Media Centre PC Spec

chrisba · 4 Apr 2008 at 19:51

Hello all, first poster here!

Im after some advice as to what components to buy for my new system.

Was hoping someone could recommend which parts would most suit my needs!

The main uses for the system will be:

General Internet Browsing
Playing 720/1080 HD Movie Rips - Linked to HDTV
Video/DVD Decoding
DVD Burning
General Media Centre (No Gaming At All)

I have a budget of about £400 MAX (would prefer £350 tbh), i dont require a monitor as i have it linked to my HDTV.

Any help or advice MUCH appreciated.

chrisba · 4 Apr 2008 at 20:29

Maybe a really stupid question, but if i was to get the above mobo, it says "socket 775" which processors can i use with it?

Its not me building the system by the way (luckily).....LOL.

chrisba · 4 Apr 2008 at 20:49

What do you reckon to the following:

Abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD ATI Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - £68.14

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.33GHz (1333FSB) - Retail - £111.61

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) - £29.36

Samsung SpinPoint T166 HD501LJ - hard drive - 500 GB - SATA-300 - £51.99

Antec Fusion HTPC Case - 430HE Watt PSU - £117.49

------------------------£379.59------------------------

Any good? Would like to make it a bit cheaper if possible to factor in build costs.

chrisba · 4 Apr 2008 at 22:57

Apart from looks and the PSU is there THAT much difference between the Antec NSK 2480 and the Fusion? Is there £50 worth difference!?

*EDIT - Just been looking at some more specs and pics and im definately going for the Fusion.... computer case porn......LOL

chrisba · 4 Apr 2008 at 23:13

What do you think?

chrisba · 4 Apr 2008 at 23:27

badbob said:
Fusion has metal front panel, and built in VFD. Mate has a NSK2400, I wouldn't pay the extra. The NSK is silver though - yuck. If the Fusion had the same sandwich panels as the P182 probably worthwhile.

You need to add remote control.

Already have a CyberLink Media Centre Remote and a Keysonic Wireless Keyboad with built in mousepad.

Really stupid question but would i be able to connect the ethernet cable for my broadband straight up to what listed above or am i missing something? :confused:

chrisba · 4 Apr 2008 at 23:56

badbob said:
Do you have a IR receiver? Need that as well.

Yep! Use it at the moment with the shoddy DELL MEDIA EXPERIENCE!

chrisba · 5 Apr 2008 at 00:48

Anyone know if it would be worth getting the 5000+ 2.60Ghz black edition cpu over the 4400+ 2.30Ghz one? Only £15 difference.

chrisba · 5 Apr 2008 at 08:00

Quixote said:
For HTCP use ? Not really, the 4400 is sufficient. If you want to do other stuff then yep the 5000+ black is the value sweet spot. Bear in mind it doesn't come with a cooler unlike the 4400. So you will need to add £10 - £15 to the price to be up & running. On the other hand, you can use multiplier overclocking to shunt that cpu up to 3 gig pretty easy. It's the only kind of overclocking I've really got time for 'cause it doesn't stress the mobo & is pretty damn reliable.

I will be doing quite a lot of HD video encoding as well but no games. Might just stick with the 4400 for now, can always upgrade to a quad core at a later date.