Building my own media centre PC - advice sought!

[ciphergoth]

Now we have a jolly huge TV and a GBP 25 DVD player, I find myself very tempted to build myself a Linux-based Media Centre PC. I'd love some advice on what I'm thinking of buying.

I want:

• Linux-based media centre PC running MythTV.
• Fits on TV stand (thus desktop case)
• Fast enough for software decoding while doing other stuff
• Not too noisy
• Ideally one that doesn't use too much power (environmental impact)
• Cheap
• Slight preference for AMD 64 for coolness value. (given up on this one)

I don't want

• Games machine (will never run Windows so no point)
• Very quiet indeed (no-one in the house seems to mind PC roar)
• Lots of compatibility hassles making it work

I already have

• DVD +-RW rewriter (ATA)
• AGP graphics card with TV out (NVidia MX400 MS-8826)
• Cheap sound card if I can't make the onboard one work with Linux

I'm thinking of buying: (prices include VAT) Updated with cheaper, quieter, slower choices.

56.09	Processor and fan	2.66GHz Intel Celeron 330D, 256K L2, socket 478, 533MHz FSB
97.98	Motherboard, case, PSU	Black ASUS Pundit barebones system
45.88	Memory	Ebuyer 512mb DDR PC3200 400MHz Tesco Value Ram
76.73	Hard drive	200 Gb Seagate Barracuda
62.64	TV card	Hauppage DVB-T PCI Nova 909
6.68	Video cable	Belkin PC-DVD to TV Cable Kit
5.86	Postage and packing
352.76	Total cost

So, what have I forgotten? What am I buying wrong? What won't work with what? What do I need to check about my existing bits of hardware? Where should I be saving money/spending more?

Comments

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm starting to reconsider that one. I thought I needed loads of power for codec support. But it's *encoding* video that takes computrons, not decoding it - and because I'm storing digital video stuff, I won't need to encode. Well, I might sometimes need to transcode, but not in real time. And I could shave nearly £100 off the price by going for a cheaper motherboard and processor.

On the other hand, then I couldn't use it to try out my ideas for fast crypto on the latest generation of processors.

As a cheap sop to quiet, I'm thinking of buying this. I'm very tempted by this case but that makes the whole thing more than half as expensive again.

[babysimon]

That case is very tempting...

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

If I went for cheapest reasonable CPU and motherboard, I could get a Semperon and motherboard for under £70, saving £85 and making the whole thing quieter.

Hmm.

[gnomatron.livejournal.com]

heh, why not get the nice new motherboard, processor, etc, and use them to upgrade your desktop and build the TV box out of hand-me-downs? Or are you laptop based these days?

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

The fastest desktop machine I have is a 400MHz K6-III - too crap even for this. I mostly use a laptop.

I'm currently thinking I'm going to do exactly what Alex did and get a Pundit.