My First Proper Media Centre, I hope
fuctifino
"I ain't sure Toto, but it doesn't look much like Kansas to me"
I have been playing with a hacked to gether MCE PC for about a year and part of that process has involved ripping my entire DVD collection onto HDD.
It is now time to officially retire my cobbled together PC and replace it with something a little more purpose built, so I thought what better way to sanity check my thoughts than to post my proposed build here and see what you guys think of it. here goes nothing:
<TABLE style="WIDTH: 192pt; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=256 border=0 x:str><COLGROUP><COL style="WIDTH: 144pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 7021" width=192><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt" width=64><TBODY><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=20>Desc</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 48pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=64>Price</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 45pt" height=60><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 45pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=60>Silverstone LC19B-R Black Slim Micro-ATX Case with 120W Fanless PSU & Card Reader</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="128.06">£ 128.06 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 75pt" height=100><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=100>Asus M3A78-EMH HDMI, AMD780G, S AM2+, PCI-E 2 x16, DDR2 1066/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, HDMI, µATX</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="48.87">£ 48.87 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 45pt" height=60><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 45pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=60>AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850e AM2 Dual Core 2.5GHz, 512KB x 2 Cache, Retail</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="47.47">£ 47.47 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 30pt" height=40><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 30pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=40 x:str="Silverstone NT07 AM2 Low Profile Heat Sink Fan Hi-End ">Silverstone NT07 AM2 Low Profile Heat Sink Fan Hi-End </TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="14.04">£ 14.04 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 75pt" height=100><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=100>4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-18, DHX</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="62.15">£ 62.15 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 60pt" height=80><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 60pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=80>Optiarc (Sony/NEC) AD-7630A 8x DVD±R, 4xDVD±DL, DVD+RW x8, -Rx6, x5 RAM, Slot-Loading slim IDE black</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="38.06">£ 38.06 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 30pt" height=40><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 30pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=40>30GB OCZ SATA300 Solid Solid State Drive</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="64.86">£ 64.86 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 45pt" height=60><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 45pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=60>Hauppauge WinTV PVR 150MCE Retail with Remote (1063)</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="59.33">£ 59.33 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 45pt" height=60><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 45pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=60>Microsoft OEM Windows XP Media Center 2005 - 1pk SP2b (Release 2)</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="89.11">£ 89.11 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
For a total price of £551.95, I would qualify the design a little by saying this :-
Storage is all NAS so I only need enough HDD (well Solid State Disk in this case) to hold the OS, any apps I intend to run locallly and other system reqs. As long as it will run Media Center (My Movies etc), iTunes, and Outlook (although not all at the same time) it will do for me. I have selected XP MCE 2005 because I have had (who hasn't) big problems with Vista. I have gone with the OCZ drive for power (heat) and noise considerations (I know the main (only!!) producer of noise will be the CPU Cooler but every little helps!!
Because this will be sitting in the lounge I want something as quiet as possible and as discreet as possible while keeping the cost down (all three are concessions to the wife, strangely enough!!), just about all recorded media is on a couple of NAS boxes that are sat on an Ethernet over Mains network in the house. i wanted the TV card to keep more permanent copies of series than is currently possible with a Sky+ box, although I am aware there may be some loss of quality coming from a Sky+ box to the WinTV PVR card, that's about it I think
Any pointers on improving this (be kind) will be very gratefully received. Also any suggestions for a good small wireless keyboard would be fantastic
All I have to do now is get the cost past She Who Must Be Obeyedand I'll be sorted for my Christmas present to myself!!
It is now time to officially retire my cobbled together PC and replace it with something a little more purpose built, so I thought what better way to sanity check my thoughts than to post my proposed build here and see what you guys think of it. here goes nothing:
<TABLE style="WIDTH: 192pt; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=256 border=0 x:str><COLGROUP><COL style="WIDTH: 144pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 7021" width=192><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt" width=64><TBODY><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=20>Desc</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 48pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=64>Price</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 45pt" height=60><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 45pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=60>Silverstone LC19B-R Black Slim Micro-ATX Case with 120W Fanless PSU & Card Reader</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="128.06">£ 128.06 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 75pt" height=100><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=100>Asus M3A78-EMH HDMI, AMD780G, S AM2+, PCI-E 2 x16, DDR2 1066/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, HDMI, µATX</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="48.87">£ 48.87 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 45pt" height=60><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 45pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=60>AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850e AM2 Dual Core 2.5GHz, 512KB x 2 Cache, Retail</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="47.47">£ 47.47 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 30pt" height=40><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 30pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=40 x:str="Silverstone NT07 AM2 Low Profile Heat Sink Fan Hi-End ">Silverstone NT07 AM2 Low Profile Heat Sink Fan Hi-End </TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="14.04">£ 14.04 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 75pt" height=100><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=100>4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-18, DHX</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="62.15">£ 62.15 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 60pt" height=80><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 60pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=80>Optiarc (Sony/NEC) AD-7630A 8x DVD±R, 4xDVD±DL, DVD+RW x8, -Rx6, x5 RAM, Slot-Loading slim IDE black</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="38.06">£ 38.06 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 30pt" height=40><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 30pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=40>30GB OCZ SATA300 Solid Solid State Drive</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="64.86">£ 64.86 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 45pt" height=60><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 45pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=60>Hauppauge WinTV PVR 150MCE Retail with Remote (1063)</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="59.33">£ 59.33 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 45pt" height=60><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 144pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 45pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=192 height=60>Microsoft OEM Windows XP Media Center 2005 - 1pk SP2b (Release 2)</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num="89.11">£ 89.11 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
For a total price of £551.95, I would qualify the design a little by saying this :-
Storage is all NAS so I only need enough HDD (well Solid State Disk in this case) to hold the OS, any apps I intend to run locallly and other system reqs. As long as it will run Media Center (My Movies etc), iTunes, and Outlook (although not all at the same time) it will do for me. I have selected XP MCE 2005 because I have had (who hasn't) big problems with Vista. I have gone with the OCZ drive for power (heat) and noise considerations (I know the main (only!!) producer of noise will be the CPU Cooler but every little helps!!
Because this will be sitting in the lounge I want something as quiet as possible and as discreet as possible while keeping the cost down (all three are concessions to the wife, strangely enough!!), just about all recorded media is on a couple of NAS boxes that are sat on an Ethernet over Mains network in the house. i wanted the TV card to keep more permanent copies of series than is currently possible with a Sky+ box, although I am aware there may be some loss of quality coming from a Sky+ box to the WinTV PVR card, that's about it I think
Any pointers on improving this (be kind) will be very gratefully received. Also any suggestions for a good small wireless keyboard would be fantastic
All I have to do now is get the cost past She Who Must Be Obeyedand I'll be sorted for my Christmas present to myself!!
0
Comments
Overall, good choices and GL with the build.