Well, just when you thought I may have been getting sick of new computers, I thought I should really give it a go and try to build one myself… I say build one, I really mean purcahse the parts from various online retailers, the main one being the one and only eBay and put the pieces together myself, isn’t that what building a computer is all about?
Ideally my idea is to ultimately create a “Media Centre PC” as they like to call them in PC World and silly computer magazines. I hate the idea of it being called a media centre PC, because although it may hold a large amount of media (probably meaning music, films and TV shows, not the blank DVD-R kind) it doesn’t really tell you what it does. For example, I could call my room a media centre because I have lots of music and films in it. Okay, maybe that was a crap example seeing as I kinda missed the point of the PC part of “Media Centre PC” but you get what I mean… What I really want to make/build/construct whatever you want to call it, is a computer that one can have sitting under their tellybox that connects seemlessly to one’s tv and home cinema system that not only holds their entire (and probably dire) music collection, but also automatically downloads TV shows and records TV using a TV tuner etc. All this has to ideally be in a box that is similar in dimensions and looks to, say a DVD player. Which is in my case, silver and fairly small compared to the average run-of-the-mill PC case. Thus some slight modifications should really have to be done.
I have read various articles on the interweb about people buying Xboxes and hooking them up to their home network and streaming media from so called “Dedicated Media Servers” but this in essence requires you to purchase an Xbox, a huge black outdated box that was primarily designed by Microsoft for Microsoft gaming nerds to migrate from PC gaming to gaming on their TV and give Microsoft that little bit more money that they so desparatly need… And secondly, if ones goes done the XBox route and doesn’t originally have an XBox, then it can be expensive considering you have to buy one, get it chipped and then live with the fact that if it breaks, you have no warranty whatsoever due to you chipping/modding it and that very soon, or most likely already it is out dated and there are so many cooler things on the market.
So after much deliberation and thought I decided to come up with the idea of building a “home media centre” or “media centre pc” as they call it as it would probably have fairly unlimited customizability, and face it, not everyone’s needs are the same, otherwise we might all be communists. Therefore this was and certainly still is the best option. But the big question is, what do I run on it…? I could be a nice sheep and join the Microsoft crowd and enjoy years of Hardware Setup Wizards, Spyware checkers and generally a shite OS with media centre capabilities to be desired. I could even go with the faithful Linux, proper top notch capatibility [sic] and security and so on and suckh alike, but I wanted somethng fun, this isn’t going to be one of those boring boxes that you could use occasionally to check your email and type out a letter to Mr Darcy, and don’t take this the wrong way, but personally I don’t think Linux is a particularly fun OS, not that any OS really is, but I hope you get my point…
Seeing as I am a particularly seasoned Mac user and have been all of my life, i decided that if I actually wanted a decent “media centre pc” that I wouldn’t hate using or looking at I should really go for the Mac road and buy a Mac mini and us it as the basis for the “media centre.” Think again. Macs cost money, most things do, and Macs aren’t particularly expensive but I couldn’t justify spending £500 odd on a computer just so I could watch tv and download tv shows with it. And anyway, the Mac mini isn’t the most customisable system in existence. Soooooo… seeing as I needed and wanted a fair challenge, I decided to embark on the challenge of building my own Mac, and not just any Mac, a “media centre mac” if ever such a thing existed… So thinking a bit more, I came up with a remotely cool name that would portray what the computer would be used for, aswell as what kind of state one would or ideally should be in when using it. So to you I introduce the:
Combining the usability and stability of OSX with the ability to contain your media store and be able to access it in a relaxing way, hence the lounge part…
Only problem is, I need to build it…
First off, you’re probably thinking, isn’t the Mac OSX only available for Macs? And yes, you would usually be correct, but since the rise of the Intel OSX86 processors, the OSX86 Project has also risen. The great community at OSX86 basically are a helpline/lifeline to those wanting to run a decent OS on their gery boxes, or in some cases some nice machines that they have custom built using the nice Conroe Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme CPUs. Essentailly though, with the help of the great Wiki on this site, it advises you which components/desktop or laptop PCs will work with OSX86. The great thing about it is that you can ideally create the OSX86 system of your dreams. Yeah, the finished OS may not work exactly like a proper Mac, and it most certainly won’t look like a proper Mac, but they are pretty damn good and work pretty damn well considering it is a ‘closed’ and seemingly imcompatible OS. You can basically run OSX on any CPU, Intel or AMD, its just that Intel CPUs tend to be better seeing as they were originally intended to run OSX and their cheaper models perform that bit better as they understand SSE3 instructions whereas the low end AMD CPUs only cope with SSE2, but this probably isnt as much the case anymore. You also have to have a compatible motherboard too seeing as the OS has to function remotely correctly with the components on the Mobo in order for it to work. So it is better with Intel chipsets etc. Graphics also poses a problem with OSX on regular hardware seeing as Apple writes its own specific drivers for the graphics cards that it uses, enabling the use of important technologies such as Quartz Extreme and CoreImage which require a bit of digging around to enable on OSX86 systems, but by all means, it is definitely possible…
So after a considerable amount of reading on the HCL (Hardware Compatibility Lists) on the Wiki. I came up with a few features that were essentially a must for my then unnamed system that I was going to build…
Ideally, after reading a fair amount of the HCL on the OSX86 page I came to the conclusion that if I wanted maximum compatibility with graphics and such alike, I should go for an Integrated Intel GMA 900 or 950, the same that was in the developer transition machines, the Mac minis, Macbooks and the new low end iMac 17″. The advantage of using the GMA 900/950 is that since it is used in proper Apple machines, the CI and QE features are known to have worked on that model, so eventually after a lot of tinkering it should work…
Intel chipsets, you know the Northbridge/Southbridge things that control a hellofa lot of the motherboard features are generally best as they are basically just Intel… go figure. The developer systems have a 915GL Northbridge and a ICH6 Southbridge, so ideally, I wouldn’t be going wrong with similar chipsets…
I also wanted an Intel Processor as I hinted at earlier, but seeing as I wasn’t on one of those unlimited budgets, I had to go for a cheap Pentium 4 or a Celeron D. In my case, I had such a hard time finding LGA775 processors on eBay that were guaranteed to actually function so I had to go for a new processor, a Celeron.
The rest of the parts I wanted to source as cheap as humanely possible, thus at eBay. I also wanted them to work which meant getting a Motherboard 1st and then getting everything else later, so that I didnt have to limit my Mobo choice way too much.
So the parts I bought were a:-
Giga-Byte GA8I915G-MF Motherboard from eBay, in used but fully functioning order – £12.50 + £9.95 postage
This has a 915G and a ICH6 chipset combo, which is really great. Support for Celeron Processors and lower end P4’s, 1 IDE channel, Integrated GMA900, 4 SATA and you can look at the website for more info.
Pioneer DVR-106D DVD±RW IDE Drive used but working great from eBay – £10.00 + £4.50 postage.
Its Pioneer so it’ll be pretty damn reliable and Apple compatible.
Celeron D 331 2.67Ghz, 256kb cache, 533Mhz FSB, brand new from MicroDirect.co.uk – £33.50 + £3.81 postage
Yeah, its only a Celeon, but I’m building on a budget so it’ll have to do for now…
MD 219 Black/Silver Midi Tower Case w/ 400W PSU, brand new from MicroDirect.co.uk – £18.15 + £3.81 postage
Cheapest case I could find with a decent Power Supply, its a tad noisy though…
Fujitsu 10Gb HD ripped from a PC going to the scrap…
80mm Silent Fan x2 – new from The SIlicon Group in Edinburgh – £2.99 each
256Mb DDR PC2100 266Mhz RAM used from eBay – £10.51 + £3.00 postage
The listing was incorrect and said it was PC3200 RAM which would be nicer, but I don’t really care for the moment seeing as I found a place where I can pick up 2 DDR PC3200 512MB chips for £11 each, its just that its closed for the moment…
20 – 24 Pin ATX Power Supply adaptor cable from Maplin in Edinburgh – £2.99
Internal Audio cable, ripped from a scrap PC
Old Apple Multiple Scan 15 Display from a Performa 6200 lying around my room.
It apparently only supports 640*480 but I can get 1024*640 working albeit at a lower quality…
XLR8 two button USB scroll mouse lying around the house…
Apple Pro Keyboard – again, around the house…
Well I think that that is all of the components in the computer, If Ican think of any more I’ll try and add them…
Stay tuned for the next part where I will set up and install the OS on the media lounge…