Need help to fine tune my Home Media Player

[gpartha]

Dear All,

I am looking at a Home Media Player that can do the following
1. Play video on to my TV
2. Good performance to run Ubuntu Virtually
3. Watch movies online
4. Do chat using Skype
5. Watch lot of video's on iTunes
6. Should be slient and have good heat distribution as I would be keeping it in my living room. I am fine with a setup box style display.

Following is the spec I put together

Case
Silverstone SST-GD04B Black Brushed Aluminium Case + 350W PSU
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600S Quad Core (2.8GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H61-M LE/USB3 (NEW REV 3.0): M-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS 450 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Sound Card
ONBOARD 10 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£19)
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Firewire & Video Editing
3 Port IEEE 1394a Firewire PCI Card (£9)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE DVI-D CABLE (£5)
Webcam
Logitech® HD Webcam C510 - 720p HD Video, 8 Megapixel Photos (£35)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £780.00 including VAT and delivery.

Help needed
1. Is there anything I can reduce to get the cost to 600 (including VAT)?
2. Do I need bluetooth for wireless keyboard and mouse? Does the configuration I have selected comes with Bluetooth?

Appreaciate all the help in this regard.

 

[Rakk]

Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)

For what you're mostly using it for I would think 4GB would be enough (unless running Ubuntu Virtually is likely to use a lot of RAM - but I just don't know)

DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE DVI-D CABLE (£5)

Is this to connect to your TV, if so, make sure your TV has a DVI port, you may need a HDMI cable instead.

Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Pick the silver warranty, it's only a fiver and extends the collection and return to a year.

2. Do I need bluetooth for wireless keyboard and mouse?

Wireless keyboards and mice don't use bluetooth, they'll have something to plug into a USB port on the back of your PC I think (note: it's actually quite a long time since I ever used a wireless keyboard/mice - but unless it's changed a lot since then I should be right )

 

[mantadog]

i7 is probably overkill, i would be inclined to drop it to an i5 possibly even to an i3 unless you intened to use it for anything a bit more CPU hungry in the future.

I agree with rakk that 4gb ram will be plenty for your needs.

Put in a caviar green as they are very quiet drives indeed.

Here is what i come up with for £600.

Case
Silverstone SST-GD04B Black Brushed Aluminium Case + 350W PSU
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3-2120 Dual Core (3.30GHz, 3MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H61-M LE/USB3 (NEW REV 3.0): M-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS 450 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Sound Card
ONBOARD 10 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Webcam
Logitech® HD Webcam C510 - 720p HD Video, 8 Megapixel Photos (£35)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £623.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-htpc/

Don't be scared of having an i3 processor, if you wanted a quadcore then i would say upgrade to the i5 2400. For your uses listed above the i3 should be perfect and it comes in at just over the £600 you wanted to spend.

 

[gpartha]

Thanks for the comments, few more questins

1. Do I need a separate video card or can I go with the default one that come with Intel® Core™i3/i5-2120 Dual Core (3.30GHz, 3MB Cache) + HD Graphics? If so which card can I go with.
2. What will be size of the case selected, will it look like a sky box? How effect are these in terms of sound and thermal characteristics?
3. Do I need Firewire as I have camcorders to get video out of it to Windows?

Thanks once again for all the help.

 

[mantadog]

I still use integrated graphics some 5-6 months after i bought my pc. I planned to add a dedicated card but so far have not needed to and my uses are very similar to yours. The intel HD graphics are very good for HD video playback etc so if you don't plan to do anything more with your pc then it is a possability to stick with the integrated solution.

It will be very similar in size to a sky box perhaps double the height but roughly similar, as for noise etc i can't comment because i have never used a HTPC. It shouldn't be a problem...

If you need a firewire port then you will need to add a dedicated card.

 

[gpartha]

Thanks, I am student also so can get Windows 7 cheaper outside. Should I buy 64 or 32 for the configuration defined? Apologies for asking a silly question. Do we get any student discount from PCS?

 

[Rakk]

Should I buy 64 or 32 for the configuration defined?

64-bit, otherwise you wont use all your 4GB of RAM (yes, most of it, but not all, and adding mroe would be a complete waste of time on a 32-bit system). 64-bit is better

Do we get any student discount from PCS?

No, I don't believe there is, PCS prices are already very low.

 

[gpartha]

I worked another alternative to my usage it works cheaper as I haved moved to AMD. Please advice me if this configuration meet my needs.

Case
Thermaltake Element Q Mini-ITX Case + 200W PSU
Processor (CPU)
AMD PHENOM II X6 1055T (2.80GHz/9MB CACHE/AM3)
Motherboard
ASUS® M4A88T-I DELUXE: 880G Chipset, 2x DDR3, 2 x USB 3.0, 6 x USB 2.0
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
Integrated ATI Radeon™ HD 4250 + HDMI, DVI-D
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD7502AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
INTEGRATED GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD (AS STANDARD)
USB Options
8 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Bluetooth & Infrared Options
Integrated V2.0 Bluetooth Adapter + EDR Capability
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE (£8)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £469.00 including VAT and delivery.