Xmas HTPC for thee mother? Cheap but yet fast :) ideas welcome..

[MonkyBoy]

Hi all

I'm wanting to build my mother an htpc for Christmas as she keeps hinting she likes mine (no she can't have it!) I'm wanting to make it small, quiet and fast, oh and not too expensive. She won't be playing any "proper" games but will play some "non proper" ones, watch films and browse etc. Below is a rough list of parts I've been mulling over on the interwebs, please bare in mind most of the items will be second hand.

Case - BitFenix Prodigy white

MB - Gigabite GA-Z77-Wifi

RAM - ???

CPU - i52500 or 3470???

GPU - ???

PSU - Corsair CX430

Boot SSD - Corsair Force series 3 250GB

Storage - WD green red something or other

CPU cooler - ???

Optical Drive - white fronted BluRay or DVD drive???

All ideas and criticisms are welcome, and if anyone's done a prodigy build then any doo's and don't's are also welcome.

Thanks

[CoolBeans]

If you aren't getting a GPU this http://pcpartpicker.com/user/CoolBeans_/saved/2cT3 should be fine an run most "not proper" games like FarmVille just add an HDD

[Emperor_Piehead]

If you aren't getting a GPU this http://pcpartpicker.com/user/CoolBeans_/saved/2cT3 should be fine an run most "not proper" games like FarmVille just add an HDD

You can save some money on the case by getting that case w/o the power supply and getting a silverstone 450w bronze.

[ProGearUk]

What will she use it for and if it is nothing intensive why not get a NUC.

[MonkyBoy]

Yeah that's the sort of stuff she plays, thanks. Do you know if the MB has wifi? Can see anything on the specs.

Also have you tried movies on the new APU's, any good? I did a FM1 socket build a while back and I have to be honest the video wasn't great.

[MonkyBoy]

What are the graphics like on the NUC's? The games are like Facebook games, it's films that will be the hardest thing it does.

I do like the idea of NUCs but where's the fun in that lol

[MonkyBoy]

Got a silverstone psu in my htpc, a stryder gold 550 if I remember right, good kit, really quiet and cheap too. Big up silverstone gear!

[Guerrero]

It's barely going to be September....

[Emperor_Piehead]

What are the graphics like on the NUC's? The games are like Facebook games, it's films that will be the hardest thing it does.

I do like the idea of NUCs but where's the fun in that lol

NUCs use ultrabook cpus to give you an idea.

 

Yeah that's the sort of stuff she plays, thanks. Do you know if the MB has wifi? Can see anything on the specs.

Also have you tried movies on the new APU's, any good? I did a FM1 socket build a while back and I have to be honest the video wasn't great.

gigabyte has a board with wi-fi built in. The Fm2 sockets apu's are much better though.

[MonkyBoy]

Nothing wrong with a little forward planning my friend...

[MonkyBoy]

I'll look into that Gigabite FM2 wifi board I think then too. Anyway must get some shut eye it's like 1am! I'll never get up for work lol. Least it's FRIDAAAY!

[flimsy888]

Go for a APU build for sure...

[WoodenMarker]

Yeah that's the sort of stuff she plays, thanks. Do you know if the MB has wifi? Can see anything on the specs.

Also have you tried movies on the new APU's, any good? I did a FM1 socket build a while back and I have to be honest the video wasn't great.

You can play games like BF3 on the new APUS. Even a G1610 can play 1080 bluray with ease.

Nothing wrong with a little forward planning my friend...

Prices and parts change frequently. Plan later.

Optical Drive - white fronted BluRay or DVD drive???

Does she really need one? Many systems nowadays don't even use them.

 

Here you go: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1xRZX

[Stephie_Girl]

Yeah that's the sort of stuff she plays, thanks. Do you know if the MB has wifi? Can see anything on the specs.

Also have you tried movies on the new APU's, any good? I did a FM1 socket build a while back and I have to be honest the video wasn't great.

Well, I used an A10-5800K with 1866MHz ram and it played wow on good settings (some cases a lil ultra) 1920x1080 30 fps+ even in 10 mans, new areas and dungeons.  Don't knock the A10-5800K it has some power!!!

[MonkyBoy]

Wow looks like there's much love for the apu, I'll see what I can cobble together with the FM2 build then.

Ohh in reply to the does she need an optical drive, well no I suppose not but you know what some people are like without wanting to be agest or anything but my parents still like to go and but physical copies of things. Suppose I could just throw one in at a later date if she moans about it tho

So you think I should wait till close to Xmas before I start buying bits? Was gunna just get a bit every month...

[MonkyBoy]

Stephie_girl, what ram and MB did you use please?

[WoodenMarker]

So you think I should wait till close to Xmas before I start buying bits? Was gunna just get a bit every month...

Don't buy the parts one at a time--it's a better value if you buy it all at once.

Black Friday/Cyber Monday would be a good time to buy the stuff if you're not in a rush.

[MonkyBoy]

Black what now?? Is that some kinda racist day lol?

[WoodenMarker]

Black what now?? Is that some kinda racist day lol?

Day after Thanksgiving: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)

Almost everything pretty much goes on sale.

Cyber Monday is the monday that follows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Monday

Almost everything online goes on sale.

[MonkyBoy]

Haha ok fare enough lol. We don't get that in UK. But I'll keep an eye out for deals.

[MonkyBoy]

Haha ok fare enough lol. We don't get that in UK. But I'll keep an eye out for deals.

[MonkyBoy]

Haha ok fare enough lol. We don't get that in UK. But I'll keep an eye out for deals.

[WoodenMarker]

Haha ok fare enough lol. We don't get that in UK. But I'll keep an eye out for deals.

Should have mentioned that you were in the UK earlier. http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1xTQT

 

Fyi, you need to quote a post or else the person won't get a notification you replied to them.

[MonkyBoy]

Should have mentioned that you were in the UK earlier. http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1xTQT

 

Fyi, you need to quote a post or else the person won't get a notification you replied to them.

Thanks, is that by pressing the "Quote" or "MultiQuote" buttons??

[WoodenMarker]

Thanks, is that by pressing the "Quote" or "MultiQuote" buttons??

Quote is to quote a post right away. 

Multi quote can highlight multiple posts even across different pages that puts a popup on your bottom right to let you quote all the selected posts when you're ready. Fyi, delete the spaces between the posts when you do this since there's always an extra one and this can end up taking up quite a bit of space with multiple quotes.