Media Center PC

Forum CPU & Components : Power Supplies, Cases & Mods Media Center PC

Hello all,

It's time for me to buy a Media Center PC!!! Good time, but need your help!

So what case do you suggest ?
My first thought is : nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Acrylic / Steel HTPC 5000B Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
Expected price: < 100$

What Video card do you suggest ?
My first thought is: have no idea
Expected price: 100$ to 150$

What Video card do you suggest ?
My first thought is: 450 GTS or similar
Expected price: ~ 140$

CPU & MB: Something cheap
Storage: I already have a lot
Memory : I already have

Thanks a lot!

Reply to supersmecher

I mean a proc E 6500 or something like this, I suppose this is enough, isn't it ?

Reply to supersmecher

^+1 Nice

Makes no sense to get the E6500
It lists for $80 on Newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product
For $50 more you get a way better cpu with the I3 2100

You can save the money with the GPU if your not gaming with it
If you are an Nvidia fan than the Gt430 would be fine at half the price
it has Blueray 3d playback and TrueHD and DTS-HD Audio Bitstreaming Support
You can see here on Newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] tion=gt430
Also a HD5670 would be a good option also
if you dont mind Ati/AMD
Using the HMDI on the card would be a good option for audio with that card
And you could still game at reasonable resolutions with medium settings

Just my opinion
I could be wrong

Reply to king smp

Thank you guys!

So I'll take a I3 & ASUS P8H61-M , what do you recommend for tv tuner and case ?

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to supersmecher

nice selection...
here's my HTPC for you to use as a reference..
----
AMD Athlon X2 7850 (2.8GHz) Kuma
ASUS M3N78-EM (AM2+) NVIDIA GeForce 8300 HDMI mATX
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE OEM Copper Heatsink/Fan
4GB (2x2GB) Apacer DDR2 800MHz CL5
PNY GeForce GT 440 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
Seagate 320GB Barracuda SATA 2 HDD
Seagate 80 GB, SATA 2, 8 MB
ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVD-RAM
3.5 inch USB 2.0 Internal Card Reader
AverMedia Ultra TV M150-D TV-Tuner
BLACK CHIEFMAX MICRO ATX CUBE HTPC/MEDIA CENTER CASE w/ 120mm + 80mm fan
BFG Tech GS-450 450W Dual 12V Rails (chrome)
2 (set) - Dell UltraSharp 1703FP Flat Panel LCD DVI & VGA USB
Windows 7 Ult. x32

good-luck with your build.

Message edited by malmental on 04-03-2011 at 03:11:13 AM

------------------------------ A+, Net+, MCDST, DSCE (Dell)
Reply to malmental

supersmecher wrote :

Thank you guys!

So I'll take a I3 & ASUS P8H61-M , what do you recommend for tv tuner and case ?

as far as TV tuners I like the Hauppage USB models which I think they have a HD one now in USB

I like the USB due to less heat in case plus easy to switch to other computers like your laptop etc

take a look at this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product
it will do 1080i with a cable converter hooked up to it

with the PCI-Express models you do get more inputs/outputs
but you do lose a PCI-E slot and the speed is not needed for TV Capture
USB 2.0 has plenty of bandwidth for tv capture

Reply to king smp

as far as cases go take a look at the one Malmental showed you
this one
BLACK CHIEFMAX MICRO ATX CUBE HTPC/MEDIA CENTER CASE w/ 120mm + 80mm fan
this link shows a few of them
http://www.pricewatch.com/browse/c [...] dia_Center

Reply to king smp

Thank you for the answers received!

I still have a question:
Comcast is doing encryption for a lot of the channels, if I take the cable from Comcast STB and plug the cable in the MediaCenter and from there in TV do you think this is going to fix the problem with the encryption ?

Reply to supersmecher

that's hard to say because my connection to the computer is Comcast analog only...
I have TV's in like every room of the house with on-demand.
so viewing on my monitor is not needed when I have a 32" flat TV 3ft away..

Message edited by malmental on 04-03-2011 at 12:51:33 AM

------------------------------ A+, Net+, MCDST, DSCE (Dell)
Reply to malmental

The HD 5770 is a bit much for a HTPC unless gaming is involved. A HD 5570 is more than enough for video playback. Plus it uses less power.

Message quoted 1 times

HD 5670 1GB and be done with it..
the 512MB won't be able enough.

Message edited by malmental on 04-03-2011 at 05:16:33 AM

------------------------------ A+, Net+, MCDST, DSCE (Dell)
Reply to malmental

Looks like I did not find another option then using Ceton + Comcast CableCARD in order to see the encrypted channels, did you find any other solution cheaper ?

Reply to supersmecher

Dadiggle wrote :

No its not for 109usd. 3 monitors. Your looking ahead plus Hdmi. I think its perfect and cheap

The capability to use 3 monitors/displays at the same time was not one of the OP's requirements.

Message quoted 1 times

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