Hey guys,


First post here, been on this site alot for the past year but never ventured the forums.

Here goes.... I'm building a couple Media Centres but am not sure what chip they'd require for basic use. I'm probably going to use the 805 D on the faster one (for myself), but I'm also building one for a family mbr who will use for basic use - recording, burning and viewing digital television. Multitasking will be at a minimum as there'd be only 1 ATSC digital TV tuner input, and one output devise - a GPU with basic (non HDTV) functions using an svideo output to the tv.


SO, my question is, what would a suitable chip (cpu) for this unit? What would be a bare minimum and what would be overkill for processor power? I'd like to keep this as budget-oriented as possible - aka single core...

I've never really worked with a media centre before - my knowledge is unfortunetely predominantly pooled in the gaming sector - so I really have no idea what's needed for this.

I read that for HD playback a chip > 2.4ghz is required.... is this right? Although this system wont require it, it's definetely good to know this.


Finally, any ram requirements?

Thanks for the help guys.

Ok, so a media centre.

For the CPU, get the Core 2 duo E6300. It's cheap and it's fast.

Now, any idea of the mobo?

A GPU? Maybe a Geforce 7300 or a Radeon x1300xt depending on your preference.

Ram? Try to get at least 1GB of ram. Ok... so now this begs the question(s)

Do you have any idea what your other hardware is going to be like your HDD optical drive or anything?

Thx for the reply....


an E6300 is more than what I'm looking to spend. I need to work where you do if cheap is $250....

Plus I think it would be serious overkill for the small, basic media centre. I've got the video card and ram covered. Nothing fancy on the optical drive or hard drives, a sony dvd writer and a fat SATA 16meg cache / 1.5 gb/s hard drive will do the trick.

I just need to know what would barely do the job, and I can go from there. For example, would a celeron 2.8ghz work well, or no? How about something slower with more ram, like a 1.8 or something? 64 bit or 32, or does it really not matter?

I'm not even sure Windows Media Centre has a 64 bit version... lol.

For CPU, get one that is powerful enough for what you need it to do, but one that does not generate a lot of heat, especially if you are considering using an HTPC case (horizontal, with little room, compared to mondo vertical server towers).

Also, you have to decide on good parts that won't crap out on you due to heat. Heat and noise are the worse things for a media center, especially if it's going to be in your living room/den/family room/entertainment room.

E6300 or X2 3800+ should be good. I would personally stay away from P4 for HTPC setups. Too hot. Best would be a Merom (mobile in desktop) configuration, but those CPUs are more costly than C2D.

Good luck.

Um... are you talking $250 for everything or just the CPU because an E6300 is $183 on newegg

Well in my experience, if you have a hardware encoder on you capture card, you can go almost as low as you can buy now. I have an athlon MP 2000+ in my media center (with MythTv a much better program/OS in my opinion) and it does everything I want it to do. This does not speak to the future though. HD Video will likely put alot of good systems to the wall.

I'm in Canada, so a $183 = around $220 CAD (plus tax)

Ahh.... you didn't mention that.

I'd just get a single-core AMD64...maybe a 3500+ or somewhere around there. Even the 939 socket leaves room for a worthwhile CPU upgrade later down the road when prices drop further. CPU, MB and 1GB of RAM should be around $200 or less that way.

Excellent, see this is more of what I'm talking about. I figured I didnt need a dual core or anything that fancy for basic use. I'm really trying to stretch my dollars here... so something along those lines would really work. MythTv you say? I'll definetely check it out. You go with a gig of ram or 2?

Yeah MythTv is really quite nice and cheap (free). It is sort of a pain to get setup but its been made easier with time. I suggest either KnoppMyth or getting Fedora and using this Guide .

for the budget system,consider buying a cheap used emachines box (k7, sempron 3000+) and adding a decent hardware encoding tv-tuner, and an agp card with tv out.


here is my mediacentre that I've been using for the last two years:

I keep up to date with the windows patches but no av or adaware installed to free up resources.

mobo asrock K7 generation board (it was the cheapest I could find at the time)

cpu K7 Sempron 2400+ (barton core I think, the cheapest cpu I could find)

2 x 512mb ddr 400 ram (no name, each stick is different make)

enermax 300watt psu

sapphire ati 9250 128mb with tv out

liteon dvd burner (cuz a little more money get burner instead of dvd rom)

cooler master case -- no reset button

259gb 133 hard drive (cant remember the brand)

Hauppauge mce 150 (got another one, realized later I can't fit the second one. Thats ok - when I upgrade I'll find a mobo that can fit two, hopefully with three pci slots so they dont have to be right next to each other. The only reason I'm upgrading is to set up a dual tuner system - otherwise I would just stick with what I have.

I also purchased a winxp mce 2005 license. I dont have the patience to configure a myth tv box, but I agree it is better (I am told lower hardware requirements... and the ususal a more secure system)

My current system works well. I only have it on the evenings that our tv shows are running and turn it off before i go to bed.

there are issue of properly waking from sleep mode to copy tv, thats why I dont leave it on 24/7

Oh, so MythTv is Linux based? I doubt that'll work, as the unit is for my grandfather, is only familiar with windows, so windows it must be.

Smelly, see that setup is great - I actually have an old emachines micro-atx case ready to go for this

What software are you using? Whatever comes with the tuner?

Well its linux based, but I haven't seen anything that looked like KDE/GNOME/etc. I really only have to deal with the MythTV screens which are pretty glossy. He will have to become comfortable with MCE too. Maybe for home it is better to go with MCE though in case something happens or he want to use it for other Windows software.

Depends on the use. Before considering using that box, check if it has a free pci slot and agp slot.

will it be dedicated on the TV, or will it be used on a computer monitor?

You will need to purchase a windows xp mediacentre license (about 150-170$CAN), a microsoft IR Blaster (50$CAN)

Video card and TV tuner will have dedicated Windows XP mediacentre edition drivers (so be aware that you shouldnt just install any drivers for these components). Make sure the TV tuner you buy is certified to run on windows mediacentre edition. ATI and Nvidia have special mediacentre drivers/catalyst etc. that you need to install. You also need to install the .net framework but ati and nvidia web sites should link you to the necessary download for .net.

hope this helps. Don't buy anything until you know whats under the hood of that emachines box.

oops, forgot to mention that if you already have a spare windows xp license (just normal windows xp home or pro edition) you can also use other 3rd party programs (some free some not - and in some cases the epg, or electronic programming guide requires a monthly fee)

try:

http://www.snapstream.com/products/beyondtv/

check out their bundles:

http://www.snapstream.com/products/beyondtv/

And there is also sagetv which also runs on top of windows xp

http://www.sagetv.com/

these may be cheaper than buying a winxp mce license + tuner + ir blaster all separately. You're gonna have to price different scenarios your self. I like windows mediacentre edition myself. Perhaps other forum users have experience with snapstream or sagetv, or some other program that is free and runs on top of windows xp/ or win 2k