Cheapest Small Form Factor

AHOLLA · 24 Mar 2009 at 13:03

Hi,

I have decided to build a tiny PC, will probably put a linux on it, just want it for a movie/mp3 player.

I will connect an external hard drive so only need a tiny hard drive.

Just wondered if you guys had any ideas? Looking to spend about £50. I dont even know if I could build a new system for this?

Thanks.

Guardsmon · 24 Mar 2009 at 15:47

You'd be looking at a lot of 2nd hand stuff. Best bet is to look around ebay. Every now and then you find cubit's pop up which are good buys and normally around £70. Buy £50 is a little low esp to be building anything new.

sean · 24 Mar 2009 at 17:23

What sort of performance will you require for movie playback? Socket A Shuttles sometimes pop up in online auctions but working systems usually go for around 80 - 100 quid.

lozza23_uk · 24 Mar 2009 at 17:35

depends on your playback.

I have an old socket A shuttle. 256meg ram. XP2400+ chip.

Pumps out optical for audio (external DAC/AV Amp) and an s-video signal to the TV (soon to be a LCD with PC RGB in). It does have an MX440 AGP card in it for the tv out.

Plays back SD rips/downloads and DVDs just fine. More RAM would help.

I think an old shuttle would suit your needs. £50 is pushing it though. £75-£100 should do the trick.

freddie64 · 24 Mar 2009 at 19:23

Mod an old xbox if your not bothered about hi-def.

AHOLLA · 25 Mar 2009 at 13:41

thanks for teh replies I think i will keep an eye out for a second hand machine.

Thanks.

DigitalReaper · 7 Apr 2009 at 00:07

freddie64 said:
Mod an old xbox if your not bothered about hi-def.

This. The original xbox is just a slightly modified PC. IIRC it has a 733mhz intel CPU (can't remember exactly which one though), 64mb ram and a geforce 2 in there. The controler ports are USB 1.0 or 1.1 using a custom connector (plus a composite video or composite sync wire for light guns). The HD and optical drive are just plain old IDE.

There are tons of guides out there for turning them into media PCs and such.

Methanoid · 7 Apr 2009 at 12:02

Google Xbox SoftMod and XBMC... you're sorted for £20 second hand and perhaps £10 for s softmod kit... (or borrow one!). And you can replace the HDD in a softmodded Xbox too. Makes a great media player.