media pc to use on non HD plasma.. advice needed

G1BB0

G1BB0

G1BB0

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lo all,

I am looking at building a low cost media pc for use in the lounge with my 42" plasma

it has vga and dvi connectors (will prob use dvi altho dont know what diff it will make compared to vga)

what is the best solution, the reason i ask is that there are so many options out there

it will be connected to a wireless router and used to stream avi/mpg movies from my main download rig, my house has 4 pc's atm all using mapped drives via wirless network, also music streaming thru my 5.1 system and a bit of basic gaming/surfing etc

cost is paramount, havent set a budget but looking to do as effectively and inexpensive as possible

all input appreciated mucho greatly :)
 
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- Case/psu of your choise. I use a silverstone LC17 with an enermax 400w --liberty and its silent.
- Asus A8N-VM CSM Micro ATX (has vga+dvi out onboard with nvidia chipset)
- 3000+ venice
- Suitable quite CPU cooler that will fit the case you choose.
- Seagate hard drive of your choise (most reliable/cool/quiet brand)
- CD/DVD drive.
- Wireless dongle/card
- TV card based on what you want it to do (analouge/cable/freeview)
- Media Remote
- Windows MCE

Make sure you install all the MCE updates, get the nvidia purevideo decoder.
 
I would be surprised if the wireless network will be up to straming video if there is other lan activity but if you have a media PC near the plasma it will have storage anyway.

If you carefully pick you onboard or separate graphics card you should be able to get hardware support for the nvidia purevideo software, should reduce the CPU requirmets as would using digital TV tuners rather than software based analog ones.

On cost socket a kit is cheap new and used and should be more than good enough
 
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