Media Centre new build, advice appreciated

brduk · Sep 22, 2005, 02:13 PM

Hi all,

First post here so be gentle with me

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate section of the forum to use but could'nt really find anywhere else, if the mods wish to move it, so be it.

I'm looking at building a media centre (MC) to replace as many of the various "boxes" around my television as possible. I'm hoping to run digital T.V. through the MC with the ability to record and burn programmes to disk, with pre-programming desirable. Other functions will be playing music and connecting to a surround sound system, I also want to watch be able to watch internet T.V. through the system, perhaps through a wireless connection. I've read the Driverheaven guide to media centres which has provided me with some valuable info.

However I have some restrains, both on space and cash, so i'm look for some advice from you all.

Firstly, the space i'm trying to utilise is 460mm (wide) x 380mm (deep) x 125mm (high) which would normally accomodated a video recorder. This is pictured below.

I can probably gain a little in height (about 30mm or so) by chiselling out the three risers in lower part of the brickwork, as below

So i'll need either a Desktop or MC specific case, any (cheap) recommendations

I trade in computer components (mainly on ebay) and have a stack of motherboards in stock, so i'm hoping to use one of these to get the ball rolling (and to save money on buying a new one). I have decided on a Micro-ATX Microstar K8MM-ILSR (MS-6741) would this be a suitable board for the project? It has 3 PCI slots, which for the moment I know one will be used for a freeview tuner (UK digital T.V.) another would accomodate a wireless network card and the third would take a sound card (which i'm willing to sacrafice).

So with all that in mind, does anyone have any advice for me?

Thanks in advance.

brduk · Sep 22, 2005, 02:20 PM

Typical, after typing all that out i've found a more appropriate section of the forum.

Apologies to the mods.

swimtech · Sep 22, 2005, 03:18 PM

No problem brduk, check your messages...

Edit: this thread has been reproduced in the DH guides forum - Building a Media Center PC - thread closed.

Sep 22, 2005, 02:13 PM	#1
brduk DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Scotland Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Media Centre new build, advice appreciated Hi all, First post here so be gentle with me I'm not sure if this is the appropriate section of the forum to use but could'nt really find anywhere else, if the mods wish to move it, so be it. I'm looking at building a media centre (MC) to replace as many of the various "boxes" around my television as possible. I'm hoping to run digital T.V. through the MC with the ability to record and burn programmes to disk, with pre-programming desirable. Other functions will be playing music and connecting to a surround sound system, I also want to watch be able to watch internet T.V. through the system, perhaps through a wireless connection. I've read the Driverheaven guide to media centres which has provided me with some valuable info. However I have some restrains, both on space and cash, so i'm look for some advice from you all. Firstly, the space i'm trying to utilise is 460mm (wide) x 380mm (deep) x 125mm (high) which would normally accomodated a video recorder. This is pictured below. I can probably gain a little in height (about 30mm or so) by chiselling out the three risers in lower part of the brickwork, as below So i'll need either a Desktop or MC specific case, any (cheap) recommendations I trade in computer components (mainly on ebay) and have a stack of motherboards in stock, so i'm hoping to use one of these to get the ball rolling (and to save money on buying a new one). I have decided on a Micro-ATX Microstar K8MM-ILSR (MS-6741) would this be a suitable board for the project? It has 3 PCI slots, which for the moment I know one will be used for a freeview tuner (UK digital T.V.) another would accomodate a wireless network card and the third would take a sound card (which i'm willing to sacrafice). So with all that in mind, does anyone have any advice for me? Thanks in advance. __________________ Microstar MS-6390 Mobo AMD XP2200+ 1.81GHz CPU 768MB PC2100 Ram 64MB GeForce 4 MX440 AGP8x 60GB Seagate 7200RPM ATA Hard Drive 40GB IBM Deskstar 7200 ATA Drive in USB2 Enclosure NEC 2510A DVD-RW - v2.17 Matsushita CW-8572 CD-RW/DVD-Rom

Sep 22, 2005, 02:20 PM	Thread Starter #2
brduk DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Scotland Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Typical, after typing all that out i've found a more appropriate section of the forum. Apologies to the mods. __________________ Microstar MS-6390 Mobo AMD XP2200+ 1.81GHz CPU 768MB PC2100 Ram 64MB GeForce 4 MX440 AGP8x 60GB Seagate 7200RPM ATA Hard Drive 40GB IBM Deskstar 7200 ATA Drive in USB2 Enclosure NEC 2510A DVD-RW - v2.17 Matsushita CW-8572 CD-RW/DVD-Rom

Sep 22, 2005, 03:18 PM	#3
swimtech HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 4,040 Rep Power: 124 System Specs	No problem brduk, check your messages... Edit: this thread has been reproduced in the DH guides forum - Building a Media Center PC - thread closed. __________________ It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it. Last edited by swimtech; Sep 22, 2005 at 04:00 PM.