Another 'I need a PC' thread

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Sparky_za

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Hey guys

Yes yes, I know, these things get asked all the time, but hopefully a couple of you will have have the time to answer ;)

Looking to build up a PC that will primarily be used as a media centre, with the occasional game thrown in. Below are what I see as must have, but please let me know your thoughts

- HD Output
- Blu-Ray support
- PVR capability (with the relevant tuner card)
- At least 5.1 Surround Sound support
- As quiet as possible (Maybe self regulating CPU, Case and Power Supply Fans based on system load)
- Was looking at about R10k, but willing to go as high as R15k if the extra can be justified

Other than that I can't think of anything else I would use constantly. I was thinking of something built around an Intel i5, but lets see what hardware you guys would recommend and why?
 
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Cool. Do you by any change have an Home theater system with HDMI in? Reason for asking, cause then you can use HDMI and get the 5.1 on the system.

The only other way to get 5.1 sound is to buy 5.1 speakers as well, just need to know if this has to be included in the quote.
 
SharkBait said:
Cool. Do you by any change have an Home theater system with HDMI in? Reason for asking, cause then you can use HDMI and get the 5.1 on the system.

The only other way to get 5.1 sound is to buy 5.1 speakers as well, just need to know if this has to be included in the quote.
Click to expand...

Yip, HDMI is already available.
 
Well the difference between a HTPC budget and a gaming PC budget is huge. Personally if I was building an HTPC I'd concentrate on things like blu-ray, a real HTPC case, a good tv card, sound card and remote control, a very powerful router; and keep the rest as low end as possible to save money. An hd4650 will do you fine for an htpc for instance. There is absolutely no need for i5 quad core, high end graphics cards and all the rest of it. Purpose built is the way to go.
 
The perfect HTPC = PS3, which does all you describe except PVR. This is in my humble opinion of course. Otherwise, what cerebus said.
 
cerebus said:
Well the difference between a HTPC budget and a gaming PC budget is huge. Personally if I was building an HTPC I'd concentrate on things like blu-ray, a real HTPC case, a good tv card, sound card and remote control, a very powerful router; and keep the rest as low end as possible to save money. An hd4650 will do you fine for an htpc for instance. There is absolutely no need for i5 quad core, high end graphics cards and all the rest of it. Purpose built is the way to go.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I tried to make a hald gaming half HTPC and figured its so much easier to make a proper HTPC with low power and quiet components and then get a console for games. A good remote is a must (i'll be getting a Harmony soon :D). A nice case is also important to keep it looking cool, as well as quiet. Sound card is last on my list since I dont have good speakers yet so there is no point right now. But with a 5000 series ATI GPU you can pass the sound through the HDMI port iirc and let your amp (if you have one) take care of it

edit - PS3 cant handle mkv files last time I checked, so not perfect HTPC
 
I put a list together, all from TAKE2, so if you shop around you could find things cheaper. good for both your requests. :)



Antec Fusion Remote Chassis - No PSU Qty:

R 2,029 R 2,029
COMPRO videomate T750F Mce Qty:

R 839 R 839
Cooler Master Extreme Power PSU - 550w Qty:

R 686 R 686
Intel Boxed Core i5 650 - 3.20GHz Dual Core - Socket 1156 - CPU Qty:

R 1,797 R 1,797
Liteon Internal Blu-Ray Reader - Black Sata Combo Drive Qty:

R 1,149 R 1,149
Logitech 967688 Cordless Desktop MX 3200 Laser Qty:

R 1,059 R 1,059
MSI Intel - H55M-P31 - 6CH Audio Gb LAN No VGA - Motherboard Qty:

R 835 R 835
OCZ Platinum XTC Revision 2 Memory - DDR3-1333MHz - 2GB In Stock Qty:

R 759 R 759
Samsung 1.5TB Eco Green 3.5 Inch Sata 2 HDD - 32MB Cache - Variable RPM In Stock Qty:

R 759 R 759
Samsung 2494HS - 23.6 Inch Wide LCD Monitor - 50000:1 Contrast In Stock Qty:

R 2,043 R 2,043
TwinTech nVidia GeForce Graphics Card GTX460 - 768MB 192bit GDDR5 - PCI-E Qty:

R 2,467 R 2,467
Total (11 items): R 14,422
 
That's a nice setup - maybe he doesn't need a monitor as well so could save on that - use the cash to get a nice Harmony remote?

Archer - all ati cards from 4xxx have had audio hdmi out. And gtx4xx cards have it as well.
 
A bit high spec'd. Maybe go for an I3 530 and for 4gigs of ram. Also, if you have like a "file server", then he can get away with a smaller hdd and maybe get a 8port 1gig switch.
 
I also heard that you have to have a tv license when buying a tv card...? :confused: Don't know how true that is.
 
SharkBait said:
I also heard that you have to have a tv license when buying a tv card...? :confused: Don't know how true that is.
Click to expand...

Yeah apparently you need to ... anything with a tuner on it anyway. When I bought mine in 2003 I wasn't asked for a TVLic though.
 
Angellus said:
If you have a network the PS3 will play ANYTHING, all you need is PS3 Media server on a pc.
Click to expand...

Wrong. It transcodes the mkv into something the PS3 can play. So you need quite a beast of a PC to do the on the fly conversion, along with a wired gigabit connection. And chances are its not a lossless conversion either. So I say again, PS3 is not the perfect HTPC. While I admit its good, its far from perfect.
 
DVD007 said:
I put a list together, all from TAKE2, so if you shop around you could find things cheaper. good for both your requests. :)



Antec Fusion Remote Chassis - No PSU Qty:

R 2,029 R 2,029
COMPRO videomate T750F Mce Qty:

R 839 R 839
Cooler Master Extreme Power PSU - 550w Qty:

R 686 R 686
Intel Boxed Core i5 650 - 3.20GHz Dual Core - Socket 1156 - CPU Qty:

R 1,797 R 1,797
Liteon Internal Blu-Ray Reader - Black Sata Combo Drive Qty:

R 1,149 R 1,149
Logitech 967688 Cordless Desktop MX 3200 Laser Qty:

R 1,059 R 1,059
MSI Intel - H55M-P31 - 6CH Audio Gb LAN No VGA - Motherboard Qty:

R 835 R 835
OCZ Platinum XTC Revision 2 Memory - DDR3-1333MHz - 2GB In Stock Qty:

R 759 R 759
Samsung 1.5TB Eco Green 3.5 Inch Sata 2 HDD - 32MB Cache - Variable RPM In Stock Qty:

R 759 R 759
Samsung 2494HS - 23.6 Inch Wide LCD Monitor - 50000:1 Contrast In Stock Qty:

R 2,043 R 2,043
TwinTech nVidia GeForce Graphics Card GTX460 - 768MB 192bit GDDR5 - PCI-E Qty:

R 2,467 R 2,467
Total (11 items): R 14,422
Click to expand...

This is actually very similar to what I am thinking of getting, minus the monitor (already have the LCD) and the Compro card. Not a fan of these, would rather go Hauppage.

The idea of the PS3 is great, I will give it some serious thought, but I am still leaning very much towards having the PC, simply because of the versatility of it.

Cerebus and Archer, I like the idea of building an HTPC and getting a console as an extra, but I'm really not that much into games so it might be a bit of a waste for me.
 
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Wow thats a lot of money to spend on a media center, the PS3 route sounds good or a R4000 pc exc. Tuner and Blu-Ray...
 
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