media centre

[-N!CK-]

as title i'm thinking of building a cheapy media pc so i can dedicate this computer to purely gaming.

any recommend a nice really small case then will allow expansion pci slots, also what sort of spec would i need for this?

cheers
-Nick-

[jimbouk]

If you've not doing anything high definition then a budget system would be fine. You could either go micro-ATX of get a small barebones.

If you're on a budget and are happy with onboard everything then an AM2 Asus Pundit P1 would seem to suit you fine. Pop in the cheapest dual core CPU, a gig of ram, hdd and a TV card and you're away.

If you're going high def then a discrete graphics card would be better, which would probably mean going down the microATX route. plenty of options for cases depending on what style you like.

Or if you're feeling rich pimp out a shuttle...

[staffsMike]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=623454

id use that for the motherboard since you get HDMI built in.
Cases wise , there's loads on scan
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...=251&OrderBy=1

there's some lovely ones hidden away on scan's site as well

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...Thumbnails=yes
quite expensive though

this one is highly recommended though
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=593639

this is my favourite uATX case though
http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...cat=709&page=1

For the rest of the spec. You would be fine with a AMD 3800 X2, 1 or 2gb of ram, decent size hard drive and something like a samsung dvd writer as they are nice and quiet.

[fathazza]

id recomend an amd 690g motherboard tbh And the amd x2 be-2350 is a good choice for an htpc as its a low power variant (only 45watts! and being low wattage can also run very quiet)

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=583251
makes for pretty good value for £78, £50 for cpu £20 for some ram. and youve got an hd ready htpc right there (baring tv card and hdd of course)

case wise youre really looking at a cube case if you want more than two pci slots. There are some that do 2 slots on riser cards and a couple that will let you have 4 half height pci slots. But otherwise youre basically looking at a normal sized atx case on its side. (i got my self a silverstone lc-17 and the thing is huge)

[-N!CK-]

na i want it to be nice and small, but i would like the option to put a tv card in it, one with pci riser would be grand like, anyone suggest a nice SMALL case, don't want a cube or tower

i mean i love this case:
http://www.xcase.co.uk/p/291183/lian...ex-psu---.html

but no room for pci slot for tv card so puts me off