Media PC

[NickPapageorgio]

Now for my second build:

I have a home theater room with a large wall mounted plasma and seven in-wall/in-ceiling B&W speakers. My receiver and accessories (DVD, etc.) are in a closet. I want to build a Home Theater PC to go in the closet with my receiver, etc. I want to hook this up to my receiver via HDMI so I can watch movies on my plasma and/or listen to music - all from the PC stored media.

I've been looking at this case:
SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum / Steel LC10B-E ATX Media Center / HTPC Case (newegg item # N82E16811163118) - $104.99

I plan on putting a Blu-Ray/Dvd/CD burner in there and initially 2 or 3 1.5TB Hard Drives with room for expansion (it will hold 7).

I need help with the motherboard, processor, graphics card, and memory selection; as well as anything else I might need. My thinking (and I am probably wrong) is I really don't need these items to be the newest or fastest, etc. because all I really want to do is power this thing so I can store my movies & music on there and watch them when I want to.

Thanks!

 

[philbar71]

ok so how much do you want to spend?

 

[NickPapageorgio]

The case is $105, the PSU is $100, and the HDs I like are $120 each (x2 for now) so I am up to ~$450 already. I guess I could spend about $1,000 total and go from there.


(HDMI connection to my receiver is important)

 

[Michowski]

I suggest the following

Motherboard- Newegg.com - ASUS P5Q LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
CPU- Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Memory x2- Newegg.com - OCZ Reaper HPC 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1200 (PC2 9600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
Video- Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100258-1GL Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
Case- Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases
Power Supply- Newegg.com - OCZ StealthXStream OCZ600SXS 600W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies
Blue ray/dvd burner- Newegg.com - LG Black 6X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 6X Blu-ray DVD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA Internal Blu-ray Burner 6X Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive Model GGW-H20LK - Blu-Ray Burners

Just under 1000 and all you would need to do from this point on is add harddrives when you get more money. Video card has 2 hdmi ports, quad core power, nice stable motherboard, fast memory (get 4 gigs total). Plus 65 dollars back in rebates as well.

 

[philbar71]

does he really need a 4850 for a media pc to play DVD's and listen to music on? get something a cheaper gfx card and put the money saved to a better CPU, like the q9300

 

[Fat.Clown]

I suggest the following

Motherboard- Newegg.com - ASUS P5Q LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
CPU- Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Memory x2- Newegg.com - OCZ Reaper HPC 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1200 (PC2 9600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
Video- Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100258-1GL Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

I suggest against those...
draws too much power for a media PC

grab a cheap dual core
9300 mobo
any ram

if you were planning on buying the seagate 7200 series, buy 'em today!
starting tomorrow 7200 will only have 3 year warranty

 

[philbar71]

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9400 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

will serve you fine for a media pc. not to game on.

 

[NickPapageorgio]

I was looking at this ASUS motherboard -
Newegg.com - ASUS P5Q-EM LGA 775 Intel G45 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards ($134.99)
The reviews looked a lot better for a media PC then the Gigabyte.

I could use that with the E7200 -
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops ($119.99)

and for memory the Corsair has a $30 mail-in rebate bringing it down to $25.
Newegg.com - CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory


What do I do for graphics? Go with that 4850 or find something cheaper?

Something else - can't I rip Blu-Ray's onto my hard drive and play them that way (so I wouldn't need a Blu-Ray drive ON the Pc - ???)