Media Center PC

[xistenz]

I'm thinking of building myself a nice media center when windows 7 is released.

I really want to use an AM3 Phenom II with a MicroATX 790GX board and DDR3 RAM, but this board seem to be rarer than an honest politician!

Honestly, how hard can it be to make a MicroATX board with the 790GX/SB750 chipset, DDR3 RAM and HDMI and S/PDIF outputs!

Does anyone know if such a board exists? Bearing in mind that I'm not planning on getting it now, but later when Windows 7 is released.

And on a different note, does anyone know if I get a DVB-T tuner card, if it will pick up transmissions without the need for a set-top box when they make the change to digital from analogue TV broadcasts?

 

[Chevron]

Well, regarding the set top box. It depends on if government encrypts the broadcast. If they do, then you need the set top box. If they don't, then you probably won't.

As for the mother board, why not take a board with ddr2 ram? Just make sure it's a mother board that has side port memory.

 

[xistenz]

The thing about DDR2 memory is that I don't want to be in a situation where it's out of date in a years time, and getting bits will be problematic/expensive.

My last media center was based on a socket 939 M/B with DDR ram. Soon after I put it together, AM2 came along with DDR2 and socket 939 + DDR vanished surprisingly quickly.

 

[DJNgoma]

The thing about DDR2 memory is that I don't want to be in a situation where it's out of date in a years time, and getting bits will be problematic/expensive.

My last media center was based on a socket 939 M/B with DDR ram. Soon after I put it together, AM2 came along with DDR2 and socket 939 + DDR vanished surprisingly quickly.

Well think of DDR2 as Windows XP, it's been around for along time and people will still have a piece of its pie. When did buying DDR RAM get problematic? I can still find it and probably costs less than when it got released?

 

[milomak]

tbf many people run DVB-T media centres with DDR2-800 mobos. They also feed 1080p feeds into their boxes. I am guessing unless there is a major shift in how broadcasts are done in the next 3-5 years, a DDR2-800 board should work fairly well.

 

[xistenz]

Well think of DDR2 as Windows XP, it's been around for along time and people will still have a piece of its pie. When did buying DDR RAM get problematic? I can still find it and probably costs less than when it got released?

I can still get SDRAM, but it's hellishly expensive. R770-odd for 512MB from Frontosa. 1GB of DDR3-1333 ram is R330-odd, 1GB of DDR2-1066 RAM is R195-odd and 1GB of DDR-400 is R480-odd.

Now the older DDR ram is still available, but it costs more per gig than both DDR2 and DDR3.

Now I'll admit that currently DDR2 has the sweet spot of price/performance, but I think that that will change quite rapidly of the coming months now that both Intel and AMD have launched DDR3 capable processors.

tbf many people run DVB-T media centres with DDR2-800 mobos. They also feed 1080p feeds into their boxes. I am guessing unless there is a major shift in how broadcasts are done in the next 3-5 years, a DDR2-800 board should work fairly well.

I'm not disputing the fact that DDR2 based systems will cope, it's just I feel that the DDR2 standard has been around for some time (in technology terms) and it will soon start going the way of DDR and SDRAM - they become more expensive because there is less demand for it.

 

[sn3rd]

Please note: DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 are all SDRAM. SDRAM is Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory.

I think you're referring to SDR RAM; Single Data Rate.

Just a quirk. Pedantic Police out

 

[gabba69er]

Media PC people, not DDR fight.

 

[ponder]

The thing about DDR2 memory is that I don't want to be in a situation where it's out of date in a years time, and getting bits will be problematic/expensive.

Simple, just buy enough now to max the MB out & one spare stick. Problem solved.