Building a multimedia center PC...

[Cabages]

I plan on building a multimedia center PC too:

- Rip and play DVD movies straight from the hardrive.

- Record television and save to the hardrive.

- Slight, low end gaming.

I plan on spending $500 - $550.

So far, I have thought of using the following parts:

CPU: AMD Sempron 3300+ Palermo 800MHz HT Socket 754 Processor

Link: CPU

Price: $91.00



MOBO: TUL AX480A7-F Socket 754 ATI XPRESS 200P ATX AMD Motherboard

Link: MOBO

Price: $45.00



RAM: CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)

Link: RAM

Price:$67.98



Video Card: ATI All-In-Wonder 2006 Edition 256MB DDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

Link: Video Card

Price: $179.00



PSU: Thermaltake TR2 W0070 ATX 430W Power Supply

Link: PSU

Price: $39.99



Hardrive: Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200JB 320GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard
Drive

Link: HDD

Price: $114.00


I am also wondering if the onboard sound will be sufficient, or if I should buy a sound card?
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I just have some questions:

- Will the picture output through S-Video look good?

- What connections would you suggest to connect to the onboard sound\sound card to my home theatre system?

- Watching DVD's and recording TV will be more GPU intensive, right? Can the CPU handle this?

- Wide screen will be available, correct?

- Should I go with the All In Wonder? Or should I buy a seperate TV tuner and a cheaper video card?

I know its a long post, thanks for the input and all the help.

 

[Cabages]

I knew I forgot something.

Any suggestions on a cheap DVD burner?

 

[imported_fx]

NEC ND-3550A DVD Burner-$39

 

[alimoalem]

do you actually have the comp in your sig? if so, why do you want this (significantly) weaker system?

even if it costs you $100 more to go to s939, u should do it. sticking with the soon-to-be 2 generation old socket would be a bad idea. an even worse idea is using a sempron processor for multimedia work.

believe it or not but your DVDs don't need a 6600gt or better to run. get a s939 motherboard with a 6200 for around $70-80 and you'll be fine. for the cpu, just get a 3000+ or 3200+. if you need cheaper, just get something from the FS/FT forum. you really don't want a s754 sempron for what you'll be doing. this cpu/mobo combo will come out to like $230 for new.

hard drive: i'd get a Western Digital SE16 250GB SATA300 drive. it's like $96.
graphics card: onboard 6200 should be fine

psu: i don't see anything wrong with yours but i personally would choose the fortron 400w for $40

this brings you up to around $370 for the mobo, cpu, onboard video, hard drive, and psu. you can spend the rest on 2gb of the value ram instead of 1gb. that'll put to around $520, right in the middle of your budget

 

[duragezic]

The NEC is one of the best cheap burners, otherwise if you want Lightscribe go with the BenQ DW1655.

S-video is decent quality if you're going to a regular CRT TV. I believe S-video has a maximum resolution of 480 pixels high, so either 640x480 if its a regular CRT, or 720x480 if its a widescreen TV. Basically it looks a tiny bit better than composite IMO. If you have a HDTV though, you'll definitely want HD output (comes std on my 7800GT, I'd assume the modern AIW have it too).

My budget Epox mobo came with onboard 7.1 sound with coax output as well as optical output. I would suggest either one of these for hooking up to your home theater speakers. Onboard sound is sufficient since I checked your mobo and it has the same Realtek onboard sound. Buying a separate sound card is mostly useful for better performance and effects in games.

Watching DVDs and recording is more CPU intensive I thought, but I may be wrong. Either way, I used to record video-in with a Celeron 550mhz. So I'm sure your CPU and GPU are easily fast enough.

Although I haven't used AIW cards, I was very happy with my Radeon 64 VIVO (not quite a AIW). I've almost always heard good things about AIW cards and ATI's multimedia center. So I think for $150 AR it is a excellent choice for a multimedia PC.


edit: Socket 754 is probably fine since you aren't into much gaming nor does that seem like a rig that's gonna get much upgrades in the future. But I would check out Hot Deals or FS/FT since there are socket 754 + semprons for $90 or less. And actually if you look at Anand's reviews, the Seprom 754 is a still a strong competitor to the A64 3000/3200. In the content creation and A/V tasks it was right up there with the regular A64s. It only really falls behind greatly in games, which is a small concern to you since any decent computer in the past few years can do light gaming. S939 doesn't offer much for that type of machine. Not to mention 2GB is almost a complete waste for a multimedia center.

And finally I'd go with SATA just cause the cables rock. I'd imagine you're putting this into a small-ish case where it'd be handy to use SATA cables.

 

[Cabages]

I think I will go with the socket 754 Sempron. Going with the socket 939 configuration would put me to much over budget (I am already pushing it).

This multimedia center pc is a gift for my father. I actually do own the rig in my sig, but he doesnt need that much power.

I would like to get a SATA drive, but they are more expensive. And wouldnt give me that much of a performance boost.
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Audio questions:

At THIS link, it explains how to connect audio to a multimedia center. I wish to use a coaxial cable to connect it to the home theatre system, as I know it had one of those.

Does the onboard sound have coaxial out, however? Or will I have to buy a sound card?

ANY suggestions on how to lower the price? I still need a case.

 

[duragezic]

Hey cool gift for your pops!

Again, to save $$, hopefully you have a Fry's around, but either way check out Hot Deals forum and/or FS/FT forum for some killer 754 deals. With people thinking they are way slower and outdated (maybe a little, but for this type of budget and use they are the best value), you'll find awesome deals on them. Also, cut back on the CPU to a little slower one to save $$. Towards the high end of CPU pricing the prices go way up for how little of speed you gain. For the uses of that PC, I really doubt you'd notice a few less hundred MHz. But again, there are good used or special deals on 754 combos, this will save you $$ for a budget case.

Actually, I correct myself. Although the Newegg product link says the digital audio input/output are optical, they look in the picture to be coax (what you have to hook up with). And the reviews of that motherboard say that as well that they are coax digital, not optical. I don't personally know how that mobo is though. If there are any Nforce3 or 4-x boards for a similar price, I'd personally go with those.

Check Hot Deals for hard drives too. Often the SATA are within $5 of the PATA (you're right about performance, but damn are the SATA cables sleek, wish I would've bought a SATA mobo before so I didn't end up with a fairly new 250gb PATA crap!).

and finally, I don't have time to look it up for you, but check out the Video forum to see what some good but slightly older AIW cards are. That card is definitely eating up the majority of your budget. Perhaps you could find a Nforce4 6200 mobo (integrated video) then add in a cheap TV card for recording.

Deals like this one is what I'm talking about for the 754 combo. $90 for mobo + cpu! That gives you $50 for a case + PSU, which if you can save a little more with an older AIW card will give you even more.