Hi All, First post on here, does anyone what a decent spec for a media pc would be, don't seem to have any luck with those freeview DVD recorders (gone through 6 in 12 months) stupid things, was thinking along the lines of this: Core i3/i5 4gb ram win 7 blu-ray/dvd drive 1tb hdd m.board - any case - cheapest media looking one (if there is such a thing) 400w psu Any additions/alterations that you see fit Thanks, Andy
Go for the Core i3, i think an i5 would be wasted. Make sure the mobo has a hdmi port to take advantage of the core i3's built in HD GMA. Make sure the PSU is a decent one, corsair or something. Maybe go for 2 hdd's one speedy one and one 'green' one for media. Or even a small boot SSD drive so your not waiting ages for it to turn on to watch media. The bluray drive make sure you have the software for it. And a media remote?
thanks for that, was leaning for the i3 as on a (fairly) tight budget as just got a new gaming rig, as for bluray software, can you suggest any, only ones i can think of are cyberlink are similar!
I think cyberlink are only one a few that support bluray, if you get a retail boxed drive it will come with the software, and OEM one probably wont.
It would likely be cheaper to go the AMD route... I'm out of touch with the AMD lineup, but about a month ago i built an i3 530 rig for my dad, then realising i could have saved about £50. On the other hand, the i3 is impressive If you want to go even cheaper or are bothered about energy use, you could try an Atom board (dont slam me quite yet) and low end graphics card. I know everyone hates them, but my mum uses a single core Atom/Ion based computer running win7, and while its no speed daemon, its very usable (even by my standards, and i'm used to an i5 with an SSD). Its also passively cooled, which is much nicer on the ears, especially for a media pc.
Cheers for that Gryphon, hadnt even throught of an Atom based system, as way's asummed they were low powered, as for AMD, same here dont now much (if any) of AMD's line up!
If you are going to use it for watching TV then don't forget a good TV card. I have an AIM RC118 remote for Windows Media Center and think its absolutely fantastic. Have a look: http://www.aimpro21.com/prod_rc118.asp Excellent buy for only £19.99
Just had quick look, looks ideal, any ideas where to get one, had a quick look on scan, ebuyer and even ebay but cant seem to find it!
If your using a TV card, I assume you'll be recording and transcoding, in which case you'll want a lot more power than an atom will give... and i believe an i3 will be much faster than a £-equivalent AMD.
that was what my original throught was, esspecially since the onboard GPU should have enough power for just watching TV!
