Thread: Media PC

So coming up soon I'm moving back to school after making loads of cash, and what better way to spend it than a new system? I'm thinking about putting together a media system and was wondering if yall had any ideas or suggestions on software and hardware I should look into.

Sent from my phone like a boss!

For gaming? and what is your budget?

Deff not for gaming, exclusively media, as for budget, I'm not sure, will throw out 500 as an idea, this is more of an information inquiry than anything

Sent from my phone like a boss!

You can get away with an i5 and use the on-board HD graphics. Then you will only need a 500W power supply and without the dedicated graphics it will be much quieter.

Just google "HTPC premade" and use it as a template to build your own. On newegg you can do a search on HTPC and see all the cases they have for HTPC builds. There is a large selection out there.

I took my old rig (Pentium duo 3.0ghz) and bought a $50 hdmi out video card for it and I use it as my HTPC in the living room. Its a great way to reuse your current rig when it gets too slow for gaming.

You shouldn't even need an i5. Honestly, you may want to consider the AMD Llano CPU. It has been getting great reviews as onboard graphics are concerned.

Newegg.com - AMD A8-3850 Llano 2.9GHz 4MB L2 Cache Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU AD3850WNGXBOX

Newegg.com - ASRock A75M FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Newegg.com - SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum / 0.8mm SECC Grandia Series GD05B micro-ATX / Mini-DTX / Mini-ITX MB, 1x5.25", 2x3.5"+1x2.5"HDD or 1x3.5"+2x2.5"HDD, 3x120mm golf bladed fan, 11" expansion card capab

Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts Green EA-430D Green 430W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

This should start you off, running you about $335 so far. You will need a hard drive, memory, and an optical drive (Bluray?). You shouldn't need more than 4GB of memory, and I recommend a 2 TB hard drive based on the current prices. You could save $20 by going with the 2.6 GHz Llano CPU vs the 2.9, but I didn't think $20 was a big deal for the extra 300 MHz.

I agree that for a media center even the i5 is a bit more than necessary; and has a more expensive platform.

That AMD system with the APU would be more than sweet enough to do all your 1080 needs and on a budget.

Thsi would work great too ... at 251 dollars.

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!

shell shocker, buy it now.

Originally Posted by HeavyG

You shouldn't even need an i5. Honestly, you may want to consider the AMD Llano CPU. It has been getting great reviews as onboard graphics are concerned.

Newegg.com - AMD A8-3850 Llano 2.9GHz 4MB L2 Cache Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU AD3850WNGXBOX

Newegg.com - ASRock A75M FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Newegg.com - SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum / 0.8mm SECC Grandia Series GD05B micro-ATX / Mini-DTX / Mini-ITX MB, 1x5.25", 2x3.5"+1x2.5"HDD or 1x3.5"+2x2.5"HDD, 3x120mm golf bladed fan, 11" expansion card capab

Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts Green EA-430D Green 430W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

This should start you off, running you about $335 so far. You will need a hard drive, memory, and an optical drive (Bluray?). You shouldn't need more than 4GB of memory, and I recommend a 2 TB hard drive based on the current prices. You could save $20 by going with the 2.6 GHz Llano CPU vs the 2.9, but I didn't think $20 was a big deal for the extra 300 MHz.

So I'm assuming that hardware will run any hd video from hard drives fine. Also am I right that the case holds two 3.5 and one 2.5, or vice versa. Also, probably no blue ray for now since we have a PS3. Finally if I plan on running audio through a receiver?

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If you want Blu-ray, get a dedicated drive for it; the blu-ray drive on the PS3 isn't the highest of quality.

The Llano APUs were designed with HD video in mind. AMD's market for these is laptops and Home Theater PCs.

For some reason my wishlist is not showing up in public...

But here are the guts for a media PC; including a fanless power supply and mobo of superior quality with integrated HD graphics. 4gigs of RAM and a dual core 3ghz Athlon II and a low power 1tb HDD. Super quiet with a passive PSU. I figure you can pick a case and disc player ... $336 total so far.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

Newegg.com - MSI 880GM-E41 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Newegg.com - SeaSonic X series SS-400FL Active PFC F3 400W ATX12V Fanless 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Newegg.com - G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBNS

Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ADX250OCGMBOX


EDIT: Changed the HDD ... cheaper, faster, more ratings.