Cheap as chips at 1st

MRTULES

OK so here it goes.
I have no components to begin with and no OS (probably go for w7 software4 students). I want a HTPC that can also web browse but with an easy upgrade path. I will never use this for gaming. Noise and looks are not an issue as it will be in a hub( I'd love a white 600T but it would be a shame to hid such beauty in a hub). What would I need to be using the computer for to justify dropping a 3770k into it?
The g630 cpu Vs the g530 is the price difference worth it? Do I need to get a GPU like a 6450 or something? want to be able to play full HD to TV. No monitor required and I'll pick up a KB & mouse else where. Might need the ability to drop in a black and gold TV card down the line but wouldn't be against a new mobo at that stage.

On a side note, I hear people saying they have a few HDDs for there movies and TV shows. Where can you download these?? If this is illegal downloading or something that is not permitted to discuss on here just disregard this comment.

Thanks and as always any thoughts or opinions are much appreciated

Item|Price
Intel Pentium G630 Box, LGA1155|€56.50
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€43.39
Xigmatek Asgard, ATX, ohne Netzteil, schwarz|€32.23
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€34.61
Samsung SSD 830 128GB SATA 6GB's Paper Box|€99.74
LG GH22NS50/70/90 bare schwarz|€18.21
ASRock H61M-HVS (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX|€40.60
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€344.27

Akarinn

On a side note, I hear people saying they have a few HDDs for there movies and TV shows. Where can you download these?? If this is illegal downloading or something that is not permitted to discuss on here just disregard this comment.

its clearly illegal downloading...

tut tut

MRTULES

I presumed as much but thought maybe there was something going on that I missed the boat on
Ah well, looks like I wont be able to tear up the xtravision card just yet. Im what you might call "out of the loop" on these matters

Procrastastudy

Grab a netflix subscription.

Im sure people are refering to movies and TV shows that dont have copyright or where the copyright holder is happy to allw you to download / stream the stuff

MRTULES

Tried Netflix for the free month. Got through the 1st two series of breaking bad (deadly:cool:) and a good few docs and films. The price was good for what you get but its lack of newer films/TV shows was the big let down.

Akarinn

Breaking Bad Season 4 goes live on Netflix on Saturday...

But yeh...

Other then the odd Series and Movie, Netflix Ireland is a pile of crap...

Btw, looking at your PC build.. What are u going to use as your main HDD? Cause 128gb is quite small, and your OS will take a good chunk of that..

MRTULES

I was thinking about that alright but seen as I dont have anything to put on a HDD I thought that the SSD would do the biz.My crap laptop that I have for 4 years and has ableton live and a few other big programes/file on it still has only 230gb on it.

Seen as they are so close in price which is the better?
This WD or This Seagate

On a side note, could i whip the HDD out of the laptop and hook it up as a D or E drive? I would like to keep everything on it but wouldn't need to access it daily. Or would I put it as some sort of separate boot drive that I could access on boot up?

Akarinn

n a side note, could i whip the HDD out of the laptop and hook it up as a D or E drive? I would like to keep everything on it but wouldn't need to access it daily. Or would I put it as some sort of separate boot drive that I could access on boot up?

Not as easy as that mate..
Im not 100% of how to do it, but i do know its not as simple as hooking it up with a SATA cable..

As for the drives, just get a 500gb drive for €45-€50.. 2TB is far too much if u plan on not even using much space.. yeno?

Im a great fan of Amazon when it comes to PC Components.. and really they have equally cheap parts on thee site.

Look for something like this on hardwareversand.de ...

Cheap as chips, and does the job.

Sarz91

I tunes isn't half bad for films. Some even come in 1080p. Still waiting for Vudu to hit Europe though. Supposedly the later part of this year we should see it. Starting to become doubtful.

Akarinn

I tunes isn't half bad for films.

You best be trollin...

Sarz91

Akarinn wrote: »

You best be trollin...

I've used it for renting a few films. I didn't find anything to be wrong.

Akarinn

I've used it for renting a few films. I didn't find anything to be wrong.

Im not gonna pay my hard earned dole money on itunes renting films...

dont be at it..

HMV and Extravison usually have really cheap dvd's or Bluerays... Cheap as Chips!

Sarz91

Akarinn wrote: »

Im not gonna pay my hard earned dole money on itunes renting films...

dont be at it..

HMV and Extravison usually have really cheap dvd's or Bluerays... Cheap as Chips!

Don't have blu ray and playing dvd's on my pc just irritates me with the quality haha.

Monotype

MRTULES wrote: »

On a side note, could i whip the HDD out of the laptop and hook it up as a D or E drive? I would like to keep everything on it but wouldn't need to access it daily. Or would I put it as some sort of separate boot drive that I could access on boot up?

If you have an SATA laptop drive, then yes.
If you wanted to boot from it and you also want to boot from it on your laptop, you'd need two windows installs.

If you're still using your laptop, it would get annoying unscrewing the drive pretty quickly. Use a network or a USB drive to copy whatever files you need.

MRTULES

Thanks Mono,

If I build this it would be to replace the laptop so taking the HDD out and hooking it up would be a one off thing.

Monotype

Well in that case there should be no problem, if you're opening it as a secondary drive. Just plug it in and it should be there with your other drives in Windows. You probably won't be able to boot from it as the drivers would be different.

A four year old laptop is probably SATA so there should be no problem. If it was a very old one, it would be IDE which isn't even the same as desktop IDE which has been also phased out.