hi im thinking of creating my own htpc, im torn in between reusing my parts from my current pc to convert it into a htpc or whether to sell off the whole thing and buy all the parts from scratch, my parts are

MSI 945GM3
Intel E2160
Winfast PX7600GS
2GB RAM
Trendsonic T-450ATX powersupply

i'll mostly be using it for BTing and watching HD movies, although i might be using it to play some games, although this isnt really a priority because im on a budget.

Another thing is, my transfer speed is really slow, like when im transferring documents/music to my thumb drive... is this because of the power supply or something reason? im using usb 2.0.

So what do u guys think? i went over to a computer shop near my place and they were like "ah! change everything!" their advice wasnt very credible

thats actually quite a good combination mADmAN, im thinking of getting the Gigabyte G31M-S2L, what do u think?
also, i was reading hte forum and im a little confused, should i get a pure video nvida card for watching hd movies? or is my processor enough for watching them?
Its not only the pen drive that has slow transfer speeds, even when i sync my ipod or external hard drive, it takes much longer as compared to when im transferring stuff using my laptop... not too sure what the problem is there.

Hmmn any suggestions for a good mother board with Intel G45 chipsets?
so what your saying is if i get an intel g45 chipset its not neccesary to get me a graphics card to help process HD movies?

I checked out both the motherboards u suggested accs_centre, but both of them are over RM 400... which, sadly, exceeds my budget... generally all the G45 chipset based mobo's are really expensive, is there any other alternative?
the gigabyte motherboard seems worth it though, these are the components that im thinking of making my htpc with

Intel E7300 - RM 400 (all IT hypermarket)
Gigabyte GA-EG45M - RM 470 (looking for a cheaper alternative)
500gb HDD
2gb DDR 667

how about the PSU? is there any type that i should look at? because i'll be leaving my computer on 24/7 and im planning on getting maybe two 1TB HDDs for BTing

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Added on February 12, 2009, 3:40 amOn a side topic, im using a MSI 945GM3 motherboard now, do you think that it is capable of running HD and Bluray movies? or would you guys here recommend that i get a new mobo?

This post has been edited by howjimmy: Feb 12 2009, 03:40 AM

sounds like good advice, was thinking for going for the g31 mobo and adding a graphics card, on top of grabbing the E5300... any suggestions on what gpu i should get? i was looking through and i saw the geforce 8600gt, i was thinking of that one because it has the purevideo technology
How many watts do you think i should go for? 550w?

yeah tried finding it but to no avail, btw, does my MSI mobo support the E7400? because it says all socket 775 processors are supported...
i think i'll just reuse my current pc and swap it over, im going over to lowyat later and i was thinking of buying

1TB green power WD (350)
400W true power (not too sure)
E7400 or E5300 (not to sure whether my mobo supports it)

what do u think?

thank god ur online at this hour for help!

Processor: Intel E2160
Motherboard: MSI 945-GM3
Graphics card: Winfast 7600GS

this is my current set up...

haha i hate to be ignorant... but i cant really understand all that
it says that it supports socket 775 and the intel e7400 is socket 775.. so by my understanding, it should be alright... right?

yeah it seems like everything isnt supported! u think it would be a better idea to get a new mobo and a lower end processor that is supported? my budget would be around 400-500.

since lex mentioned a gigabyte g31 mobo is sufficient i think that i might stick with that and leave some room for upgrading in the future..

...and the budget goes up again

so it does support it? thank god or rather lex, i was wondering where i was going to pull that extra cash from!
so im going to upgrade the processor to the e4700/e5300 and get a hdd and psu, what do u guys think?
i've got 2 PATA 160gb hdds and 1 250gb sata hdd, because im using a mid tower now, if i add on another hdd would it affect the electrical flow of the computer if i were to not buy a psu?