Specs for a new budget/Mid System

[KoemansCC]

Spec me a system.

Finally decided to build my first system and after a number of days researching, I have a number of components identified but I need to get some expert advice to finally decide on MOBO and RAM.

Requirements
- Quiet running as will be attached to HDTV
- Easily upgradeable in the future
- Budget to mid-price range (on board graphics preferred)

Uses
- Near constant running
- Enough power to run HD content comfortably (i.e. MP4, MKV files, etc)
- No gaming

Components
CASE Antec Sonata III
CPU AMD 64 X2 4000+
MOBO Asus M2A-VM HDMI
RAM Corsair 2GB (2 x 1GB)TWIN2X 6400C4 or
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4
HDD Samsung Spinpoint 500GB
Optical Samsung SH-S203/BEBN
OS Vista Home X32 or X64 (may not need as have an XP disk)

Recommendations on the above build required and any others comments welcome....

Thanks in advance

[Jamie Nixx]

There are too many motherboards out there to mention, look for one with an Intergrated GPU chipset nforce 6100 or something, make sure it supports DDR2 memory.

Go for Geil, its very good and very cheap.

If you want Vista and your not gaming only go for the 32bit version.

I can suggest a few good mobo's if you want.

[KoemansCC]

...I can suggest a few good mobo's if you want.

Ya, if you could...my head is fried looking at different sites/forums and from looking at different models...

[The Wise Monkey]

You should get an Antec PSU - great reliability for a cheap price. Check this one out:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103942

[Jamie Nixx]

The Sonata comes with a 500w PSU (earthwatts yuck) and unless he is thinking about using an 8800 anytime soon that should be fine.

Heres a mobo i just put in a computer for a friend, it is very good and i was very surprised.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+AM2+%28AMD%29/Gigabyte+GA-M61SME-S2+Socket+AM2+Motherboard+?productId=27470

[KoemansCC]

Going to go with that board so, parts are ordered and I'll build it this weekend...I'll post back when complete...

Thanks

[KoemansCC]

Build complete, very busy at work lately so only got going late in the week....must say went a hell of a lot smooter than I thought it would, had only one real issue with the build regarding the 24 pin and 4 pin power connectors but trial and error sorted it...one issue installing XP but a search of Google sorted that.

Points
- no SATA data cables shipped with hard drive or optical drive, had a spare one from the mobo and bought one for €8 :eek: typical with OEM parts I think...
- only 2 SATA ports on the mobo so could not connect the external SATA port on the Antec but don't have any real use for it a the moment...also no available SATA ports if I want to upgrade in the future, will have to get an expansion card...
- Windows XP would not partition the hard drive during instalation, reported 'Setup could not partition the drive, may have errors, etc, blah, blah'. Some research showed that some older BIOS has a problem with the larger hard drives commmon today. A program called 'Disk Manager' (Samsung) was the answer and solved the problem in 3 minutes.

All in all things went very well, thanks for your suggestions and help, now if I could only get the damn new wireless card to pick up my router I'd be whistling...Saturday project I think...