Just ordered a case..now what???

Donnacha

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I've taken the first step towards building my own HCPC!!! I've ordered the Antec Overture media case with a PSU but what else do I need to get started?? And what would you recommend?

I want to be able to watch movies on my PJ, store & play music, watch & record Freeview, burn DVDs and maybe even play the odd game.

Although I am using my laptop as a HCPC (with TheaterTek, MyHTPC & powerstrip) I didn't build it - so needless to say I'm not overly confident in my ability to pick the right items let alone put them all together.

Thanks for looking and I'd appreciate any help.

Cheers

Donnacha
 
Hmm...

In no order :D :

Motherboard
Processor
Heatsink and fan, if processor is 'OEM'
Hard Drive
DVD Drive, perhaps a DVD-R/RW/+R/+RW, if archiving
Floppy Drive
Sound card, if not using an on-board chipset
Video Card - perhaps a Radeon All-in-Wonder, if you intend to record
Nebula DigiTV PCI card, if you'd prefer an internal Freeview solution

Specific recommendations are probably worthless without a knowledge of your budget. If trying to keep the price down, AMD processors are considered to give good 'bang for the buck'. Should recently-released 3D games be of little importance, money can be saved on the video card (e.g. look at anything including and 'below' a Radeon 9200 or equivalent nVidia chipset).

Oh, you'll need a mouse and keyboard too! :laugh:

Hope that's at least some of what you'd hoped for. I'm sure someone'll fill in the blanks, anyway!

Good luck with your build :)
 
A budget you wish to spend would be helpful:)
depending on what your prepared to spend will dictate the spec/components to be used making your hcpc.
 
thanks guys - I was looking at spending in the region of £500-£600 eventually, if that will get me something reasonable.

..oh and to prove my ignorance what's an OEM? Hope there is no such thing as "a stupid question" in this case as that may have been one!!!
 
I've just completed a great little budget PC for a friend at work.

Antec SLK3700 case
MSI K7N2G-L motherboard
512Mb Kingmax Turbo 2700 RAM
AMD 2600+ CPU
Arctic Cooling Copper Silent 2 heatsink/fan
Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound
Maxtor 120Gb HDD
XP Home

The whole lot came to about £370 inc VAT


The cooler came from www.chillblast.co.uk,, case from www.overclockers.co.uk,, the rest from www.aria.co.uk, all of which seem to be reliable and fast suppliers.

The Antec 3700 is a near silent case, with a huge low speed 120mm exhaust fan and rubber dampers on the drive cage. The CPU cooler is about 18db, about as close to silent as you can get with fan based coolers, and fits all AMD boards. This PC didn't need much in the way of graphics, so I went for onboard video. The mobo is a rather nice nforce2 chipset.

I would advise that you get your motherboard and RAM from the same supplier (and preferably the rest of the innards). The most common incompatibility is with between memory and motherboards. You won't need ultra high speed RAM, but I'd go for a decent brand, ideally the one the supplier recommends for the board you choose.

OEM incidentally is "original equipment manufacturer" and means you get the bare product, often in bubblewrap or brown boxes rather than the glossy box, and with minimum documentation and extras. If like me, you want a low noise cooler for example, you'll have no need for a "retail" CPU which usually comes with a stock cooler, so you can save some money. Things like CD/DVD drives and graphics cards will only have software bundles if you buy retail versions.
 
excellent Yandros thanks for that - some useful info and tips there.

I've got the case aready whcih has come wth a PSU that cliams to be quiet - we shall see. Now I just need to order all the other bits and have some fun. Do I need any special tools for putting it all together?
 
oops! make that chillblast.com, the co.uk takes you to the same place, but the ordering system breaks!

No, you don't need any special tools. You'll need a philips screwdriver, a credit card/razor blade to spead the thermal grease, and a flatblade screwdriver to push down the heatsink retaining clip (which is not for the fainthearted!). A few cable ties are handy to keep the wires neat. Don't forget to earth yourself when handling anything static sensitive.

I didn't mention graphics cards, since I'm not an expert on the best card for DVD playback. If you do get a separate video card, don't get the motherboard I chose with onboard graphics...but stick with the nForce2 chipset. I'd go for one of the better mobos from the big boys like MSI, Asus, Gigabyte or Abit.
 

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