Thread: Buying an HTPC any suggestions?

I have quite a bit of experience building PCs from the ground up but I have no experience with HTPCs the motherboards needs to be smaller and power supplies need to have wattage+breathing room. I have some guesses but no idea as to what the best thing is to get. Can I still get a decent video card of will I have to get some crap made for a MINI ITX board?




I am looking for recommendations.

Thanks.

Antec make a HTPC case called the Fusion that will take a standard microATX board. You could team that with an Asus Maximus III gene board as the base for a fairly meaty HTPC and use a standard PCI express x16 GPU.

The maximus 3 has all the features you'd expect from a full size motherboard.

It's difficult to make a recommendation without knowing a bit more about what you want to use the machine for.

Do you want to build a miniturised gaming PC or do you want something that is quiet and unobtrusive to stick under the TV and watch movies on?

Or maybe something in between the two?

I second bkitching. Knowing more about what you want to do with it would help with advice on a custom.

I have to say though, if you are not against going OEM I can point you in the direction of a 15-20% off Dell Outlet code.

I picked up a Zino HD400 there for $225 about 3 months ago, and it does a damn good job. It was a scratch-n-dent item, but the only mar was a small scuff on the bottom.

Specs on mine:

AMD Athlon X2 3250e (dual core)
4GB of 800MHz DDR2 SODIMM
320GB 7200 rpm HD
802.11 a/b/g/n wireless
ATI radeon HD4330
Windows 7 premium (legit from Dellio)
8X DVDRW (blu-ray optional)


So far mine has been great. Small at 8"x8"x4"......and with those specs I could not have built it for that money. Granted, it ain't no gaming rig, but for size, quietness and any media I throw at it it's great.

Inspiron Zino HD Desktop | Dell

I am definitely looking for a media center. It has to have to ability to play full 1080p video and possibly 5.1 sound. Getting that type of sound card may be too much for such as small case as HTPCs

Originally Posted by Manute

I second bkitching. Knowing more about what you want to do with it would help with advice on a custom.

I have to say though, if you are not against going OEM I can point you in the direction of a 15-20% off Dell Outlet code.

Thanks for the offer but I am a custom man to my SOUL! I don't mind paying a bit more if I know what is in my PC and I can switch out one part down the road instead of buying an entirely new rig. Plus if something fails it's usually a user error and I just fix it myself instead of waiting on the phone for some CSR in fucking New Dehli to understand what that the power supply is broken and I know it and I am NOT going to unplug for 30seconds and wait........


Sorry, thats why I don't do OEM I have post traumatic stress disorder

you can get a low profile sound card like this one:

ASUS Xonar D1 - Review - Asus Xonar D1 - move over creative, your time is up.

Should fit in a pretty small case

I agree about building a machine yourself, technical support from the big companies makes me angry...

I'd go with Hardware Rev's build here: Hardware Revolution
Can't say much about the HTPC, but I made his $850 gaming rig and it blew my expectations away. You have to consider his build; he has excellent sources on his site as well.
Cheers!

Originally Posted by Djdef

I am definitely looking for a media center. It has to have to ability to play full 1080p video and possibly 5.1 sound. Getting that type of sound card may be too much for such as small case as HTPCs

If you are just looking for playback and network streaming, then instead of an HTPC, I suggest you check out the WD TV LIVE PLUS: The WD TV Live Community – WD TV Live Plus - Main Page

Can handle 1080p and dts 5.1 sound, as well as streaming from Netflix and your other PCs / Media servers.

If you want to record then you'll have to build an HTPC.

I'm also looking for a Home Theatre solution. In the past I've built my own PCs but it's been that long that I'm considering buying something already assembled because it takes so long to research.

Would it be possible to use a netbook? They have video outputs.