3. Building A Budget Media PC, Continued

Working with the Asus M2A-VM HDMI motherboard showed us that, indeed, you can build a modest media PC for around $766, given what the new AMD690G and Radeon X1250 chipsets can deliver. That said, the performance was lackluster, and the system was incapable of dealing with high-definition DVD media.

As media freaks extraordinaire we were frustrated by this system's low functionality and less-than-stellar video playback. But then, we both already watch HDTV on a daily basis, and have made the commitment to HD-DVD playback on our systems (but without a 7.1 or 8-channel audio requirement). Those who want a low-end media PC should be prepared to accept its limitations on playback and overall performance. Within those limits, it will do the job, but outside them it falls down quickly.

The back of the low end system

Starting with the $766 build, it's possible to create a more powerful media PC and keep the price in the under $800 range. A cheaper yet power supply and DVD burner could bring the price down another $100 or so, and possibly forgoing the HDTV capture card for those who watch only standard television, would drop the price by another $80. Then you can increase performance significantly by adding another 512 MB ($50) to the system's existing 512 MB of RAM and by adding a passively cooled 7600 GT graphics card with 256 MB of RAM ($120). The added RAM gives your media PC more room to work with the images it must produce and the added graphics card will make fast motion standard-definition DVD content much more viewable, especially if you feed your receiver or HD TV set through the motherboard's HDMI port. Final price: $796.