How to Build Media Computers

The term media computer can be used loosely to describe a computer system that is built to perform well at playing audio and video. More often a media PC means one that is built to be quiet in a living room atmosphere, one that is small and looks nice. The media PC is also expected to be able to play Internet files as well as DVDs and computer videos.

• 1

  Define the exact purpose for your media PC. If you try to make a media PC that does everything it probably won't do anything as well as it could and may cost a lot more money.

• 2

  Buy all of the parts you need. This will include a motherboard, case, CPU, fan and heat sink, memory, video and sound cards, and an optical drive. You will also need an operating system. Purchase parts that are the right size and can fit into your case. The most important piece is a motherboard that is small in size such as the mini itx. Make sure all of your hardware fits onto your motherboard.

• 3

  Assemble the parts in the case. The motherboard will screw into the bottom of the case and the CPU will be put in the CPU slot and be covered by the CPU Fan and heat sink. Put the RAM in the memory slots and screw in the hard drives, cards and other drives. Connect the power supply to the motherboard and connect all of the cables. You will need the motherboard manual to help determine where to connect everything.

• 4

  Install the operating system. You will need to install an operating system. Something like the Windows media center version may work well. Put the CD in the drive, restart the computer and follow the on-screen instructions to install. Make sure you have all the driver CDs that came with the other hardware nearby.