Media Center Build Advice/Help

Hi guys, I need a bit of advice with a media center that I am currently building.

This is the current spec:
Antec Fusion Case
AMD Sempron XP 2800+ (s754)
Gigabyte Motherboard (AGP 8x, s754, DDR400, mATX)
512MB DDR PC2700 Unbranded RAM
80GB IDE Seagate HDD
ATI Radeon 7000 AGP 4x 64MB? (DVI, Composite Out)
DVD ROM Drive 16x
Media Center 2005 OEM

These are the additional parts that I have available:
AMD 64 3200+ (s754)
1gb DDR PC3200 Geil Value RAM
GeForce 6800GT 256MB (Zalman VF700 CU Cooler, Dual DVI + SVideo)

And these are the parts that I still need to buy:
TV Tuner - Dual Analogue
300GB+ HDD
DVDR Drive
Remote + Receiver
Wireless Mouse + Keyboard
Wireless PCI Card
Decent s754 Cooler

This media center is going to be used on a 42-50inch HDTV for PVR (Recording, Time shifting etc), very light gaming and playback of HD video from the HDD (720p max). I really dont want to have to spend a lot of money on the rest of the needed components.

And now my questions:

• Should I upgrade the motherboard so that I can use the AMD 64 3200+ or will the Sempron suffice?

• Is the 512MB PC2700 RAM good enough or should I wack on the 1GB PC3200?

• Is the Radeon 7000 gonna cut it for light gaming and HD content playback or should I use the the 6800GT? OR should i buy a newer graphics card that has HDMI out?

• The TV Tuner I have been looking at is the Hauppauge WinTV PVR-500MCE because it has dual analogue tuners (Cant get freeview/digital in this neck of the woods) but it is quite pricey at £120~, would it be better/cheaper to get 2x analogue tv tuners? If so do they have to be the same brand/model to work in dual mode?

• Is it best to get a standard MS MCE remote and mouse+keyboard combo or is there better alternatives?

Thats my main questions for the time being, thanks in advance for any help/advice! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sp3n

• Should I upgrade the motherboard so that I can use the AMD 64 3200+ or will the Sempron suffice?

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I would go with the 3200 especially if youre going to be encoding anything.

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• Is the 512MB PC2700 RAM good enough or should I wack on the 1GB PC3200?

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512 will do but I found better performance on mine using 1Gb

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• Is the Radeon 7000 gonna cut it for light gaming and HD content playback or should I use the the 6800GT? OR should i buy a newer graphics card that has HDMI out?

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For your telly 6800 and esp for any HD content

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• The TV Tuner I have been looking at is the Hauppauge WinTV PVR-500MCE because it has dual analogue tuners (Cant get freeview/digital in this neck of the woods) but it is quite pricey at £120~, would it be better/cheaper to get 2x analogue tv tuners? If so do they have to be the same brand/model to work in dual mode?

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Get 2 * PVR150MCE will be much cheaper.

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• Is it best to get a standard MS MCE remote and mouse+keyboard combo or is there better alternatives?

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Take your pic, MCE remote / keyb is good, Gyration etc. also OK.

Upgrade your mobo? you say its a s754 and the CPU is also 754?

Have you considered linux for MCPC? (just throwing it in there :mrgreen: )

Personally i wouldnt have a keyboard and mouse lugging around in the livingroom althought MS remote stuff is expensive as u have to get that and the control bit to plug into the mobo.

how bout this: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=433757 (or something similar)

@Biscuit: yes i would have to upgrade the mobo so that it supports the AMD64 cpu, the current motherboard in there only supports up to a Sempron 2800+ 1.6Ghz.
yes i have considered linux but i have not looked into it properly as i already have mce2005.

@tinners: thanks for the suggestions, i think i will go ahead with amd64, 1gb and 6800gt. however i fail to see how 2 * PVR150MCE will be cheaper as they are around £70~ each :(

Thanks for your replies guys :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sp3n

yes i would have to upgrade the mobo so that it supports the AMD64 cpu, the current motherboard in there only supports up to a Sempron 2800+ 1.6Ghz.

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There may be a bios update that allows higher model CPU's. Whats the actual model number for the mobo?

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Originally Posted by sp3n

@tinners: thanks for the suggestions, i think i will go ahead with amd64, 1gb and 6800gt. however i fail to see how 2 * PVR150MCE will be cheaper as they are around £70~ each :(

Thanks for your replies guys :)

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£35 each here
http://www.mediapc.tv/index.html?lan...d=39174.779317
and here
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...121757&_LOC=UK

@tinners: wow thanks a lot, im obviously looking at the wrong sites!! kudos to u

@Biscuit: the only reference to a model number i can find is the one that is printed in the middle of the board, and that is: GA-7VM400AM

thanks again guys :)

the only BIOS update i see regarding CPUs is sempron support, so i do think that you can use the AMD 64 one then :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sp3n

@tinners: wow thanks a lot, im obviously looking at the wrong sites!! kudos to u

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Start with scan.co.uk

Then go to froogle.co.uk

mediapc.tv are a good bunch of guys too so you wont have any worries there.

If youre using Media Center 2005 or Vista you should check over at thegreenbutton.com that 2 of these will work OK in tandem in a Media Center setup. I use one and it's fine just not sure of 2.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sp3n

the only reference to a model number i can find is the one that is printed in the middle of the board, and that is: GA-7VM400AM

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Are you sure that's right? A quick search of the Gigabyte site shows that this is a socket A mobo not 754.

I've got a hauppagge 500MCE lying in a box that I wouldn't mind selling. Got a microsoft MCE remote control and MCE keyboard/mouse as well if you're interested.

Just PM me if you're interested/want pics.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Biscuit

how bout this: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=433757 (or something similar)

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I got one of the small Keysonic keyboards, and frankly, it's the worst single piece of hardware I've ever had the misfortune of buying. Unless you hit the Fn (funtion) and Ctrl keys in an exact way, they tend to fall off, and are a bitch to put back on. For me it's only an issue with these keys, particularly the Ctrl key for when you do a Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V (presumably the way you use just the one hand to do it), but I'll never be buying anything from Keysonic again. Truly ghastly.

The microsoft mce keyboard is fantastic imo.

If don't want 2 x 150pvr's just go for the dual version.

many thanks for all of your advice/replies :)

im going to get a s754 mATX AGP motherboard so that i can use the amd64, 1gb pc3200 ram and 6800gt. going to buy the pvr-500mce, mce remote and keyboard (thanks doddsy)

also going to get a samsung spinpoint 320gb hdd, cheapo dvdr and cheapo wireless pci card - can anyone recommend a really quiet s754 cooler?

zalman cnps7000 or 7700

Depends how much you want to spend. Most coolers for s939 etc will fit 754 as well. Arctic Cooler Pro is quite good and is cheap, or for a bit more you can splash out on something like a zalman 9500 or scythe ninja (these coolers need a bit more room in the case though).

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Originally Posted by frazered

zalman cnps7000 or 7700

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I have just fitted a Zalman to my HTPC (S754 / 3400) and it is the business.
Found the Artic Cooler too noisy.

i have an arctic freezer 7 pro in my pc and it looks way to big for the antec fusion case, i would try it out for size but the af7 in my pc is sct755 so wouldnt fit.

good to know that most 939 coolers will fit on the 754, shouldnt be so hard to find now.

i think i will go with a zalman! :)

if u dont mind me asking tinners: what is the rest of the spec of your HTPC, what sort of things are u mainly using it for? and how is the performance? im curious because mine will be using a similar cpu to yours.

thanks guys! :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sp3n

if u dont mind me asking tinners: what is the rest of the spec of your HTPC, what sort of things are u mainly using it for? and how is the performance? im curious because mine will be using a similar cpu to yours.

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AMD64 3400/1Gb DDR/Geforce 6800/700Gb storage/LC16m
I just used the bits left from my old PC when I upgraded to C2D.

Use it for watching DVDs mainly and backing stuff up from SKY+ when it gets full.
I dont use it for any HD stuff but it plays the WMVHD Demos OK.
It also looks after my music libary (MCETUNES).

ello

thought i would add to the thread with my htpc specs and temps :)

MSI K8N Platinum NF4 s939
Athlon64 3000 Venice core
AMD X2 Heatpipe cooler
2x512mb OCZ EB CAS 2.5 @ 1T
Connect3D X800GTO 256mb pci-e
Nova-t 500 Dual TV Tuner
1x Samsung SP120 SATA2 200gb
NEC 5170 DL DVD+/-RW
Antec 380w Truepower
Old case with Nexus fans

cpu idles at 37, load with mce 2005 at 42 - need to sort the airflow as the case is old and still has a 80mm exhaust

gpu idles at 48, load with mce 2005 at 65

watching and recording tv, watching xvids, playing tunes, occasional net surf by gf...

Here's what I built:

Antec Fusion
ASUS M2NPV-VM
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Lima
2 x 1GB Super Talent DDR2-667
2 x 500GB Maxtor 7200rpm HD
1 x PVR-150MCE (500 is on its way)

My box does not do any gaming, so I can't comment on your gaming concerns, but it does everything else perfectly. The 45nm architecture runs cool. With the stock case fans & CPU cooler and at load, it doesn't break 45.

Memory is cheap. Buy more. I regularly see 2 x 1GB on slickdeals.net for < $100 US.