So I'm planning on making a mini-itx comp, need advice.

[sQrizZeL]

Here's what i'm thinking it'll be used for NES/SNES Emulation, DVD/Divx/MPG player, possibly DVR, anything else cool i think of. I want it to be a small thing that's rugged so I can take it places, be able to hook up to most tvs. Here's what i'm thinking hardware wise:

-Cheap or Homemade Case
-small HDD and DVDROM (full or notebook)
-itx mobo
-256 or 512 ram
-onboard ethernet, sound, video
-wireless controller(s)
-cpu doesn't have to be awesome to do dvd and emu
-linux or win2k/xp
-possibly card reader

if you have questions or suggestions please tell me

tia,
chris

 

[snyderjw]

YGPM

 

[CZroe]

Don't keep advice private! 😉

Get the small 300w 1u PSUs offered on eBay "high quality" (I had one fry, but I'm sure it was my fault)
Get PCI riser cards from eBay (Same seller also offers them, but these are easier to shop around for)
Buy the slimline IDE and low-profile floppy adapters from Directron.com (Perhaps a PSU extention cable too?)
Make the PSU external (See above in paranthesis)
Don't use NT-Kernel (YOU WILL SUFFER!)
Consider a Hollywood Magic X-Card for DivX output. (The CPU alone isn't enough for high bit rates)
Use 256MB memory MAX (It can't really run anything demanding enough to require even that much)
DVR operations CRAWL on Via's Cyrix-derived crap. Scratch that off (Even a 2GHz PC doesn't do it skip-free.)