Looking into building a media machine

More technology begets more technology, right? I wouldn’t agree across the board but there are times when the addition of one new piece of technology makes you start thinking about another. Case in point: I might be getting a new TV as payment for some work I’ve done. I don’t want cable but do watch a fair amount of movies from Netflix and we like to listen to music when we’re cooking/cleaning/hanging out.

My first thought is that it would be nice to be able to watch movies at high wuality when I have a High-Def TV. My second thought is that we have all of our music on two different computers (and have a hard time backing it all up). Third, it would be great to be able to easily watch streaming Netflix movies without always having to hook up and plug in a laptop… same deal with streaming TV shows from the network sites. Fourth, it would be great to have a way to easily stream music and play it for the whole apartment. Clearly, we’re in DESPERATE need of a solution!

There are specific media boxes out there but I really want to build my own to my own specs. Here is my Newegg wish list for parts. I basically picked the lowest price with the highest rating that did what I wanted.

Case

SILVERSTONE SUGO SG02B-F Black ABS / SECC Steel MicroATX Desktop Computer Case

I already have a power supply so I looked for a MicroATX case that could hold full-size video cards. This one got fairly good ratings and was not too big. I was actually surprised that this one is on the low end of pricing. I thought these smaller cases would be cheaper but I was definitely wrong.

$69.99 (sale)

Motherboard

GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Like the case, another great deal. Besides the microATX form factor (to fit in the smaller box), I was looking for one that would use DDR2 800mHz so I could use the RAM from my desktop. I’ve been considering more RAM in my main box and this was a good excuse to go for it.

$59.99

Processor

Intel Pentium E2180 Allendale 2.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E2180

Nothing special. I figure a dual 2.0GHz is probably a bit more than what I actually need it for but it’s only $10 increments for 0.2GHz of processing power. I’d rather shell out the extra couple bucks and have a potentially more usable computer.

$69.99

Video Card

EVGA 256-P2-N751-TR GeForce 8600 GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card

This is a tough one. The main computer upgrade people do, besides a new stick of RAM or two, is a vidoe card. As such there are A LOT of options and A LOT of configurations. I went with one of the cheaper ones but made sure it was highly rated. It’s easy to see the $25 video cards and want to cheap out but the ONLY thing I need it to do really well, play DVDs, might need some major playback power.  EVGA is a known brand and this got pretty high marks. There’s also a $30 rebate going on which is tempting…

$79.99

Hard drive

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD4000AAKS 400GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

I knew I needed over 250 gigabytes, SATA and 7200RPM were no-brainers, and Western Digital is my brand of choice. This one represented the best of everything and 400GB made it very attracted. This may end up being my secondary back-up for pictures, documents, and everything else.

$64.99

Add it up

Toss in the $80 for RAM for my desktop (4 GB from G. Skill) and we’re at $425. Not too bad for a fully-functional media machine that can probably hold its own with a few games of Battlefield 2142.

Stay tuned for a build (maybe).

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