Will this work for a GB-PVR/Win XP box?

[dhascall]

Hi; I am in the planning stages of building a new Win XP PC (w/PVR functionality). Will these componets make an okay GB-PVR machine?

Fudin Scorpio Case w/6 80mm fans Fry's $65
EVGA GeForce 256 FX5500 Video Card (or should I stick w/5200 or 6200?) NewEgg $59
MSI K7N2 Socket A Mobo (versus the socket 939) NewEgg $65
AMD Athlon 2800+ Barton 333MHz FSB CPU (w/fan and heatsink) @ 2.083 GHz NewEgg $100
Two (2) Maxtor 200GB UATA HD Fry's $70 each
Two (2) PVR-150 Cards pcAlchemy $90 each
1 GB Kingston (2x512) Fry's $100
Generic DVD-Rom Fry's $20
Memorex Dual Format / Double Layer DVD Burner Fry's $90 before $30 rebate

overkill? underkill? It came up to $800. I'm thinking about building the Win XP machine in two steps 1) Just the XP box w/one HD and no 150 cards and then adding those later. Initial outlay o'cash would be $530 or so. Could be cheaper but I don't have any spare parts (such as cases, drives and such) lying around.

Appreciate any thoughts. Thanks!
Dave

[reboot]

For a dedicated PVR, it's overkill.
For a multitasking (editing, authoring and burning) machine, it should do very nicely.

[dhascall]

Thanks, reboot. I want to be able to do a little bit of everything and having that second HDD should keep it from freezing or burping when recording as a PVR.

Is that Video card okay? I've heard about 5200's and 6200's but not about that 5500.

I know that it's not going to be a hardcore gaming machine but I should be able to play some 3d games on it, right? My old emachine 400 celeron only has 4mb of graphics and that's pathetic in terms of gaming.

[reboot]

I used a Radeon 7000 pci for 2 years, and have a GF4 Ti-4400 in one machine, currently running with no problems at all, and I play Doom 3 on it, even during recordings.
You should be good with the 5500.

[mobiusnz]

My only comment would be noise - If its in your lounge it'll be noisy with 6 case fans and one on the cpu and one on the Video card (probably).

[dhascall]

My only comment would be noise - If its in your lounge it'll be noisy with 6 case fans and one on the cpu and one on the Video card (probably).

Right - I wouldn't want all 6 (7, actually) on at once. Point well taken, though. I also may be looking at a pre-built HP or Dell and adding to it.

Thanks!
Dave