ID:278115
 
How's this look for a Media Center PC Build?
Horrible. What do you expect to get out of a $30 processor? No optical drive in a media center? On-board graphics, do you expect to be able to play hi-def media? Where's your RAM?

Go to SlickDeals and Craigslist and look for some good prices. A friend of mine just built a system with a Q9400, 8800GTS, 4GB PC2 6400, 640GB HDD, and a nice Gigabyte board for about $400.
In response to Airjoe
It's a media center!
All you'll need is a single-core processor because the onboard graphics can (and will, I've read the reviews) decode 1080p video. You'd be supprised how powerful a single-core really is.

The UVD video engine is able to decode HD videos (MPEG-2, H.264, and VC-1) in all stages and allows the fluent playback of HD videos (e.g. Blu-ray) with a relative low CPU utilization (called Avivo HD). The HD 3200 is the first onboard graphics card that allows the fluent playback of Blu-ray videos.

I don't need an optical drive right now, because I buy all of my digital content online.

I'm taking 2GB of RAM out of my Desktop PC and sacrificing it to the Media Center.

It's really just so I can run XBMC with my videos, play a few emulators (NES, SNES) and use it as a Server (for Files) for my Netbook and Desktop computers.
Newegg has like Hyper-threaded Intel Atoms that ship integrated in a MiniITX board with on-board video for like $60

~Kujila
I know this is off-topic, but what is the point in hiding the prices on the parts when we can easily look up the item number on the site to see it? If you think it'd be an "inconvenience" you're sadly mistaken.

I bet that HDD is the most expensive part in that build ^-^ (I made this comment before looking up the actual prices).
In response to Spunky_Girl
Spunky_Girl wrote:
I know this is off-topic, but what is the point in hiding the prices on the parts when we can easily look up the item number on the site to see it? If you think it'd be an "inconvenience" you're sadly mistaken.

He didn't hide the prices. It's called horizontal scrolling.

I bet that HDD is the most expensive part in that build ^-^ (I made this comment before looking up the actual prices).

You're wrong.
In response to Airjoe
Hello! o.o I must not have seen the horizontal scroll bar last night. My bad.

The motherboard is in a combo deal, though, so of course it'll cost a little more, even though he is getting $8 savings on it.
Operating system?
In response to Falacy
Going to be using Debian / Ubuntu.
I now realize that the stupid case doesn't support microATX, so here's a revision.


Remember to scroll! :)
In response to Flame Sage
Make sure the wifi card and the remote work with Ubuntu. Both of those have been issues with me in the past(never did get my RemoteWonderII working right).
In response to Danial.Beta
People are saying that the wifi card works great.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=903963

I'm not sure about the Remote, I'll do some research.

Other than that though, the parts look good?
In response to Flame Sage
I recommend moving away from Rosewill. Their products tend to be horrible quality. They mostly relabel no-name Chinese products of questionable quality.

I recommend getting an InWin case. They are inexpensive, but have really good build quality. Get one with a powersupply and save youself a buck there. You don't need a 400w powersupply for what you are building, and you likely don't want one for a box that will be on 24/7. They have many that fit right into your budget and a few that might go into a component rack better.
In response to Danial.Beta
How's this then?
It lets me get an Antec 300 :)

EDIT: I know there's no remote, I'll just cheat a little bit and get it at Walmart or something, it's now offically not part of the build's price. :)
In response to Flame Sage
Antec is a really good brand(my main PC has been using an Antec case for about 5 years now, and it's handled all the work I've put unto it great, and still looks almost brand new), but the price is a bit high. If that isn't an issue for you, then have at it. In Win would be a little cheaper, but no doubt the build quality is as well.
In response to Danial.Beta
People said they were having a ton of problems with the Inwin cases especially with airflow design.
I like the Antec 300 better, plus it fits snug into my budget.
In response to Flame Sage
I've never bought one of the smaller InWin cases, so I'll take the review's words for it. Besides that, assuming the onboard graphics chipset can handle the video stress, it looks good. Also make sure the graphics output is workable with your TV's inputs.
In response to Danial.Beta
Well, my TV in my room can't support HDMI, but it's always very nice to have if I ever upgrade TVs.
I suppose I'll just use a VGA -> Red, Yellow, White converter cable.
In response to Flame Sage
Actually, it would just be yellow(composite video), red and white are sound, which you can convert very cheaply with a 3.5mm to composite cable converter(check monoprice.com, or your closet, I know I have a few rolling around here that have just built up over the years) assuming you want sound from the TV.
In response to Danial.Beta
I don't want sound from the TV, I want it going TO the TV :P
I do have a cable for that already.
So I'd probably just need a VGA -> Yellow?

Want to find one for me? :)

Also, something that does worry me, it says the motherboard can only do up to 1080i?
In response to Flame Sage
He means sound going into the TV out from the motherboard, but actually being output from the TV speakers, hence "Sound from the TV"

You can get a VGA->Svideo/Composite(Yellow) on eBay for like 3 bucks, but be warned, VGA->Composite cables do not often work very well if at all.

And why are you worried about 1080i if your TV doesn't even support HDMI (and thus, very very likely is not hi def anyway)?
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