Media Center PC

d0ntcar3

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I'm looking to put together a little PC with the sole purpose of being a media center PC that will always be hooked up to my tv for movie/video playing.

I haven't ever built something like this. I would like to keep the price and size down as much as possible. I would like 1080p playback smooth, with HDMI and if possible optical audio.

I appreciate any feedback/built ideas.
 
Digital audio out would be nice. I don't know how cheap this can be done. But feel free to make a build with, I can always decide not to add the sound card.

I appreciate the help.
 
I would do an AMD APU build.

What kind of sound setup do you have? If it's nothing super ridiculous then a dedicated sound card isn't actually needed.

Also, would you need everything else in the computer?

Here's a good start. Can change some things depending on storage requirements.

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113282

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157357

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145324

Case/PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163207

HDD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840

If you already have storage then I would say get a nice 60GB SSD for a boot drive and you got yourself a nice little movie box.
 
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Just word of encouragement - my build (2500k cpu, ASrock MOBO with 5.1 sound) is hooked up to my 50 inch Plasma TV and I use it for watching DVD's, playing music, PC gaming , and watching online movies, and TV via Direct TV and Netflicks - pretty much all at 1080P . I use it constantly as a media center and send both audio and video signal from the PC (HDMI out of the video card) to a media ( Sony in my cash) stereo, which then separates signal to video out via HDMI to the Plasma, and the audio goes out in 5.1 audio to my speakers = sounds great. The only drawback is gaming from 12 feet away from the screen.
 
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