media centre PC advice needed

[judge john]

ok time to update this thread. after talking to my brother a bit more and clarifying exactly what he want i have come up with some specs. only problem is this stuff gets quite complicated so i could do with some advice.
he's told me that he wants a dual core CPU, as he has seen other MC's with them. i personally told him that unless he is planning on doing some major multi tasking it wasn't necessary, but he insisted. also he wants quite a powerful comp to last quite a few years. so here's the specs I’m looking at;
CASE:
http://www.xcase.co.uk/acatalog/Silv...e_lascala.html
Silverstone seem to have a great range here so I’ll get him to pick one of these

CPU;
he said he wants a minimum P4D 2.8GHz or AMD equivalent
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...uct_uid=102623
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=94640
so which is better? i am inclined to go with AMD as it seems they are normally better and as it's a media centre it is important you keep temps to a minimum, so AMD's running cooler than P4's is a plus.

Gfx Card;
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/6600_Series.html
this is very good as it's fanless and quite a capable card. may upgrade to a 6600GT depending on his gaming needs.

HD's;
Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 3200KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...ital_sata.html
seems to be cheaper than buying say 1 500GB HD. only problem is it's OEM. and as noise reduction is paramount what maker has the quietest drives with least heat?

Mobo;
Pretty much any standard ATX, PCI-E, Dual core, will do.
AMD one;
Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...ocket_939.html
Intel one;
Asus P5GPL-X Intel 915PL (Socket 775) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-128-AS)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...herboards.html

PSU;
Picked this as it’s quiet but I think it maybe a bit of overkill. Also not to cheap.
Zalman ZM460-APS 460W ATX2.03 PSU (CA-003-ZA)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Zalman_psu.html

Memory;
i have 1.5GB Crucial pc3200 lying around

DVD-RW;
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=97063
or anything similar.

so any suggestions about parts and does it all fit together fine?

[judge john]

and now the complicated part. he wants very good 5.1 sound and HD ready components. this should not be a problem as i can easily find a good sound card that i will do at a latter date. the problem comes with TV. he has Sky+ (that’s TiVo to anyone not in the UK) and wants to watch satellite (sky) through his media centre. after some reading i found out this was very hard to do . apparently you need to buy a standard PVR TV card and connected the sky box to the TV card using S-Video. only problem is, as i understand, you can only watch one channel at once and cannot record another. so does anyone have any experience with this stuff? also can S-Video send HD signals? and do most Tv cards support HD content?

[SuperSparks]

With the first mobo, you need an ATI card if you ever want to use crossfire in the future.

I'd go for the AMD over the Intel for certain, the X2 series are far better than the Intel equivalents.

And I would try and get a better card than a 6600, it is too low end for that system.

Other than that it all looks fine.

[liam858]

I agree, plus this may be a better choice for PSU: http://komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=315953

I don't think there are too many HD TV Cards yet.....not sure about twin tuner cards either (Watch one channel, while recording another) they will probably be more expensive with the big manufacturers.(Hauppauge/Leadtek/Compro etc).

With the first mobo, you need an ATI card if you ever want to use crossfire in the future.

The first board has an nForce 4 chipset Nick....it's the way that the OCUK site has you confused with all of the boards together.....it's the A8NE board John picked out.....

And i'd probably puch for a 6800 if possible, the basic 6600's aren't upto much.

Liam

[judge john]

suggestions noted, thanks. Liam i think I’m pretty stuck TV card wise as the picture will have to come through a SKY+ box and S-Video. as such dual tuners won't work as it's the sky box that is choosing the tv signal and not the card. also not sure about the gfx card. if my brother is planning on doing little to no gaming then I’m sure a 6600 will be more than fine. pretty much everything he will be doing will be capable by on board gfx so a 6600 is a nice compromise. if he tells me he is planning on doing any gaming at all i might stretch to a 6800 or 6600GT. also i know that the gfx card fan can often be the nosiest thing in a computer. it is in mine now i have a Zalman for my CPU. so that could just sway my thinking to a card that doesn’t require a fan, such as the 6600.

[SuperSparks]

The first board has an nForce 4 chipset Nick....it's the way that the OCUK site has you confused with all of the boards together.....it's the A8NE board John picked out....

Oops, sorry my mistake


I'm not too sure about Sky, I don't have it or want it. But it is possible to get satellite tuner cards. Here's one:

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=122098

[judge john]

well that’s where the problem lies. when investigating satellite TV cards further i found out that they only work with 'free to air' satellite programs. so in other words they are meant for people who just buy their own satellite dishes and get their own channels. Sky however is encrypted and not free, and as such you cannot receive it with these tuners. Also I think the technology used by sky is proprietary and they have the licenses to use it.

[judge john]

well i priced it all up and it came out a bit expensive . about £1000 in total. the problem is that the ones he was looking at where £800 and to the untrained eye the one i recommended doesn’t look that much better. but if i price up the parts that would have been used in those £800 systems, ie. cheap mobo's,P4D 2.8, cheap PSU etc then it comes to around £700. and the only possible solution i have come to regarding sky would allow him to record 1 freeview channel while recording another or vice-versa. not ideal .