Media centre/HTPC and gaming in one?

[Mikey G]

Looking to build a PC to do all the above. I like the look of the Zalman Cases and was going to base it around that. It will replace my current DVD recorder and SKY setup so i have one unit, and i would also like it to play games like GTR/GTL and Live For Speed etc.. AND as its going to be on all the time fairly quiet... too much to ask?

Any tips and idea of cost?

Cheers

[greenlandy]

I've never built a pc to receive sky but I'm sure it can be done. Use an AMD64 CPU as it comes with drivers that only turn the fan on when needed and use big slow fans front and rear of the case again set them up with a sensor so they only cut in when needed.

[bobthemonkey]

core duo should be more thermally efficient if its on for long periods. think about water cooling and maybe a quick boot linux partition to run basic media systems without booting into windows.

[Plotloss]

You cant replace Sky, there isnt a Digital Satellite tuner card thats compatible with Sky. You can get a free to air tuner but nothing that will requires subscription.

Its to do with the viewing card, Sky like to know what they have to support.

Gaming and HTPC in one box should be possible, MCE used to be a bit flaky about the hardware which it supports but I believe that has got a lot better in recent years.

[Mikey G]

As far as replacing SKY goes it will probably be freeview although i understand its not impossible to use a dish to receive the signal.

Can you get fan control cards of some sort?

My main worry is the use of a big graphics card and its fan.

[Plotloss]

There are loads of thermostatic fan control cards out there but big graphics cards inevitably mean lots of heat which has to go somewhere.

It may not be noisy all the time but when pushed it will hum a bit.

This is obviously offset by the fact that when its being pushed it will probably also be turned up fairly loud.