New HTPC Build

[BarePaw]

I'm building a HTPC to play DVDs, and music in my living room. I'm not a serious gamer, but I would like to play Need for Speed: Carbon on it. This is the plan so far. Tell me what you think:
This case
CPU
MoBo
Two of these DVD drives
Two of these RAM sticks (4gb total)
A card reader to show pictures from the camera
A wireless keyboard and mouse (not planning on having a remote control)
Two game controllers
Two 500GB HDDs to store music & movies
This graphics card should keep up with the games
This sound card should play the music nicely
This TV Tuner card
This power supply
I am looking at getting this TV to hook it all up to. The sound will go out to my stereo via optical cable.

 

[b1gapl]

You got a nice HTPC build going on there. I would change a few things.

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
and
Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

You don't need 4GB of RAM for an HTPC. 2GB is more than enough.

You don't need a sound card, unless you're picky about sound.

That Corsair 620HX is much cheaper at zipzoomfly.com:
Corsair HX Series CMPSU-620HX 620W Power Supply at ZipZoomfly
or the cheaper, but better:
PC POWER and COOLING EPS12V S61EPS Power Supply Retail at ZipZoomfly

 

[phucng_10]

Welcome to Tech-Forums!

Everything looks nice but as what b1gapl has said, instead of that motherboard you have linked to us, you can get the P35-DS3L and a set of Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800. And you're set!

 

[straightv6]

Different sound card to look at.
Newegg.com - CHAINTECH AV-710 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail

 

[peterhuang913]

Nice build. Great suggestions from b1gapl.
Note: The TV card is on "auto-notify", meaning they're out of stock.

 

[BarePaw]

Thanks for the advice guys. Why would you choose that motherboard? I picked the motherboard I had because of all the USB ports. I don't need the parallel port.

 

[b1gapl]

Thanks for the advice guys. Why would you choose that motherboard? I picked the motherboard I had because of all the USB ports. I don't need the parallel port.

The one I suggested has 8, compared to the motherboard of your choice, which has 6.....Oh...you meant in the rear panel.

 

[peterhuang913]

Will you even fill up ALL the USB ports?

 

[b1gapl]

Overall though, the P35-DS3L is better in performance, than that Intel motherboard.

 

[peterhuang913]

Plus it has all solid capacitors.