New HTPC here and setup. with pics

[DanW]

Hi Guys, well I received my new HTPC last week.

Let’s start with the specifications:

Case
Silverstone SST-GD06B HTPC Case + 450W PSU

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600 Quad Core (3.40GHz, 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 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)

Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 550 Ti - DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW

Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium

Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence

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

Production Dates
Processed Date 14-01-2012
Pre-Production Date 17-01-2012
Build Date 20-01-2012
Test Date 24-01-2012
Awaiting Dispatch Date 24-01-2012
Dispatch Date 25-01-2012

Who Worked on This Order?
Built By James Nisbet
Tested By Zbear Ramzan
QC'd By Zbear Ramzan
Packed By Anthony Cunliffe

I have to say PCS and the forum have been great. I Received some good advice on the forums so thanks for that. I also spoke with PCS a couple of times during the build process who recommended a couple of changes which actually resulted in a higher spec machine for no additional money!

Also, I paid for an AM delivery and advised PCS I would wait in on a specific day. DPD didn’t disappoint, the tracking information was superb, it shows a delivery time of between 10.13 and 11.13am and the guy arrived at 10.15am. I can’t complain at all.

The setup was fine. Usual windows issues with drivers and so on. Also took me a while messing about with different settings for the SoundBlaster card to get it right, also had an issue with an incorrect driver for the Wi-Fi card which was causing the system to run very glitch, but got there in the end, and am very happy.

Its been a while since having a windows machine, and it seems things have improved in the last year or 2 to what they used to be. Ran a Geek bench 64bit test and got a whopping 14703, previously had been using a 2010 MacBook which scored just over 3100 points.

And now some pictures of the new setup.

...Well...no idea why this forum wont let me upload photos, or embed them in my post, links will have to do.


http://flic.kr/p/bko2Wp
http://flic.kr/p/bko2XR
http://flic.kr/p/bko2Zi
http://flic.kr/p/bko31p
http://flic.kr/p/bko32M

 

[Corfate]

Very nice! +rep for the review and pics

 

[DigestedLemon]

Nice review, +rep. Have you given her a name yet? Also, how did you contact PCS, through their Live support or something?

 

[DanW]

Thanks,
No name yet
I Spoke to the PCS team over the phone

 

[Music Guy123]

Nice review and pics. For the pics though, have you tried using the basic uploader? I have problems with the normal one but if you go manage attachments, add files, then on the bottom right of the little box that pops up there is 'basic uploader' click it. The rest is pretty straight forward, try it, please tell me your results! + rep though!

 

[DanW]

it works, but i still cant get the avatar to work,
what a crap system for uploading pics

 

[Music Guy123]

Good to hear that the uploading of the pics works that way. How far did you manage to go with the avatar? I guess that you chose the file, clicked save changes then what happened? Was there a message or did nothing happen? Also, what type of file are you trying to upload?