alrightttttttttt....

[monstercojones]

Who's the guy to ask about hardware...

i'm about to build a new media center computer with a friends help and i'd just like to get some general info on my own before i start....

who really knows their stuff in here?

[DevilsDeity]

how much you looking to spend?

[sp9]

DD man have not seen you around in a long time!!!! Where you been?

MCJ - If you use pricewatch.com to order parts you can build one pretty cheap but there are sellers on ebay that can even beat those prices when they build one for you.


DD is right - budget would be helpful. also mediacenter xp? Is it going to be primarily for gaming? Graphic Design? DVD copying? Define what is the promary use and design around that.

Currently I bought a machine from a great ebay seller. www.internetishop.com

p4 3.4ghz hyper thread
2gb pc3200 ram
ati 9800 128mg pro graphics card
320gb storage (2 - 160gb drives)
DVD drive
DVD +- r,rw drive

primarily for gaming.

[Oakley]

Who's the guy to ask about hardware...

i'm about to build a new media center computer with a friends help and i'd just like to get some general info on my own before i start....

who really knows their stuff in here?

when you say media center do you mean burning machine capible of holding mass files like mp3's, dvds, crap like that?

[critter]

you can always hack your xbox to become your media center that is what i did 2 years ago.. now i can play music from there, dvds, cds, play xbox games, nes/snes/ps1/dreamcast games-- i have about 50 xbox games copied to the hard drive (installed a larger hard drive in xbox). just get unlimited rentals from block buster.. you can have the xbox on your network and stream movies/music from your computers if you want (i do) for the most part its cheap and doesnt take up any extra space.. and if you already own one WHY NOT

[Hometown Hero]

Bro I have building PC's for about 5 years now. You want a media center? More or less that means you need a high end PC. You want great video, great sound, speed for games, and a large display? Your ideal computer should look something like this....

Athlon 64 3400 proccesor
2gig corsair memory
MOBO=Asus K8V Deluxe
two 80gig WD Caviar Hard drives... ran on raid-0.. prefferably SATA
ATI Raedon 9800 Pro Video Card
Cheiftec Mid Tower window case W/500 Watt power supply
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Sound Card
Go with a logitech 5.1 Digital surroundsound system with about a 400 watt sub
Your also ganna want a pretty massive monitor... if u decide to go with an LCD i wouldn't go any higher then 18.1 inch as they tend to get really expensive.... or you could opt for a 21 inch True Flat CRT Trinitron... thats just all about prefferance man...

thats something like the system im running right now... only i decided to go pentium 4 like a dumbass instead of opting for 64 bit technology... if you got any questions man just drop me a PM ille try and help you out

[Hometown Hero]

I would really need to know what kind of budget your working with to tell you what would be your best bet though man. The stuff I have mentioned above is going to run into some MAJOR CASH.