Video Card

[HiAmplidude 10+ year member]

Yuck Maxtor, I've lost too much critical data to their drives to recommend them

Check out

WD Caviar SE 16 400

or

Hitachi Deskstar T7K250

As for Media Center Edition... I'm in the middle of building one from scratch myself, with an AIW X800 XT and running into some snags. You'll need a Microsoft remote to complete the wizard (to control your cable/satellite receiver), and other certified hardware like SoundBlaster Audigy xx sound. I still haven't gotten through the requirements, so I can't comment on completing a home-brew MCE system just yet, but it is my current project.

As for your choice in case, you may as well consider the power supply a toss. You really need a decent quality PSU from Enermax, Antec, PC Power and Cooling, Allied, and some others. Your amperage on the 12V rails is important, and dual rails can be a big plus. Don't just go by rated numbers on the PSU. They're not always what's actually "delivered".

 

[bamaboy 5,000+ posts]

but would it power wht i have above?

 

[HiAmplidude 10+ year member]

Yep, probably, but there's no telling if you'll get stability problems, random shut-downs, artifacts in games or video playing, or other issues. Reliability of other hardware is factor with PSUs too. No reason to risk the headache if you don't have to. It's somewhat tough to troubleshoot a PSU problem and a lot of times when you have PC problems its because of the PSU. Better-off getting a decent one to start off with.

 

[JoseMCeee 10+ year member]

Yuck Maxtor, I've lost too much critical data to their drives to recommend them
Check out

WD Caviar SE 16 400

or

Hitachi Deskstar T7K250

As for Media Center Edition... I'm in the middle of building one from scratch myself, with an AIW X800 XT and running into some snags. You'll need a Microsoft remote to complete the wizard (to control your cable/satellite receiver), and other certified hardware like SoundBlaster Audigy xx sound. I still haven't gotten through the requirements, so I can't comment on completing a home-brew MCE system just yet, but it is my current project.

As for your choice in case, you may as well consider the power supply a toss. You really need a decent quality PSU from Enermax, Antec, PC Power and Cooling, Allied, and some others. Your amperage on the 12V rails is important, and dual rails can be a big plus. Don't just go by rated numbers on the PSU. They're not always what's actually "delivered".

dude all that stuff is unnecessary. I just built mine with XP MCE with no remote or none of that stuff. It runs way better than home and even pro sometimes. Just because has the capability of doing all that doesnt mean it requires it to run it. Microsoft is really retarded sometimes. I thought I also needed all that stuff also but u dont. I will probably add them in the future but its running perfectly with out it.

And AMD > Intel for everything. But then again my dad works at AMD //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[2kchevy06civic 5,000+ posts]

I kind of skimmed through this and caught little things.

I have an ati x800xl and it's always been great to me. I didn't like ati products back in the day (like radeon 64MB cards) b/c the updating was horrible for drivers. Brands that support Nvidia have always done well for me, I've tried BFG, and something that starts with a V and they were both great.

also, the DFI lanparty is a great mobo, but I have read a lot of reviews of people having problems with them (I also read ocforums.com). If you go to that forum, you'll get a lot of user feed-back. The lanparty is really more of an oc type of mobo though and I don't know if that's really what you want. I'd go with asus if you just want a solid mobo ( had an a7n8x deluxe and it was the shi*).

 

[HiAmplidude 10+ year member]

dude all that stuff is unnecessary. I just built mine with XP MCE with no remote or none of that stuff. It runs way better than home and even pro sometimes. Just because has the capability of doing all that doesnt mean it requires it to run it. Microsoft is really retarded sometimes. I thought I also needed all that stuff also but u dont. I will probably add them in the future but its running perfectly with out it.
And AMD > Intel for everything. But then again my dad works at AMD //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

The OS runs fine, but the Media Center part doesn't work right (tuning to the TV and recording, etc) without the remote and other components required to enable the MCE part of the OS.

 

[HiAmplidude 10+ year member]

Side note: I found my problem with the ATI tuner showing "tuner not found" in Media Center. If you run into that, follow this link. Worked like a champ for me.

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=20910

I still needed the Media Center Remote/reciever/controller to complete the setup wizard (also to control the satellite set top box from the MCE remote and Xbox 360 in another room).

The one I got is under $40 from here:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=604651

Lood Guck!

 

[JoseMCeee 10+ year member]

The OS runs fine, but the Media Center part doesn't work right (tuning to the TV and recording, etc) without the remote and other components required to enable the MCE part of the OS.

well yea thats what I meant though. I havent really gone into that media center yet. I have just played with it and skipped the wizard. But what im saying is that its not required. As a matter of fact, it doesnt even bring media center up at all during the OS intall. You just open it later and then it will guide you through it. So you dont have to have all that equipment installed right when you install the OS.

 

[bamaboy 5,000+ posts]

okay

i do want a remote though and i as gonna get one witht the tv card but now i dont need one so i might get something cheaper will the remote still work on the tv tuner? the microsoft remote on a different brand tv tuner

and which is better 6600gt or an ATi alternative

i found a 6800gs for 184

and the 6600gt is 165 or something

or an x800pro for 185

and who is a good manufactor of thses? pny asus or who?

 

[noob with an RS 10+ year member]

the 6600 GT is the best video card in its price range from what ive gathered.

 

[bamaboy 5,000+ posts]

As for Media Center Edition... I'm in the middle of building one from scratch myself, with an AIW X800 XT and running into some snags. You'll need a Microsoft remote to complete the wizard (to control your cable/satellite receiver), and other certified hardware like SoundBlaster Audigy xx sound. I still haven't gotten through the requirements, so I can't comment on completing a home-brew MCE system just yet, but it is my current project.

what exactly all do you need for it to work fully because it works on other computers and im sure they dont have all that stuff because on dell u dont have to get a remote

 

[HiAmplidude 10+ year member]

okayi do want a remote though and i as gonna get one witht the tv card but now i dont need one so i might get something cheaper will the remote still work on the tv tuner? the microsoft remote on a different brand tv tuner

and which is better 6600gt or an ATi alternative

i found a 6800gs for 184

and the 6600gt is 165 or something

or an x800pro for 185

and who is a good manufactor of thses? pny asus or who?

If the TV tuner has drivers that are compatible with MS MCE2k5, then the MCE remote should work with it just fine. That's a good route to go.

As for card performance, there are going to be some overlaps between different ATI chip and Nvidia chip cards, between brands, and models. This may help. Look at the benchmarks (scroll down toward the bottom for the contents of the review), compare what's important to you, then go to http://www.pricegrabber.com and punch in models to see what their average selling price is...

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/02/vga_charts_viii/

 

[HiAmplidude 10+ year member]

what exactly all do you need for it to work fully because it works on other computers and im sure they dont have all that stuff because on dell u dont have to get a remote

It's possible you can skip some parts of the setup wizard. I wanted full functionality from my Xbox 360 in the other room, so when I didn't have the remote and the wizard said "MCE could not find a compatible remote device. Installation of MCE haulted", I just ordered the remote.

There may be some sound devices that are incompatible too (drivers maybe), but I haven't gotten into that. I have a SoundBlaster Audigy 2ZS and it has specific MCE drivers that I had installed before even attempting to run the setup wizard.

I have a buddy who's building one now with an ATI AIW 8500 Pro (or something like that -- it's an old card). I don't think he plans to get a remote, so I'll work with him on getting around it in the setup. If it's still an issue here, I'll post the results.

 

[bamaboy 5,000+ posts]

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=354&card2=301

i think its between these two cards 6800gs and x800pro both right at 190$, but both look good

i still dont know with the mail in rebate i can get the x800xl all in wonder for 270$ but and it would be better than these and i get a tv tuner and remote and all or i can get refurb with just the card for 250$ no other parts i dont know about the software though