Media Centre PC help.

Rev

I have a WDTV which seems to be giving up the ghost, but I've had it a few years and it gets plenty of use so fair enough.

Was thinking instead of buying another I'd build a Media centre PC.

I'm planning to upgrade my desktop so will have a CPU, Motherboard and memory.

Is it as simple as it seems, get a small case and HDD, build pc, install chosen OS, plug it into pc and off you go?

Second question, will any graphics card with HDMI out be okay? I know absolutely knowing about graphics cards so not sure what I should be looking for in regards to that.

Or is it not as simple as it seems and I'm missing something entirely?

Thanks for any advice.

gonzo127

generally yes it is as simple as that, however a few things to consider,

is it going to be wireless access or hardwired - are cables already in place or do you need to buy a wireless card?

how are you going to control said HTPC - some will have some software which you can use a remote or will you want a wireless keyboard and track pad?

just remember your motherboard will have to fit into the smaller case!

most graphics cards with a HDMI port will be able to send video out to the tv although more powerful cards will give more options for future (blue ray decoding)

also the try to take into account cooling, passive is better for noise although harder to keep cool if its on a lot

fwor

For most people, the last point that gonzo makes above is probably the most important. If you need it to be near-silent then the hardware that you will need to use will be different from that used if you are happy with something that is just "fairly quiet".

From personal experience I can tell you that even hard disk noise can be a significant irritation if your HTPC is sitting in front of you in the lounge (leading me to use a laptop drive suspended internally from nylon cord - though an SSD would have been a better, but more expensive, solution).

As far as graphics cards are concerned, I would go for one with a GPU that's just good enough to handle HD native resolution and nothing more. Any further processing power will simply generate more heat, and so is less likely to be Ok with just passive cooling.

Rev

gonzo127 wrote: »

generally yes it is as simple as that, however a few things to consider,

is it going to be wireless access or hardwired - are cables already in place or do you need to buy a wireless card?

how are you going to control said HTPC - some will have some software which you can use a remote or will you want a wireless keyboard and track pad?

just remember your motherboard will have to fit into the smaller case!

most graphics cards with a HDMI port will be able to send video out to the tv although more powerful cards will give more options for future (blue ray decoding)

also the try to take into account cooling, passive is better for noise although harder to keep cool if its on a lot

Thanks.

The mobo is micro atx so I'd imagine it'll fit in the case. I was thinking of a case like this

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/125291

I have a router so will have to get a dongle/wireless card to connect it to the network.

I was thinking of getting a grf with a passive cooler. Is there anything specific I need to look for? I was to be able to play 1080p MKV's and blurays.

Thanks for pointing that out. I've no idea how I'd control it, ideally I'd like a remote. You can get remotes suitable for windows media player/centre can't you? Or would I need something else?

Rev

fwor wrote: »

For most people, the last point that gonzo makes above is probably the most important. If you need it to be near-silent then the hardware that you will need to use will be different from that used if you are happy with something that is just "fairly quiet".

From personal experience I can tell you that even hard disk noise can be a significant irritation if your HTPC is sitting in front of you in the lounge (leading me to use a laptop drive suspended internally from nylon cord - though an SSD would have been a better, but more expensive, solution).

As far as graphics cards are concerned, I would go for one with a GPU that's just good enough to handle HD native resolution and nothing more. Any further processing power will simply generate more heat, and so is less likely to be Ok with just passive cooling.

My PC is in my bedroom and the loudest component is the hard drive lol. But in the living room I'd be fine with 'fairly quiet' I have a few spare noctua fans I can put in to keep it cool and quiet.

Percy1983

I will be more specific with aparts.

I would recommend a board based on the AMD 785g chipset, it will have ATi 4200 graphics on board which is useless(ish) for gaming etc but does have UVD2 which is basically full hardware decoding of 2 Hi-def streams (basically picture in picture on blu-rays etc). Of course it has HDMI/DVI/VGA outputs to choose from. THis is also silent and passively cooled.

From there get one of the cheapish AMD dual cores might bw worth looking at the energy efficient stuff go for 2.8-3.0ghz and this will be more than enough.

Find a 80plus certified power supply which is quiet (usually 12cm fans help here)

Get 4gb ram (probably DDR3)

Hard drives are interesting, SSDs will be quite but very expensive, but there is some energy saving drives which run quieter and cooler, basically read up reviews.

I would recommend getting a blu-ray + DVD-RW drive as they can be got for £40 and since would wound need to spend at least £15 anyway its a no brainer.

You haven't mentioned TV tuners etc but have a look at freeview/satalite tuners as they are worth it.

Controling the PC I would recommend a decent wireless keybaord and mouse, logitechs are good but always check the range, but also get a remote. For remotes go for a MCE certifed one (basically has the green windows media button).

Hope this helps, feel free to ask any question or PM me for finer details.

Rev

Percy1983 wrote: »

I will be more specific with aparts.

I would recommend a board based on the AMD 785g chipset, it will have ATi 4200 graphics on board which is useless(ish) for gaming etc but does have UVD2 which is basically full hardware decoding of 2 Hi-def streams (basically picture in picture on blu-rays etc). Of course it has HDMI/DVI/VGA outputs to choose from. THis is also silent and passively cooled.

From there get one of the cheapish AMD dual cores might bw worth looking at the energy efficient stuff go for 2.8-3.0ghz and this will be more than enough.

Find a 80plus certified power supply which is quiet (usually 12cm fans help here)

Get 4gb ram (probably DDR3)

Hard drives are interesting, SSDs will be quite but very expensive, but there is some energy saving drives which run quieter and cooler, basically read up reviews.

I would recommend getting a blu-ray + DVD-RW drive as they can be got for £40 and since would wound need to spend at least £15 anyway its a no brainer.

You haven't mentioned TV tuners etc but have a look at freeview/satalite tuners as they are worth it.

Controling the PC I would recommend a decent wireless keybaord and mouse, logitechs are good but always check the range, but also get a remote. For remotes go for a MCE certifed one (basically has the green windows media button).

Hope this helps, feel free to ask any question or PM me for finer details.

Thanks for the reply.

I'll already have the mobo, cpu and ram from my current pc since I'm planning to upgrade. It's a Core2Duo CPU so I know it will be able to handle the things I'll be using it for.

I have a voucher for logitech so was planning on using it to by a wireless desktop. And thanks for the info about the remote. For some reason that part just hadn't occurred to me. I'm going to just get a WD or a Samsung drive for the OS and such, I already have two 1tb drives attached to the WDTV so I plan on using them as storage, so I'm not worried about internal storage.

Could you possibly point me in the direction of what graphics cards would be okay?

Richie-from-the-Boro

.1. It all starts from the MOBO, you don't state the Model number so difficult guess its capability .2. You don't state what you want to do / achieve as an outcome, but unless its PC centric it will be a right Heath Robinson contraption .3. Graphics card output capabilities & dB are critical but can't be guessed at till the MOBO is sorted.

Fundamental questions ?

- control / how to
- noise / critical
- PC centric / how to
- audio 5.1 or better via HDMi S/PDIF header MOBO to Video card needed
- HD audio 5.1 or better via amplifier S/PDIF header MOBO to TOSlink needed
- audio 2.1 via TV / how to
- BluRay on or off chip

Rev

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

.1. It all starts from the MOBO, you don't state the Model number so difficult guess its capability .2. You don't state what you want to do / achieve as an outcome, but unless its PC centric it will be a right Heath Robinson contraption .3. Graphics card output capabilities & dB are critical but can't be guessed at till the MOBO is sorted.

Fundamental questions ?

- control / how to
- noise / critical
- PC centric / how to
- audio 5.1 or better via HDMi S/PDIF header MOBO to Video card needed
- HD audio 5.1 or better via amplifier S/PDIF header MOBO to TOSlink needed
- audio 2.1 via TV / how to
- BluRay on or off chip

It's this mobo

http://uk.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=UvpEn1FCEgd6fGuI

Sorry, probably totally noob-ish but you lost me around TOSlink....

Basically want a PC that I can attach to the TV and watch 1080p mkv's, blu-rays and normal DVD's.

Not worried about streaming since most of my media is on the WDTV external storage so I can just attach that.

Plan on buying a blue ray drive to watch blue rays.

Since I know I'll have the spare parts, rather than them sitting there doing nothing, and me shelling out cash on a new media player I thought I'd use them to build a HTPC.

Percy1983

Quite simple then, an Ati 4350 will be more than enough:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169294

Even the reviews are saying how great a HTPC card it is.

Rev

Percy1983 wrote: »

Quite simple then, an Ati 4350 will be more than enough:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169294

Even the reviews are saying how great a HTPC card it is.

Thank you!

So just to reiterate, the above case will be fine, stick components in, load chosen OS, plus into PC, make sure I've got a certified remote and off I go?