14 replies to this topic

[Mike]

We receive many requests from new members asking for hardware recommendations.

In an attempt to simplify this very complex question, I've created a summary of all the hardware used by this site's technical team which will will enable you to see which goes with what and works well in our machines.

Of course, this is only a guide given that many other factors can come into play even using an identical setup to one of the following, nevertheless it should prove useful in identifying particular combinations.

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Operating System:
XP Media Centre 2005 (OEM) (All)

Case
SilverStone SST-LC03 (Mike)
Coolermaster Cavalier Cav T-04 (Arkay)
Sliverstone LC10B (Monster)
Antech Sonata (Sambooka)
Custom (Matt)
Silverstone LC10M (Impact)
Shuttle SN45G (Rama)

PSU
SF Quiet 500W ATX PSU (Mike)
Supplied in case (brand unknown) (Arkay)
FT 400W SilePower (Monster)
Antech 380W Truepower (Sambooka)
Antech 380W Truepower (Matt)
Antech 380W Truepower (Impact)
Shuttle 250W (Rama)

Motherboard
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe (Mike)
Asus P4P800S (Arkay)
Abit AA8XE (Monster)
Asus A7n8x-e Deluxe (Sambooka)
MSI K7T266 Pro2 (Matt)
Asus P5AD2 Deluxe (Impact)
Foxconn NF4UK8AA-8EKRS (Rama)

CPU
Pentium 4 3.2 GHz HT 1MB S478 Prescott (Mike)
Pentium 4 2.66 Ghz S478 Northwood (Arkay)
Pentium 4 3G (Monster)
Athlon XP 2600+ Barton (Sambooka)
Athlon XP 1700+ (Matt)
Pentium 4 3.6 Ghz (Impact)
AthlonXP3200, A64 3200 (Rama)

RAM:
Corsair 2x 512MB Dual Channel Optimised Pair (Mike)
Kingston 2 x 512MB DDR333 (Arkay)
Kingmax 1G DDR2 533 (Monster)
1 x Kingston 512Mb DDR (Sambooka)
Generic brand 2 x 256MB & 1 x 128MB DDR266 (Matt)
Corsair 2x 512MB Dual Channel Optimised Pair (Impact)
Corsair 2x 512MB Dual Channel Optimised Pair (Rama)

HDD:
2 X Western Digital Caviar SE 200GB 7200rpm 8Mb (Mike)
1 X 200Gb Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 8M SATA (Arkay)
1 x Maxtor SATA 200g NCQ (Monster)
1 x 80Gb + 1 x 160Gb Seagate Barracuda's (Sambooka)
1 x 80Gb Seagate Barracudea IV (Matt)
2 x 200Gb Western Digital Sata (Impact)
1 x 200G SATA with NCQ (Rama)

Tuner Analogue:
None (Mike)
None (Arkay)
None (Monster)
None (Sambooka)
None (Matt)
None (Impact)
None (Rama)

Tuner Digital:
2 x Avermedia A16A DVB-T, (Mike)
2 x Twinhan VisionPlus, 1 x Dvico Fusion DVB-T Full Not in MCE machine at present (Arkay)
1 x AvermediaTV DVB-T MCE (Monster)
1 x Dvico Fusion DVB-T Full, 1 x DNTV DVB-T (Sambooka)
1 x Avermedia A16A DVB-T (Matt)
2 x Twinhan VisionPlus (Impact)
1x PCI DVICO DVB-T, 1x USB DVICO DVB-T (Rama)

Video Card:
XpertVision GF 6600GT 256MB (Mike)
Leadtek Winfast A6600 GT-TDH AGP (Arkay)
Leadtek 6600GT TDH Extreme (Monster)
ATI Radeon 9200SE (Sambooka)
Gigabyte 9550 128MB AGP (Matt)
ATI Radeon RX600 Pro HDTV (Impact)
Xpertvision 6600GT (Rama)

Optical Drives:
1x Liteon CD-RW+DVD-ROM (Mike)
1 x Sony DRU710A DVD-RW (Mike)
1 x Liteon DVD-ROM (Arkay)
1 x Pioneer A05 DVD-R/W (Arkay)
1 x LG 4163BB DVD-R/W (Monster)
1 x LG DVD ROM (Sambooka)
1 x Pioneer 108 DL DVD-RW (Sambooka)
1 x LG 16X (GDR-8163B) (Matt)
1 x Pioneer A09 DVD-R/W (Impact)
1 x Pioneer 109 DVD (Rama)
1 x LG DVD (Rama)

Additional Components:
XPMCE Remote Control System (Mike)
Onkyo Learning remote with Girder software using Fusion HID receiver (Arkay)
BTC 9019URF Wireless Keyboard (Arkay)
OEM XPMCE 2005 Remote (Monster)
OEM XPMCE 2005 Remote (Sambooka)
OEM XPMCE 2002 Remote (Matt)
OEM XPMCE 2005 Remote (Impact)
OEM XPMCE 2005 Remote (Rama)
BTC 9019URF Wireless Keyboard (Monster)

Additional Components - Fans etc. :
Netcomm Roadster V92 CID Modem for Tapirex (Mike)
Zalman CNPS 7700 AlCu CPU cooler(Arkay)
Zalman 4 x Variable Fan Speed Controller (3.5" Bay)(Arkay)
Zalman 7000Cu CPU Fan(Sambooka)
Thermaltake Silent Boost K7 (Matt)
Netcomm Mega-i-Modem 56 for callerID function (Matt)
Zalman 7000Cu CPU Fan (Impact)
Zalman 7000Cu CPU Fa (Rama)

Driver ID & Version No.
Nvidia Forceware 71.84 WHQL (Mike)
Nvidia Decoder 1.00.67 (Mike)
VisionPlus Spectrum BDA Drivers Version 1.6.0.1(Arkay)
Cyberlink PowereDVD6 decoders (Arkay)
Nvidia 1.00.67 Decoder (Monster)
Nvidia Decoder 1.00.67 (Matt)
A16A v1004 WHQL (Matt)
ATI Catalyst 5.3 (Matt)
Nvidia Decoder 1.00.67 (Impact)
Nvidia display drivers 71.84 WHQL (Rama)

====================================

[whitford]

This is exactly what I've been looking for as my MCE is currently running only in my notebook and I'm going to build one soon for my TV.

- Do you have a rough guide on how much each system cost?
- I think as a newbie, I'm just going to follow one of the system posted. Can anyone suggest which one I should follow? advantages? disadvantges?
- Basically I want to create a system that is as cheap as possible. Output is to my SD plasma - native res 852 x 480 (it has DVI / VGA input). And since it will sit under my TV, i won't be using it for other purpuse except watching TV / media player.

Thanks heaps...

[Mike]

Whitford,

The costs will vary a bit particularly since most of these components would have been purchased from a number of different wholesalers with some of our group receiving OEM discounts since they're "in the business".

As a guide, you shouldn't need to spend more than $2,000 - $2,500 as long as you buy from a retailer/wholesaler in your state (and not the likes of Harvey Norman or Dick Smiths) - to find them - start with a visit to www.razorprices.com or www.staticice.com.au and search for the components you want.

Mine is quite "overspecced" because I intend to use it for some heavy duty gaming (when I finally get my big LCD display) but there's certainly no need to go that far (e.g. 6800GT is really nice but $500 too much for your intended use and my ram was "top shelf" at the time)

Any of the above will provide the functionality you need - I'm sure the other guys will post their costs in this thread - mine came in at $3,190 on 5th November last year with the components coming from Umart and Auspcmarket in Sydney - these costs were pretty much retail as well - but remember - it's waaaay over powered.

Anyhow - for what it's worth - here's a summary of my invoice(s):

1 x SilverStone SST-LC03 - $209
1 x SF Quiet 500w ATX - $154
1 x Asus P4C800-Deluxe-WiFi S478 875P 1394 GBL SATA Motherboard - $270
1 x Intel P4-3.2E/800 CPU: Desktop Pentium4 HT 1MB S478 Prescott Retail w/fan - $336.00
2 x Western Digital WD2000PB 200GB 7200rpm 8Mb Cache Caviar SE - $324
1 x Gigabyte GV-N68T256DH 256MDDRIII NX6800GT - $748
2 x Corsair 2-2-2-5 Xtra-Low Latency 184-pin DDR SDRAM 200mhz w/heatspreader - $396
1 x Hauppauge PVR-250-MCE (OEM) - $154
1 x Microsoft Windows Media Center 2005 (OEM) - $198
1 x Microsoft Remote Control and Receiver (OEM) - $60
1 x Coolermaster Vortex CPU cooler P4 - $36
1 x Liteon 52xCOMBO B CD-RW+DVD-ROM Internal: 52x52x32x16x Combo/Black - $68
1 x Pioneer DVR-A08XL DVD-RW Internal: 16x± Dual Layer Black - $193
1 x Labtec 967417-0403 KB & Mouse: Wireless Desktop Optical Edge - $44

And for anyone here who feels like telling me that I could have got those items a lot cheaper - I know - but I didn't know YOU back then

[Mike]

Mike,

This is a cool thread. Can I suggest that all us newbies post our details here as well

Thanks wallyboy.

Whilst your suggestion has some merit, I really started this thread to demonstrate several tried and tested configurations set up by people who have spent a lot of time "working" the platform to ensure it handles a lot of use.

There is a forum (What's Your MCE Setup?) for new people to provide details of their systems so I'll move your post to there as a new thread.

Thanks for giving us a preview - once you have it well tested - let us know how things are going
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*** wallyboy's original post moved to here

[imelda]

This one's for Monster...

I see you've got the Abit AA8XE listed - is this the Fatality? (sorry, but I just couldn't bring myself to type the correct spelling).

I like the look of this board because of the Dolby Digital Live support, the Asus boards with the feature seem to suffer extreme price and feature bloat, but the fatality has the extra fans and cooling in place which i'm a little concerned about from the noise and choice of cpu cooler perspectives. Are these issues you've seen?


i.

[monster]

This one's for Monster...

I see you've got the Abit AA8XE listed - is this the Fatality? (sorry, but I just couldn't bring myself to type the correct spelling).

I like the look of this board because of the Dolby Digital Live support, the Asus boards with the feature seem to suffer extreme price and feature bloat, but the fatality has the extra fans and cooling in place which i'm a little concerned about from the noise and choice of cpu cooler perspectives. Are these issues you've seen?
i.

no its not the fatality as i felt is was not needed mine is the standard one shown at Abit and didnt feel it was necessary to waste the money on the other stuff.

im normally an asus man but to get the equivalent to match the abit as you said was over priced and didnt want to pay that either.

if u search through the forum you will see that the video slot died on me the first week which was a real bummer but it could of happened to any system board.

after a replacement the board has been rock solid for me and only have one anonying problem is that when you place into s3 standby you lose the audio via SPDIF and the only way to get it back is reboot the machine.

i have tried new bioses / drivers with no success and have emailed abit twice and what repsonse did i get BLOODY NOTHING. i have seen others with the same board complain with no results either so be prepared for that. so much for support eh

other than that i would give it 8.5/10. 1 point lost for SPDIF and the .5 lost for wishing it had another pci/e slot to give it 3 in total instead of the 2 it comes with.

hope this helps with your decision.

[imelda]

other than that i would give it 8.5/10. 1 point lost for SPDIF and the .5 lost for wishing it had another pci/e slot to give it 3 in total instead of the 2 it comes with.

hope this helps with your decision.

Thanks - maybe I will pay extra for the Asus, I noticed that they have 3 PCI slots on the P5AD2-E series, which is definitely a plus.

i.

[wallyboy]

A question for Mike!

I note that you are using the analogue Hauppage 250 PVR.
Can I assume you use this card for Foxtel?

Was the reason you selected this card the onboard hardware decoding?
Are you happy with the card?

I ask all the questions as I'm trying to work out what the best card to capture Foxtel digital.

Thanks
Jeremy

[Mike]

A question for Mike!

I note that you are using the analogue Hauppage 250 PVR.
Can I assume you use this card for Foxtel?

Sorry - no - I chose analogue to get a full screen picture on my crappy old 63cm TV - I can't get PayTV where I am.

Was the reason you selected this card the onboard hardware decoding?

Yes - it's a necessity and when I bought it - it was a guaranteed fit with MCE

Are you happy with the card?

Very happy

BTW - that was 3 questions - did we tell you that you've used up your allocation now?

For the rest of this week - every question will cost you 2 stubbies of VB or you can get a bulk discount - 20 questions for a bottle of Black Label.

[wallyboy]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your response(s). I have noted your choice of beverages and may very well have to resort to bribing you with them in the future.

I'm expecting to be able to start building my HTPC this week - so if you think I've been a busy poster up to now .....

Jeremy

[Sambooka]

Sorry - no - I chose analogue to get a full screen picture on my crappy old 63cm TV - I can't get PayTV where I am.

What's up with that...you can get pay TV in the Gibson Desert...you don't like Sat dishes on the roof? or is the landlord/body corporate anal?

Cheers

Sambooka

[squaredcorp]

We sell pre-build HTPCs with components that have been tried and tested in the real-world.

For an example minimal pc, i'd suggest building or buying something similar to the Diva. This is really inexpensive and can be used by pretty much anyone. It also allow to do some light gaming on it as well.

The specs are pretty good and can be upgraded to more powerful component on the cheap. I also always recommend to get a MCE remote with a new HTPC as it really complements the experience.

Cheers

Squaredcorp.com CEO

[MitchellO]

I'd like to recommend Dual Twinhan HDTV PCI tuners. They are working great for me, with excellent quality off a split signal.

Also I would like to recommend the Gigabyte Radeon 9600 Pro 256Mb (DVI/VGA/S-Video). I am using it with my MCE box and its fantastic. Using the ATI software, I have two profiles that let me switch between Component out @ 1920x1080i (using an ATI DVI to Component adaptor) and S-Video @ 1024x768 using a keyboard shortcut.

[Andy@BuildMCE]

Selecting your hardward configuration is tricky, since everyone building his own HTPC has different plan on how to use it. I took this hobby of building Media Center PC quite seriously and put a website http://www.buildmediacenter.com in place as a kind of knowledgebase.

The idea was to get a better overview on products available on the market and what is important, so that I can build my ideal configuration. Most of the solutions I see on the market are built as a home office PC, which can also be connected to a TV. My idea was to build smth for the living room specifically, assuming you would have your home office PC already. I must say, I am currently still in progress, looking at mini-ITX form factor as an option and trying to decide - what do you really need from a "living room" device...

Anyway - good luch to everyone with your own projects!