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Turning old desktop into media center

  • 27-01-2014 3:04pm
    #1
    andy125
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,591 ✭✭✭


    I want to turn my xps 430 into a media center that will be connected directly to TV but can act as a wlan to my other electronic devices.

    I want to be able to play every file type or at least the majority, and I need storage of about 12tb for my library.

    Current specs Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9550 4 Cores
    Graphics Card ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2
    1.2TB Sata Hardrive
    4 GB Ram

    So what do I need to make this machine into a powerful media center for the whole family?


Comments

  • #2
    Knasher
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,370 ✭✭✭Knasher


    You should have no trouble handling whatever type of media you throw at it.

    On the software side I'd recommend trying XBMC, I've never run into a type of media that it didn't handle. Plus its free.

    Your graphics card doesn't have any HDMI port, you could use dvi to your tv and use sound over analogue, most TVs have support for that. Alternatively you could get a graphics card supporting hdmi.

    I'd be tempted to get a DVB-S2 card and a DVB-T card, so you can set it up as to watch and record live tv (dvb-s for freesat, dvb-t for saorview).

    You should check how many sata ports you have, you can get pci sata expansion cards if you need them. Also do you want to setup some type of raid or are you planing on just going with raw disks.

    Finally there is the wlan part. Not all wireless cards support this as far as I know, but it is possible, you can google how to do this, just look for softap.


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