what to do with this spec?

[Nick Smith]

i am currently in the midst of building a second PC, not sure what to do with it though!

Specs:
(got)
p4 celeron 2.0ghz socket 478
478 atx motherboard
my "some 400W one" psu that i decided not to throw away eventually

(not got)

a case
a graphics card, like an AGP x800gto
RAM, 1 to 1.5gb preferably, should have 512mb on the way soon. (2x256mb sticks)
hard drive
DVD drive

i was thinking about a media center, is this a good spec for a media center?

or a gaming computer for my second house. but this wouldnt last too long before an upgrade is needed, and as far as i know there aren't going to be any more AGP cards.


If it does become a media center PC, would it be able to run OK on one of these?

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=503582

or a 22" depending on how much cash i have at the end of this

tia

Nick

[Clunk]

amazing how that 400w PSU comes up on your 666 post

[Nick Smith]

i was just thinking about that

[DecomposingStar]

Media centre. Definately.
Just get a massive HDD and a hauppage Dual TV tuner. Get a fairly decent graphics card, but nothing tooo fancy and it should run that screen fine. Get a fairly small and quiet case and don't bother overclocking, get a bluetooth dongle, some sort of remote, and/or a media keyboard (wireless) and you should have a cool media center.

[chuckskull]

Make a fine Media Centre, my advice would be to sell the second house and build one monster PC. The kind that not only maxs your graphics on C&C3 but convinces dumb Americans it's all real and starts world war 3.

[Nick Smith]

Make a fine Media Centre, my advice would be to sell the second house

im only 14 i dont own the houses....yet

thanks for advice media center it is then

[chuckskull]

im only 14 i dont own the houses....yet

Also less likely to go to jail for selling them illegaly...

[GSte]

You probably won't believe this question, but.......

What exactly are Media Centre PCs? That is, what do you do with them? I know some of them have small, fancy cases, but that's about it......

[topgun23]

You probably won't believe this question, but.......

What exactly are Media Centre PCs? That is, what do you do with them? I know some of them have small, fancy cases, but that's about it......

Goggle is your friend.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_center

[Nick Smith]

motherboard and CPU arrived today not bad for £20

bought some RAM yesterday, 512mb for £11.

also, does anyone know if windows XP MCE has a minimum hard drive capacity that you need to run it on? as i know that vista needs a 40gb HDD to install on.

[DecomposingStar]

You probably won't believe this question, but.......

What exactly are Media Centre PCs? That is, what do you do with them? I know some of them have small, fancy cases, but that's about it......

It's basically hooking up internet and TV to your computer so that you can use it to watch and record TV, as well as normal PC functions. Generally this is in your living room or something.

motherboard and CPU arrived today not bad for £20

bought some RAM yesterday, 512mb for £11.

also, does anyone know if windows XP MCE has a minimum hard drive capacity that you need to run it on? as i know that vista needs a 40gb HDD to install on.

Probably about 10gb is enough (for updates etc) but i'm not sure.
Vista does NOT need 40gb to install. It's 6gb to install i think but you'll need around 20gb for updates. Tops.

[dave87]

My entire XP install (with all utilities, programs etc installed came to 10Gb). This includes full installs of Office, Nero & a couple of image editors...

[Nick Smith]

you misunderstand me...apparently you need a 40gb hard drive to install vista on, i know that it doesnt take 40gb

i just heard somewhere that you needed a 40gb hard drive to install it on, and i was wondering if it was similar with XP.

[dave87]

Nah, I realised what you meant, and I was just saying that I know of no such limitation with XP, and that my current install took up 10gb with lots installed

[this_is_gav]

I installed Vista on a 15gb Virtual Machine, so it requiring 40gb is total nonsense. I've also installed it countless times on a 36gb Raptor, but I could the space on a blank DVD not being counted.

It's got to be a media center PC btw. All spare PCs (or components) should either towards making yourself a media box or making a cut-price box for a mate. Fact. Oh, and throw that PSU for @"!$'* sake

[Clunk]

bought some RAM yesterday, 512mb for £11.

You do realise that under normal circumstances, you could have had 11 entries into ITV's "The Mint" for that money?