Advice for building a media center PC

[Bremen]

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Motherboard: Asrock 4CoreDual-VSTA M/board - PT880 Ultra, 1066MHz FSB, Dual Channel DDR2-667 and DDR400, PCI-Express, AGP 8X, SATA RAID, LAN, 8-Ch, USB, ATX - $95
My current video card, which is AGP, works fine, and I want to keep using it. This also offers a PCI-E expansion card if I need it down the track.

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I'd be very leary of the mobo. None of the major manufacturers have released any boards with this chipset. The pci-e slot only runs at x4, as opposed to a full speed x16 link (the physical slot is x16 but this is deceiving). I don't know what ram you have but this board can only use two sticks max (you can't mix DDR/DDR2, its either one or the other, and you pay a price for the ability to run either one as memory performance is quite off what other board are capable of).

[Josem]

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I'd be very leary of the mobo. None of the major manufacturers have released any boards with this chipset. The pci-e slot only runs at x4, as opposed to a full speed x16 link (the physical slot is x16 but this is deceiving). I don't know what ram you have but this board can only use two sticks max (you can't mix DDR/DDR2, its either one or the other, and you pay a price for the ability to run either one as memory performance is quite off what other board are capable of).

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ok.

so apart from the power supply, motherboard, memory and hard disk, the pc is fine?

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]


any suggestions on a motherboard? what factors should I consider?

[Beavis68]

for the MOBO, you may want to look for one with PCI-E x16 for graphics and PCIe x1 slots.

I just got an intel DG965WH board and built a system at work with it and am building one at home with it too. It support Viiv so it should make a nice media center PC.

This motherboard has RAID support also which you may be interested in for the back-up aspect. It is a full ATX board though

The CPU coolers we used at work are TR2-M21 RX thermaltake coolers. they go in easily and are about $20.

[NU Star]

Ok, I think I'm getting close to making some purchases, but I'd like some feedback first. I'd especially like input on the tuner card.


Case w/ Power Supply:
Antec Veris Fusion V2 Silver/ Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel/ Aluminum plate front bezel MicroATX Media Center / HTPC Desktop Computer Case 430W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129029



Speakers:
Logitech THX Z-5300e 280 Watts RMS 5.1 Speaker - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=N82E168361211



Tuner Card:
KWorld HDTV Digital TV Tuner PCI Card - KW-ATSC-115
http://www.buy.com/prod/kworld-hdtv-...204121576.html

Video Card:
Leadtek WinFast PX7300GT TDH 128MB DDR3 Extreme GeForce 7300GT 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814122008


DVI-HDMI Cord:
Link Depot 7 FT HDMI TO DVI Cable Model HDMI-DVI-2 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812189056


CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 2.2GHz Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3700CFBOX - Retail


CPU Cooling:
Stock


Motherboard:
Foxconn NF4SK8AA-8KRS 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813186059


DVD:
NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827152058


Harddrive:
SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152052


Operating System:
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 w/SP2B - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116049


Remote:
Microsoft A9O-00007 WinXP Media Center Infrared Remote Control - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16880100851



Extra USBs:
Koutech PCI to USB2.0 Card Model IO-PU520 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815104216


NES USB Controller Ports (x2):



Playstation2 USB Controller Ports (x4):

[Josem]

that motherboard has been abused something shocking in the user reviews. that makes me wary of it.


getting a silver case and a black optical drive is going to look pretty crappy.

the case says it is microATX. the motherboard says it is ATX. I <u>think</u> it means that the motherboard won't fit.

the tuner card that i've almost decided upon - http://www.comprousa.com/New/en/product/e800/e800.html - includes FM tuner, digital AND analogue tuner, AND includes the remote control - saving you from getting one separately. this one also fits into a PCIEx1 slot, saving a PCI slot for additional PCI video cards (which will be cheaper for multi-monitor for poker etc.)

re: video card - i think the following attributes are good if you're going to get a separate video card (for simple video playback, i assume that the integrated video output would be sufficient to the relatively low resolution of 1368x760 (or whatever the exact numbers are)):
-dual-link dvi (so you can run a 3007 one day)
-fanless (so it is quieter)
-hdmi (so it more easily plugs into your tv)
Your video card has none of that [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]



Of course, I'm learning along at the same time as you, so there's a good chance i'm wrong.

[NU Star]

I'm pretty much stuck with a few things including the motherboard and the cpu. The MB is the second best rated 939 on Newegg though so I'm not too worried about it.

I'm only using this as a mediacenter. It will only be hooked up to a TV, but it seems like I'd still need a video card since the tuner card doesn't have and outputs as far as I can tell.

I think that the card is dual-link dvi even though I can't see where it says it. Mainly I think this because I'm using the card right now on a 30" and running at 2560x1600..

I didn't realize that case was a micro, and I agree with the silve on black as bad.


Ok, these cases are [censored] expensive and a lot of them seem to have problems. I think this one will work but I need a need to buy a power supply and probably some case fans.

Case:
Thermaltake Mozart Sx VC7001SNS Silver 0.8 mm SECC Chassis ATX Media Center / HTPC Desktop Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811133029



Power Supply:
Rosewill RD400-2-SB 400W,ATX12V v2.2 Power Supply 115/230V FCC, UL - Retail
I really like modular power supplies.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182074


How do I tell if a case can take more fans? I'll probably replace the 2 that are in there since they are supposedly too loud, but I want to know if there is room for more.



Another issue is that it comes with its own software, remote, and LCD. Apparently I can use the software LCD smartie to reprogram the LCD. Hopefully I can reprogram the remote too, to work with Windows Media Center.

[NU Star]

Does the HVR-1600 have the ability to record from two channels at once, or watch one record on the other? That's the one I'm looking at now since you are the second person to recommend Hauppauge and that one is HD.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/custome...customerReviews


If it doesn't, could anyone recommend one that does? Or should I think about getting two cards?

[NU Star]

Can anyone explain to me how you use the expansion slots in this box? They all seem sideways to me.

[By-Tor]

riser card

example:

[stinkypete]

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Can anyone explain to me how you use the expansion slots in this box? They all seem sideways to me.

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you turn the card sideways