneual Lab
nMedia
CoolerMaster
Thermaltake
Zalman
3R System
Lian-Li
NXZT
Aphanix
Antec
A-Tech


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DISCLAIMER:
*Mobile Electronics Australia, OCAU, AVSForums, PCPowerPlay and Next Publishing do not - expressly or implied - endorse these systems or components. This list has been compiled solely by the members of the forums, and MEA, OCAU, AVSForums, PCPowerPlay and Next Publishing take no responsibility for any damage caused by following the suggestions contained in this thread.

- enzo

Why anyone would go a C2D over a Q6600 (or any AMD CPU) is mad.

3.2-3.6Ghz from a $300 Quad Core CPU FTW.

ah well .. (check my sig)....but i guess, that setup also has $700 worth of crossfire....or nearly $800 of SLI lol

AMD own intel at everything up to quad core cause AMD havent released it yet, they killed them in dual core test,
but because they own ATI now they havent been able to spend time of quad core

updated, .....phenom and the revised 8800GTS are out to play now/very-soon....will be interesting to see how things change

as for my pc.....hummin'n'harrin' about a new video card.....i think another 2gig of ram would be more useful (not to mention cheaper)....and yeh, will be looking to start playing with Inventor 2008 when i get it from work soon. perfect excuse...i mean, reason.

I'm on the market for LCD monitor (22 inch), what option do i have?? You mention Chimei, any other brand?? Asus??

mmm.....i took atleast a week of thinking before i decided which one i wanted

pretty much, (similar to video cards actually)....a lot of them may use the same panels...it comes down to warranty, connectivity and aesthetics.

the chimei is hailed as the monitor to get, because its cheap.

the attachment is a current list of the monitors MSY stock (trust me, it was less painful for me to get that picture and upload it than it would've been for u to try find it...ugh, disgusting site).

Click to view attachment

- The Samsung listed there has a very good warranty plan
- The Chimei 221D is cheap (the 222H has fancy connectivity, hence difference in price)

the rest.....well....are within $20 of each other.

I went with a Dell 22", we use em at uni, i like the stands and the look of the monitor, and i bundled it with my sisters laptop she bought at the same time so got it for cheap. Great monitor for me so far Service is great, and seems to be plenty of support available too. (just checked, $449 delivered for this )



comes down to personal opinion with such a small price difference between models/brands.

yeh, have a google of ones in there and see which one catches ur eye. (i dont like the look of the viewsonic much myself)

hope that was some/any help, sorry i cant firmly say 'get that one, its better' lol

Thx for the advice, i think i'm going to wait for next year and hopefully the 24in monitor has drop in price, otherwise 22in will be dirt cheap next year .

update 4/1 folks

I can't believe how cheap RAM is at the moment .... it's halved it's price in the last few months

Might be time to start looking at upgrading my PC. Motherboard is close to 9 years old now (Abit BE6 II) and running a Pentium 3 processor .... current install of Windows XP is over 5 years old and is starting to show signs of instability ....

Yeah .... a new PC would be nice

bump todays update for kirk

ROFL, where'd you read that!!!!! 2005 ??? last I heard AMD have yet to better any Core 2 or Quad processor.
AMD will be spending most of 2008 regrouping and getting they're act together.
I can't find any current reviews to back up your statement, please correct me if I'm behind the times here........
I'm not an Intel fanboi, just stating the facts as I see it.

Oh and ATi is not helping their cause either, Nvidia still owns the GPU sector too I believe..........
retracted. The 2 X ATi3870 cards in xfire are the best bang for $

nvidia and intel ftw

mind you......low end AMD processors have it over the low low intel....(ie: $60 vs 80).......unless you overclock the intel...then......well yeh, say goodbye to that lol....those 2140's are ripper chips for the price once clocked so it seems.

and.......something cool....my processors's gone up in price since i bought it lol

Don't forget the OCAU wiki!

http://www.overclockers.com.au/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.overclockers.com.au/wiki/Gaming_Machine

buummmp

updated

im trying to con the chief draftsman at work into letting me put a new PC together for him lol

thanks for mentioning the OCAU site hathr0, i just chose to use the PCPP one coz it was easier to ask King if i could copy the body of it varbatim. glad to see there've been a couple of pc build threads started up

i wish i hadnt looked at the wiki site lol...i really like how everything is linked to the manufacturer sites....dont know if im keen to waste all morning linknig things though....might just edit the first post with some more useful links

dammit alan......i'll blame u...you showed me those Lian-Li cases

missus wanted to have a look at TVs tonight while we were out (for no reason, neither of us have any money to blow on a tv at the moment)....and i got a thinking about HTPCs.....and then....a home network....(setup a NAS)

NAS (Total of $2269, or $974 exc. storage drives)
Case Lian-Li PC-A71
Top Cover Standard Lian Li Replacement Top
Motherboard Asus P5N-MX
CPU Intel E4500
PSU Corsair HX-620
RAM 4gig Generic 800MHz DDRII
Graphics Card *Onboard*
Sound Card *Onboard*
Hard Drive 80GB Western Digital SATAII
Storage Drives 5 x 1TB Western Digital SATAII (RAID5 Array)
Optical Drive Pioneer DVD-RW (215D)
OS Linux Network Software (inc. RAID functions)
Cooling 2 x Additional Silverstone FN-121

HTPC (Total of $1316)
Case SilverStone LC16M
Motherboard Gigabyte P35-DS3P
CPU Intel E4500
CPU Cooler Freezer 7 Pro
PSU Corsair HX-620
RAM 2gig Generic 800MHz DDRII
Graphics Card nVidia 8500GT *own already*
TV Capture Card Hauppauge PVR150
Remote Control *Included with case*
Sound Card *Onboard*
Hard Drives 2 x 250gig Western Digital SATAII (RAID1)
Optical Drive Pioneer Blu-Ray Player (BDC-S02BDK)
OS Windows XP Media Centre Edition OR Media Portal
Cooling 2 x 92mm Silverstone FM91 Case Fan

*Yawn* ......one day i guess....for the moment....i'll just dream about the above two setups....(there's space for another 5x1TB drives in that Lian-Li )

Anyone else run HTPCs or home servers? (figured i wouldnt start another thread, if its noticed, maybe)

edit: no onboard graphics on a p35-ds3p

Why bother when a PS3 is going to be => for ½ the cost AND the gaming quality will kick the HTPC's ass...............

rather have something i can access and expand on in the future?

Not sure entirely i guess......not at the point of needing to justfy why im looking at the HTPC or an NAS....mainly because im not at the point of buying any of them yet lol

a wicked wicked wicked site i found for this sorta stuff is the AVS Forums ....with a kickass HTPC design thread (which also includes details of NAS designs, up to 40drives!) (the guide which, stomps all over this one quite honestly...but anyway)

By the looks of it.....might/must be an american site, fairly friggen huge....248 viewers looking just in the HTPC subsection right now

Parts which i need to look into more: TV Card, anything related to setting up RAID5 (RAID5, as i'd be able to setup two of them if/when the time came inside the Lian-Li, there's standard space for 10 3.5" drives)...also, this will effect the motherboard choice in the NAS.

My goodness there are some gorgeous HTPC cases around....amazing stuff. I think I'll update the first post.

Cheers

You have been keeping busy.

Woohoo! My Pentium 4 machine has finally crapped out. Time for an upgrade.

This thread and Jake shall help me achieve budget goodness.

OK soooooo time to get serious.

Things I've locked down so far:

Case: Coolermaster RC-330 (no/PSU)
HDD: 500G SATA
RAM: 4G of whatever.


Looks like i'll be going Intel (damn you Jacob!) and will overclock it just a little. So I need to know mobo and CPU. I will probably never game on this machine so graphics accelerator is not really needed but I am going to run Vista so....

Budget is sub $1000, closer you get to $600 the better. This is mostly just a web/music machine.

yeehaa

hmm.......guess what got updated today?

anyway....what i'd get for under a G-ish

my suggestion
mobo - Gigabyte EP35-DS3P - $163
CPU - Q6600 - $276
graphics...well, u dont reaaly game, so maybe just something like an 8600GT, it'll play anything at the moment (on low maybe, but, whoopee)....$82
RAM - 4gig of A-DATA DDR2 800MHz - $94
hdd - WD 500gig - $116
dvd burner - pioneer 215BK - $37
psu - HX-520 - $134
case - RC-330 - $53

.......hmm...$955

OR....without the chunky quad-core and the mobo and nice power supply.......(ie - the P5N-E and 4500 and coolermast psu)....it would be $737

take ur pick

u should drop in, MSY is only 5 mins up the road, n build it on my pool table.

Sounds good, although I think the Q6600 is a bit of overkill for my purpose.

If I can aquire funding for this next week then we can build it on Friday night between rounds of Halo and COD4

how's it goin gordo?......and where's pics of ur awesome cable neatness?

hmm......found a potential successor for the Lian Li case for server duties....

the big brother to my pc case

Antec Twelve Hundred

bit of a bugger it isnt on the antec site yet, but the above is a link to a japanese site with a fair few pics.

not sure about the rad in the top coming standard, but finally a few australian sites have it listed
1 x top 200mm fan
2 x rear 120mm fans
3 x front 120mm fans

they also listened to the screaming complaints from the Nine Hundred, and the Twelve Hundred (i believe) has a removable motherboard tray, as well as some nice cutouts for cable management. though, i'll probably end up painting the inside of it too, looking at those pics reminds me of the gay looking grey standard colour of the inside of the cases, i love my black internals.

i REALLY dont like the gay top design, or the rounded front corners.......but....for $150 less than the Lian-Li....and for just as good/better air flow over the hard drives (not to mention an extra two hard drive slots)...i'll learn to live with it

anyway.....i'll have to start working on the missus to let me start looking at this properly.

ps: trying to land my hands on a set of 2x2gig 800mhz Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2 sticks for my pc (keep my standard ballistix for the HTPC )

edit:

IT IS ALL BLACK INSIDE!!!!

the pics i saw must've been pre-release

see here for a review and proper pics

with 24-pin and 8-pin motherboard power cable extenders, and some nice long sata cables be tidy as....yee haaa.....

update

Dual GPUs for under $1500

and im going to post for the sake of.......the new forum layout?

my girlfriend does architecture and is considering trying to get into the architectural illustration side of things next year after graduating......which...gives me the perfect reason/excuse to plan a computer for such application lol (rendering work etc).....no, she wont end up getting it....BUT...its a perfect reason to draw up an expensive list lol

Intel Xeon X5430 x 2 - $1130 ($565ea.)
Asus Z7S (Workstation) - $595
nVidia Quadro FX3700 - $1599
8gig (4x2gig) HP DDR2-667MHz ECC RAM - $1288 ($322 ea.)[/color]
2 x 36gig Raptor HDD (Raid0) [color="#ffffff"]- $258
1 X 750gig Seagate Enterprise HDD - $299
Corsair HX-1000 - $291
Lian-Li PC-B25B - $295
LG BD Combo drive - $180
Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave - $99
Dell 24" - $899

Total of $6933 he he he

Price spoilers hidden in white font lol.....yet to sort out water cooling though

night folks

Any excuse to spec up a new PC .....

i always liked the 'buy straight from the supplier through the computer joint you work at' approach. works good for me

ive been thinking of goin for a price competition between suppliers for the company, one offers me something, other offers me something else and go back and forth between

I'm such an a-hole sometimes lol

If her intent is illustration & 3D work then ArchiCAD may well be the initial proggy she'll use there, in which case Mac seems to be an increasingly popular choice (not mine tho). If you stick with PC the workstation scenario seems over rated. A good gaming spec machine will suffice & cost about half.
http://www.idrawfast.com/
there you'll find examples of ArchiCAD being used to produce the model. There are additional programs like Perenisi, Artlantis, Lightworks and of course Photoshop which are all used to embelish & enhance the final product.

yeh shes used archicad and she also mentioned might end up using studioMAX4D and autoViz and .....something else that sounded like reventon (no...not th lambo)

been waiting for someone who sounded like they knew a little about drawing to pipe up lol....thanks

if we were actually building it....still probably wanna go down the dual cpu way, but probably just end up using a q6600 (or equivalent at the time)....and regular RAM

lol...sierra got it in one....any excuse to do up a new list

cheers mosoto

I built a HTPC about a week ago, suprisingly the specs are very similar to what you posted enzo - strange

Silverstone LCM16MB
E8200 CPU (45nm chip)
Gigabyte EP35 DS3P
2 x 1GB 800mhz Kingston
250GB Seagate Enterprise HDD
1TB Seagate Enterprise Storage drive
Leadtek PX8500 GT (HDMI out and SPDIF) - because of dimension limitations
LG combo drive
Seasonic S12 II 430w PSU
Running VMC

Works like a charm, no judder on the Pioneer LX608, lip sync is perfect. You tube sessions with mates and beers are going to be off tap

like the enterprise drives

sure the 8500GT will suffice for tasks you want.......easy upgrade too would be the LG BD/HD-DVD Combo drive if you wanted to do so in the future

pics.......doooo it lol

also, what impression has the LC16MB mate on you? I still like the looks of it, though at the moment also getting drawn towards the Omaura line (and better yet, had the importer contact me yesterday..most stock is selling while its being shipped!)

No probs m8, 18yrs on ArchiCAD myself so if you need any help just ask...................

sheesh.....well i'll try find the couple of programs she's interested and see, you'll probably have more of an idea about them.

.......i like inventor lol....i just hope they let me use it at uni instead of SolidEdge

main reason any of this has even come about (as you say, a gaming spec pc would be fine) is because she didnt really enjoy her time using archicad at work experience over the holidays.....and started looking at the modelling side of things.

cheers

The case is awesome, build quality is too. I liked this case because of its symetry, ATX mobo and PSU ability and overall design really - but the symetry of it is its downfall, not being able to fit full size PCIe cards in. The optical drive is in the way . Otherwise I would have put in a palit 9600 GT sonic.

The LG combo drive I have is the HD DVD and BD drive

The 8500 GT has held upto every task I have thrown at it so far, and the most intensive I plan to throw at it is Blu ray playback at 1080p - which it does quite easily. It is good because it is the heatpipe version so the HTPC is relatively silent

The omaura's look very nice, TF11? It is lacking a front view panel, but then again it looks good and you can put in full size PCI and PCIe cards

http://www.mwave.com.au/newAU/mwaveAU/prod...mp;sku=39090076

Cheap Vista home premium OEM x64 dvd - only 1 off

Avoid AMD for games if you can, unless you feel like paying big $. Since Intel Core 2 Duo and Q-core came out, AMD haven't had much comparison.

Took me awhile but heres some pics, the HTPC is not finished and nether is my overall setup, its very temporary has a long way to go really. HTPC so far is very welcome in the lounge though

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The temp setup

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Nice case goes quite well with the kuro

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Back of case, the only connections used are the optical out on the mobo, the HDMI which has SPDIF (carries sound), and the power. Very clean.

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The PX8500GT, I put alot of thought into the GPU and it turned out very well. Its a low profile card with all the bells and whistles needed for a HTPC. One of the reasons I picked this card also is that I knew it would fit in the case without a clash with the Bluray HDDVD combo drive. The black and red cable is SPDIF.

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On the left we have a 500GB samsung Spinpoint silent seek HDD, in the middle is a LG Bluray HDDVD combo drive, on the right is a 1TB Seagate Enterprise HDD and under that is a 250GB Seagate Enterprise drive for the OS. Still room for 3 more 3.5" and 1 - 2.5" drive

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Wouldnt want the GPU any bigger

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Kingston 800mhz kit - 2GB, of course its neccessary!

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"Crazy cool" heat pipe on mobo, and stocko CPU cooler, think the CPU cooler needs an upgrade!

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In my movie archive, choose a movie by cover.... Bit black isnt it... damn kuro

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Choose a movie and up comes the movie plot, actors etc, play kicks the movie off.

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The main storage drive for movies, still got a way to go before I need to buy more storage.

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Not too shabby for a HTPC.

This is a very functional system, needs a few tweaks of the interface so noobs can use it but this will come in time.
It will be having a few components added to it over time, ill keep this updated

UPDATE:

I will admit the project is now officially out of hand But now to the list of mods.

Fans - Out with the 2 Silverstone fans (84cfm @ 24.1db) and in with, 3 x 80mm noctua fans and 3 x 90mm noctua fans (267cfm @ 20.7db).
CPU - E8200 out, E8500 in.

CPU Cooler - 1 x Thermalright Ultima90i

Ram - Kingston 800mhz 2x1gb out, G.skills PI 2x2gb 8500 CL5 in.

Wireless - TPlink laptop card, |accessories| PCI to mini PCI adapter, laptop antenna (internally to the front of the case as opposed to in the screen)

Overclock - FSB:Ram ratio = 1:1, timings on ram tightened to 4,4,4,12 (1066mhz timings are 5,5,5,15)
E8500 @ 3800mhz - stable.

First overclock was 5.06ghz – 533FSB x 9.5 multiplier, POST was fine, windows acknowledge the speed, I quickly shut it off LOL.


Cable management is non existent, as its impossible to make it look neat with all the components

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very sharp lookin setup......im a liiiiitle bit jealous

that LC16 does look quite nice in a more fleshy picture lol....

i think i will chase one when the time comes (especially since recieving the Omaura pricelist yesterday ...i'll hafta think about it...$400 for a case is more than a bit rich lol)

next pic will be of the cables being tidied?

I didn't know Seasonic made disk drives .....

That Silverstone case is one classy looking unit .... with some nice hardware inside ....

Is the Seasonic a modular PS or does it have a crap load of cables that you have to bundle up if not used?

..... and a pretty tidy score too!

lol.....i didnt pick up on that

LOL Seagate is what I meant.
Unfortunately the Seasonic PSU is not modular and it does make it that much messier. Other than not being modular it did fit the bill at the time, so I picked it up, rock solid power with minimal fluctuations and importantly its a quite PSU.

I will be giving it a tidy up later on, I still have to add a few more components. Maybe swap some components out for new ones, its a bit of hop and go this project.

bump for a pretty big update

thanks for looking

Update: Overclocked HTPC - encoding dvd pc

http://www.mobileelectronics.com.au/forums...st&p=966251

nice and quiet with the noctuas?

go the 5GHz post!

they dont really leave you much room for the cables do they, still alright though.

wish i could look at mine lol.....need a new car first though

Yeah the noctuas are very quite! Very good fans, they are also isolated with rubber brackets.

The 5ghz post was when the noctuas were at full noise, and I have backed them off majorly now. Should still go for 5ghz though hey

Yeah get into the HTPC after you get your car, good idea

already thinking about it (and updating lists slowly lol), see below (hard drives from my pc now get split to become the OS drives for the three systems, 9600GT from my pc goes to the htpc)

Desktop – Antec Nine Hundred | Q6600 | P35-DS3P | 4gig 800MHz Crucial Ballistix Tracers | 500gig HDD | new videocard | HX-620
NAS – Lian-Li PC-A71 | E2180 | P5N-MX | 2gig Generic DDR2 | 300gig OS HDD | 5x1000gig Storage HDDs | HX-620
HTPC – Omaura TF11 | E4500 | EP35-DS3P | 2gig 667MHz Crucial Ballistix | 500gig HDD | 9600GT | BD/HD-DVD Rom | HX-620

will have to start thinking of a carPC too lol, but that'll be relatively cheap i guess (come first too i imagine)

anyway, i'll say it again, nice bit of a setup.

hmm...because i dont want to make a new thread lol

upgraded my mums computer, she was complaining way too much. pictures tell a thousand words:

I get dusty pc's like that all the time at work but worse lol. Like the one we got from a car repair place all the dust from sanding bog sucked into the pc and it bonded together and stopped all the fans etc lol took ages to clean.

I have a Lian-Li PC-A71-B case to but it is my main rig lol monster gaming rig and a half for lan lol.

Q6600w Ultra 120 Extreme (Plan to water cool and get a Nehalem Cpu when released for the big 3 upgrade)| Asus Maximus Formula M/B (Plans For X58 chip board)| 2gb Kingston HyperX (Plans for 2gb DDR3 2000mhz)| 9 HDD's (3tb though slowly going to replace with 1tb drives and SSD for OS when they are cheaper) ATI 4870 (Plans for a 4870X2) and 24" Benq V2400 screen (thinnest lcd ever looks sleek loves it) and Pioneer 215 sata Burner.

server: Dual 1.7ghz Xeon on Intel Server board just sold the raid array that had 4 seagate 15,000rpm 320scsi drives as they are way to loud for my room lol and will make a NAS like you have.

I plan for a Car PC down the track but want to do up my current pc and get some decent splits and amp to power them.

pics daemon, thats not fair....thats the case i want!!!!!!!

haven't OC'd the Q6600?

and, i havent got the NAS yet .....could go and get it tomorrow, but car first unfortunately.

look forward to seeing your upgrade too.