Building a System Specifically for a Plasma

Hey everyone!! I'm building a system specifically for gaming and media PC for my plasma TV. I dont plan to overclock and will be running WinXP Pro I've narrowed it down to a couple options but wanted to get some more opinions before I bought the stuff. I'm pretty sure it'll be a microATX system. Here is a few questions

1. Is uATX and mATX the same thing? Never really heard of uATX but the mobo I'm looking says thats its form. The case I'm looking at is mATX
2. I'm debating on the 8600GTS or X1950 video cards. The X1950 seems to have better performance but is only DirectX 9 and the 8600GTS is DirectX 10.. Which should I go with? If this helps, opitmal resolution for my plasma is 1024x768 but it'll do 1360x768
3. Will most video cards fit into MicroATX cases?
4. More than likely it'll be Intel but any reason (other than slightly I cheaper) I should go with AMD?
5. Should I buy everything locally and spend more money but have the ability to return stuff easily if it doesnt work right? Or should I find the cheapest prices from various distributors and buy online?

I've done research from various distributors online and found the cheapest prices with shipping. Here is what I've built:

AMD
----
Graphics Card - MSI NX8600GTS (or maybe X1950 based on suggestions I get here)
Hard Drive - Western Digital 320GB 7200 16MB CACHE
Motherboard - Biostar K8M800MAM
Processor - AMD 64 X2 5600+
Memory - Hynix 2GB DDR2 667MHz PC5400
Case - Ultra Micro Fly mATX Case ULT33116
CD/DVD - Memorex 1650S
**Price Online thru Various Distributors (w/shipping): $556.91
**Price Locally After Rebates for comparable (w/tax): $648.16

Intel
----
Graphics Card - MSI NX8600GTS (or maybe X1950 based on suggestions I get here)
Hard Drive - Western Digital 320GB 7200 16MB CACHE
Motherboard - ASRock CONROE 1333mhz FSB
Processor - E6550 Core 2 Duo
Memory - PC6400 800MHz DDR2
Case - Ultra Micro Fly mATX Case ULT33116
CD/DVD - Memorex 1650S
**Price Online thru Various Distributors (w/shipping): $585.83
**Price Locally After Rebates for comparable (w/tax): $722.96

Having a big problem finding a mATX motherboard locally that'll support the 1333mhz FSB of the E6550 so the price locally is for a regular ATX mobo.

I really dont want to spend anymore money than whats listed but if you have suggestions where I might be able to save a buck or two, let me know.

I'm going to use MediaPortal (freeware mediacenter software)..

Did you have any suggestions on the video card situation?

I've read good/bad about Ultra PSU's, so not sure if that will be good enough or not. Are you building this yourself, or is someone doing it for you? Pretty good price. If you get everything at Zipzoomfly.com except for this mobo:
GIGABYTE GA-G33M-S2 LGA 775 Intel G33 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128060

Your total would be ~$698 - $50 MIR's = $648. So your getting a $50 cheaper mobo on your build. I'm not sure the above mobo has your options, but it is much better. It has the latest chipset (aside from x38 of coarse) and also has 4 DDR2 slots, which will allow you up to 8gig's of DDR2. The Conroe mobo only allows 2 DDR2 chips and up to 4 gig's max. So you can decide if that works or not, but I would probably buy the Ultra case w/o PSU and spend my $ on this PSU. It's well known QUALITY PSU and has 30A's combined on the 2 12v rails! The Ultra only has 20 amps and would be pushing the limits of the PSU. So you can decide what you want, but that is what I'd suggest. BTW I like the general layout of the Ultra case, especially the 120mm fan at the back and the 80mm fan at the front.

Linkage for 380w PSU:
8800gtx on 380w PSU!
http://www.overclockers.com/articles1452/

PSU - $49 shipped! Can power 8800gtx and an OC’d e6600! See link above for proof!
Antec Earthwatt 380W P/Satx 12V v.2.2 80MM P/S2 Fan 80-Plus Certified - EA380
http://www.buy.com/prod/antec-eart [...] 77214.html

The above PSU sells for $78 on newegg.com! Much more that that link above!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371006

If I'm not too late already, unless you plan on doing some heavy gaming, I recommend that you go with the silent 8600GTS, or even silent 8600GT, not because of its DX10 capabilities, but it's video output is noticably better than the last generation cards from both ATI and NVidia. I just saw the video quality of a 8600GT blow away my 7900GS. Not only that, but they make silent versions, and for any HTPC build, silence is golden.

No doubt the that MSI is a good one, I just recommend going with a passively cooled card for any HTPC build. The problem with the passive ones, however, is they often take up alot of room, which can easily be problematic in a HT chassis, or any neighboring PCI cards. Gigabyte's silent pipe series has always been held in high regard, although I haven't personally used one yet.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814125063

MSI makes one, but the heatpipe can cause promblems with some low profile HTPC cases:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127287

What it really comes down to is what will fit, and what fits your wallet.

Yes, they are louder. I recently replaced my stock evga 7800gt hsf with a zalman.. and what a difference that made. Also stay away from ultra psu's.. espically for a media center, its easily the loudest componet in my system, I can stop all the other fans via fan controller and i cant hear any difference in the sound, which i can hear from across the room.. kind of like a ceiling fan on medium speed. My advice would pick a quality PSU, so your not bashing your head into a wall later because of the annoying fan noise.

I know your tempted to cheap out on certain things ( I was the same way.. thats why i have this crappy psu), but the PSU is the last thing you want to skimp on.

If your really trying hard to save money, look at AMD, currently they offer some of the best preformance/price parts.

This is one I would consider
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139003

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forum [...] p?t=108088

A list of good/bad PSU's

All right.. I'll check it out...

Just for information, I found a review of the Ultra V-Series 400w PS (which comes with that case). Here is the summary:

Pros:
- Great price
- Acceptable voltage regulation when not pushed
- Quiet operation
- Lifetime warranty

Cons:
- Unacceptable efficiency
- Doesn%u2019t like being loaded above 50%
- Ripple suppression%u2026.what ripple suppression?

Edit: I absolutely will not buy from Buy.com.. They screwed me over before. Hopefully I can find something good on zipzoomfly.com

Thanks for the info. I was just checking out that FSP. I think thats what I'll probably end up going with.
I also decided on the MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256EZ video card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127287 If you check out the inside of the case, it looks like there is plenty enough space where the PCI slots are to accommodate the heat pipe (correct me if I'm wrong in thinking that.



Brings the total to $615.40

Looks like a nice case, I think I said that before, but thought I'd say it again. For the $ it looks to be good. So your still going with 6550 and Conroe board? What place are you getting that deal from?

I'm pretty sure most GPU's are going to be the same height, so I'm sure the case manufacturers know this, but don't quote me.

Than how do you explain the fact I'm using XP with a 8800GTS right now, or the countless benchmarks that use XP and DX10 cards?

DX10 cards only work with DX9 in XP. And yes you do need vista for DX10 applications.

ahh, wasn't aware of that. You might need to get one with a fan on it then. I know that your trying to keep the noise down, so you get limited by the case dimensions. Is there a local shop you can go into and check and see what kind of space that there is on cases of this general size? I would go into BB or CC (if they have cases on hand) and see if you can see what kind of room they have. I be willing to bet that you'll have juste enough space, but that is just a guess.

I believe Fry's carries the case but I really dont know how much space the heat pipes will take up. By the looks of it from the photo of the case I posted, you have the PCI slots, a brace/bracket, and the PSU sits right on top of it.. Here is a picture of the GPU:



From the looks of it, it looks like the tallest heat pipe stands up AT LEAST an inch over the card.. So, it makes it highly doubtful it'll fit..

Yup

This pretty much answers the question. Thats with a fan cooled obviously:

Yup... Its gotten be pretty frustrated.. This is becoming more of a chore and kind of going over what I had planned on spending.. I told myself if I couldnt do it for $600 with shipping/tax, I wouldnt do it. I could do a fanned GPU, then I have the noise problem. I could do an ATX case, but ATX motherboards with 1333mhz FSB are about double what the mATX ones case..

Unless I look at stepping down the processor or going with a comparable AMD system.

Wow man!! Thanks for your help! I really appreciate it.. I need to head to bed but I'm going to check out all the specs on this tomorrow morning at work

Thanks for renewing hope. Right before I checked your post out, I was pricing PS3s... So, thanks again..

Just out of curiosity how much better is the E6550 than the 5200+ (or is it)? I've read all of the numbers on the CPU reviews and they are fairly close but, numbers are numbers. In the real world, how much difference would I see between the E6550 and the 5200+ side by side?

Here's a link on tom's. It doesn't necessarially spell it out, but you can get the idea. The AMD would be close to the e6550 and like skittle the Intel would be a little cooler. The nice part with an AMD build is that the overall build, it would be cheaper. The Intel would OC easier and farther, but if your not doing that, the AMD would be better for your budget.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_ [...] &chart=419

Yes that will work too. The Intel's don't need 800mHz DDR2, but when/if you decide to OC a little, things will work nicer. I'm not much of a fan of crossover boards, but hopefully that'll work out for you

Ooops, sorry wrong thread. Your board isn't a crossover board. A crossover board has AGP and PCI-e slots along with DDR and DDR2 memory slots. Sorry I got busy on several posts and got mixed up. For you light gaming and HTPC needs you should be fine, especially meeting your budget. Let me know how the build works out. I like to know how things go, so I can recommend/not recommend things to other people .

Okay here is just a few suggestions.
1) The mobo for the AMD only has 2 sata ports and only 1 PATA, so you'd only be allowed 4 drives (2 HD's and 2 DVD/CD's or something like that). This isn't a good situation.
2) I'd probably drop down the CPU to afford a better mobo. Your performance isn't going to be much of a difference if you drop down to the x2 5000+ Black Edition (this CPU has unlocked multiplier and will allow you to OC it easier than if you didn't buy this CPU. I know you don't want to OC, but later in it's life you may want to have this option and you'll thank me later . This $30 savings you could put into a better mobo, like this one below.
BIOSTAR TForce TF7025-M2 AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 7025 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813138074
This isn't necissarialy the right board for you needs, but thought I'd throw out an option. You might consider a regular ATX mobo, especially if your adding in 2 or 3 more cards for your DVR functions.

If I get some time tonight at work, not sure if I will, I'll do some more research on this so I can recommend a regular ATX mobo. I believe the AMD version will give you more options than the Intel one at this point. I just need about 30 min. to do this, but don't have time right now, need to head out to work soon. I'll check back no later than tomorrow morning PST (west coast).

Update:

lunyone - Thanks for your help!!! I went ahead and ordered a system. I weighted out all of the options and what I wanted so this is what I got:

Graphics Card -MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256EZ
Hard Drive -WD3200AAKS
Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-P31-DS3L LGA 775
Processor - E6550
Memory - A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800
Case - ANTEC New Solution Series NSK4480
SATA Cables - (2) KINGWIN 15.74" SATA II Data & Power
PCI/PCMCIA Card - SYBA ExpressCard to PCI-Express (for the TV tuner card that came with my laptop)
CD/DVD - ASUS Black DVD-ROM DVD-E616A3T
Total: $646.74 w/shipping and after rebates.

That mobo was more than I wanted to spend but its going to save me money in the long run. First, its quad core compatible so I can upgrade later on without swapping the mobo. Second, has more space for ram. Third, its full size ATX.. Fourth, its has built in COAX and Optical S/PDIF Audio Outs which is great because I was planning on eventually buying a sound card with COAX out for 5.1 into my home theater receiver. Even though I went over budget, I bought the PCI to ExpressCard slot so I can plug in the TV tuner that came with my laptop to use the computer for DVR. I never use it for my laptop so there was no use buying a new one. Might as well just get a converter and use that one..

Anyway, thanks for all of your help everyone! Now the wait begins and the emptying of my pocketbook on games..