Media Centre PC

BarGin

I want to build myself a pc to sit under the tv in the lounge. I have picked the following components from Ebuyer:

Antec Black Fusion V2 MATX MediaCenter Case - Aluminium Front Bezel with 430W PSU
OCZ 1GB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 System Elite Memory Unbuffered CL5 (5-5-5-15) XTC Heatspreader Lifetime Warranty
ABIT Fatal1ty F-I90HD Socket 775 Radeon Xpress 1250 onboard VGA 8 channel audio mATX
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4ghz) Socket 775 FSB1066 4MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM
Pioneer BDC-202 Blu-Ray Reader 12X DVD1RWDL/RAM SATA Black - OEM

Can anyone say whether they are a suitable combination please? I intend using a 40" HD LCD TV as a monitor. Is there anything I have forgotten (apart from a keyboard/mouse)?

BarGin

b33r

Don't you need a decent graphics card to play High defination stuff? I don't actually know for fact as I've never done it but I'm sure I saw something about High defination in the spec when i bought my GF 7950 GX2

b33r

ignore that, just looked at the spec for your motherboard

Ramz_3

could you let us know how much thats gonna cost you? im quite curious

BarGin

I have it all in a basket at the moment - £576.08 inc. delivery.

inmypocketnottheirs

Forgive my ignorance, but what do you intend to use this for (blu-ray is obvious)?

Many thanks

Phil

BarGin

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance, but what do you intend to use this for (blu-ray is obvious)?

Many thanks

Phil

As my main pc, web browsing, music, films etc.

inmypocketnottheirs

I had been considering getting someone to build me a pc with a similar spec to use through my 42" hdtv, as it is about the same money as a blu ray dvd. They tried to blag me that I could get HDTV through a freeview tuner and to be able to watch movies for free to various bit torrent download websites.

I posted a while back here and I was told that it is impossible to get hdtv through freeview.

Can the blu ray record as well?

Would you be able to use the hd to record TV (either sky or freeview) in a similar manner to sky+?

Just interested, as I say thinking along similar lines.

Thanks

Conor_3

You are aware that the idea of a HTPC is that it's AS QUIET AS POSSIBLE?

CPU is overkill and the fan for it will make a fair bit of noise. You want more RAM if you're using onboard graphics and Vista as the OS.

You may also want to invest in some soundproof matting to line the case with.

Ramz_3

isnt DVI meant to offer the equivilent to HDMI?
if thats the case, you may want a graphics card with DVI capabilities as well as VGA (DVI carries sound as well)

BarGin

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

Can the blu ray record as well?

Would you be able to use the hd to record TV (either sky or freeview) in a similar manner to sky+?

Just interested, as I say thinking along similar lines.

Thanks

I have not included a TV card as I have a V+ box and use that for all my tv needs. The Blu-ray drive will not record HD only cds and standard dvds.

The motherboard has onboard hdmi output although I may add a passively cooled graphics card if I find it it not up to the job.