teh Forum

I've been thinking about constructing a media centeresk type desktop when I get a back in a couple months. The only hardware I plan on recycling instead of purchasing is the sound card, speakers, and RAM. This leaves me to consider these main components:

CPU:
- the AMD64 3200+ venice core sounds like a good deal, not to mention I have all the overclocking guidance I need for that specific chip

STORAGE:
- I'm thinking somewhere in the range of 500GB, perhaps 2X 250GB external drives to hold the massive amounts of media I've procured over the last few years, plus an internal 120GB for games and apps. I think it'd be cool to have all my DVD's in soft form for rapid selecting and loading, however, I would guess that would require far more than 500 little giggies. Maybe compressing them using the latest codec would produce acceptable results...much testing to come. I find most people to be extremely biased when it comes to hard drive brands, so I may have choose this on based on more solid research. None the less, all biased opinions are greatly appreciated.

DISPLAY:
- Oh sooo important. If I had to buy something RIGHT NOW, it'd be the Dell 2405 24 incher LCD. I've done more research in the last few weeks on this product than I've done on my current VR research project. It's reviews are up and it's price is down, currently sitting at $969 w/free same day shipping through dell, or $899 using a techbargains.com coupon. It's a truly beautiful product, but...I don't think that's the route I'm taking. It seems we're about a month or two away from seeing an influx in 1080i compatible LCD TVs. BenQ is releasing their first 1080i compatible 37" LCD TV with a native resolution of 1920X1200 for $1999 around the end of July. I'll be looking into this, amongst others.

VIDEO:
- Whatever I can get in two months for no more than $350

CASE:
- This thing looks cool



What am I not taking into consideration?

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Anyone know where I can pick up a UMP for a decent price?

HDD, my incredibly biased, yet well researched opinion: Seagate 7200.8 (or 7200.9 when it is released.) These are SATA and SATA2 respectively. They have good caches, fluid-dynamic bearings for quiet operation. They both have NCQ, which is a feature that made SCSI fast. They are reliable, have a 5 year replacement warranty, and they are fast. Maybe not THE fastest, but fast enough for it not to matter.

You'll be able to get a 6800GT or possibly even a 6800Ultra for around $350 by that time. Since the 7800GTX was just released, the prices should drop on the 6xxx series. I'd ignore ATI until the R520 is released.

I can't even get a UMP currently. The project is now dead, and there are left-over parts, but Seth and I haven't secured any yet. I'd say it's a slim possibility, but don't count on it. I do have the front face-plate, some of the PCBs, mounting kits, and PSU for one, but I don't have the main chassis and display boards. (Yet...)

The Venice is definitely the way to go for a nicely OCable proc. (Unless you want a dual core, which would speed up your encoding times if you're going to dump DVDs to HDD.) The 4400 X2 seems to be the best price-performance.

Thats a shame about the UMP project. I want a UMP, maybe ill make my own.

Well, I think there is a supply of spare UMP parts that still need to be picked up from Schipper's. I've been attempting to get some of them. We'll see what happens.

Ask burt if i can have one too...

HEE HEE HEE!!!

I don't know about Burt, but I'm sure Ernie Schipper would be happy to give us a couple.

Ah Ernie Schipper, Burts more laid back life partner.

My UMP would be an a64 though. I could really use one, sine our TV has a VGA connector that supports 1024x768. No DVI, but it does have an hdmi connector, but that is reserved for my HD cable box that I have yet to hear anything about an install date appt.

They are reliable, have a 5 year replacement warranty, and they are fast

5 Year Warranty?!?!? Put me down for three!

On holiday special, for $345, me want!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148108

Umm yes, I want two of them.