Budget Media Centre Build

[handscombmp]

I'd be tempted by the Asrock 330 as it's got ion so it can off load hidef to the GPU but if watercooled's comments anything to go by.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If the OP has more cash then the following case and PSU combo are nicer IMHO:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?W...source=froogle

The Ion system has virtually no expansion capability whereas the Minuet 350 and NSK1480 have space for another hard drive and have the ability to take full height PCI and PCI-E cards.

[watercooled]

I'd be tempted by the Asrock 330 as it's got ion so it can off load hidef to the GPU but if watercooled's comments anything to go by.

The GeForce 8200 chipset on the AMD board also supports hardware video decoding, Purevideo HD to be precise. However, the ION's GPU (9400M) is more powerful.

[crazyfool]

just out of curiosity how much hotter would the X2 245 run compared to one of the 45w cpus like a 5050e

[watercooled]

Not much, if at all AFAIK. Either way you'll have a hard time finding a 45w CPU now unfortunately.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

just out of curiosity how much hotter would the X2 245 run compared to one of the 45w cpus like a 5050e

For media use not much. However for anything else the X2 245 is probably faster than the 3ghz X2 6000!

The X2 250 which is clocked 100mhz higher than the X2 245 trades blows with the X2 6400 in most applications:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=27&p2=96

[UseItNow]

Apologies, I've not read the thread from the beginning but noticed this HTPC case with PSU & VFD/Remote by Chieftec at Ebuyer, seemed good value.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/167870

However, I don't have one nor do I know anything about their PSUs. Maybe someone else could shed some light for the OP or anyone else for that matter.

[Agent]

Zap - what Media Center software do you plan to use?
If its MS MCE, Vista Business edition does not have it

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Zap - what Media Center software do you plan to use?
If its MS MCE, Vista Business edition does not have it

What about MythTV?

[Stephen C]

Oh, I hadn't realised that.. doh.
I'll have to talk to my old man, see if he's got a different version spare somewhere.

[Agent]

What about MythTV?

What about it?

It's a stand alone application that has no baring on the version of Vista installed.

[handscombmp]

I'd go for XBMC as it play's pretty much everything you throw at it without the need for codecs.

Onkly downside is you need to be running it in linux or xbmc live to get the hardware accelration.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What about it?

It's a stand alone application that has no baring on the version of Vista installed.

Like I don't know that!

If the system is only being used as a media centre a distro like Ubuntu with MythTV makes sense as it is free,lightweight and is ideal for a media only box.

Mythbuntu is a good distro which has Ubuntu with MythTV already integrated:

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

[Agent]

Like I don't know that!

Well....you did ask

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Well....you did ask

Wow! Laughing at your own joke - very original!

[mycarsavw]

Zap - what Media Center software do you plan to use?
If its MS MCE, Vista Business edition does not have it

What about MythTV?

What about it?

It's a stand alone application that has no baring on the version of Vista installed.

I think he meant, "What about [using] MythTV [as your OS]?"