Media PC

syke

syke

syke

Soldato
Joined
18 Feb 2006
Posts
10,653
Wanting a PC that i can plug into my TV(s).

Will be playing Movies through it, and also using it as a PC for mild use too.

Budget is under £350-400 preferably.

The Mac Mini seems the best bet, what do you guys recon?

Want it to be silent, as small as possible.

What Wireless keyboard/Mouse would you recommend too?

Ta.
 
This looks like your best bet...

Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - OEM
(£15.26) £12.99

Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600AAJS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
(£35.24) £29.99

OcUK GeForce 8500 GT 256MB DDR2 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
(£51.69) £43.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail
(£63.44) £53.99

Abit IP-95 Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
(£37.59) £31.99

Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Soundcard (PCI) - OEM
(£27.01) £22.99

Logitech Cordless Desktop S 510 - Retail
(£35.24) £29.99

Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-5400C4 TwinX (2x1GB)
(£58.74) £49.99

Antec NSK2400 Desktop Case - 380W SmartPower PSU
(£61.09) £51.99

Sub Total : £327.91
Shipping : £10.95
VAT : £59.30
Total : £398.16

The Antec case is a small media centre case, with included power supply, link here. All comes in just under budget, inclusive of keyboard/mouse.
 
Looks good, is a Cube Case worth looking at?

That could even be a slightly bit overpowered for what i need too?
 
Yes, if you prefer the look of the cube case then go for that, though remember it has a 300W PSU rather than the 380W of the case I mentioned. That's still enough power for the spec I recommended though. If you feel that the above spec is a little to much then you could drop the CPU to a E2140 , the RAM to 1GB Ballistix, the HDD to the 80GB version and maybe ditch the soundcard and use onboard sound. Good luck mate. :D
 
Alex UK said:
Yes, if you prefer the look of the cube case then go for that, though remember it has a 300W PSU rather than the 380W of the case I mentioned. That's still enough power for the spec I recommended though. If you feel that the above spec is a little to much then you could drop the CPU to a E2140 , the RAM to 1GB Ballistix, the HDD to the 80GB version and maybe ditch the soundcard and use onboard sound. Good luck mate. :D
Click to expand...
Id keep the 160GB.
Hm, perhaps the Antec HTPC is better - as its not sleek, the cubes are quite big arent they?

What would you recommend for Movies? 1GB or 2GB?
 
If you can stretch your budget a bit you might want to consider adding a slightly larger HDD and a TV tuner, you could use it as a PVR then :)
 
wij said:
If you can stretch your budget a bit you might want to consider adding a slightly larger HDD and a TV tuner, you could use it as a PVR then :)
Click to expand...
What spec would you recommend?

Dont mind if some things are dropped, as long as i get a stable movie PC, enough for MSN/Office etc ;).

So that could possibly mean an X2 System, or the 2140.

160-250GB is preferred.

How would the PVR work?
 
Syk3 said:
What spec would you recommend?
Click to expand...

Pretty much what was offered before, with a suitable TV card, just make sure it would work with MCE2005 as its quite picky, the black gold and hauppage ones are normally a pretty good option though.

Syk3 said:
How would the PVR work?
Click to expand...

Depends on what OS you go for, if you installed somthing like XP MCE2005 then its all built in and in my experiance works pretty well, and the Home Premium/Ultimate versions of Vista also have the Media Centre software in them.

There are also some good open source ones around, a quick google will probably tell you more than I could write here :)
 
Been advised to go for a lower end spec?

Single Core
1GB
Onboard Graphics

Not sure on spec yet, but what would you recommend?

Cheaper the better, but 160-250GB needed, aswell as a TV Card if possible & Keyboard/Mouse.
 
That first spec looks a tad overkill, if you want the queitest machine possible loook for a slower system. Although if you want HD video playback you will need CPU power.

I have a 4200X2,2GB RAM, Onboard Nvidia 6150 and it copes fine.
Something like A2 3800X2 with 1GB RAM, MATX, Onboard video.

Try and find a case with larger fans, and not small case with small, fast rpm fans.
 
squiffy said:
That first spec looks a tad overkill, if you want the queitest machine possible loook for a slower system. Although if you want HD video playback you will need CPU power.

I have a 4200X2,2GB RAM, Onboard Nvidia 6150 and it copes fine.
Something like A2 3800X2 with 1GB RAM, MATX, Onboard video.

Try and find a case with larger fans, and not small case with small, fast rpm fans.
Click to expand...
What would you recommend?

I would like HD Video if possible yes.

Will 1GB be enough? Will also be used for a bit in games like Football Manager.
 
I would recommend a MATX system. Might as well get something fast enough, look at the cheapest dual core. Onboard will do until you find you need H264 acceleration. Also look for a case that's large enough for a large CPU HSF, you might buy a MATX cube/Shuttle but with the cramped designes working in the case is a pig, smaller fans=more noise.

My HTPC has 4x12cm fans, 1x8cm fan and it's really quiet. All are at 7v.
 
squiffy said:
I would recommend a MATX system. Might as well get something fast enough, look at the cheapest dual core. Onboard will do until you find you need H264 acceleration. Also look for a case that's large enough for a large CPU HSF, you might buy a MATX cube/Shuttle but with the cramped designes working in the case is a pig, smaller fans=more noise.

My HTPC has 4x12cm fans, 1x8cm fan and it's really quiet. All are at 7v.
Click to expand...
What case you get?

Im open to suggestions, but as it will sit near the TV(s) i would prefer it to be smaller, but im open to suggestions.
 
My case is the Silverstone TJ-08. It's not a HTPC case, but it's black and understated. Prefer tower as it takes up less deskspace. You can't see it, it's behind the LCD TV! :) Fitted a Scythe Ninja and the fan at minimum speed. With the MS IR dongle that fixes the problem of not receiving the signal.

Antec Fusion/NSK 2400 is nice case, although the slimess means need to fit a lower style cooler (perhaps the newer Micro Ninja will fit)
 
squiffy said:
My case is the Silverstone TJ-08. It's not a HTPC case, but it's black and understated. Prefer tower as it takes up less deskspace. You can't see it, it's behind the LCD TV! :) Fitted a Scythe Ninja and the fan at minimum speed. With the MS IR dongle that fixes the problem of not receiving the signal.

Antec Fusion/NSK 2400 is nice case, although the slimess means need to fit a lower style cooler (perhaps the newer Micro Ninja will fit)
Click to expand...
Ah true.

Well it doesnt HAVE to be HTPC, but it would look much neater.

Spec im looking at is like this:

Pioneer DVR-112DBK 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Soundcard (PCI) - OEM
Logitech Cordless Desktop S 510 - Retail
Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
Asus M2NPV-VM Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300C4 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail

Thats without a case etc, that comes in at £299inc.

Any changes/additions?
 
Keysonic Wireless keyboard/trackpad (better HTPC all in one unit)
http://www.keysonic.net/pages/products/keyboards/wireless/ACK_540_RF/ACK_540_RF.html

IR remote required.
Might as well go for 500GB Samsung. Need to do elastic mounting, quite bit of vibration (have one) even with the HD placed ontop of thick bike tube case was vibrating. Can use onboard audio for now. Unless you need digital out, does onboard have that? Pioneer drives are really loud.
 
squiffy said:
Keysonic Wireless keyboard/trackpad (better HTPC all in one unit)
http://www.keysonic.net/pages/products/keyboards/wireless/ACK_540_RF/ACK_540_RF.html

IR remote required.
Might as well go for 500GB Samsung. Need to do elastic mounting, quite bit of vibration (have one) even with the HD placed ontop of thick bike tube case was vibrating. Can use onboard audio for now. Unless you need digital out, does onboard have that? Pioneer drives are really loud.
Click to expand...
How much is that Keysonic thing?

And able to spec me something that you'd go for for ~£350-400?

Leaving extra funds for the Keysonic etc.
 
squiffy said:
The Keysonic is £30. Got one for the HTPC, pretty good. :) Your spec looks good, just add CPU cooler, case and IR remote.
Click to expand...
Why a different CPU Cooler? Are stock ones loud?

Which case would you get?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom