- Joined
- Dec 10, 2002
- Location
- North Vancouver, Canada
Well, basically I want to build my mother a HTPC so she'll have a PVR to replace the just-broken VCR, and also this way it would be easier to access Internet content as well, rather than getting something like a DVD-Recorder that would be of a similar cost in the end.
I would definitely like it to play 1080p content as well, as although she mainly watches Indian movies (which are usually just DVD), we do watch other Western movies as well.
This being said, here are the specs I am thinking of.
Motherboard: ASUS M3N78-EM AM2+/AM2
CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz
Heatsink: Scythe Ninja Mini
DDR2: CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (or whatever's cheapest)
TV Tuner: Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 Dual TV Tuner
Case: Antec Fusion Black Case.
HDD: WD Caviar Green 1.5TB
PSU: Cooler Master 500W
DVD-RW: Whatever's cheapest..
I heard good things about that motherboard, and I think having a quad-core, even if it does not have L3 would be beneficial in the long run. I also heard that the Ninja Mini works very well with the Fusion Black case.
I do have another build with a Intel Q8400 CPU, and an ASUS P5N7A-VM S775 GF9300 motherboard, but this adds around $100 more to the build, and I'm not sure what the benefit would be.
I am slightly hesitant about the case, and I like the Silverstone GD04, but I want a small case with 120mm fans, and a VFD is a necessity. The reason being with this is that my old VCR had a clock, and I would like that back.
Edit: Now I'm starting to consider the Dvine MCE303 case as well. Performance wise it's probably worse than the Antec, but the look, fit and finish are all extremely nice. It has a decent amount of ventilation, but I would need a low-profile heatsink so the Scythe would be out.
I am slightly unsure about the TV Tuner. I just chose something that had dual tuners so we can record and watch at the same time. I am aware that it does not replace a STB, but we only have analog cable at the moment, and I'm not sure if we'll be changing to the HDTV package any time soon. Any other recommendations will be helpful.
I have the hard drive and PSU sitting around already, so I can put those to use. The PSU also is a Seventeam build, and it should be alright. The Corsair RAM was just the cheapest I found, and I don't care so much about it, I'll just buy whatever's cheapest.
Once Bluray readers (or burners) drop more in price, I'll eventually drop that in as well. I'll also most likely be using Windows 7 Home Premium as the OS, and I'll start off with MCE to begin with and see how that works out.
Thanks for any recommendations.
I would definitely like it to play 1080p content as well, as although she mainly watches Indian movies (which are usually just DVD), we do watch other Western movies as well.
This being said, here are the specs I am thinking of.
Motherboard: ASUS M3N78-EM AM2+/AM2
CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz
Heatsink: Scythe Ninja Mini
DDR2: CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (or whatever's cheapest)
TV Tuner: Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 Dual TV Tuner
Case: Antec Fusion Black Case.
HDD: WD Caviar Green 1.5TB
PSU: Cooler Master 500W
DVD-RW: Whatever's cheapest..
I heard good things about that motherboard, and I think having a quad-core, even if it does not have L3 would be beneficial in the long run. I also heard that the Ninja Mini works very well with the Fusion Black case.
I do have another build with a Intel Q8400 CPU, and an ASUS P5N7A-VM S775 GF9300 motherboard, but this adds around $100 more to the build, and I'm not sure what the benefit would be.
I am slightly hesitant about the case, and I like the Silverstone GD04, but I want a small case with 120mm fans, and a VFD is a necessity. The reason being with this is that my old VCR had a clock, and I would like that back.
Edit: Now I'm starting to consider the Dvine MCE303 case as well. Performance wise it's probably worse than the Antec, but the look, fit and finish are all extremely nice. It has a decent amount of ventilation, but I would need a low-profile heatsink so the Scythe would be out.
I am slightly unsure about the TV Tuner. I just chose something that had dual tuners so we can record and watch at the same time. I am aware that it does not replace a STB, but we only have analog cable at the moment, and I'm not sure if we'll be changing to the HDTV package any time soon. Any other recommendations will be helpful.
I have the hard drive and PSU sitting around already, so I can put those to use. The PSU also is a Seventeam build, and it should be alright. The Corsair RAM was just the cheapest I found, and I don't care so much about it, I'll just buy whatever's cheapest.
Once Bluray readers (or burners) drop more in price, I'll eventually drop that in as well. I'll also most likely be using Windows 7 Home Premium as the OS, and I'll start off with MCE to begin with and see how that works out.
Thanks for any recommendations.
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