How much for a really good Multimedia PC - built from scratch?!?

[gorski]

Let's calculate, please: how much for a really decent quality Multimedia PC?!?

The reason why I ask is the price of iReel Multimedia box, called "Avantgarde II" - some €1300...

ReelBox Avantgarde II
» Quality Design Casing
» Graphic compatible LC-Display 128 x 64 pixel, white
» 320 GB SATA Western Digital Hard Disk
» DVD-Multiburner (Dual Layer), Slot-In/Slimline
» CPU: AMD Mobile Sempron® 3700+ 2,00 GHz
» DSP: Micronas DeCypher Multi-Format Decoder
» 512 MB DDR2-667 (PC2-5300) Main Memory
» NetCeiver-Technology: three Tuner-Slots
» Two Common Interface-Slots for PayTV-Modules
» 2x DVB-S2-Single-Tuners or 2x DVB-C-Single-Tuners for HDTV
» 1x additional Tuner-Slot for Reel DVB-Tuners
» IR Remote Control, including TV Database
» Power Cord (DE), Manual, WLAN-Preparation
» Quality HDMI-Cable, YUV-Breakout-Cable / Mini-DIN-Interface

I think this is a preposterous price. Am I wrong?

Let's say we get a horizontal casing, so one could put it under the telly - or the upright one, next to it, it doesn't really matter...

ALL THE SW IS FREE, of course!!!

We'll come back later to it...

===============COMPONENTS=============

What exactly do we need? The good stuff, not necessarily the latest and most expensive, i.e. let's make it "cost effective"!!!

The elements:

0) Housing? With a sufficiently powerful power supply and fans...
1) A decent motherboard supporting enough speed/capacity, at least 4 USB ports, Firewire port, LAN port, plenty of expansion slots for PCI cards including WLAN, if necessary etc.
2) Dual Core processor, minimum 2 x 3 GHz - that's aplenty?
3) 2 x 2GB = 4 GB memory
4) 1 TB HDD
5) 1 GB graphics card with full HDMI port and sound circuits [All in one] + maybe another DVI port for an additional PC screen?
6) 2 x HD sat TV tuner - PCI DVB
7) 1 HD terrestrial TV tuner - PCI DVB
8) BluRay player/recorder
9) A sound card - to connect to a Home Theatre, if necessary, for other purposes [like recording a movie but want to listen to music]
10) Anything else?!? Water cooling system, to keep it quiet?

I think it should be thought through by checking out Myth Ubuntu - i.e. which HW has the drivers sorted out for the Linux OS [stable and easy to install via Synaptic, preferably] etc. For instance, ATI graphics cards are better for Linux OS!

My presumption is that one can get it all together for considerably less, with either equal or even better capacity than iReel Avantgarde II.... The prices of components are faaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllliiinnngggg.....

===========SW==========

Apart from the OS itself [Linux Ubuntu, with Multimedia add-ons and plug-ins to make it Myth TV Ubuntu OS] we have all manner of SW to make this a really jolly experience and a lot of fun!!!

I mean, Emulators and Card Sharing SW, like GBox, Mbox and so on - all come ready for Linux, too.

Then, the DVB Prog [and so on] for Sky Star 1/2 DVB PCI Sat TV cards [and the like], also.

One can attach a card programmer in Phoenix mode to emulate a universal CI CAM and read any original smart card, if your PCI DVB card doesn't have one.

Moreover, one can build-in 8 readers of cards into a PC, to work with GBox or such SW.

http://www.makinterface.de/index_e.php3





Assembled SC8in1 module for 8 smartcard units for Multitainer, Dreambox, PC or external housing


For instance [a double8 in1]:

And so on and on and on...

======HELPFUL LINKS=====

http://www.mythbuntu.org/ - to see which drivers for which new HW are cool...

http://www.google.se/search?as_q=ub...as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=images - for instance, this kinda search, hehe...

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ - Wiki part of the project

http://ubuntuforums.org/ - support and all manner of info is right here...

What say you, guys?!? I need some advice from the experts here, no to mention the experienced enthusiasts...

Thanx a bunch!

 

[newme]

Howd you manage to make that post sound like ur selling something.

 

[gorski]

I haven't. But you could explain to us how you managed to interpret it that way...

[FFS, paranoia and all - in spite of it all being all about "let's do it cheaply and with the free SW etc. Damn!]

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Who are our sponsors?

Seems on the pricey side, but I guess your paying for a nice box with display. Hard Disk is tiny for a machine of that price and the CPU seems very underpowered.

ReelBox Avantgarde II
» Quality Design Casing
» Graphic compatible LC-Display 128 x 64 pixel, white
» 320 GB SATA Western Digital Hard Disk
» DVD-Multiburner (Dual Layer), Slot-In/Slimline
» CPU: AMD Mobile Sempron® 3700+ 2,00 GHz
» DSP: Micronas DeCypher Multi-Format Decoder
» 512 MB DDR2-667 (PC2-5300) Main Memory
» NetCeiver-Technology: three Tuner-Slots
» Two Common Interface-Slots for PayTV-Modules
» 2x DVB-S2-Single-Tuners or 2x DVB-C-Single-Tuners for HDTV
» 1x additional Tuner-Slot for Reel DVB-Tuners
» IR Remote Control, including TV Database
» Power Cord (DE), Manual, WLAN-Preparation
» Quality HDMI-Cable, YUV-Breakout-Cable / Mini-DIN-Interface

How much of that do actually need?

 

[gorski]

Sorry, the "sponsorship" is not concerning this forum - posted the message on another forum, too...

A-V is demanding and so better to have more, to spare, as it were...

It is a Multimedia Centre, hence all the extras...

 

[jæd]

Who are our sponsors?

Seems on the pricey side, but I guess your paying for a nice box with display. Hard Disk is tiny for a machine of that price and the CPU seems very underpowered.



How much of that do actually need?

This bit is useful:

» Power Cord (DE), Manual, WLAN-Preparation

I'll buy one. Where do I order...?

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Your specced build makes little sense.

0) Housing? With a sufficiently powerful power supply and fans...
1) A decent motherboard supporting enough speed/capacity, at least 4 USB ports, Firewire port, LAN port, plenty of expansion slots for PCI cards including WLAN, if necessary etc.
2) Dual Core processor, minimum 2 x 3 GHz - that's aplenty?
3) 2 x 2GB = 4 GB memory
4) 1 TB HDD
5) 1 GB graphics card with full HDMI port and sound circuits [All in one] + maybe another DVI port for an additional PC screen?
6) 2 x HD sat TV tuner - PCI DVB
7) 1 HD terrestrial TV tuner - PCI DVB
8) BluRay player/recorder
9) A sound card - to connect to a Home Theatre, if necessary, for other purposes [like recording a movie but want to listen to music]
10) Anything else?!? Water cooling system, to keep it quiet?

CPU: You might want a speedy CPU, might, this would be for playing some high def films that do not conform to standards so that they cannot be decoded by the chip that's built for it. This does not mean you need a 3Ghz one, mid range 775 would be fine.
RAM: Cheap as chips but I'd be surprised if you needed more than a Gig.
GPU: God no. You do not need a 1GB card, you're not playing games on this so you just need it to decode H.264 and output it to a screen. A £30 one, as long as it's the most recent generation would be perfect. Hell recent motherboards come with onboard graphics that would suffice.
PSU: 500W at most. Even that's gold plating it to a stupid degree. I have a 450W powering 4 HDs a far higher spec GPU than you need and a comparable system otherwise.
Case: I really like antec for cost/looks/silence balance, Lian Li make nicer and prettier cases but you pay for it.
Water cooling: Don't bother, you'd be paying through the nose for it, it's a bitch to set up right, technically it voids your warranty (as any after market cooling system does in most cases), doesn't add any performance increases for non overclockers and adds pump noise to the bill. Low speed fans will be sufficent.

I wouldn't bother with analog TV tuner myself.

The main trouble in these things is software, Linux is the way forwards.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

It is a Multimedia Centre, hence all the extras...

Yes, but how much do you need? What do you want to do with it? If its just watch/record tv, films and play music you could remove a lot of components and save a lot of cash.

 

[gorski]

To clarify...

Yes, that's the thing, GS... Multimedia Centre = Audio-Visual stuff, from streaming [IP TV, YouTube, GoogleVideo etc.] to HD TV [satellite, terrestrial or cable]. Must be able to go to the net, browse, download etc.

Do not forget: it's a general PC with a general MMC Linux OS and SW, not a custom made MMC, with specially developed drivers and so on, for such a purpose [see the above mentioned iReel MMC]. Not the same thing! MMCs generally can have a considerably weaker processor, less memory etc. But not the general PCs, in my experience. With iReel it's a different story, as they developed such special drivers and tweaks, PLUS they also put together a strong PC!

The MMC must be full HD viewing and recording capable; recording an HD channel - or two, rather [hence 2 satellite HD TV tuners] - while watching another and maybe even in need of "time-shift" function occasionally [a phone call or so]...

A while back, I had a satellite SS2 [SD] PCI card in a PC with a 2.6GHZ and 1 GB of memory, 64MB and later 256MB Graphics card. Didn't really work very well, even though it was "only" XP Pro and it was only SD channels. Linux was even worse at the time, power/resources hungry, I'm sorry to say...

So, nowadays, downloading demanding HD/BluRay files, watching HD channels via satellite or terrestrial ones - no go [properly!] without higher specs!!!

Especially if one wants to decrypt the encrypted channels, on top... using Emus, that is, or Card Sharing via internet.

Speaking from experience here. This is my hobby and I spoke to quite a few hobbyists who concur. Why is that so?

Most of the SW has been written by enthusiasts in their spare time, so not exactly bug-free by any means...

Linux, I agree, however, is the way to go, hence I ask about it - strictly Linux related: if the drivers are available for a piece of HW, are they stable and fully functional or...? Again, from experience, there's a lot of this stuff frustrating the living daylights out of people: "I just bought a great and capable piece of HW but it ain't working under Linux..."

So, once again, these specs, I think/feel, need to be this good [not the very latest and deffo not the most expensive HW!], but with drivers freely available for a Linux OS, stable and fully functional. But cheap! The latest stuff usually doesn't have the Linux drivers anyhow...

Cheerio!

P.S. I never mentioned analogue anything. Strictly HD related = digital. Demanding! Not necessarily expensive these days - and that's the quest... Cheap but really capable, hence stable and doing it all... Poss?!?

 

[Bob_the_lost]

What sort of CPU was it, if it's a P4 2.66 then that's not comparable to anything else around these days.

HD content you'll be getting over sky is nearly all 720P or 1080i in some cases. You're not looking at full 1080P so that's not as bad as you think.

 

[Sunray]

I disagree with the statement that any graphics card can handle full h.263. Thats one hell of a data stream and I suggest can only be handled well by something like a 4650 or above with its h.264 decoding circuits. Its hardly expensive either at 60 quid.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

I'm pretty sure you're wrong. When the stream conforms to specific standards afaik even onboard (of a generation where H.264 support is present) can handle it. If it doesn't then afaik then the GPU doesn't even try and it's all on the CPU. Open to correction of course.

 

[gorski]

Bob, it can not "comfortably" deal with demands of today's full HD streams, even if they are "only 1080i! - all at once! - recording, watching and maybe time-shifting...

Sometimes one needs 2 of those to be recorded, while being decrypted and watching a third... Remember - two Sat TV tuners + a terrestrial...

Btw, the old processor was Athlon 2000+ ["valued at" 2.6 GHz].

When I tried there was no HD, so you can imagine now...

Thanx for the GC -> which ones, please?

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Right, the 2000+ was a 1.6Ghz (i think) CPU, comparable to the rather pathetic example of the Intel lineup at the time it was an equivalent of a 2Ghz CPU, whoever "valued" it at 2.6Ghz was on a windup or speaking of very limited situations. That it struggled isn't all that much of a shock Was a pretty nice CPU circa 2002, think I had one.

If you want enough CPU muscle to handle it then look at the purpose built one above you linked to. Single core, small cache (that's what semperon means, budget range) budget current/last gen CPU. Then double it, go for a dual core, hell, go for a midrange intel and you're looking at 3x or 4x as much power as they use.

It will probably depend on the tuner cards, how much processing they do onboard and how much they shove off to your CPU.

 

[gorski]

It was over 2 GHz, as I said, and at the time Athlon claimed it performed at 2.6+ GHZ [Intel processors...].

And thanx, that was the Q I had: what would be a good combination - capable but not needlessly expensive, please?

Suggestions?

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Then it was a 2Ghz 2600 not a 1.6GHz 2000, they made several variants with that rating, that puts it to a mid to high end 2002 CPU.

You're going to have to go to a specialist site or gold plate it. You need info on how the cards perform under linux and what CPUs have been tried with them, or you build in so much redundancy it can't help but work well, which isn't an elegant solution or cost effective.

 

[gorski]

Ach, yes... But how much would that be ["with plenty of room to spare"], that is the Q...

I mean, we are back to my initial specs, which you dismisses out of hand...

Any idea guys,

-where to buy
-HW which has the Linux drivers and is
-not too expensive

i.e. "cool"?

"Best" [within reason ] but also relatively cheap?

The specs in Q are above, in the top post...

Thanx!!

 

[Bob_the_lost]

I have no idea, nor does anyone else around here i suspect.

Where to buy: Ebuyer is a good one stop shop, sometimes you can get cheaper deals by searching.
Software you'll have to go to a specialist site.
Price: Who knows, depends what tuners and so on you go for.

 

[Sunray]

Ach, yes... But how much would that be ["with plenty of room to spare"], that is the Q...

I mean, we are back to my initial specs, which you dismisses out of hand...

Any idea guys,

-where to buy
-HW which has the Linux drivers and is
-not too expensive

i.e. "cool"?

"Best" [within reason ] but also relatively cheap?

The specs in Q are above, in the top post...

Thanx!!

How is your Linux and Unix command line skills?

If your not running at say at least a 7 out of 10 where 9 is a geek and 10 means you use it daily for work, your in for a world of pain getting new kit to work with any distribution of Linux.

Even XP gives me a headache getting it to install due to SATA drivers these days.

Just buy Vista home premium and be happy. Its not expensive and installs and works with just about any new hardware you choose to buy. If you splash out and get Ultimate you get Media Centre with it.

You would probably be better served buying a new Dell or HP, although interestingly I see that Dell don't seem to be offering the Core i7 series yet apart from their Alienware range. Still 600 quid will get you something that blitz's along. Just need to get the plug in cards. Get the 64bit version of Vista and you can use the final Gb of the 4Gb of ram they install these days.

 

[gorski]

Bob: http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Hauppauge_HD-PVR - requirements...

Now, the price etc.

The elements, using mainly Maplin discounts/special deals here: http://www.maplin.co.uk/newsletter/09P08-1.html

0) Housing? With a sufficiently powerful power supply and fans etc...

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=99417 - with LED

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?moduleno=48124 - £40 only




CPU to sleep peacefully: http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=264565&C=web-newsletter&U=09P08-1-N42HC&T=[[ID]] - 700W PSU at £35

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Family.aspx?Menu=1649&worldid=-3 - fans are cheap!

That's some £80 so far!

1) A decent motherboard supporting enough speed/capacity, at least 4 USB ports, Firewire port, LAN port, plenty of expansion slots for PCI cards including WLAN, if necessary etc.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=226991 - £150

• Processor Support - AM2+ Phenom FX/X4/X2 processor, 64bit Althlon 64/FX/X2
• Supported FSB - Hyper Transport support speed up to 3.0GHz
• Chipset - North Bridge: AMD RD790FX, South Birdge: AMD SB600
• Memory Support - DDR2 533/667/800/1066 SDRAM (8GB Max)
• LAN - Supports LAN 10/100/1000
• Audio - HD 8-channel
• Slots - 4 PCI Express x16, 1 PCI Express x1, 2 PC

That's around £230 thus far!

2) Dual Core processor, minimum 2 x 3 GHz - that's aplenty?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=97209 - £80 for 2.8 GHz core

• AMD’s latest range of AM2 processors - do more in less time!
• Allows use of DDR2 memory providing lower voltage and higher frequency headroom
• Dual Core technology giving you power to smoothly and efficiently run multiple programs without slow down
• Enhanced virus protection for Microsoft ® Windows
• 64 bit ready computing
• Cool’n’Quiet™ technology for a quieter computer and lower power costs
• Compatible with Socket 940 AM2 motherboards

That makes it £310, all in all.

3) 2 x 2GB = 4 GB memory

4GB Vitesta DDR2 800MHz Dual Kit

​

• 2 x 2GB matched pair memory modules
• Performance DDR 2 memory
• Specialised for gaming or overclocking enthusiasts

Only £79.99​

So, that's £390, with these babies...

4) 1 TB HDD

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=36450&C=web-newsletter&U=09P08-1-A10HC&T=[[ID]] - £80

Which makes it £470.

5) 1 GB graphics card with full HDMI port and sound circuits [All in one] + maybe another DVI port for an additional PC screen?

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...-hd-4000/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-4000-series.aspx

Btw, see this, 1GB one, for £50 only: http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=227859&C=email-newsleter&U=09P08-1-A86JF&T=[[ID]] - the 8 channel HD sound is included on the motherboard

And that's £520 only!

6) 2 x HD sat TV tuner - PCI DVB

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TechniSat-Tunerkarte-SkyStar-HD-2/dp/B0011UC1O6 - £80 = £160

Makes it £680.

7) 1 HD terrestrial TV tuner - PCI DVB

Heh, find one at around £50...

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-138614.html - info here!!!

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Tuner_Card#DVB-T_cards_.28Terrestrial_viewing.29 - and here!

http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/59157 - plus here!

http://www.2nrds.com/digital-tv-in-linux-with-em28xx-devices - not to forget!

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-241431.html - and this!!!

That's £730 now...

8) BluRay player/recorder

http://uk.shopping.com/xPO-LG-LG-DVDRW-BD-HD-DVD-ROM-SATA-Black-Bare - from £75, so let's say £80

Which is: £810.

9) A sound card - to connect to a Home Theatre, if necessary, for other purposes [like recording a movie but want to listen to music]

These are cheap: say, £30.

All in all: £840.

10) Anything else?!? Water cooling system, to keep it quiet?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=46200&C=web-newsletter&U=09P08-1-A35CW&T=[[ID]] - wireless key&mouse for £30

TOTAL: £870 = EUR1000, roughly...

Now, I am sure we could get this down, even quite a bit but...

HELP!!!!! Me not really good at this...

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Bob: http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Hauppauge_HD-PVR - requirements...

Bad start, offloads all the work to the CPU and if you wanted to run two of them at the same time your CPU may well be insufficent. Also it's an analoge capture system, true you get around some security systems that way but you're limited to 1080i and it's not going to be perfect quality since it's an analogy system.

Now, the price etc.

The elements, using mainly Maplin discounts/special deals here: http://www.maplin.co.uk/newsletter/09P08-1.html

0) Housing? With a sufficiently powerful power supply and fans etc...

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=99417 - with LED

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?moduleno=48124 - £40 only




CPU to sleep peacefully: http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=264565&C=web-newsletter&U=09P08-1-N42HC&T=[[ID]] - 700W PSU at £35

I hate your cases, ugly and probably loud, but that's up to you. That PSU should not be used by anyone for anything.
It's a no name brand that probably won't supply the power rated, probably has crap power distribution (old trick to bump up numbers) and may well sound like a jet engine taking off.
Maplins are a bad choice, go elsewhere.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Family.aspx?Menu=1649&worldid=-3 - fans are cheap!

That's some £80 so far!

They are, some of those are ok, akasa are a decent quiet brand. Not the best but decent and easily availible at good prices. I use them.

1) A decent motherboard supporting enough speed/capacity, at least 4 USB ports, Firewire port, LAN port, plenty of expansion slots for PCI cards including WLAN, if necessary etc.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=226991 - £150

• Processor Support - AM2+ Phenom FX/X4/X2 processor, 64bit Althlon 64/FX/X2
• Supported FSB - Hyper Transport support speed up to 3.0GHz
• Chipset - North Bridge: AMD RD790FX, South Birdge: AMD SB600
• Memory Support - DDR2 533/667/800/1066 SDRAM (8GB Max)
• LAN - Supports LAN 10/100/1000
• Audio - HD 8-channel
• Slots - 4 PCI Express x16, 1 PCI Express x1, 2 PC

That's around £230 thus far!

2) Dual Core processor, minimum 2 x 3 GHz - that's aplenty?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=97209 - £80 for 2.8 GHz core

• AMD’s latest range of AM2 processors - do more in less time!
• Allows use of DDR2 memory providing lower voltage and higher frequency headroom
• Dual Core technology giving you power to smoothly and efficiently run multiple programs without slow down
• Enhanced virus protection for Microsoft ® Windows
• 64 bit ready computing
• Cool’n’Quiet™ technology for a quieter computer and lower power costs
• Compatible with Socket 940 AM2 motherboards

That makes it £310, all in all.

No, never spend more on your motherboard than your CPU. That Motherboard is about 2 to 3 times the price you should be paying and doesn't even come with wifi, for that price you should be looking at it.
I'd be looking at a £70 775 board with a decent dual core Intel chip. Apparently the new phenoms are good performers but they're on the new end. The one you've picked is crap, it's miles more powerful than your current one but it's near bottom of the range these days.

3) 2 x 2GB = 4 GB memory

4GB Vitesta DDR2 800MHz Dual Kit

​

• 2 x 2GB matched pair memory modules
• Performance DDR 2 memory
• Specialised for gaming or overclocking enthusiasts

Only £79.99​

That would work but it's over the odds and you don't need high powered RAM, it rarely adds anything to a computing experience.

4) 1 TB HDD

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=36450&C=web-newsletter&U=09P08-1-A10HC&T=[[ID]] - £80

That'd work but i prefer my HDs to have a name attached, could be a very loud one. I'd be looking at seagate (5 year warranty), WD or Samsung for noise.

5) 1 GB graphics card with full HDMI port and sound circuits [All in one] + maybe another DVI port for an additional PC screen?

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...-hd-4000/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-4000-series.aspx

Btw, see this, 1GB one, for £50 only: http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=227859&C=email-newsleter&U=09P08-1-A86JF&T=[[ID]] - the 8 channel HD sound is included on the motherboard

Looks ok.

8) BluRay player/recorder

http://uk.shopping.com/xPO-LG-LG-DVDRW-BD-HD-DVD-ROM-SATA-Black-Bare - from £75, so let's say £80

Looks fine.

10) Anything else?!? Water cooling system, to keep it quiet?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=46200&C=web-newsletter&U=09P08-1-A35CW&T=[[ID]] - wireless key&mouse for £30

TOTAL: £870 = EUR1000, roughly...

Now, I am sure we could get this down, even quite a bit but...

HELP!!!!! Me not really good at this...

Definitly not water cooling. If you want noise you need to start from scratch: Expensive case for noise damping properties, suspended hard drives and decent stock fans, good low noise PSU, 3rd party tower heatsink fan combo for the CPU.

I can't spec out what i'd go for, don't have time but I would not buy that setup as it is.

 

[A Dashing Blade]

. . .
The elements, using mainly Maplin discounts/special deals here: http://www.maplin.co.uk/newsletter/09P08-1.html
. . .

Nay, nay and thrice nay young fellow m'lad. Don't go into the light CarolAnne etc.

Overclockers.co.uk
Scan.co.uk

 

[A Dashing Blade]

Have a look thru bit-tech.nets July Buyers Guide for ideas.

I'm well happy with my LG Blu-Ray/HD player

You'll want your media box to be quiet as poss imo, have a look for passively cooled Gfx Cards, visit Frosty Tech for all things fan related, well happy with the Scythe Zipang I picked up on their advice

 

[Sunray]

HELP!!!!! Me not really good at this...

You need help if your going to Maplins.

 

[gorski]

Thanx a bunch! Will study... and get back with more Q's...

If anyone finds time - feel free to suggest, please...

Ta, again!

 

[gorski]

OK, how about these, please:

http://www.dabs.com/products/amd-phenom-ii-x4-920-2-8ghz-6mb-5DHZ.html?cl=1&refs=14#specifications

image for illustration only

AMD Phenom II X4 920 2.8GHZ 6MB
In stock now
quicklinx: 5DHZI7
mfr#: HDX920XCGIBOX

£155.77 inc vat

http://www.dabs.com/products/samsung-1tb-7200rpm-32mb-s300-3-5--4ZTT.html?cl=1

image for illustration only

Samsung 1TB 7200RPM 32MB S300 3.5"
In stock now
quicklinx: 4ZTTI7
mfr#: HD103UJ

£64.65 inc vat

http://www.dabs.com/products/sapphi...?cl=1&refs=43280000-4294955174#specifications

image for illustration only
Sapphire Technology Radeon HD4650 1GB DDR2 PCIE DVI TVO 600/400MHz
In stock now
quicklinx: 5DWSI7
mfr#: 11140-01-20R

£63.22 inc vat

Thanx!

 

[gorski]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-180-OK&tool=5

Faaaaaaaaakkkkk!!!! £350 and nowt more!!! Specs:

CaseCoolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black
Graphics CardATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3
Hard DriveSeagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
MemoryKingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel
MotherboardGigabyte GA-M61PME-S2P nForce 430 PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Optical DriveLG GH22NS30 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
Power SupplyOCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent ATX2 Power Supply
ProcessorAMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 7850+ Black Edition 2.80GHz
Processor CoolerAMD Black Edition Approved CPU Cooler
Sound CardHigh Definition 7.1 OnBoard Sound Card
Warranty1 Year Onsite Collect & Return Warranty

Not bad as a starting point, eh?

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Not bad.

As long as you have a maximum of 2 PCI cards and 1 PCI-e card. That would limit your choices in terms of TV cards and audio cards.

 

[gorski]

Indeed, if one wants 2 HD Sat TV PCI DVB tuners/cards and 1 HD terrestrial... there you go...

Sound is both via HDMI graphics card and on-board, I suppose...

 

[Quartz]

Amongst the welter of components, I can't actually spot a comprehensive list of what you want to do with this box. You want to record things, I can see, but what beyond that? And what exactly do you want to record? Make a non-techie list and a techie list.