Ok guys since we have a build a gaming rig I thought it would also be cool if we could design a Media PC rig. I would like to think that the case itself has to look stylish ie Silverstone and that it will be able to record TV, play music, and be networked. Let me know what you come up with.
Main Rig: i2600k@4.3Ghz/ASUS P8P67 PRO/MSi GTX580/16GB Mushkin/HAF X/Noctua NH-D14
How about this:
It's my main PC. This is also one that I sell. (Storm PCs MM-4200-X8XL)
This one has:
Athlon 64 X2 4200+
X800 XL PCI-E
Asus A8N-E
1GB Corsair Twinx PC3200 XL
ATI TV Wonder Pro Remote Control Edition
74GB 10k Raptor
250GB WD2500 SATA-II
3.5" Floppy
DVD Burner
OCZ Modstream 520
Silverstone LC03V-B
Makes a great little multimedia/TIVO type PC.
Last edited by StormPC; 22-08-2005 at 10:43 PM.
It does seem a little bit over spec'd to me for just watching movies on and recording TV shows.
Main Rig: i2600k@4.3Ghz/ASUS P8P67 PRO/MSi GTX580/16GB Mushkin/HAF X/Noctua NH-D14
Originally Posted by StormPC
It's not really necessary to have such a high spec. It's nice, but not totally necessary.
Well I use it for everything.
If you want a cheap machine you won't be using the Silverstone cases. They are pretty expensive.
What is your budget?
The cool thing about my PC is I don't really need any other ones. It can record TV and play videogames at the same time with no slowdown, even while running two instances of SETI.
Shuttles are always nice for a media PC. Maybe a shuttle and an AMD XP/A64 chip??
When HDTV hits, that's going to be a spec. that will cope.
P.S. What OS do you have on there. I'm hopefully going to start reviewing some of the MCPC OSs, for another site (need to get some good hardware first).
Have they fixed the "wind tunnel" effect when you have to cool the graphics card? I tested one a few years ago and it made such a noise.
Plus how many PCI slots do they have free now?
You'll want at least one for the DVB tuner card.
I don't have anything against Shuttle style per say ... but when I was looking at media centre cases I wanted to look similar to my Amp and other pieces of AV equipment. that meant I wanted it around 440mm wide.
Depends if you want to build it or buy it built.
if you are building it, here is my 2p worth;
you'll want to minimise noise. It is amazing how hearing the pc between music tracks or when you are looking to see what to watch is really annoying after a while. I think it is because you'll spend time and effort building it just right.
styling I wanted my MC machine to fit in with the AV equipment I had. therefore I didn't want it to look like a PC (it had to be girlfriend friendly)
power for Video encoding, in particular HD you will need some grunt. There is definitely a minimum level for the CPU and for the VPU. There are some nice heatpipe based graphics cards out there that still perform nicely for games should you need - the gigagbyte silent pipe models are great (X800XL and 6600gt)
software are you going the Microsoft route, and going to use MCE 2005? or myth TV etc. I went MCE2005, it is still getting investment and was more likely to be usable by the GF.
PCI you'll need at least 1 AGP/PCI-e (for the graphics card) and at least 1 PCI slot (for the tuner) I went with PCIe and 2 DVB tuners, luckily that still leaves me 1 or 2 slots for anything else I can think of ... e.g. a HD tuner as the UK moves that way.
I went with a Claritas case from Stands Unique, an Athlon64 3500 939 and a silentpipe x800xl (this can get hot but seems to stay within the operating parameters) I used the blackgold DVB tuners (two of them) and Microsoft MCE2005. I also use the MCE remote control (very slick) and a bluetooth mouse from Logitech since its base is also a recharger!
I can send you the full shopping list if you are interested
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote