Ok I'm looking to build a dvd/music pc just to hook up to my tv and watch movies and listen to music. Wut would be the minimun procersor speed to use and what video card would be the best?
Personally I think that about 800MHz of Duron is more than enough (technically you need little more than a 450 P2 but you should always build for the future of technology and a CPU intensive audio codec or a cool winamp vis that takes a little more power) but you'll have a hard time finding it around so you might as well go for about 1GHz Athlon (I did for a similar price). A ViVo card is what you should look for if you want to use the box as a VCR but if you just want TV output then just go for a mid range card with S-video out. Personally I went for an integrated solution to fit everything into the VCR case that is the base of my new machine. For that I found the nForce the be a great idea. It has a GF2MX (in case you want to play some games on your TV), dolby 5.1 sound to help your ears (and as this is a media station it is helpfull), and some other useful bits and bobs like 100mbps LAN connector. One thing to point out about the nForce is you have to go for MSI as they are the only ones to have an optoinal TVout. Of course, on the hardware radar is the new ATI integrated solutions that will have faster graphics, much better TVout (nVidia are notoriously weak at TVout), and support for Intel processors. Then again I haven't heard a lot about when those mobos will hit retail.
moms box:1ghz celeron2 512mb pc100 pioneer slot dvd sb live platinum 5.1 30gb quantum hdd ati rage fury 32mb tv out 32" toshiba tv enlight desktop case linksys 10/100 nic awia bookshelf w/sub for sound(runnin pro logic cause its ol skool like dat) 80mm sunon ( i think) intake @7v with a nifty adaptor i soldered up needs an exhaust fan,fan grill on front dremeled out and wire grilled, prolly a pci one cause theres no room bein desktop n all , and maybe a burner ... gonna paint it and the cart its sittin on with that purple /green mirage stuff, maybe even the sub too ...
if youre looking for something a lil lower spec than an athlon 1ghz and space isnt an issue, check this out http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=MBM-TK7-700 Shuttle AI61 Slot A Motherboard with AMD Athlon 700MHz Processor for $80 USD not a bad deal if i do say so myself.
You really dont need anything faster then like 650mhz do you? The thing that I would pay most attention to is abviously a good vid card with nice S-Video output, a nice sound card (SoundBlaster Audigy), and a fast DVD drive (Pioneer 16x maby?). I've got a PIII 650 with a 16x dvd drive and it plays dvd's fine, and is plenty fast. Also, you may wanna grab a pretty good sized hd, if your into DVD rips and Divx movies.
Aopen do some nice little cases, I was temped myself for the same use as what your doing. http://www.aopen.nl/products/housing/h300-series.htm CPU; thing is these days not may companies stock CPUs lower than Duron 750 and they are only £30 If you dont get on-board VGA, You dont need to spend much on a graphics card to get a DVD to play flicker free. Remeber if you hook it up to a TV-out socket the max a TV can push is 800x600 at 60Hz. A cheap 32mb ATI Xpert 2000 will be around £25 (all you really need is 8MB but these are obsolete). Progs like PowerDVD have minimum specs req. much less than this. If you need Mulitiregion, go for an old OS (98se) as these are easier to hack. ride
I dunno, I would probobly go with a more stable OS, like Win2k or WinXP. You dont want your comp crashing on you everytime you wanna watch a dvd do you? That's my point.
98se can be stable would be with minimal harware, drivers and applications in use. XP would be ok for stability but needs loads more HDD space for the intstall. ride
30gb is plenty for moms box, were all networked so theres a total of 170gb here ... i got 60, mike has 2 40's, and mom with the 30, and if i keep my old box another 10 , prolly do it like moms box with a tv out ... for mah room.
