Well I am planning on building a small multimedia PC for my room and was hoping to get some input on my inital "design" before I do anymore planning. What I am basically trying to do is be able to record and play TV, play DVDs and music, and of course get some console gaming going on. The real sort of catch is that I want to get a projector because I have a fair amount of open wall space for a screen and ceiling space to mount the projector but I don't have a ton of floor space to put a regular TV. So I was planning on buying this case and modding it with two fans on each side for some cross ventialiation . I think the PSU is solid enough to deal with whatever I am gonna throw at it. As far as processors go I think I am going to go Intel on this one, simply because I have heard that they work nice with multitasking and such. Since the mobo needs to be mATX, something like this and this seem good. Other suggestions are welcome. Next up is graphics cards and tuners. I figured a 6600 would pretty much do the trick but I wasn't really planning on doing any gaming with this computer (I have PC gaming rig already), so I wasn't sure if I could get away with onboard video. As far as TV tuners go, I read that Hauppauge is a solid choice. As far as storage I read that these work rather well and that size should be sufficient to start. And for speakers, I was going to go with Creative GigaWorks S750 700 Watts 7.1 Speakers and either a low end X-Fi or a Audigy Z2S Plat. Now the fun part. From reivews I have read BenQ seems to make solid projectors. I saw on another thread that someone mentioned homemade projectors so I will take a look at that. I only want to spend about 800 bucks on it for now, so suggestions are welcome. The other thing I had a question I had was regarding HD TV. To be honest I don't know a lot about it and I plan on getting a next generation console so what do I need in order to get HDTV. The other thing I keep reading about is digital and analog recording. I know we don't have digital cable, so does that mean that I should only be concerned with analog. What is the benefit of either one anyways? Any suggestions, comments, and such are very appreciated. Pardon my noobness.
I would have a Pentium M in a system like this, as they run cooler and therefore would be quieter due to needing less cooling. If you are planning on getting HDTV and a next generation console you would need a tv/projector that would support it. These are usually quite expensive and I don't think you will be able to get a HD projector for $800. I could be wrong however.
May well be buying a BenQ PB2140 projector soon so I will let you know how it is if we do get it. Seems like a solid spec for the price though, and a tiny unit.
Again, I don't know much about hdtv, but for something like this I assume if it can support HDTV inputs that it could output in hd but I don't know how you could tell. Is there some minimum resolution? This one has a better res and is only a hundred bucks more that what i was looking for. I would spring for the more expensive one if it means I can get hd. Any other suggestions?
To be honest, the projector issue is the least of my concerns at the moment. I know I am going to have to do a lot of research when picking out the TV/projector (which ever it comes down to). I am more concerned with input on the actual hardware right now.
Just quickly about the projector, the minimum resolution for HD is 1280x720. Between those two projectors I would go for the more expensive one. With the sound card I would probably go for the X-Fi, but there are some sound cards out there that do sound better than Creative ones for music and movies.
What about the speakers? I have heard there are better ones out there... any suggestions. Also I was a bit confused after I read the media center article on from a while ago. I know that I will run my TV cable line into the TV tuner, now will the tuner also output the video (ie do I run a secnd cable from the tuner to the TV) or will the output come from my 6600?
friend of mine has those speakers. Not bad sounding really. Then again if i was making the system for movies and entertainment i would get a 5.1 klipsh or similar as they sound amazing. My roomie has them and I cried when i moved out and lost the use of them.
Dolinn, I'm sorry for the delay in my reply, I've been working on a review... For your system, rather than running a pentium M, look at running an AMD. The hype you've heard mostly about Intel being better for HTPC is unfortunately a catering of the media market. I run all of Bit's HTPC review systems with AMD processors, because they run cooler hands down (even over Pentium M, really, and they have real memory bandwidth which is a blessing). If you ARE going to go into intel, take a look at that Asus AILife motherboards. We'll have some reviews up for you shortly, but they come with the video out you need to not require a seperate graphics card. If you decide to use a seperate card (can't blame you, really) I've personally fallen in love with the 6600LE. It's passively cooled, which adds to the silence, and has a good SVid out. Also provides PureView technology. For sound, I suppose you could use a creative product, but frankly many of the better mobos nowadays have excellent audio codecs. The Shuttle ST20G5 is an AMD unit with the newest Realtec chip in it, and it sounds WONDERFUL. DFI's NF4Ultra UT board also has an excellent audio, even does the out by RCA jacks. Both of those are in use over here... As for speakers, I haven't gotten to do much looking at those yet, so other users will have to chime in here.
Thanks for the input on the processor, I actually have a system now that runs on an AMD 3700 and uses a DFI SLI-DR and I really like both, so I may go AMD again. I considered a shuttle system, but I am somewhat hesitant to buy a pre-built system. I know they are good quality and all but I just like putting things together on my own, it gives it that extra bit of personalization and I am a bit of a control freak. To be honest I really liked the Apsire case I posted about above, I think it has a lot of potential, but it is a mATX case so finding a decent mobo is tricky. I have tried to read reviews for different boards but a lot of them seemed to be par (take this DFI board for example [this would need vid card because it lacks vid out...reviews can be found here, here, and here]). If you have an ATX case that you think is just outstanding let me know. A box shape is preferable but some long, slim cases may work too. I like to have the option to mod cases later on if I chose (my other comp uses a Lian Li 75 case... I haven't modded it yet, but water cooling is lurking in the distance). I will look into the 6600LE, since I had no idea they were passively cooled so that is something I will take into account. The other thing I was wondering is that I keep reading about sounds and video codecs and I was wondering what should I be looking for if I decide to use onboard video or sound?
