Media Centre PC - doesn' t have to be expensive

Build a Media Centre PC to play those home movies and your favourite films and music. We asked Centre Com, an Australian owned chain specialising in OEM system building, notebooks and computer parts to make available its Master Builders, Kevin Tran and Jessie Cassar to build one for us. Centre Com’s Master Builders impressed us with their recent build of a basic Core i5 PC, and with this AMD-Athlon II X2-based system, show you don’t have to spend a fortune to create a media centre machine. (All prices in Aust dollars)

CORE SYSTEM

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 240 2.8GHz - $72

When considering a worthy CPU for a Media Centre PC and weighing up considerations such as power consumption, noise, cost and versatility, it's hard to look past the good value AMD Athlon II X2 240 with Cool’n’Quiet & CoolCore technology. When paired with the ASUS motherboard selected below, it easily handles the latest HD movie formats.

MOTHERBOARD: ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO - $125

785GB, HT5200, 4DDR3, PCI-E 2.0, VGA, RAID, GB LAN, HDMI, mATX
This motherboard is ideal for a Home Theatre PC. Packing a Radeon HD 4200 with hardware video decoding support, 7.1 channel audio, HDMI out and a host of other media PC features, the ASUS mobo still keeps power consumption and heat down.

MEMORY: Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1333 kit - $99

When it comes to memory, the talk is generally of the latest, greatest and fastest kits available in the gaming and performance arenas. However, for a well-priced and reliable HTPC unit, you can't go past the reliability, warranty and name brand trust of a Kingston 4GB kit. With the bulk of the heavy work being done by the CPU and ATI hardware decoding, the last thing you need is the RAM letting you down during an exciting action scene finale!

GRAPHICS CARD: On-board Radeon HD 4200 - $0

The Radeon HD 4200 present on the motherboard will meet the graphics and HDMI requirements of an HTPC. Whilst under light load the ATI PowerPlay system will conserve energy but when the going gets tough the HD 4200 with its dedicated unified video decoder (UVD 2) for H.264/AVC, VC-1 video formats and HD playback of both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats delivers!

AUDIO: On-board

Our ASUS EVO motherboard provides excellent audio fidelity via its VT1708S 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC and optical output. Supporting up to 7.1 channel reproduction this setup is suitable to pass thru Dolby or DTS streams directly to a speaker system with a suitable decoder such as the Logitech Z-5500D 5.1 setup, or down mix and output via HDMI or to standard stereo speakers.

HARD DRIVE: Western Digital 1.5TB Green Power SATA Hard Drive - $148

For a hard disk, the throughput requirement for video playback is quite trivial. The paramount considerations for a HTPC have to be noise, temperature, power consumption and reliability. In all four of these categories the WD Green Power series drives excel.

OPTICAL DRIVE: Pioneer BDC-202BK Blu-ray Combo Drive - $189

Blu-ray drives are now extremely affordable, even for most budget media PC setups. The Pioneer Blu-ray drive, which supports playback of DVD and other popular media, rounds out any HTPC's feature set perfectly.

CASE / PSU: Antec Micro Fusion Remote 350 - $218

microATX HTPC Case - 350W
The Antec Micro Fusion Remote 350 is a compact and lightweight housing for a media centre PC. Featuring an aluminium front bezel, an LCD display and a built-in IR receiver, the Micro Fusion Remote 350 looks like a high-end home theatre component, in a compact and low profile case. The addition of a 5.25in external drive bay means fitting a Blu-ray drive is a snap, and the easily accessible USB ports at the front are convenient for providing content via a USB drive.

TV CAPTURE CARD: LEADTEK DTV2000H PLUS HDTV - $75

The ability to watch, record and control not only file-based media content on your media PC but also HDTV broadcasts is a must-have addition for the TV buff. Has both Windows Media Center and Mediaportal to support recording of live TV on demand or via scheduling so you never miss that "must see" episode again.

SYSTEM COST - $926

EXTRAS

REMOTE: Logitech Harmony 525 advanced universal remote - $99

No Media PC would be complete without the inclusion of a Logitech universal remote. The Harmony 525 is fully programmable to control your media PC and all the home theatre extras you may have including your plasma or LCD television and speakers, and can even be programmed to do multiple tasks with one press, then once you're finished for the night - one press and everything goes to sleep.

KEYBOARD/MOUSE: Logitech Wireless Desktop MK300 Keyboard and Mouse Kit - $59

For those wanting a little more control of their HTPC, a wireless keyboard and mouse combo is the ideal solution, tuck them away when not in use and no unsightly cabling protrudes from your system. Logitech’s MK300 kit delivers good build quality and wireless reliability at low cost.

MONITOR: BenQ 24in G2420HD LCD - $269

Sporting good colour reproduction, Senseye technology to keep fast action scenes smooth and plenty of multimedia friendly inputs for devices such as consoles and Blu-ray/DVR players, this 24in latest generation LCD is a good choice for builders looking for a primary media display or as an addition to make use of the PC side of things.

OPERATING SYSTEM & SOFTWARE: Windows 7 Home Premium - $199  (upgrade)

Win 7 is the operating system of choice, so if you already own a copy then the new and improved Media Center fits the bill perfectly. For those still using an older Microsoft OS, the excellent and free to download Mediaportal  (mediaportal.com) software will provide a similar feature set. When buying a number of parts for building your HTPC you may qualify to purchase an OEM copy of Windows 7 starting around $129, so ask your retailer for qualification details .

TOTAL  WITH EXTRAS:  $1552