media pc spec

psalliss

psalliss

psalliss

Associate
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
2,243
Location
lancaster
how does this look. dont really need to play games got 360 for that will be for movies, pics and music and some web browsing
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Samsung SH-S203NRSMN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA (£22.31)
Shuttle XPC SG33G6 Deluxe Aluminium Barebones System - (£284.34)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM -(£70.49)
OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2(£82.24)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 400GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (£56.39)
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 "LGA775 Allendale" 2.20GHz (800FSB) - Retail £76.36
Sub Total : £503.94
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £89.76
Total : £602.65
 
I got

Hiper Media PC Case (this is awesome, only 6cm high or thereabouts)
CPU Cooler for the above
AMD X2 3800EE
Abit NF-M2
1GB Corsair Value 667MHz
500GB Seagate
NEC AD-7630A (Slim slot loading DVDRW)
MS Media Centre Remote

For a shade over £300. Would definitely recommend my case over the Shuttle for the form factor alone. And 4GB ram is absolutely ridiculous overkill for a media PC. I doubt there's any measurable benefit between 1GB and 2GB for media playback, let alone 2GB->4GB.
 
just seems to be dirt cheap at the moment. ive got vista on an upstairs system running 1gb which seems to struggle at times. its going to be used mainly as a medid player using media centre so want media centre to be fast and smooth. would 2 gig be sufficient then
 
I have

AMD X2 3800EE
Asus M2NPV-VM
1 GB generic PC2-4200

and it's way more than powerful enough to run HD content.

overclockersukyourbaskeec4.gif

I chose the Abit here since the Asus I have is out of stock. They're the same price though. This spec has 931 GB storage.
 
1GB is plenty for media purposes. If you're struggling to just play video files with 1GB, the problem is with your configuration, not the hardware. Multitasking/games are another issue, but from what you've described, 1GB is fine.

(But 2GB isn't that much more expensive than 1GB so why not...)
 
Last edited:
I have:

AMD Sempron 2800
1GB PC3200 Ram
ATi 9250 128MB GFX

Running Vista Home Premium as a dedicated media centre. Have dual tuners in there, so can record two channels at the same time. Vista is fine, don't have any problems with it.

I think 4gb is a completed overkill. You can even drop the processor down a bit, save some pennies there.

I have a shuttle box. It is lovely, sleek and silent as it uses its ICE system, really nice, but you are limited, I have 1 AGP slot and 1 PCI slot, so future expansion is a no no. Just a thought for you.
 
ok thanks guys. must admit had ruled out amd. i thought that intel chips ran quiter and cooler is that not the case?

will taken on board the ram will look at 2 gig then.
 
psalliss said:
ok thanks guys. must admit had ruled out amd. i thought that intel chips ran quiter and cooler is that not the case?

will taken on board the ram will look at 2 gig then.
Click to expand...

I'm using an 'Energy Efficient' X2, which runs a bit cooler than a standard X2. 4000 EE X2s only set you back about £40 these days - bargain.
 
just as a side issue going to be connecting it upto a sagem hd45 dlp screen. its 45 inch would the setups your suggesting but sufficient to run hd on the screens for movies. as i will add a hd rom when the prices drop a little more
 
right totally re hashed it to this spec. shame theres not a cheaper case in some wasy as thats whats increased the price really.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (£70.49)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4000+ 2.10GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (£42.29)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 400GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3400620AS)(£56.39)
Antec Fusion Black HTPC Case - 430HE Watt PSU (£113.96)
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series (£35.24)
Asus M2NPV-VM Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (£56.39)
Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre 2005 Remote Controller (£19.96)
Total : £406.41
 
I'd shop around and try to get one of the energy efficient X2s. They dissipate 35 W rather than the usual 65 W. That's where they take the upper hand over a comparably-priced Intel.
 
I thought decoding hd-dvd roms was pretty slow without a suitable graphics card with specific codec decoding capabilities? Is onboard graphics all you need?
 
I'm talking about the nVidia 6150SE onboard chipset. It does do hardware decoding of those popular codecs, that's why it's so good. These are mobos built expressly for HTPC service. :)
 
id get one of the lower end ati hd cards. seem to be great for hd playback. just check that they have hdcp if you plan to get bluray or something.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom