Spec me a Media Centre PC for a relative

[mike306dt]

Hi all,

I've been over my uncles today and managed to get him to spend a bob or two with scan and was discussing media centre pc's with him.

He wants to replace his lounge equipment (tv, dvd player freeview box and stereo) with a media centre type pc.

Can any of you kind souls spec me a pc that will be capable of -

Dual Tuner
Plenty of storage space for his music
A decent interface (thinking of getting the 32" Scan TV.

The spec I priced up was as follows - If you can suggest any changes, please do!

LiteOn DW1670-488C Black 16x DVD±RW x12 Ram Dual Layer DVD-Writer OEM £13.25 £15.57

1 LN16564 LiteOn DW1670-488C Black 16x DVD±RW x12 Ram Dual Layer DVD-Writer OEM

LN17082
Intel Celeron D 347 Socket 775, 3.06GHz, 512KB Cache, Retail £26.68 £31.35

LN14639
400 Gb Samsung HD400LJ Spinpoint T, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £59.39 £69.78

LN11735
Microsoft MCE Black Infrared Remote Keyboard (Backlit) for use with Win' XP Media Centre £28.49 £33.48

LN15367
1GB (2x512MB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400(800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, EPP £69.49 £81.65

LN15059
Hauppauge Win TV Nova-T 500 MCE/*Vista Ready* Dual Digital DVBT Tuner £55.79 £65.55

LN17167
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD) £59.99 £70.49

LN8447
Microsoft Windows Media Center Hardware Kit (Remote/Receiver) OEM £16.49 £19.38

LN9157
Creative Inspire P5800 5.1 Speaker System £31.79 £37.35

LN17639
Shuttle SD32G2 Core 2 Duo, S775, i945G, DDR2, PCI-E (x16), On Board VGA, SATA II £168.99 £198.56

LN16928
32" Scan LTV-3203H Silver/Black LCDTV, HD Ready1366x768, 8ms, 1200:1, 500cd/m2, Widescreen, Speakers £288.89 £339.45

If you change any quantities, please re-calculate your basket
Scan Finance - Buy Now Pay Dec 2007
Pay £98.28 deposit and then NO payments for 9 months, then settle the balance and pay NO interest.

Scan Finance - More Sense Than Money


Net Total £819.24

Carriage £17.21

V.A.T. £146.38

TOTAL £982.83

[dave87]

I'd drop the Celeron, go with a Sugo/AM2 board with 6150 integrated graphics/x2 3800+/380w Seasonic or equivalent.

or

get a cheap e4300 and use the Shuttle how its meant to be used.

Advantage of the Sugo is you can run dual tuners, or even tripple tuners (one double one single) should you want to. And you will still have room to upgrade the sound, should he later decide for a HT Amp/Speaker set.

If you are buying the MCE hardware, you'll need XP MCE, be it OEM (most likely) or Retail.

[mike306dt]

Hello mate,

Thanks for the quick reply - I thought vista premium (given it has mc within) would support the hardware?

I'm stuck looking at micro atx motherboards now, so many choices its unreal!!

This was the case I've been looking at, it got good reviews too!

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=509818

Would you really suggest the X2 over the Core 2? Ideally the cheaper the better, but it certainly seems uATX is the way to go.

[dave87]

Ah, sorry, missed the Vista bit. Yes, it should work

Celery < x2 3800 < c2d.

And definitely, uATX is the best way to go

[mike306dt]

I'm trying to keep the budget way under £1k including the screen to keep him happy! Surely a x2 3800 is going to seem like a rocket compared to his sempron laptop and desktop systems eitherway

[dave87]

Yup, x2 3800 should feel like a rocket, and has the power to deal with multiple MPEG 2 streams, and recoding them.

If you are looking to upgrade the RAM later, I would go for a single 1gb stick, there is a minimal performance boost from dual channel at best, so the possibility to upgrade more in the future is worth it

[mike306dt]

I'm quite frankly amazed that I'm getting advice at 1:30 in the morning! Thank you so much for your time. Its possible with the saving over the core2 system that I could put 2gb in there and still stay within the 1k budget. I'm just hoping two of the Compro TV cards wont interfere with each other.

Spec is now pasted rather messily below -

LN14639
400 Gb Samsung HD400LJ Spinpoint T, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ &#163;59.39 &#163;69.78

LN11735
Microsoft MCE Black Infrared Remote Keyboard (Backlit) for use with Win' XP Media Centre &#163;28.49 &#163;33.48

LN15367
1GB (2x512MB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400(800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, EPP &#163;69.49 &#163;81.65

LN17167
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD) &#163;59.99 &#163;70.49

LN8447
Microsoft Windows Media Center Hardware Kit (Remote/Receiver) OEM &#163;16.49 &#163;19.38

LN9157
Creative Inspire P5800 5.1 Speaker System &#163;31.79 &#163;37.35

LN16906
Antec NSK2400 Desktop Case uATX, has Hi-Efficiency 380W ATX12v v2.0 PSU - Black/Silver &#163;57.99 &#163;68.14

LN10243
Compro VideoMate DVB-T200 Combo PCI Tuner Card for DVB-T (Digital TV) reception + FM Radio &#163;22.19 &#163;52.15

LN16928
32" Scan LTV-3203H Silver/Black LCDTV, HD Ready1366x768, 8ms, 1200:1, 500cd/m2, Widescreen, Speakers &#163;288.89 &#163;339.45

LN15925
AMD AM2 Athlon 64 3800+ Windsor Core, Dual Core 2GHz, 2x 512KB Cache, Energy Efficient Retail &#163;58.99 &#163;69.31

LN17364
Abit NF-M2 nView WiFi, NF430, S AM2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 800, SATA II, SATA RAID, uATX, VGA &#163;49.55 &#163;58.22

LN16090
Sony AW-G170ASV Silver 18x DVD&#177;RW x12 Ram Dual Layer DVD-Writer OEM &#163;16.61 &#163;19.52

If you change any quantities, please re-calculate your basket
Scan Finance - Buy Now Pay Dec 2007
Pay &#163;94.69 deposit and then NO payments for 9 months, then settle the balance and pay NO interest.

Scan Finance - More Sense Than Money


Net Total &#163;782.05

Carriage &#163;23.81

V.A.T. &#163;141.03

TOTAL &#163;946.89

[dave87]

Sony RW is no better than the NEC or Samsung that is cheaper, so get a Coolermaster or LianLi drive cover, and it'll match the fascia better.

Otherwise looking good

[Miller85]

Do you really need expensive RAM? I know it's not expensive compared to some RAM out there but surely something like:

LN7591
1Gb Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC4200 (533), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 &#163;36.82 &#163;43.26

Would be suitable? If so then on that logic you could go for some of Corsair's cheaper RAM and get 2gb for the price you were looking at for 1gb of XMS2

LN7593
2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC4300 (533), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 &#163;73.18 &#163;85.99

Just a thought!

[mike306dt]

I take it that the 533 memory would be fast enough to run 1:1 with the cpu? If so then yes I could get some of that, or the 667 stuff instead of the 800.

Thanks for the drive cover hint, shall change spec to reflect that now

[dave87]

I think PC4200 is the right speed, though iirc, 939 ran on 200mhz fsbs (400 effective). 533 will work fine, just may run slower than its maximum potential.

[mike306dt]

Spec is now edited below -

LN14639
400 Gb Samsung HD400LJ Spinpoint T, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £59.39 £69.78

LN11735
Microsoft MCE Black Infrared Remote Keyboard (Backlit) for use with Win' XP Media Centre £28.49 £33.48

LN17167
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD) £59.99 £70.49

LN8447
Microsoft Windows Media Center Hardware Kit (Remote/Receiver) OEM £16.49 £19.38

LN9157
Creative Inspire P5800 5.1 Speaker System £31.79 £37.35

LN16906
Antec NSK2400 Desktop Case uATX, has Hi-Efficiency 380W ATX12v v2.0 PSU - Black/Silver £57.99 £68.14

LN10243
Compro VideoMate DVB-T200 Combo PCI Tuner Card for DVB-T (Digital TV) reception + FM Radio £22.19 £52.15

LN16928
32" Scan LTV-3203H Silver/Black LCDTV, HD Ready1366x768, 8ms, 1200:1, 500cd/m2, Widescreen, Speakers £288.89 £339.45

LN15925
AMD AM2 Athlon 64 3800+ Windsor Core, Dual Core 2GHz, 2x 512KB Cache, Energy Efficient Retail £58.99 £69.31

LN17364
Abit NF-M2 nView WiFi, NF430, S AM2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 800, SATA II, SATA RAID, uATX, VGA £49.55 £58.22

LN15715
NEC AD-5170A-0S Silver x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer DVD-Writer OEM UK £15.59 £18.32

LN7593
2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC4300 (533), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 £73.18 £85.99

If you change any quantities, please re-calculate your basket
Scan Finance - Buy Now Pay Dec 2007
Pay £95.02 deposit and then NO payments for 9 months, then settle the balance and pay NO interest.

Scan Finance - More Sense Than Money


Net Total £784.72

Carriage £23.99

V.A.T. £141.52

TOTAL £950.23

Is it just me being fussy? But I think that NEC drive is rather ugly ? I guess I don't need that bezel now? The only one I can see is some universal coolermaster thing?

Thanks guys

[dave87]

Theres a difference between silver (DVD Drive) and aluminium (Case). Hence the suggestion of the drive cover

[mike306dt]

Lol yes sorry Very tired! So the coolermaster thing would be fine for that?

[dave87]

If its silver, but I can't find it on Scan.

Otherwise, if you are handy with a dremel, you could make it so that it appears there isn't even a drive there. Does depend on the mounting system for the drives though.

[mike306dt]

Neither can I now, it appears I cannot read the word BLACK in the description lol