Help me build a very cheap entertainment PC

[JayF]

Hi all,

I just moved in with my new roomates, networked everything as we each own a PC...its a shame though that we don't have anything for the common area and I am thinking of building up an entertainment center PC to access our multimedia files from any of the PC and play them on the TV, etc.

Little short on the budget side though, which is why I need suggestions. So far I was thinking:

-Cheap decent looking case (it will be in the living room after all)
-Older AMD CPU possibly under 1Ghz as long as it can decode videos fine.
-Online soundcard would be enough for our not so audiophile cheap students' ears.
-Video card with a TV-Out
-40GB HDD (most files will be stored on the network...)
-Wireless NIC.
-OS : Ubuntu Linux
-Software : lIRC (for remote control), XMMS, all the codecs one can find...

Target price is $400...doable?

[Beavis68]

look for a Viiv board for a Core Duo Socket 479 chip.

Can probably do it for 500.

[buckslayer80]

Of you're going to spend $400 just buy a new Dell. They start at $279. And their bare bones system is plenty sufficient for what you're wanting. All I would add is a better video card for around $80 and 256MB more RAM. That should put you right at $400.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...110A&s=dhs

[JayF]

Thanks for the input, the Dell solution is definitly one I had not thought about...I'll have a look.

[buckslayer80]

You can build one for maybe $100 cheaper, but is it really worth the hassle? Shipping from 5 different sites etc.?