Howz this for a Prospective PC

[techreactor]

Genuine Windows XP Media Center Edition; Intel® Pentium® D Processor 805 with EM64T (2.66GHz, 2 x 1MB L2 cache, 533MHz FSB); 512MB (2 x 256MB) DDR2; 160GB SATA; LightScribe Dual Layer 16X DVD±RW/±R; Integrated ATI Radeon Xpress 200 HyperMemory Graphics (HyperMemory supporting up to 256MB memory)

I am planning to go for it, its within my budget(Cant Spend more) and its Dual Core with Media Center Bundled.

[Chewy]

Wait, if you can, that's probably a great buy, but in 5 weeks intel releases
new cpu's which will make yours obsolete, they intend to sell them for just a little more than what the 805 is going for.

Everyone is trying to get rid of excess inventory now, and prices will keep falling the next few weeks.

[anonymez]

imho it's kinda stupid for the manufacture to bundle XP MCE with it, hardly suitable. HTPC's are always on, PD consumes way to much power (and you'll not need the 2nd core), plus the integrated graphics won't do. much more suitable for an XP pro desktop.

i agree, wait a little longer.

[jm1647]

When you guys think it is the right time for a new MB and CPU post about it with recommendations and links if ya see a good deal. I have plenty of DVD roms and burners, HDD's and a 128MB video card (I'm not a gamer). The best box I have right now is a Athlon XP 1500+ with a GB of ram. Use it mainly for backing up DVD's. If the upgrade is worth the price for the speed increase I'll get I'll probably go for it.

Thanks

[Chewy]

jm,
the single core amd64's won't drop much lower, but agp mobo's may get harder to find. I would really consider a new case and powersupply, unless
you have already upgraded that. What are your specs on that gig of ram?

things like this are getting few and far between

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813180064R

might as well wait for good am2 socket with onboard video and the X2 am2
cpu's to drop below 200$

[techreactor]

imho it's kinda stupid for the manufacture to bundle XP MCE with it, hardly suitable. HTPC's are always on, PD consumes way to much power (and you'll not need the 2nd core), plus the integrated graphics won't do. much more suitable for an XP pro desktop.

i agree, wait a little longer.

I have heavily relied on this article to make up my mind on this conf, but I admit, I really dont know, how the PC will perform with MCE as an OS. But since its bundled I dont have much choice.

Any comments on users of MCE vis-a-vis XP prof using same hardware power ???

[jm1647]

jm,
the single core amd64's won't drop much lower, but agp mobo's may get harder to find. I would really consider a new case and powersupply, unless
you have already upgraded that. What are your specs on that gig of ram?

things like this are getting few and far between

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813180064R

might as well wait for good am2 socket with onboard video and the X2 am2
cpu's to drop below 200$

I think 1 stick is DDR 2700 and 1 is DDR3200...I gotta check

[techreactor]

I researched a bit on the Media Center Edition and found its a version more suitable for Home operations with all the multimedia and imaging support built in. It uses XP as base but without the additional burden of components which are typically required in a business network, like domain joining etc.

I doubt it will underperform as compared to an XP pro edition, it might as well perform even better.

[anonymez]

@tech: not much difference at all, their "built in multimedia support" etc is nothing new if you've ever used media player classic. performance is the same, only notable difference is the UI (multimedia center), which is better suited for TV/music. nothing that can't be done on xp pro with mediaportal

MCE will run fine on a desktop, function quite the same as xp pro, but is made for HTPC's

[MikeyBK]

The MCE doesn't really affect the rest of the PCs performance in any way. I find though, that I could have done everything I really wanted to do using regular XP pro as anonymez stated. I rarely ever use/need it, and will only probably use it with the FM tuner that is in the WinTV PVR-150 to listen to the radio while I do some work.
MCE is highly over-rated and IMO not even needed to accomplish anything that you couldn't do already with regular XP pro.

[Chewy]

I had a friend with a sony tower and MCE, he kept having performance issues
with it, we tried to fix by reinstall and then disabling and removing superfulous
components, last I heard he just gave up and started from scratch with win xp pro and only added standalone components as needed. He's very happy now. The problem is these computers come loaded with too much crap.

[MikeyBK]

The problem is these computers come loaded with too much crap.

So true!!!
It's best to just uninstall most of that extra crap that you probably won't use. I had to weed thru a lot to get mine to a more manageable state.

[toomanycats]

If you can build you own computer I doubt you will ever buy another pre-made machine. Just my opinion but you really get a better machine and can get what you want. You will be forced to know your software and hardware, a worthwhile experience, at least once.

[techreactor]

If you can build you own computer I doubt you will ever buy another pre-made machine. Just my opinion but you really get a better machine and can get what you want. You will be forced to know your software and hardware, a worthwhile experience, at least once.

Yeah! I have that option also in my mind and I am still trying to get a decision on whether to buy branded or assemble on my own, the assembled PC also costs a lot cheaper, but on the other hand the asthetics and looks of a branded one is what you cannot achieve in an assembled PC.

Probably I will come to a conclusion by this weekend.

[anonymez]

but on the other hand the asthetics and looks of a branded one is what you cannot achieve in an assembled PC

hmmm speak for yourself!