I still love the old console games way more than I do the PC games, but I've either sold or broken my consoles, so thats why I feel like doing this build. I'm going to build a HTPC which will mainly be used for emulating consoles like SNES, N64 and PSX. I already have a home theatre system, so it doesnt need any VIVO cards or such. I'd like the system to be within a cost of $1000, as I will probably not use it every day. It doesnt need to be dead silent, but the closer the better.
The system in planning thus far:
Silverstone LC-04
It looks nice, and it can take a ATX board. Also no 60mm fans, so less chance of whine I figure. The lack of floppy slot doesnt matter much, since I'll be using a dvd or LAN for transfering stuff. A USB floppy would do as well.
AMD Sempron 2800+
The system doesnt need more power than this I reckon. In my mind it produces less heat than any other cpu of similar power as well. Also has a nice pricetag.
Kingmax 512MB RAM
I'm currently using this in my desktop, and while it's not the fastest around, it's worked flawless for me. Not sure whether to go for 333 or 400mhz however, but the pricedifference is marginal so I'll probably go for 400mhz.
Powercolor Radeon 9250
It's passively cooled, and should be ok for playing emulator games. If there's performance issues I could get a 9600 instead, seeing as they are also available with passive cooling.
Sony DWD23AB2
I wont really have a need for a DVD-burner... but they cost nothing these days so.. Unsure about the noise from the unit, but with Nero Drivespeed I'm sure it wont be too bad..
Samsung Spinpoint P80S 160GB
Will probably need far from this amount of diskspace, but seeing as it costs virtually nothing these days, and that the LC-04 can only hold one disk I'm leaning towards this.
Asus K8V-X
This board has all features I need, and it's cheap. The optional SPDIF bracket makes it easy to plug into my reciever using only one cable. It also has Wake on USB so I'm hoping I can use a pair of Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2 to wake the system up
Fans
I'm not sure whether to get a Papst or a Nexus as exhaust fan. I dont think the above components would produce such an amount of heat that a Papst would be necessary.
Mouse and Keyboard
I'll probably just use whatever I have lying around, maybe the MX700 set I'm using right now in case I upgrade the desktop pc with a desktop MX 3100. I'll have no real use for a keyboard once into the system, since it will be used for gaming with gamepads.
As you can see I've not mentioned a CPU fan, because I'd like someone to enlighten me whether it'd be possible to run this CPU passively or not. It'd be nice to smack a XP-120 on and undervolt the CPU, but seeing as the case wont have great airflow I'm not really sure this would work out. The alternative is a Zalman CNPS7700B-AICu, which shouldnt be too noisy.
All input on the above is appreciated before I place an order. Thanks in advance.
