Associate
- Joined
- 31 Jul 2018
- Posts
- 18
- Location
- Hugglescote
Hi
Back in 2005 I built a media PC (called Bam Bam) that plugged into the TV and the surround amp. I had some help from a friend who worked in IT. Designing and building it was great experience and I’ve had 13 years of use out of it.
A few months ago a bit of plastic that the CPU fan clips onto had broken and the CPU fan had fallen off. However, tipping Bam Bam on his side solved the problem and I’ve had few more months with him. Another fan on the motherboard had melted into a fixed position so I removed that. However, something else has gone wrong now that I can't diagnose (might be related to the melted motherboard fan) - the power button is just flashing and nothing is powering up.
Bam Bam was connected to the surround amp with the digital out off the motherboard so there was no need for a sound card. Back when it was built it was connected to Loewe Xelos CRT TV which had a VGA upgrade kit. It just so happened that there was this bit of software called Powerstrip that meant you could get a widescreen semi HD resolution out of a 640x480 wide screen CRT TV. Nice - certainly back in 2005. However, as the max resolution you could get was 1024 x 576 I didn't buy a very powerful graphics card. More recently it was been connected to a Loewe Individual with is HD and comes with a VGA port (and might be able to do 1080 through the VGA but I'm not sure - the biggest widescreen setting choice I get something like 1360 x 375 but I'm not sure if that's the limit of graphics card or the TV's VGA). So this means that Bam Bam cannot cope with 1080 files at all well (but is OK with 720). The moral of this bit of the story is to future proof this next self-build - at least cope with 4k.
Bam Bam was used a lot for music too. Winamp made music sound so great - it wiped the floor with Windows Media player and iTunes. Maybe there is/was better free stuff around but back in 2005 it sounded awesome and I just stuck with it. So I am looking for music playback that will hopefully be as good.
I did think about using this PC for gaming too but because it gets used while sitting on the sofa or the floor then it's not ideal - you really need a desk for mouse and keyboard control (although I did used to play MAME stuff using a Dualshock 2). So, it’s always just been music and videos. However, maybe I should consider VR stuff, or PC games that can be controlled from a sofa?
My knowledge of PC components is 13 years out of date and my IT expert mate isn’t around to help this time (he’s not dead, just moved away years ago). He worked for a Microsoft partner so Windows was free and Bam Bam went from XP to Vista and then to 7. As Windows 7 was Enterprise edition it didn't get the free upgrade to 10 but I suspect the hardware might have struggled anyway. So, I'm considering having a go at Linux this time. I’ve been using Winamp for music and used Gomplayer for video so as long as I can recreate my current set up and maybe make some improvements then I’ll be happy.
The starting point for Bam Bam was the CPU - AMD had just bought out 64 bit processors so I picked one of those, then the motherboard, then the other bits. I’m not sure where to start this time. I’d welcome some advice on where to start and to what level of power and expense I should go to. Thanks
Back in 2005 I built a media PC (called Bam Bam) that plugged into the TV and the surround amp. I had some help from a friend who worked in IT. Designing and building it was great experience and I’ve had 13 years of use out of it.
A few months ago a bit of plastic that the CPU fan clips onto had broken and the CPU fan had fallen off. However, tipping Bam Bam on his side solved the problem and I’ve had few more months with him. Another fan on the motherboard had melted into a fixed position so I removed that. However, something else has gone wrong now that I can't diagnose (might be related to the melted motherboard fan) - the power button is just flashing and nothing is powering up.
Bam Bam was connected to the surround amp with the digital out off the motherboard so there was no need for a sound card. Back when it was built it was connected to Loewe Xelos CRT TV which had a VGA upgrade kit. It just so happened that there was this bit of software called Powerstrip that meant you could get a widescreen semi HD resolution out of a 640x480 wide screen CRT TV. Nice - certainly back in 2005. However, as the max resolution you could get was 1024 x 576 I didn't buy a very powerful graphics card. More recently it was been connected to a Loewe Individual with is HD and comes with a VGA port (and might be able to do 1080 through the VGA but I'm not sure - the biggest widescreen setting choice I get something like 1360 x 375 but I'm not sure if that's the limit of graphics card or the TV's VGA). So this means that Bam Bam cannot cope with 1080 files at all well (but is OK with 720). The moral of this bit of the story is to future proof this next self-build - at least cope with 4k.
Bam Bam was used a lot for music too. Winamp made music sound so great - it wiped the floor with Windows Media player and iTunes. Maybe there is/was better free stuff around but back in 2005 it sounded awesome and I just stuck with it. So I am looking for music playback that will hopefully be as good.
I did think about using this PC for gaming too but because it gets used while sitting on the sofa or the floor then it's not ideal - you really need a desk for mouse and keyboard control (although I did used to play MAME stuff using a Dualshock 2). So, it’s always just been music and videos. However, maybe I should consider VR stuff, or PC games that can be controlled from a sofa?
My knowledge of PC components is 13 years out of date and my IT expert mate isn’t around to help this time (he’s not dead, just moved away years ago). He worked for a Microsoft partner so Windows was free and Bam Bam went from XP to Vista and then to 7. As Windows 7 was Enterprise edition it didn't get the free upgrade to 10 but I suspect the hardware might have struggled anyway. So, I'm considering having a go at Linux this time. I’ve been using Winamp for music and used Gomplayer for video so as long as I can recreate my current set up and maybe make some improvements then I’ll be happy.
The starting point for Bam Bam was the CPU - AMD had just bought out 64 bit processors so I picked one of those, then the motherboard, then the other bits. I’m not sure where to start this time. I’d welcome some advice on where to start and to what level of power and expense I should go to. Thanks