Help spec me a Media Centre PC

[Andy298]

Well sort of

I'm contemplating using one of my spare PC's for this, but I've never rigged a Media Center PC so I'm not sure if I'd need to upgrade anything?

PC is currently running 1.8GHz Sempron, 512MB RAM and 80GB HD all in a Antec NSK1300 with 300W PSU.

Now I know I'll need XP MCE, TV/Capture card of some sort and a wireless PCI card also. Do I need anything else or upgrade anything?

 

[Andy298]

Anyone

 

[squiffy]

Also need remote control.
That system is fine for music, and SD & DVD playback, it should be able to scale to HD rez. I doubt it'll play native HD though.

If you already have a OS for it (XP Home) then just install Media Portal. I don't know anything about tuners.

I would upgrade to 3800X2, 1GB RAM, if CPU fits into that socket.