Building a budget media PC

One of the great features of Windows Vista Home Premium is Windows Media Center, which provides an easy route to building a PVR to replace the clunky VCR that's still parked under your TV.

A Media Center PC needn't be expensive either. In fact, you can use many of the same components we use in our gaming rig. You'll want a more lounge-friendly case, of course, but you can grab a classy-looking SilverStone LC10S for £70.49 inc VAT from Scan, which will be perfect.

You won't need a killer gaming graphics card either, although it's a good idea to invest in a half-decent GPU that can handle video better than integrated graphics. A good compromise is Sapphire's HD 2400 Pro, which costs £27.37 inc VAT and has all ATI's Avivo features, as well as an S-Video output. Its 3D performance will be crippled by its 64-bit memory interface, but this doesn't matter if you use it only for video playback.

The next component on your shopping list is a TV tuner card, and your best bet here is to buy a dual-tuner card; you can then watch digital TV and record programmes on another channel at the same time. Hauppauge makes such a card, called the WinTV Nova-TD 500, and it costs just £51.11 inc VAT. You'll also need a remote control for controlling Windows Media Center, but you can pick up a Speed-Link model from Scan for just over a tenner.

One final factor to consider is that some media cases are somewhat lacking in the height department, and won't be able to accommodate a Freezer 7 Pro cooler. However, you can pick up a Zalman CPS7500 ALCU cooler for &pound;23.99 from <a href="http://www.quietpc.com/uk" target="_self">www.quietpc.com/uk</a>, which is quite short, but still a great, quiet cooler.

• Tidy your cables
• Modify an MSI Wind
• Hide your ATX power cables
• Monitor your PC with an analogue meter
• Cool your VRMs
• Make your own SSD for less than £20
• Create a 3D animated Logo
• Set up a secure browsing environment
• Remove motherboard heatsinks and heatpipes
• Remove a GPU cooler

These are the most popular features articles over the past three months.

• Intel Core i7 - all you need to know
• VIDEO: 6GHz plus: Overclocking the E8600 with liquid nitrogen
• How to add any song to Guitar Hero 3
• The FAIL Feature
• How to get a cooler Radeon HD 4870 with manual fan speed control
• Interview with Hardcore Computer: The quest for a full immersion cooled desktop PC
• Ten Technologies that can Revolutionise PCs
• VIDEO: Dream PCs 2008: Scan's Great White
• Inside Intel's SSD
• Wishlist for a next-gen EeePC