media centre build advice

[zytok]

Have the following in mind for a cheap and quiet media centre pc, any advice or recommendations/criticisms?


Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H GeForce 7100 Micro-ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £41.99(£49.34)

OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £24.99(£29.36)

Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail £43.99
(£51.69)

Pioneer DVR-215DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99(£19.96)

Antec NSK 2480 Desktop Case - 380W Earth Watts PSU £57.99(£68.14)

Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A33423) £33.99
(£39.94)

Sub Total : £219.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £40.23
Total : £270.12

 

[badbob]

Need remote control. Also OS/HTPC software (I recommend XP Home and Media Portal)
Does that motherboard IGP offer Blu-Ray acceleration?

 

[zytok]

can get a media centre remote for about a fiver. OS not decided on but presumed Vista. Are there DVD drives that are known to be quiet, my current one sounds like concorde when it's at full spin! Would the Intel CPU fan be ok or should I look at getting something more efficient? Bearing in mind the size of the case.....

 

[mdjmcnally]

Personally I would go with a 780G system over the Nvidia 7100 system for a Media Centre at the moment.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-269-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=807

Asus M3A78-EMH HDMI AMD 780G Micro-ATX

Look at the new low power 45W versions of the AM2 Dual Core

AMD Athlon™ X2 BE-2350 is a Dual Core 2.1Ghz chip.

Whilst the Athlon isn't neccessarily as fast as the Core2 chip it is fast enough with low power/low heat output (lower cooler noise) and also the 780G is BluRay out put compatible. The Motherboard also having onboard HDMI output to LCD TV with one cable.

Would be about £5 more expensive + delivery as another website however it would be what I would select at the moment.

I am looking to run with My Movies 2.44 using the motherboard in a Client End Box in a passive mCubed Mini Passive case, so heat output is real important. I will have a more powerful Media Server in another room with the disk storage etc.

 

[Dingleberry88]

Have the following in mind for a cheap and quiet media centre pc, any advice or recommendations/criticisms?


Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H GeForce 7100 Micro-ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £41.99(£49.34)

OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £24.99(£29.36)

Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail £43.99
(£51.69)

Pioneer DVR-215DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99(£19.96)

Antec NSK 2480 Desktop Case - 380W Earth Watts PSU £57.99(£68.14)

Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A33423) £33.99
(£39.94)

Sub Total : £219.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £40.23
Total : £270.12

Looks spot on to me - pretty much what I have.

As for quiet DVD drives, I have a few of the Samsung S203s and find they're really quiet. At least compared to my previous NEC turbine anyway.