Chillz you might appreciate this

[Admin]

I just purchased one of these last week.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16811204001

In the process of buying everything I need for it, including 3-300 gig serial hard drives in a RAID 5 configuration so that I can rip all of my DVDs (400 and counting) to it (probably using DVD shrink to shrink them by 50-75%) and all of my music to it. I will be running Windows Media Center Edition on it, as well as having it connected to my DVRs so that I can transfer my recordings directly to it.

[chillzatl]

Nice, what video card you getting for it?

[Admin]

Not sure yet, but from what I have read on the forums, it doesnt need much. A 64 meg video card is supposedly more than sufficient since its broadcast on a tv, but I am going to try out a spare one I have laying around first before I believe that.

[chillzatl]

are you just going to run it out to monitor or do you want to use it as a real media center PC, connected to a TV set? If the latter, is it an HD set?

[Lascar78]

So basically it's just a computer case? And then you have to build the computer (processor, hard drives...) yourself?

What's so special about windows media center? I mean you could dload all your DVDs and play them on your TV off of a regular XP right?

Sorry I'm somewhat unfamiliar with this stuff. Sounds cool though

[Admin]

I am going to run it to my tv. I dont have an HD unit yet, but plan to get one in the next 6 months. I have heard that prices will be dropping significantly towards the end of the year so I am curious to see if that really happens.

[Admin]

Its a computer case that has been converted. It is a smaller form factor than regular PCs and looks like a tall DVD player for the most part. Windows Media Center edition has all kinds of cool things with it that XP doesnt have and it can connect seamlessly back and forth with my xBox 360. It has also has the built in feature to where I can add a new movie to its library and it pulls all the info down including covers from IMDB stores then in a database, which is searchable and sortable for me anywhere in the world. Plus, if I wanted to I could add a couple of TV tuners and turn it into a DVR unit, but I dont have cable so thats not something I will do.

You do have to build this thing out though, which isnt a big deal. Just buy a motherboard, processor, serial controller, serial hard drives, and dvd player/burner and its good to go. It has a built in 9-1 card reader, plus built in IR and the motherboard that I will buy for it comes with a remote control.

[chillzatl]

Go ahead and spend the extra money and get a better vid card. I would recomment an ATI All-in-Wonder card. I'm an Nvidia fan myself. But as far as Media Center systems go, i think the ATI cards are a better option right now. I think the x800 AIW does HDTV output and will also do Tivo style recording with time shifting and all that. Go read up on it. You can probably get one of those for less than 200 right now. It might be more than you were expecting. But it will be your best long term option. PLus you can play a lot of current PC games with that card.

What processor and ram and such did you get?

[chillzatl]

Guide to building an MCTV box

extreme high end MCTV

more basic setup

There are a few more I know of that I can paste that are good as well, if you want.

[Admin]

No I wasnt planning on spending that much on a video card, but I havent fully decided anything yet. I also havent chosen the motherboard, processor, or ram either. From what my friend who has one of these has told me, I wont notice a difference in going over 512 megs of ram, so I will probably stick to that and will probably buy a 512 stick of kingston. Not sure what processor I will get yet. Probably going to stick with an Intel chip, but am considering going to AMD Athlon for the 1st time.

[chillzatl]

my personal recommendation, just my personal opinion, having built quite a few high end gaming rigs, medium range gaming system and budget pc's galore:

Get at least 1gb of ram. Ram is cheap these days, you can get a gig of dual channel ram (two 512mb sticks) for under 100 bucks.

Get an AMD processor. They are, pound for pound, the performance per dollar you can get. Either an Athlon X2 3800 or an Athlon64 3200. Both perform well and are priced well, depending on yoru budget.

wait, what is your budget? Give me an idea what you are willing to spend and I'll help you get the most for your money. I'm quite familiar with what you're trying to do and what's good and a good value in hardware right now.

[Admin]

I am looking to stay around $1,000 for the whole system, which includes 3 300 gig serial ata hard drives, which I have seen on NewEgg recently for $75 a piece, plus the controller card for it.

Keep in mind I wont be doing ANY gaming at all on this. Its strictly to store my movies and music and play on my TV.

[chillzatl]

motherboard

Just built a system using one of these, great board. Has integrated audio. But no 5.1 or optical. You can get a seperate card for that pretty cheap if you want that though.

X2 3800

a64 3200

Two great choices for processors, depending on what you want to spend. The x2 is dual core, the 3200 is not. Otherwise they are the same chip. Best bang for the buck you can get right now.

memory

1gb DDR dual channel, good stuff, good price.

video card

fanless, perfect for an HTPC, comes with component cables and svideo, so you can hook up to your TV now and to and HD set later. Good brand also. I output to one of my HD sets with almost the same card using DVI. Works great.

hard drives

Probably your best option for HD's, 300gb, sata2 3mb.

optional CPU fan

You don't need this. But depending on whether or not the stock fan is too loud for you, this would be a great option. I have one myself and it's super quiet, even on high. The stock fans aren't particularly loud either. But this does a better job cooling and is quieter still.

only things that you need now would be a DVD burner and a Sata raid contoller. I can make a recommendation on one of those, but I don't know if you're prepared to pay what they cost. You're going to want sataII 3mb capable controller and those get expensive. They also typically need a PCIx 8x slot, which you might have a hard time finding in a micro-atx mobo with one of those AND a pcix slot for the video card. The two sata raid controllers I have are made by 3ware and they weren't cheap.

I thikn that's everything. Let me know if you have any quesitons and i'll help out where I can.

Oh, one other thing that I just thought of. You're going to need a bigger power supply if you plan on putting all this into that box. It only comes with a 270w supply. 3 HD's, plus mobo, + video card + DVD-rw. You're looking at 5 rails there alone. That may be pushing what that power supply can handle. I certainly wouldn't be comfortable running all that off of it. I'd look 350w or better and make sure it uses a 24pin connector, which is fairly standard these days. Don't skimp there either. CHeap ps's are just that, cheap. Get a good brand, low noise one and you'll be set.

[Admin]

Not bad. $840 for all of that, with 3 hard drives. Including the $100 for my case that I already spent, getting out with a machine like this for under a grand is pretty impressive. I plan to buy everything else by the end of the month so this is a good start, thanks.

[chillzatl]

no problem. Just don't forget about the power supply. That 270 isn't nearly big enough. Here's a good one. I've got an antec similar to this one and it's great.

powersupply

oh damn. I just rechecked that motherboard I pasted you yesterday. It supports RAID 5 and has 4 connectors. So you shouldn't need to even buy a raid controller. SCORE.

It also has integrated video with a DVI out. Which would work with a cable (dvi to component or hdmi). But you need svideo until you get an HD set. I'd still go with the video card, though there probably isn't much difference otherwise. If they make a DVI to Svideo type cable, you could save more still.

[Admin]

Yeah I am pretty happy with everything so far. Check out my wishlist and let me know what you think.

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishli...tNumber=2001413

[Admin]

Whoops, I sent the wrong one. Check this out, this is it.

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishli...Media+Center+PC

[chillzatl]

the 7600GT is actually going to be my next vid card purchase.

I'd get one of these as well.

mediacenter keyboard

Though you might want to wait till you get an HD set. But then you can basically do everything from your sofa.

[Admin]

That's a sweet keyboard.

I was looking at this one because of the badass remote that it comes with.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?...N82E16823172006

What do you think? Do I need the mouse/remote or would a keyboard be enough?

[chillzatl]

well, the keyboard/mouse is good if you want to do something other htan just play movies. If you get a windows MCE 2005 remote, you can navigate teh media center software with that alone for things like movies and music. The keyboard/trackball is just handy for doing other things on it. Once you get an HD set, you'll find it convenient to be able to pull up a web page and the like on it. which is wehre that MS keybaord comes in. I think it also has a lot of the MCE remote control fuctions, if not all of them, built into it as well.