Building my Media Center/semi-gaming (bedroom) PC

nyprimus4

nyprimus4

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Why the PS3 suxxorz: I'm done with the PS3! I'm sick of delays, revisions(re releasing blu-ray movies, new Dualshock), waiting a week for new content where as with my XBL they surprise me(Bioshock demo announcement). The plan was to not only use the PS3 as a game system(which mind you it apparently sucks at[Heavnely Sword too short, Lair suckage, 2 half decent games coming this year(Uncharted and Ratchet)]) but to use it to play movies, shows, listen to music which it is fairly good at but as open as Sony likes to think their system is with Linux and such even with Linux it is a major pain in the arse to get movies on there.

Why the PS3 suxorz part too: In essence I'm going to try and sell my PS3 with my 6 blu-ray movies I own to fund the purchase of a new PC that will accompany my Xbox 360 on my 32" Westinghouse LCD HDTV in my bedroom. I wasn't aware of the capabilities and the awesomeness that is the VLC player. Plus I always find myself using my laptop. The PS3 is always being neglected. I'm either on my laptop or playing Halo 3. Warhawk is good but not I need to keep this $500 piece of hardware good.

The plan: Spend around $500 which I think I will get for my PS3 that I will sell as a package with 6 blu-ray movies (not the crappy free movies) and a 6' HDMI cable.

DA SPECS
Here is what I spec'd out. (click the parts to see the newegg page)

($75) CPU- AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.2ghz Windsor
($40) Mobo- Biostar AM2 ATX
($55) RAM- Patriot Extreme 2GB DDR2 800
($30) Case- COOLER MASTER Centurion 5
($130) Graphics Card- MSI 8600GTS HDCP Ready
($75) Hard Drive- Western Digital Caviar 320GB
($35) Power Supply- Fortron Source 400w PSU
(FREE)DVD/CD Burner- Steal a sweet Asus one from sister

=$440+30 for shipping= $470 after rebates and tax for sweet PC

PuRpOsE: Play back high definition movies and shows (720pish resolutions) that are in weird formats with the VLC player.

The occasionally source based games(TF2, Portal, Half Life 2, Day of Defeat) and some newer games like Bioshock possibly on medium high settings and Crysis/World in Conflict on medium-ish settings.

Internet with Firefox, AIM, music with Winamp and some Photoshop CS2.

Connect to my TV with a DVI to HDMI cable. Now that the PS3 is out my single HDMI input will be vacant again.

NO OVERCLOCKING & NO VISTA. I just want a good reliable computer that does exactly what I want, fast. I'm typing on a desktop right now that is from 2004, onboard graphics, AMD Athlon XP processor, 1GB of RAM(upgraded) and the thing flys with XP Professional SP2.

Last thoughts: Maybe in 2009ish when the PS3 is a more established console with more games, possibly a nicer redesign, DualShock3, Home running smooth, everything well, all with a nicer price tag I'll think about the PS triple again.

ANY COMMENTS? CONCERNS? ISSUES?
 
[quote name='Msut77']I know you said no OC'ing but I have the Pentium D 805 and I run it at 3.5ghz with no problems and you can get it for about 60 dollars.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/05/10/dual_41_ghz_cores/

A general rule of thumb is that you are better off getting ram in pairs.

Also that case is awesome for the money (I have one).[/quote]

Yeah I just want a stable computer I don't want to have to worry about cooling, volts, shit like that.

Is the RAM I'm planning not a pair?

And yeah the case looks really nice.
 
[quote name='nyprimus4']Yeah I just want a stable computer I don't want to have to worry about cooling, volts, shit like that.

Is the RAM I'm planning not a pair?

And yeah the case looks really nice.[/QUOTE]

You do not have to worry about voltage or even cooling (any more so then with any dual core) when you overclock the 805.

You can read the link I posted or google it for yourself if you would like.

Your ram is a pair I did not follow the link.
 
I'm gonna have to recommend the OP to NOT looking into overclocking his system. It doesn't really make sense to have the OP overclock the Pentium D 805 pass the 3.6GHz mark to get slightly better performance than the stock 4200+, just to save $15. Then you have to factor in the cost to find a decent 775 motherboard that allows him to OC stably.

4200+ is plenty for what he does, and he's got a dirt cheap motherboard to go with it. Those parts are all good choices, it should be a good media PC.
 
If you want high definition content then you'll want to stick with a good processor so I'd avoid the D805. Even though the 8 series Nvidia cards take a lot of load off of the processor for BD/HD discs, I'm guessing that's not what you'll be doing.

If you plan to play .mkv and other similar HD files, stick with the processor you currently have. It's more efficient, uses less power and is a better multitasker.

As for playing BioShock and some newer games, I don't think the 8600 can handle those games on medium. Otherwise, everything looks good.
 
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