I'm thinking of setting up a HTPC. What hardware would you suggest?
I'm thinking of setting up a HTPC. What hardware would you suggest?
What do you want this PC to do?
"I am the one who knocks."- Heisenberg
I guess you would need to start with:
- a large HD display/screen
- a multi speaker system
- and a PC
?
I'm building one next month. It will be:
Antec Fusion case
MSI K8NGM2-FID Mobo
This is Skt 939, but there's an AM2 version too. Has onboard DVI, VGA, S-video, component so you don't need a graphics card unless you're wanting a gaming machine. Has onboard optical sound too.
Either Western Digital WD3200KS or Seagate Barracuda 7200.10.
Both are 320GB with good performance, and both around £70/$100.
On top of that, I'm using an old Athlon64 3000+ and 1GB DDR (dual channel helps with the graphics for that mobo). A decent and quietish PSU comes with the case, but if I needed one or had extra cash I'd get a Seasonic S12-430 - super quiet and very efficient.
You'll probably need a TV card if you want to do PVR type functions, but what type depends on what you want to connect to it (aerial, set-top box etc.).
If it's going in a living room on a TV I'd recommend Windows Media Centre Edition, and the MS remote control and/or keyboard would be a good buy too.
Just suggestions, but I've done a fair bit of research. Let us know how you get on, I'd definitely be interested.
Last edited by Skillian; 09-24-2006 at 05:25 PM.
Some of those sites are pretty useful, but the "Building a Home Theater PC" articles are 3/4 years old - a lot's changed since then.
I just got myself a 320GB Seagate ST3320620AS.
Perpendicular Recording!
HTPC
Biostar XE T5
i5-750 @ 4.0 GHZ stable (CM Hyper 212)
2 x 2GB Cosair XMS3 DDR3 1600MHZ
Radeon 5850 @ 866/1254MHZ
Intel X25-M in RAID 0
WD Caviar Black 2TB in RAID 0
3 x Asus 25.5" VW266H LCD [Eyefinity]
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