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media server build?

cruisx

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 18, 2007
Messages
68
Hi, i was wondering if someone could maybe help me and build me a cheap media server which i could use to watch movies and play music on? I would like it to be able to play 1080p content without stuttering and also have HDMI output. I would also like it to have around 500GB+ of space so that i can fit HD content on it. My budget is around 400$ so if someone could help me make a build around that price or less it would be great!.


Sorry to ask but i am new at building these custom PC's so i would like some help if possible . Also i live in canada so please use either newegg.ca or nicx.com.


Thanks, help would be appreciated :biggrin:
 

cruisx

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 18, 2007
Messages
68
ya i kinda thought about that after....1TB would be nice i guess =) or maybe 750GB since bluray/mkvs get pretty big in size these days.
 
H

HaDeS

Guest
Well my 2cents. There's not much difference in picture quality between 720 and 1080p... there is however a big difference in the size if the files. You're gonna want a 2hdd setup for sure because Media Center can and will fail after a while take it from me... losing media sucks balls. I also think 400 bucks is a little on the low side unless you plan on buying used. I can purchase a computer as low as 300 bucks which is a dual core 3800+ w/ 1gig of ram. 1 small HDD etc. The vid card it comes with would need to be updated as its onboard.
80+ tax AMD Athlon™ X2 5000

20+ tax Kingston ValueRAM 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM

70+ tax Gigabyte GA-M61P-S3 w/ Geforce 6100, DualDDR2 800, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, 1394, PCI-E x16

58+ tax Corsair CMPSU-400CX 400 Watt w/ 120mm Fan

80+ tax Sapphire Radeon HD4550 512MB Passive Cooling PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, HDTV-Out, HDMI

55+ tax Western Digital 250GB Caviar Blue 7200rpm SATA II w/ 16MB Cache

135+ tax Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black 7200rpm SATA II w/ 32MB Cache

With the TB drive this is probably the only one I'd choose.... if you get something too slow and its full of movies etc... you'll be sitting in front of your tv for a few minutes waiting for the movies to load up before you even start watching something.

That system above is 525 beans tax in. I'm assuming you have an extra cdrom drive somewhere and you still need a case.... of course i use memory express for computer gear and thir list is pretty short so there isn't alot of older stuff on their site like ncix might have. That system will run everything however... if you kick back to ddr 400mhz you might have some lag issues. The mobo does 5.1 just fine as well.

Hope that helps.
 
Last edited:

cruisx

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 18, 2007
Messages
68
give me a bit guys, i am looking over the above suggestions, ill get back to you in a bit. And yes i do have a PS3 which i would like to be able to stream to. And ya i am fine with 720p =)...thts what most of my files are anyway.
 

Mr. Gruntsworthy

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Sep 16, 2008
Messages
749
Location
Courtice, ONT
I have an awesome, evil idea for you then. How about just shoving a 500 giger 2.5" HDD in your PS3? You do know that their HDD's are interchangable with standard 2.5" form factor hard drives, right? Just look up the simple step by step guide on Sony's site or something.
 

Mr.Blah

Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2009
Messages
17
I have an awesome, evil idea for you then. How about just shoving a 500 giger 2.5" HDD in your PS3? You do know that their HDD's are interchangable with standard 2.5" form factor hard drives, right? Just look up the simple step by step guide on Sony's site or something.

Or just use an external HDD for that matter. Really just using the PS3 should be fine if all you want is to play music and movies on an HDTV, heck you can even get a wireless kb/m to plug into it as well.
 

lcdguy

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Folding Team
Joined
Mar 17, 2007
Messages
2,335
Location
An undisclosed location
except that if he has MKV's they won't play natively on a PS3 as the PS3 doesn't support it. If you have a budget of $400 bucks get a popcornhour then just stream it from your desktop pc or install a HDD in it if you like. I have one. and it works marvelously. once you add in shipping, exchange and import fees it comes out around your budget.

Welcome To Popcorn Hour

i think ncix also sells them but their stock is extremely limited. When i bought my a couple of years ago it took 6-8 weeks to come to me and cost me around 280 - $300 for it.

Other wise if you want to use the PS3 you will need to either convert the mkv's to a format the ps3 supports or use something like ps3 media server or tvversity to transcode it.
 

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