mini pc for a media centre

dclewis

I am looking to build a mini pc to stick under the tv to act as I media centre. I want to be able to play films and music from hard drives. and replace my sky box to. I would like to use a tablet or a smartphone as a controller / mouse pad.

I was just wondering what I would need. if use need any other information as to what I want just ask.


thanks
david

Monotype

How many hard drives do you need?

There's plenty of lower power options like this:
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/45441/MSI+E350IS-E45%2C+integrierte+AMD+E-350%2C+Mini-ITX.article
- which would give you a CPU and motherboard capable of HD videos.

You'll need a case and RAM with that. A case like this would be good and compact but you'll need a bigger one if you have a load of hard drives.
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/Mini/31401/Thermaltake+Element+Q%2C+mini-ITX%2C+200W-Netzteil.article

Also a quieter PSU would be good:
http://lb.hardwareversand.de/up+to+300+Watts/32194/be+quiet!+SFX+Power+BQT+SFX+300W.article

You'll also need some kind of receiver for the phone. I haven't looked into this - it's possibly bluetooth? You can buy receivers for these for fairly cheap.

dclewis

thanks for that. I would hope to be using external hard drives as I have a few lying around. I was thinking of getting a 4 gb piece of ram.

I was also thinking of putting a wireless card in it so I could stream to a ps3. would that be possible.

Monotype

I've never tried streaming like that but by the looks of a few guides online, it appears to be possible. If you want a solid internet or network connection and don't want to lay down proper network cabling, I suggest you take a look at homeplugs.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-PA211KIT-200Mbps-Powerline-Ethernet/dp/B004INVKP4

Best off buying RAM in pairs.

dclewis

https://secure.scan.co.uk/aspnet/shop/basket.aspx

I was wondering if any of this would would be suitable for htpc. Also what would the picture quality be if I were to run a hdmi cable from that motherboard. Would i need a separate graphics card or is whats there fine.

Cheers
David

Monotype

Can't see the basket. You'll have to take a screenshot or use Fluffy's script.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=72858800

dclewis

t

Monotype

It might actually be a good idea to wait a few days. AMD are releasing a new socket which will likely mean more options and possibly price shifts.

From the options now, you wouldn't need anything more powerful than the celeron. It would easily play HD videos.
Item|Price
300W Be Quiet BN133 SFX Micro-ATX PSU with 80mm QUIET Fan 80Plus Green|£35.16
Thermaltake Element Q Black mini-ITX HTPC Case with 220W SFX PSU|£50.38
MSI H61I-E35 (B3), Intel H61, S 1155, DDR3, SATA II - 3Gb/s, Graphics On Board, Mini ITX|£45.13
Intel Celeron Dual Core G530 Sandybridge Core, Socket 1155, 2.4GHz, 2MB Cache, 65W, Retail|£31.84

U_Fig

If you are taking about streaming to a ps3...if it envolves transcoding files on the fly.. You'll need an i3 min.. My current 1st gen i5 in my laptop runs about the same as an i3 2nd gen when benchmarked and that struggles at times with transcoding high bittate BluRay rips..

If its just for movies I have a build like monotypes. Except I have a g540 and Asrock b75 board with a 64GB SSD. it boots in under 15 seconds from power on to Internet explorer being opened including a password and it also plays movies fine..