Contemplating an HTPC build

Windeos

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I've got roughly £1500 to purchase a new computer system. I have read through the HTPC FAQ quite a few times and feel I need to get feedback before I move onto purchase materials.

I currently have a 50" full hd tv with Onkyo 607 receiver and q acoustic 5.1 set up so adding a HTPC should do the trick.

I'm thinking I could put together a HTPC rather than just a normal pc. I would be using it for watching Blu rays and playing games. I want it to be future proof so therefore am looking to build a top unit. I've never built a pc before but I feel confident in being around computers for years and my cousin has experience of putting together pc's and will be giving me a hand.

I'm looking for some help in regards the actually hardware I'm looking to purchase.

I've looked at quite a few builds and I'm basically copying Razor's machine without water cooling.

Case: Silverstone LC17 SilverStone SST-LC17B (Black) aluminium Front & SECC Body Desktop case (w/o PSU) - Scan.co.uk

Motherboard: Asus P6T Deluxe V2 Asus P6T Deluxe V2, Intel X58, SLi/Xfire, Sok 1366, PCI-E 2.0, DDR3 1066/1333/1600(OC), SATAII, ATX - Scan.co.uk

Processor: Intel Core i7 920 Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail

Memory: OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 2000MHz OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 2000MHz PC3-16000C10 Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3G2000LV6GK)

Graphics: Radeon HD 4870 x2 SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY RADEON HD 4870 X2 - 2 GB GDDR5 - PCI-EXPRESS 2.0 review cheap prices RADEON HD 4870 X2 - 2 GB GDDR5 - PCI-EXPRESS 2.0 SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY best buy discount online uk shop

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium 70SB088600000 - Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional - Scan.co.uk

Power Supply: Corsair HX 620W Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply

Hard Drive: Seagate 1TB 1TB Seagate ST31000528AS Barracuda 7200.12, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ - Scan.co.uk

Opticial drive: LG Blu-ray Disc Rewriter LG Super Multi Blu-Ray 6X ReWritter and HD-DVD ROM Drive Internal (Black) (GGW-H20L.AUAR) at TSI Europe

OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit (with Windows 7 upgrade) 66R-03061 - Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit English 1pk OEM + Windows 7 Offer Form - Scan.co.uk

All of the above (without postage costs) totals £1366. If anyone notices something that isn't worth the cost let me know please.

I understand I haven't included a CPU cooler or any fans for that matter. Could someone basically help me out to get some cooling going in the system or again anything I've missed. Thanks for anyone who helps :)
 
Nice Case, personally I think everything else is waaaay overkill. If I said you could build a HTPC for way less than half your budget, and more importantly have far fewer hassles setting it up, THEN swap it out for something "newer" if it ever becomes outdated, would that interest you?

Who knows what better kit is going to come out next year? Why try and second guess and then end up being "stuck" with something that's not as good, and only a year old.

I think the philosophy on HTPCs should be to buy the MINIMUM you can get away with, rather than blowing a wad on loads of performance components. They aren't needed.

Choose a much lower spec, and much lower power CPU and you'll need correspondingly much less cooling, and the PC will be quieter and consume less power.

RAM - waaay to much, Vista 64 - Seven's just around the corner, and on 64 bit, what's wrong with 32bit, and I often hear/read people having problems with codecs/drivers/software for 64 bit. 2Gb should be fine for a HTPC.

Personally, I prefer Samsung Spinpoints, and personally, I would spend money on hardisks rather than processor/motherboard.

I think most people now would advise you to get on board graphics and sound - they will do the job well enough to keep most people happy. Unless you are a serious audiophile, don't bother.

You have no TV cards.
 

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