Spec me a media PC

ace2109 · 11 Jan 2007 at 17:48

Hi guys what are the chances of getting a pc for my home cinema setup. I would really like to keep it as small as possible and to run media centre with a dual tuner tv card, that the only essentials i need guys.

appreciate your help
ace

edit
if i could get it for <=£400 that would be even better.

squiffy · 11 Jan 2007 at 17:51

Is it going to be used for HD playback?
Music storage? If so how many albums and what are you going to store them as, lossy or lossless?
What's your display?
How many hours do you need to store on the hard drive at any time?
How is it going to be connected to your audio system?
Is the case going to be hidden away in a cupboard or on your racking?
How many PCI cards do you need? Want to be able to upgrade videocard?

semi-pro waster · 11 Jan 2007 at 18:04

Something like this might cover the basics, I don't know how good the TV card is, it does seem to fit the requirements though. Graphics and sound are onboard so they can easily be upgraded as necessary.

Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £43.99
(£51.69) £43.99
(£51.69)
Antec NSK2400 Desktop Case - 380W SmartPower PSU £51.99
(£61.09) £51.99
(£61.09)
Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1100 Freeview TV Tuner £42.99
(£50.51) £42.99
(£50.51)
Pioneer DVR-111BK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM £18.35
(£21.56) £18.35
(£21.56)
Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £42.99
(£50.51) £42.99
(£50.51)
Intel Pentium 4 820 Dual Core "LGA775 Smithfield" 2.8GHz (800FSB) - Retail £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
OcUK 1GB (2x512MB) PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £61.99
(£72.84) £61.99
(£72.84)
Sub Total : £322.29
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
Vat : £58.32
Total : £391.56

squiffy · 11 Jan 2007 at 18:22

Will also need a remote control with that, unless the TV card includes one and can also control Media Centre functions.

ace2109 · 11 Jan 2007 at 20:30

thats a great price for that mate.

I used to have sky+, however i ever only used to watch all the channels you get on freeview with the exception of skyone for lost, the simpsons and stargate.

I was used to having only a 40gb HDD with the sky+ box so this will be a bonus, i wont really be using it for music as i will be using my laptop for that and i also stream my music to a netgear mp101 music player.

I would like to connect it to my av amp via a digital coax cable not optical as im using both my optical inputs for my xbox and standalone dvd player.

any others suggetions, the above spec is great, but if you can think of anything else i might need let me know.

ace