Building Snapstream PVR - Good Hardware?

[TivoTerminator]

I will be building my PVR at the end of this month so I'm trying to get some inexpensive hardware but good hardware. This is what I have so far:

AMD Athlon XP 2000+ Processor
$57


GIGABYTE KT600 Chipset Motherboard
$74.99

ENLIGHT Model# EN-7101AX (BEIGE) ATX MID-TOWER CASE
$45

Corsair XMS Extreme Memory 256MB PC2700
$55

Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
$104

I will be put in my GeForce FX 5200 and PVR-250 cards from my other computer. I also have a spare DVD-ROM to put in.

What do you think?

[Brett]

Get this ram instead it has a better CAS (should be more stable):

Mushkin 256 PC2700 2-2-2 ($49)

And although its a mailin rebate here is the 200gb version of that drive for $5 less...it is not serial ATA but from what I heard you will not notice much of a difference.

Seagate 200GB 7200RPM ($99)

Graphics / Tuner are great!

Can not comment on motherboard or cpu not famaliar with the products (I use Intel Primarily)...

-Brett

[TivoTerminator]

Thanks Brett---

I may just use the 60GB drive from my old PC for now, but I probably can only get around 30 hours on that one (use the Hi-Res DVD recording setting - 2GB per hour).

Thanks for the tip on the memory.

[Brett]

No problem...I figure you might have picked Crucial because its a name brand, Mushkin is a very high-end gaming name brand. The CAS latency is going to be weaker in cheaper ram, they can get away with it, reducing production cost. Then the enduser thinks every PC2700 stick is alike and thats just not the case.

What is real sad is that Crucial is charging more, and this has to do with marketing mainly. For one Crucial is well known so they can charge more, and Mushkin is known for high-end gaming, so not to many of those users are still buying PC2700 ram and they can discount it as such.

-Brett

[wetdagger]

Remember that the size available on the hard drive will always be less than the given allotment. The 60GB drive is probably good for 55GB.

wd

[MonsterHTPC]

That hardware setup should be good to hook, If you really want to trim it down some more try it with this instead:

$58
Asus P4S8X-X
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...131-454&depa=1

It has SPDIF out if you have those inputs on your AV reciever. Should suit your needs perfectly also since you are using only PC2700 memory and such.

$60
Intel Celeron(Pentium 4 based) 1.8 GHz 400MHz FSB, 128K Cache
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...112-172&depa=1

Course this would mean going intel instead of AMD. Either is good, I prefer the P4's as they tend to run cooler IMHO than their AMD counterparts.

Just my 2 pents.

[TivoTerminator]

Chris,

Are the SiS chipset on the Intel ASUS motherboard better than the VIA set on the Gigabyte?

It seems that the Gigabyte/AMD is $14 more but has the better features. I guess the Intel processor running cooler may be better, but it will only be a PVR computer.

Thanks for your suggestion.

[MonsterHTPC]

As for the difference between the two I doubt any of us would notice. Both are good companies and boards, so it generally comes down to preference. I have had really good experiences with Asus and their company so I tend to stay with them. I have systems with their boards that have been running non stop for 8 plus years. But then that could be any board.

Yes the MB you posted had some better features, IE better FSB but you won't be putting any of that to use, unless you upgrade your CPU etc. Also there lies in the extra few dollars for that board.

[Brett]

I have to disagree with the Intel Recommendation.
Call me crazy but a celeron is not exactly a multimedia powerhouse processor. If you are going with intel get Pentium 4, otherwise I stick with AMD

-Brett