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I'm considering setting up a PC as a Media Center. Mainly to watch movies (ideally HD quality) and listening to music, but also to perform tasks like e-mail, web browsing, ...
I quite like the looks and the price of this barebone: http://www.asus.de/Barebone_PC/S_Series_7L/S2P8H61E
However it comes with integrated graphics and audio and only has one free PCI-Express slot. Which would mean in the worst case, where both integrated graphics and audio turn out to be insufficient, I could only upgrade one.
So is integrated graphics and audio sufficient for a media center solution?
Cheers, Will
1In this configuration, any Integrated Graphics (or lack thereof) is the responsibility of your CPU, not the motherboard. I was actually bitten by this issue myself on a similar build (I installed a quad core i5, which I hadn't realised does not include integrated intel graphics, so had to add a graphics card). If you select an appropriate Core i3 with integrated HD Graphics you should be fine. – PJC – 2012-11-10T09:31:00.363
Thanks, I was thinking of buying the Intel Core i3 2100 BOX, 3.1GHz, LGA 1155, 2C/4T. – Will – 2012-11-10T09:33:25.807
Can't speak for US pricing, but here in the UK you can get the 3225 for £20 more (~€30) and it'll happily handle whatever HTPC tasks you throw at it. – Richard – 2012-11-10T10:21:07.127