Wasney's Blog

First of all, this is the goal of the PC I am making…

• The ability to constantly seed my torrents, so that I can maintain decent ratios on several sites
• Be able to access the media on the PC from any other computer in the home, and also my Xbox 360
• Have the computer hooked into my tv, with a easy to use interface for accessing youtube and content stored on the PC.

Now that I know what I want…after doing a little of research it will be a very simple project. I happen to have a older Windows XP based machine. This is what I plan on doing:

• Upgrade to a total of 2GB of RAM. More then enough for what I am doing, a little extra to be on the safe side.
• Install a graphics card with either a DVI or HDMI output, so I can access my media easily on the television.
• Fresh install of Windows XP, stripped of all the junk I will not be needing. (I did consider using a different operating system, but for now XP will be very easy to set up, so I will stick with it.)
• Either install a wireless card or put in some Ethernet wire to my bedroom. Also considering other options, but I like the wireless card the most.
• Install and set up Utorrent (with scheduling), XBMC (for accessing media using the television), configure Remote Desktop (so I can tinker with the computer easily from my laptop, and set media drives as sharable (to get to all my media using computers in the house.)

And thats it. VERY simple for me. I can use my wireless keyboard and mouse to access internet and such using the pc, a remote for media (easier then the keyboard/mouse combo).

The PC itself will probably be hidden inside my TV stand, with just the IR receiver for the remote visible. I am also trying to think of ways to make the computer more silent, but do not feel like spending the time/money/effort on water cooling.

I will be sticking up some images as soon as the whole project is complete, I would guess some time within the month’s end.