Media Centre/Server

[Biscuit]

There has been a low power thread running for a while and my curiosity got the better of me and i decided to build a low power machine to run as a file/download/e-mail server and media centre 24/7. I will then only have to use this computer for any 3d/photoshop/video-editing/gaming i want to do.

As the money is tight, i had to try and really skimp it together but i think i have done.. what do u reckon to

Celeron Duo E1200
£35
[2nd hand] Asrock 945G off my flatmate
£15-20
Jou-Jye uATX case with PSU i want a desktop type case to make sure it fits my unit with my amp, not too bothered about it being ivory it will still be kinda out of the way.
£40
1GB cheapo ram
£10

And i will use some exsisting DVD-RW/HDD drives
£100 total

Somewhere down the line i may slip in one of those chrome S400 graphics cards if we see them in europe and are good.

[this_is_gav]

It's fine. Wouldn't bother with one of those S3 Chromes - the HD3450 is perfectly adequate for HD decoding and unless S3 are giving them away I wouldn't trust the drivers enough.

Presumably you're not particularly interested in silence if you're using the stock Intel fan?

Keep an OS in mind too (Ubuntu or something with MythTV if money is really tight and you don't have a spare license).

[Biscuit]

Well thing about the 3450s is they state a 300w supply minimum and i dont know how good jou-jye supplies are. The Chrome 400s being a Via product and stating that they are low power may be a little more suited. Either way i can cross that when i come to it, onboard will be fine for a while.

OS yeah i plan on using linux (another reason why the 3450 is out of the question ) so im goin to have fun networing it to my macbook and my pc

As for the fan; i have a few stock coolers from E6400s and E6750s etc kicking around from people who wanted slightly better ones on their CPU, so rather than the piddly one that will undoubtedly come with the celly il stick one of them on. I have found that when you turn the fan controller on they are extremly quiet anyway. If you set them to only spin up when they hit late 40s early 50s or so then they are near enough inaudible unless your doing something, which usually means you have music or tv to drown the sound anyway.

[this_is_gav]

Well thing about the 3450s is they state a 300w supply minimum and i dont know how good jou-jye supplies are.

My Elonex Artisan has a 250w PSU (made by Delta) and it runs a passive HD3450 fine. Fair enough on the Linux thing though - HD3450 is pretty much ruled out, but do you expect the Chrome to be any better? After all, the reason none of the S3 attempts have worked is because the drivers are absolutely dire, and that's just on Windows. Is HD even possible in Linux at all anyway?

[Biscuit]

My Elonex Artisan has a 250w PSU (made by Delta) and it runs a passive HD3450 fine. Fair enough on the Linux thing though - HD3450 is pretty much ruled out, but do you expect the Chrome to be any better? After all, the reason none of the S3 attempts have worked is because the drivers are absolutely dire, and that's just on Windows. Is HD even possible in Linux at all anyway?

Kinda why im saying il cross that bridge when i come to it... There are rumours of a partnership/buying out between nvidia and via (according to hexus today) which could change the situation either drivers wise or lower end nvidiawise.

I dont know about HDCP - thats more hardwarebased anyway so i dont see it being an issue. I dont see why H264/x264 wouldnt be possible either now or int he near future. If not then i will just do a windows build, i have a few spare XP copies around atm that im not using.