New to computer building

[epsalant]

I am thinking about building my first computer. Here's what I've come
up with. Do you think this combination will be good for gaming and
watching movies on my High Def tv ? I'm also hoping to record and
playback HD over-the-air TV. Any thoughts ? Is 500w enough for power
supply ?

Thanks.



Sorry the components didn't print out...
MOBO GIGABYTE GA-EX38-DS4 LGA 775 $206
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz $209
Sunbeam UV Blue Clear Acrylic ACHT-HUVB ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
-
Retail $78
Video Card Nvidia 8800GT $209
Vista Windows $99
Power Supply Zalman ZM500-HP High-Efficiency Power Supply with
Heatpipe $135
G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual
Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retai $120
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD4000AAKS 400GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA
3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $95
SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW
12X
DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X
DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM $29
LITE-ON Black SATA Blu-ray DVD-ROM Drive Model DH-4O1S-08 - Retail
$140Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1800 MCE Kit 1128 NTSC/ATSC/QAM/FM TV Tuner
Card w/MCE Remote - Retail $99

Not to cheap adding up to about $1300 but seems like it'd do what I
want it to...

 

[Paul]

I am thinking about building my first computer. Here's what I've come
up with. Do you think this combination will be good for gaming and
watching movies on my High Def tv ? I'm also hoping to record and
playback HD over-the-air TV. Any thoughts ? Is 500w enough for power
supply ?

Thanks.



Sorry the components didn't print out...
MOBO GIGABYTE GA-EX38-DS4 LGA 775 $206
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz $209
Sunbeam UV Blue Clear Acrylic ACHT-HUVB ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
-
Retail $78
Video Card Nvidia 8800GT $209
Vista Windows $99
Power Supply Zalman ZM500-HP High-Efficiency Power Supply with
Heatpipe $135
G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual
Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retai $120
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD4000AAKS 400GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA
3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $95
SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW
12X
DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X
DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM $29
LITE-ON Black SATA Blu-ray DVD-ROM Drive Model DH-4O1S-08 - Retail
$140Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1800 MCE Kit 1128 NTSC/ATSC/QAM/FM TV Tuner
Card w/MCE Remote - Retail $99

Not to cheap adding up to about $1300 but seems like it'd do what I
want it to...

ZM500-HP
+3.3V @ 24A, +5V @ 24A, +12V1 @ 25A, +12V2 @ 18A, -12V @ 0.5A, +5VSB @ 2.5A
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/atx-psu7_25.html

The E8400 is 65W, and draws current from 12V2. At 90% Vcore efficiency,
that is 6 amps.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLAPL

The 8800GT can be 85.7W and draws from 12V1. 85.7/12 = 7.1 amps.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gainward-bliss-8800gt_5.html

A hard drive, an optical drive, and some fans, would be 0.6A + 1.5A + 0.5A
or about 2.6 amps. It adds to the 12V1 load, so for a basic system,
we're at 9.7 amps on 12V1. (You'd add another 1.5A for a second optical
drive, if you expected to have media in both drives at the same time.)

For total power, I allocate 50W for motherboard+RAM (and this is an X38, so it
might even be a bit more in this case). A hard drive adds 5W for the 5V rail.
An optical drive adds 7.5W for the 5V rail (i.e. 1.5 amps all the time, estimated).
Throw in +5VSB loading of 2 amps, for another 10W.

So the total power would be, roughly

(6 amps + 9.7 amps)*12V + 50 + 5 + 7.5 + 10 = 260.9W

The combined 12V1/12V2 rating is 408W or 408/12 = 34 amps, and 15.7 amps is
comfortably below that.

http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-379-005-03.jpg

The Zalman supply has one fan and is listed as 81% efficient, so I don't
expect any problems from a paper analysis point of view. Perhaps customer
reviews will find otherwise.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16817379005

Add-in cards typical draw anywhere from 1 to 5 watts or so, and I don't
generally do a calculation for those. You can throw in a few watts for
that if you want.

Paul

 

[Dave]

I am thinking about building my first computer. Here's what I've come
up with. Do you think this combination will be good for gaming and
watching movies on my High Def tv ? I'm also hoping to record and
playback HD over-the-air TV. Any thoughts ? Is 500w enough for power
supply ?

Thanks.

(my reply):

500W is fine
All else looks good I'd suggest you drop down to 2GB of RAM to start with,
and get two hard drives. DVR use is going to flog the hell out of a hard
drive, it would be better if the video from the TV card is recorded on a
different physical hard drive than where you install Vista.
Oh and in case you are wondering, past 1.5GB, Vista won't perform any better
no matter how much RAM you throw at it. But they don't really sell 1.5GB
sticks, so start with 2GB. -Dave

 

[SteveH]

I am thinking about building my first computer. Here's what I've come
up with. Do you think this combination will be good for gaming and
watching movies on my High Def tv ? I'm also hoping to record and
playback HD over-the-air TV. Any thoughts ? Is 500w enough for power
supply ?

Thanks.

(my reply):

500W is fine
All else looks good I'd suggest you drop down to 2GB of RAM to start
with, and get two hard drives. DVR use is going to flog the hell out
of a hard drive, it would be better if the video from the TV card is
recorded on a different physical hard drive than where you install
Vista. Oh and in case you are wondering, past 1.5GB, Vista won't perform
any
better no matter how much RAM you throw at it. But they don't really
sell 1.5GB sticks, so start with 2GB. -Dave

And unless he enjoys cleaning dust and possible static issues, I'd lose the
perspex case.

 

[epsalant]

Thanks for the advice.
I will
a) drop the memory down to two Gig
b) get a different case.

Any advice on a nice case ? I'm thinking as a first timer I might as
well get a bigger home theater case to make building easier.

Also, since expansion seems important, any other mobo suggestions of a
board with more PCI/PCIe expansion slots ?

My plan is to have the video come out to my TV/Monitor and have the
sound come out to my amp via an optical cable.

Thanks,
Evan

 

[SteveH]

Thanks for the advice.
I will
a) drop the memory down to two Gig
b) get a different case.

Any advice on a nice case ? I'm thinking as a first timer I might as
well get a bigger home theater case to make building easier.

Not really too up on HTPC cases as all the PC builds I do tend to be into
bigger cases, like the Antec P180. But from what I've seen, the likes of
Silverstone and Antec seem to make nice HTPC boxes.