Building a (close to) silent and small home cinema system

[Lupine Lacuna]

Hi All

I'm new here and was hoping for some pointers about ho to build my set up.

I will use it for:

1. Playing DVD's
2. Playing mp3's
3. Must have wifi

I want it to be cheap and very small and hopefully silent. What are my options?

Also, we dont actually own a TV, so looking at a computer monitor that we can comfortably watch films and iplayer. ANy recommendations on that front also welcome!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What is the budget BTW?? Do you have a copy of an OS??

[Lupine Lacuna]

I have a copy of XP.

Budget is potentially limitless, I will pay what I have to, but want to keep it as cheap as possible to achieve the three things.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This is what I would look at getting:

AMD Athlon II X2 240e ~ £50

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/177049

This has a 45W TDP.

MSI 880GM-E41~ £50

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/244433

4GB 1333MHZ DDR3 ~ £35

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166995

Antec Minuet 350 ~ £81

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141001

Tenda Wireless-N300 PCI Adapter ~ £13

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155641

LiteOn IHAS124-19 ~ £12

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176026

Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB ~ £44

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804

BenQ VW2420H ~ £169

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/240231

DVI-I cable ~ £4

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130568

KeySonic 2.4Ghz Wireless Keyboard with Integrated TouchPad ~ £31

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/104608

Creative T10 ~ £30

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132370

The total comes to around £463.

I would also look at using XBMC for media duties:

http://xbmc.org/

[Lupine Lacuna]

Thanks - but does it really have to be that high spec though?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks - but does it really have to be that high spec though?

Going for a cheaper Atom based motherboard would be useless as the Intel IGP is not very good at media decoding.

You could go for an Atom Ion motherboard but the price difference between the motherboard and CPU I listed would be small and a decent mini ITX case with a decent PSU is not cheap.

The build I suggested can be upgraded at a later date if required.

The monitor also uses a PVA panel meaning you will have larger viewing angles when compared to the cheaper TN panels.

A net-top would do the job too but most lack an optical drive.

Of course you could get an external drive though and one of the following net-top should be fine:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/236577

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/225754

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/236579

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/236578

This net-top has a more powerful CPU but you will need to add RAM and a hard disk too:

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/169323...bc%7b420%7d%2b

Here are some net-tops which have an optical drive:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/home/pr...ource=googleps

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/zotac...i-pc-dual-core

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/199999

[cigbunt]

This is what I would look at getting:

AMD Athlon II X2 240e ~ £50

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/177049

This has a 45W TDP.

MSI 880GM-E41~ £50

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/244433

4GB 1333MHZ DDR3 ~ £35

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166995

Antec Minuet 350 ~ £81

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141001

Tenda Wireless-N300 PCI Adapter ~ £13

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155641

LiteOn IHAS124-19 ~ £12

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176026

Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB ~ £44

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804

BenQ VW2420H ~ £169

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/240231

DVI-I cable ~ £4

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130568

KeySonic 2.4Ghz Wireless Keyboard with Integrated TouchPad ~ £31

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/104608

Creative T10 ~ £30

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132370

The total comes to around £463.

I would also look at using XBMC for media duties:

http://xbmc.org/

thats a good spec.. there are always places to cut liek cheaper case, smaller hd etc..

cheaper keyboard... but you'll prb regret it!

[Lupine Lacuna]

Hi Guys

So I've done further research, and I don't think I need X2 etc, as I don't want HD. I dont care about quality at all, all I care about is heat, silence, price.!

Mobo - ASUS E35M1-I Deluxe - Am I right in saying this include the CPU, Video, Sound, USB? WHen is it out in the UK?

Operating System - Windows 7? I only have XP at the moment, is there any point in 7? In an ideal world I'd love it rnning Linux.

Storage - WD Cavier Green 1 TB.

PSU - Pico

Case - tbc

DVD - Probably wont even bother with a writer, will just get a player. Any obvious recommendations for silence?

RAM - 2 Gigs DDR3. Presumably no benefit in getting more and none in spending less?

Finally, software, does such a thing exist so that I can use a remote to change songs, etc possibly even navigate a list of avi's to play, change volume, etc?

Thanks very much

[cigbunt]

heat, silence, price...

get a acer revo

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Hi Guys

So I've done further research, and I don't think I need X2 etc, as I don't want HD. I dont care about quality at all, all I care about is heat, silence, price.!

Mobo - ASUS E35M1-I Deluxe - Am I right in saying this include the CPU, Video, Sound, USB? WHen is it out in the UK?

Operating System - Windows 7? I only have XP at the moment, is there any point in 7? In an ideal world I'd love it rnning Linux.

Storage - WD Cavier Green 1 TB.

PSU - Pico

Case - tbc

DVD - Probably wont even bother with a writer, will just get a player. Any obvious recommendations for silence?

RAM - 2 Gigs DDR3. Presumably no benefit in getting more and none in spending less?

Finally, software, does such a thing exist so that I can use a remote to change songs, etc possibly even navigate a list of avi's to play, change volume, etc?

Thanks very much

Looking at the European pricing the Zacate based motherboards will be around £100 to £120 and hopefully some cheaper ones will be out too.

For the software I mentioned XBMC in the second post.

TBH,one of the nettops I mentioned in post 6 would do the job especially Asrock 330HT for around £300.