Building a Media Center PC *Update w/pics+vid*
 

Nothing too fancy here. I am going to be using it for streaming movies, etc. from my other computer to my living room tv, and also to play emulators on. It needs to be fast enough to play h.264 HD video files as well as run an N64 emulator at a good speed. I've never actually built a computer from scratch before but I've replaced about every piece there is, so that's not an issue really.

Can anybody recommend a nice case/motherboard/processor to start with? Cost is a big factor.

EDIT:

I got everything together and set up. It is all working perfectly now except the case that I have is a bit too small and only accepts slim PCI cards, so I can't use the HDTV tuner on it to watch/record TV and do Tivo-like stuff. I'm returning this one and have a new, slightly larger case on the way to make it complete.

It works beautifully and just how I imagined. Playing HD movies, N64 emulator, MAME, and a lot more. The N64 emulation is awesome; with the hardware acceleration the games look even better than they do playing off an actual N64. I ordered a receiver so I can use my xbox 360 wireless controllers with it for games which is awesome. I'm using Vista Media Center to do most of the action except for emulators. It's controlled with a remote, or I can VNC into it to do whatever. Right now I just put a DVD drive in it until BluRay prices come down (currently about $150) so all the HD movies are downloaded right now.

Very short vid showing Goldeneye running smooth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydo-cBFL_84

Here's some pics

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/9208/dscf0357le5.jpg

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/6849/dscf0354tt7.jpg

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/5568/dscf0356xt1.jpg

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/4349/dscf0353mg8.jpg

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/2660/dscf0355zy9.jpg

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

Yes, can you lay out your budget/goal? any other features you want to have in the future? there are some awesome barebones combo's on tiger direct right now, just depends on where you want to go i guess.

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

Needs 5.1 audio support, wireless networking, and be able to emulate N64 games well O0

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

Reeeaaallly depends on bitrate of the h264 files. My amd 2400 (old as ---- i know) can handle some 720p fine, but not others. Like signorelli said, it helps to know what your budget is. I know the last time I planned on building a budget pc, the intel core duo e6420 was a very good value for the money. Comes stock clocked at 2.2ghz i think, and easily overclocked to 3ghz, and was stable.

If you're trying to keep it on the cheap and you aren't worried about playing the newest games, look for a motherboard with this new AMD chipset:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03/..._780g_chipset/

Says it handles HD just fine (uses hardware decoding so the CPU doesn't have to work hardly as hard), low power (meaning one less fan in the case, good for a quiet pc), and I'm almost positive it'll handle an n64 emulator just fine. My ati 9600 plays n64 games fine... Also, it's an on-board chip, but if you want to add another card later it'll use the new crossfirex ---- so it'll utilize both cards for better performance. You might be able to get away with a motherboard with this chipset, that has built in 5.1 audio support (a lot has 6.1 or higher now), and integrated wifi...along with a moderately priced amd CPU.

Here's a list of add-on video cards that'll tell you your best value:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03/...ming_graphics/

Tomshardware.com is a good site for deciding what parts are best for your money.

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

I'd think any thing made in the last 15 years can handle that.
I have a few emulators/ROM's on my old lap tops.

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

soundblaster audigy 3 i think is the newest, capable of 7.1. i have a audigy 2zs and its pretty awesome on 5.1, you can actually set up a 3-d sound setup, speaker placement, tune each channel, etc.

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

I've been doing some research and it looks like all the newer micro atx boards have at least 5.1 built in, just gotta choose which one now.

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

it wont have the quality of an add-on soundcard though

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

Actually do a little research on that. In the past day I've learned a ton. The 780G chipset is what I'm going with (thanks for the suggestion Jorsher, others have recommended it too).

Now I just have to choose a processor.

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

newegg.com has for sale computer package with a intel qx6600 (core 2 quad, 2.6ghzX4)
4gb of ddr2 533 ram (i belive it is corsair value)
and a mother board for $300 that's a good deal

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

I'm looking for something a bit smaller and not a pre-made unit.

I bought the Gigabyte 780G board and an AMD AM2 ATH64 X2 5200 processor so far. Just need to find a deal on RAM, a hard drive, and a case now.

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

I Dont talk about work anymore

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

I Dont talk about work anymore

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

That Board and Proc will work GREAT

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

I recently built myself a budget rig for work and its AWESOME. I used the mobo and proc in this build:

mobo has built-in HDMI and I think fancy sound but im just using ---- speakers.


http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache...ient=firefox-a

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

Seems like all the good mATX cases are expensive! Dammit. I just want one that's smallish and not hideous looking.

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

Build your own case out of acrylic :P

Onboard sound might not be the "highest quality", but niether are most of the sources. I've never had a complaint with the quality and my comp has an olllllddd 5.1 motherboard.

I thought of using an xbox 360 as a "media pc" but I read some reports of higher bitrate stuff not streaming so well. I'm not sure if this has been corrected or if it was just using wifi streaming and couldn't keep up with the bitrate, but I'll probably try it before building a media pc. Also there's a lot of formats that I'm not sure it'll play yet?

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

The 360 works ok as a media center extender, only because of the update a few months ago that enabled it to play Divx files. It can't play any HD formats without re-encoding them to something the 360 can handle which is more hassle than it's worth IMO. If all you have are Divx files though, it's perfect. I stream movies and TV shows to mine all the time from my desktop computer in the office.

I have always wanted an HTPC and this one will do everything I need and more. It's kinda funny that the fastest computer in the house will now be attached to the TV O0

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

I Dont talk about work anymore

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

I know the new N draft and MIMO stuff is quite a bit faster, but you gotta remember that (at the moment) the xbox 360 only has a/b/g wifi. With some hd rips being 10-20mbps or more, wifi sometimes has a problem keeping up. Maybe they'll release something faster later, or it'll have to be wired up. I'll most likely just build a mediapc later down the road, just because of flexibility

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

just make sure you chose a motherboard with a wide range of processor options. the lga775 is probably the best at this seeing as you can get one 30 dollar chip, or spend 400 on a quad core behemoth.

also make sure your video card has allot of ddr3 ram. regardless of ammount, make sure its ddr3.

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

it's not pre made it's a package deal buy all 3 and get them all cheaper than seperate

as for the processor i will argue that the am2 is the best dual core out there my current internet rig (used for whoever is at the house and wants on the net) is a am2 5600+ (clocked to 3.1ghz) 3gb of 733 ddr2 kingston ram asus board xfx 8600 512 video card (with twin hdmi outputs ad 1 hdmi input) and 4 1/2 tb hdd's and 2 150gb 15k rpm raptors running through a single 20inch olvea monitor on vista ultimate runs good and is dead reliable and will play any game out there with on high settings and get atleast 50-60fps (have had over 130fps on fear and time shift)

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

Well I got just everything I need to get it up and running, I'll update the thread with some pics next week :6

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

WTF :( A week? Let us know how it runs, I'm curious. I might end up getting the same chipset motherboard if it does HD well. I don't game much so don't need a balla video card, but HD is imporant to me.

What case did you end up going with?

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

Well I'll be out of town this weekend and the parts will take a few days to come, blah blah blah next week :6

I went with this case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811121027

It's pretty small, so small that some people complain that it's a pain to fit ---- in there which is fine with me.

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

Ah yes, not sure if you've ever ordered from newegg before, but expect the parts to be there in 2-3 days from ordering, they're pimp like that :6 It's a nice christmas-ey feeling when you get boxes of parts.

With that mobo and all the integrated shiz you shouldn't have a problem fitting it all in there. What was the total cost? If you ever decide to upgrade your fans to something quieter, I recommend the "scythe" fans. I have a couple 120mm ones I'm going to use in the DIY projector, they are silent as hell. I don't like to hear anything but the movie when I'm watching something.

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

So far I'm at about $375 and still need a tuner card. Not too bad really and this computer should be pretty damn fast.

Re: Building a Media Center PC
 

Bump for updates in first post

Re: Building a Media Center PC *Update w/pics+vid*
 

Turned out pretty good.

I DL'd project64. I was suprised that GoldenEye ran smooth on my laptop.
Makes we wanna make a mediaPC for movies/gaming :)

Re: Building a Media Center PC *Update w/pics+vid*
 

i suck at interweb

Re: Building a Media Center PC *Update w/pics+vid*
 

Take that RCA amp, put it on the floor and shart on it.
Then ship it to me and I'll throw it off the top floor of the olympic stadium.

Re: Building a Media Center PC *Update w/pics+vid*
 

The RCA receiver works fine, and it was only $40 with speakers on CL O0

Re: Building a Media Center PC *Update w/pics+vid*
 

Looks tits Jago

No Country for Old Men is an awesome movie :)

Re: Building a Media Center PC *Update w/pics+vid*
 

False.

Anyway, I'm interested to see if it will tune HDTV. That process is generally a resources hog from ram, to processor, to video resources.

Re: Building a Media Center PC *Update w/pics+vid*
 

It should do HD playback and recording without any problems. I'll have the tuner card installed as soon as the new case comes and update.