Building my own 'Media' Computer

Hi guys.
I just wanted to get some help/input on building my own media computer.
I'll be using it for watching a lot of movies, photo editing and some gaming occasionally.
This'll be the first time I'm doing this except just changing ram in my laptops.
After reading some stuffs online, here's what going to be my set up;
Mobo: Intel DP43BF
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 or E7600
RAM: 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1333 Corsair/Kingston
Graphic Card: nVidia ???? (PCI-E with HDMI preferred)
HDD: 1TB SATA (any brand)

What else do I need to add?

Im a total noobie, be kind.

thank you in advance for your replies.

 

Greetings, tisha4782, and welcome to MajorGeeks.

I'll let some of the graphics gurus chime in about the video card - I just wanted to suggest that you consider getting a good power supply and a good UPS/battery backup unit to help protect your new hardware.

Good luck!

 

does the PSU comes with the case or do I have to buy a separate PSU?

Thanks caliban...

 

Hi

It's NEVER a good idea to get a case/PSU combo, as the PSUs that come with cases are low quality. A low quality PSU can fry the rest of your hardware, so an extra $50 or so invested in a decent one is a good choice. Best to stick to a Corsair or Antec PSU (you will find fans of both on this forum, as they are some of the higher end consumer PSUs... I personally have a Corsair).

 

Here's a good online PSU calculator - just plug in your specs and it should give you a close approximation of your requirements.

I would guess that you're looking at a 600w-750w to give yourself plenty of headroom, something like this or this.

 

Depending on the level of gaming you may want to consider an i series CPU. If you get an i3/i5/i7 you can utilise the onboard GPU built into the CPU. They will be fine for HD movies and probably some light gaming and will save you needing separte GPU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131727
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007671%20600095610&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

I haven't linked to a specific CPU as you can spend $80 upwards depending budget and requirements.

You should also note that the MB is MITX not ATX so you would need an MITX case. However the MITX form factor is designed specifically for small media centre PCs and a lot of the cases are designed to look like a DVD or similar AV peripheral.

Dont quote my on this but I also believe that they are lower power consumption.