XP MCE or MediaPortal?

[Marke522]

Hi, thanks for reading.

I'm upgrading my board and cpu next week to an ASUS P5PE-VM and a Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe next week. I was thinking about getting XP Media Center Edition. A few of my friends have it, and they keep talking about it like it's the best thing since sliced bread.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131029 Board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115004 CPU

A few of the reviews on that board from Newegg say that it crashes with MCE, but everyone else seems to love it, aside from the memory running at 354 instead of 400. I don't think that's the boards fault though. Maybe the processor. Someone else said the Conroe wasn't able to run at full speed, only 1.4 instead of 1.8.

ANYWAY -- to get back on topic -- how many out there have tried MediaPorta? I just read about it 5 minutes ago on another forum, and went to the site, and the interface strangley enough looks very simliar to MCE. I think I'll give it a try before speding $100 on another OS when I allready have XP Home.

Thanks, Mark.

[glc]

The slow memory and processor issue only happens when you use the onboard video instead of a video card.

If you already have XP Home, don't waste your money on MCE. You are doing this upgrade as a stopgap till you are ready to build a new box for Vista, right?

[Marke522]

Actaully today someone at work was asking why don't I put Vista on this new build, rather than build another computer for it later. It seems it should be more than powerful enough for it. I wasn't even thinking about it at the time, didn't want to be one of the guinea pigs.

But if you say go for it, and my box that we talked about in the other thread would work for it, then I might just do it. I've read that there is a Vista that inlcudes all the bells and whistles that made MCE so appealing. Not sure if that's Home Premium or what the exact title is. Never seen an OS with so many variations.

[Statica]

Both Home Premium and Ultimate have Media Center.

[Marke522]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116202
Can only find the OEM in the 32 bit.

Found 64 bit, but it's a 3 pack. I don't think I'll ever need 3, but I do have 4 computers in the house now that run XP, so maybe someday I'll be able to use them all.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116205

Can't really do the retail thing, well...I could, but don't see the reason to spend an additional $100 or so if I don't have to. Can the retail be installed on more than one computer at a time?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116142

Thanks.

I was building this pc as a stop gap for another year or so if not longer, but I thought I would make this thread anyway to see what others had to say. Someone at work made me think a bit and said "Why not?" Then I wouldn't have to build another machine for Vista later if I allready had it. Maybe I should ask him to buy it for me.

[glc]

No, one copy, one computer. I really think you should just migrate your existing XP over to the upgrade, that won't cost you a cent.

[Marke522]

Know anything about MediaPortal? Or is there another program that you might use that would be simliar? I don't really need a media center, I was mainly wanting to do it to A.) Make the new build a bit different, and B.) Have something to do after it was all together.

Just a bit tired of the same old same thing.

[glc]

Why not just wait till you go with Vista?

[Marke522]

A few reasons I'm building this new one is:

A.) My mothers computer went kaplooey, so I could either spend a few hundred dollars on something for her, OR give her the old Athlon 1400+ my 10 yeard old has, and spend the few hundred dollars on myself, giving my daughter my current rig. The only person out of the 3 that will notice any difference would be myself. My mother had my first Compaq, AMD K6(2)@533 with 98SE. Got to the point where it would boot and doing anything else was asking too much. Not gonna bother working on it anymore, I'll just give her the one upstairs with XP allready on it and ready to go.

B.) My brother and I just built a screaming fast rig, perhaps you remember my posts, with a 4800+ Toledo on a Asus A8N32 Deluxe. VERY NICE. Well, after spending a few days on his, then coming home to my good ol' Socket A, I guess I was jealous, and decided it was time for an upgrade.

I don't NEED anything different at all. Just getting itchy I guess.

Staying with XP will allow me to spend more time working on the house anyway. We have a basement that is all torn apart and needs to be framed and drywalled. But working on new computers is so much more exciting.

[glc]

Oh, I'm not telling you not to upgrade your system now - just suggesting you wait to get Vista later.

[Marke522]

I see, I misunderstood the "wait".

I spoke with a few of my buddies on TeamSpeak (I play in a clan for Call of Duty 2) and told them all I was going to be off-line for about a week while I get my new rig up and running, and that I was going to Core2Duo.

They all said "Yea! Allright!! You'll love it!!"

Then I said I was thinking about getting Vista for the new machine.

They all said "NOOO! Don't do it!! You'll hate it!!"

One had a BETA and he never got the drivers working correctly for his video card, I think he was trying to go SLi, don't remember. Others had tried it also somehow, didn't really inquire about it at the time because I was still running Socket A.

BTW, what the heck are you doing up so late?