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