- Nov 20, 2012
- 2
- 0
- 10,510
Hi all-I wandered over here through Googling "build your own PC" and following a few links on the subject. I have never built, upgraded, or modified a PC before, but I am willing to learn. I'm a relatively hands-on, DIY type of person (I do my own work on my cars, most of my own work on the house, etc...) so I look at this as I would any other type of DIY project, but I'm having a hard time understanding some of the key concepts critical to making it all work. So please, if you would, take pity on a newbie and help me understand what I need based on what I'm looking to build.
I'm finally putting the finished touches on our basement family room, the centerpiece of which will be a 60" LED Flat Panel TV (exact brand and model to be decided)-the idea is to “power” that TV with a Home Theater PC which will allow me to integrate streaming content from the web with cable/OTA TV, as well as store movies. The problem is that I don’t have a basic understanding of what the requirements would be for such a system, for example, I don’t really have a good sense of how much storage I need (ie: what would be too little vs. what would be overkill), how much RAM, what processor speed, etc… I’m starting to get a handle on what the components are, what they do, and how they go together, but I’ve yet to figure out what I really “need.” Perhaps it would be helpful to list what will expect from my HTPC and then try to ferret out the system requirements from there.
Run Windows Media Center 7 (Or 8?) – I know that 8 is out now-is there any reason to go for it over 7 or are they basically the same? Also, is there some kind of “stripped down” OS that can be bought that basically just has WMC or am I buying the same version that someone would be using to run the PC they do their taxes with?
Watch 1080p/HD programming/play Blu-Ray movies – Both via cable/OTA or via Netflix, Hulu Plus, or some other streaming service. I want to make sure that I have plenty of processor speed and RAM to make sure that I’m not dealing with pixilation or “judder,” etc…
DVR HD programming – DVR function is HUGELY important. We use our DVR a lot and end up maxing it out quite a bit, so being able to store lots of programming (in HD) would be a requirement. Right now we have a DVR through DISH Network that can store about 100 hours of standard definition programming. I’d want to be able to store 150-200 hours of HD programming. Also, I plan on installing multiple tuners (more questions on that later) because we’ll inevitably end up wanting to watch one thing while recording another, both in HD of course, which I think is more of a processor issue since it involves doing two things at once correct? What about RAM requirements?
Rip and store DVD movies/music – We’re really not huge movie buffs but we do have a fair amount of DVDs (lots of kids movies, holiday movies, etc…) that we’d like to preserve. Probably about 100 if I had to estimate. As far as digital music we have hundreds of CDs. How much storage space would I need for something like this? 1TB? 2? Should I plan to add some kind of external storage down the road?
From what I’ve read, what I’m looking to build is probably relatively simply compared to those who are building HTPCs that can also handle gaming, 3D video, etc…but I want to make sure that I’m buying components that will handle what I need without a problem. I’m looking to spend no more than $500. I appreciate any and all help-mostly what I need is a more basic understanding of what components I need, what works with what, etc… As far as assembling it all, installing the operating system and the rest, that seems like the easy part. Thanks!
I'm finally putting the finished touches on our basement family room, the centerpiece of which will be a 60" LED Flat Panel TV (exact brand and model to be decided)-the idea is to “power” that TV with a Home Theater PC which will allow me to integrate streaming content from the web with cable/OTA TV, as well as store movies. The problem is that I don’t have a basic understanding of what the requirements would be for such a system, for example, I don’t really have a good sense of how much storage I need (ie: what would be too little vs. what would be overkill), how much RAM, what processor speed, etc… I’m starting to get a handle on what the components are, what they do, and how they go together, but I’ve yet to figure out what I really “need.” Perhaps it would be helpful to list what will expect from my HTPC and then try to ferret out the system requirements from there.
Run Windows Media Center 7 (Or 8?) – I know that 8 is out now-is there any reason to go for it over 7 or are they basically the same? Also, is there some kind of “stripped down” OS that can be bought that basically just has WMC or am I buying the same version that someone would be using to run the PC they do their taxes with?
Watch 1080p/HD programming/play Blu-Ray movies – Both via cable/OTA or via Netflix, Hulu Plus, or some other streaming service. I want to make sure that I have plenty of processor speed and RAM to make sure that I’m not dealing with pixilation or “judder,” etc…
DVR HD programming – DVR function is HUGELY important. We use our DVR a lot and end up maxing it out quite a bit, so being able to store lots of programming (in HD) would be a requirement. Right now we have a DVR through DISH Network that can store about 100 hours of standard definition programming. I’d want to be able to store 150-200 hours of HD programming. Also, I plan on installing multiple tuners (more questions on that later) because we’ll inevitably end up wanting to watch one thing while recording another, both in HD of course, which I think is more of a processor issue since it involves doing two things at once correct? What about RAM requirements?
Rip and store DVD movies/music – We’re really not huge movie buffs but we do have a fair amount of DVDs (lots of kids movies, holiday movies, etc…) that we’d like to preserve. Probably about 100 if I had to estimate. As far as digital music we have hundreds of CDs. How much storage space would I need for something like this? 1TB? 2? Should I plan to add some kind of external storage down the road?
From what I’ve read, what I’m looking to build is probably relatively simply compared to those who are building HTPCs that can also handle gaming, 3D video, etc…but I want to make sure that I’m buying components that will handle what I need without a problem. I’m looking to spend no more than $500. I appreciate any and all help-mostly what I need is a more basic understanding of what components I need, what works with what, etc… As far as assembling it all, installing the operating system and the rest, that seems like the easy part. Thanks!
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram