Media Center PC

[Ramdust]

I'm planning to build a little form factor system to sit next to my TV for media. Really, all it will be used for is playing movie files, mpgs, avis, etc. I don't plan on making it a digital video recorder. So, I don't really need a tuner card or any video in.

The question is, for its application, will this system be ok with average components such as a celeron, low end video card, etc? Obviously the video card will be key, but I'm just going to be playing back video files, as mentioned before... Maybe the RAM will be more important?

Any suggestions on a suitable video card on a tight budget?

 

[kylebisme]

just your basic DX9 card will do great for that, a 6200 or 9600 should fit a tight budget fine.

 

[Peter]

In fact, you can aim way lower. I've just built one using a mobile Duron 1200 MHz, an all-in-one mainboard w/ integrated SiS graphics, and a 5400 rpm ultra quiet Samsung HDD. All is fine, and thanks to the mobile CPU it's running just with a slow revving case fan.

 

[Fraggable]

I have a system sort of like what you're describing with a Athlon XP 1700+ underclocked to a 1400+ and 512MB ram, and a Radeon 8500LE underclocked as far as it can go, like 100/100. I put passive heatsinks on the video card and a 5V fan on the CPU. It's inaudible except for hard drive seek noises and way more than plenty fast for music/movies/pics.

 

[kylebisme]

Yeah, I just suggested something DX9 becuase they can be found used for next to nothing and supporting PS2.0 can come in handy for things like resampling and post processing, and I left out the FX line since the lower end ones of those can strugle with that. Then there is stuff like VMR9 rendering and hardware decoding which may or may not work on various tight budget options, but will most certianly work fine on any DX9 card.

 

[imported_ST]

it really depends on what you want to do. if its just simple 480i dvd playback, a slower system is fine. if you want to do 1080p ffdshow postprocessing, you'll need at least 3ghz or equivalent processor and associated gpu of 6800+..