I have been watching PCs for some time and waiting to determine when a HTPC would actually be viable and cheap. That time is now. Here are my thoughts on a “virtual HTPC” I have built in my mind. Let me know what you guys think, any changes or additions you might employ. My entering argument is that I want a machine that will do the following:
1) Be quiet. I don’t want some do it all dongle that whines from spinning hard drives/cruddy DVD players/numerous fans.
2) Draw as little power as possible(goes along with being quiet because the more watts you pull the more fans have to exhaust the heat)
3) Store all my music/movies/photos(i.e. no more watching my kids/wife destroy my media by leaving it out or improper handling)
4) Don’t care about playing PC games at all
5) Have a front end that will allow me to access all of my media with a wireless keyboard
Based on those assumptions here is what I think would work best and why. Let me know if you agree/disagree(if you disagree please provide an alternative solution or state that there is none and the HTPC is not really ready for prime time yet):
Case-Antec M FusionRemote 350(microATX HTPC case w/350w P/S that is 80% efficient, room for one HDD and one Optical Drive)$89
M/B-Asus M4A785TD-M Evo(has onboard ATI Radeon4200 that can pass 1080P video and uncompressed 7.1 audio via HDMI)$94.99
Ram-4GB DDR3 1600(DDR3 runs at 1.5v not 1.8v like DDR2 so less power draw and it has twice the buses of DDR2) $85
CPU-AMD Sempron 140 Sargas 2.7Ghz single core(only draws 45w, needs no fan only heatsink, still pretty fast, cheap)$35.99
HDD-Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB(big, cheap, low power draw)$85
O/S-Windows 7 Home Premium(comes with Windows Media Center, easier to run than XP or Vista which were hogs)$105
Wireless Keyboard w/trackball or touchpad-IOGEAR GKM561R(this seems kinda spendy may be able to find better)$49.99
1) Be quiet. I don’t want some do it all dongle that whines from spinning hard drives/cruddy DVD players/numerous fans.
2) Draw as little power as possible(goes along with being quiet because the more watts you pull the more fans have to exhaust the heat)
3) Store all my music/movies/photos(i.e. no more watching my kids/wife destroy my media by leaving it out or improper handling)
4) Don’t care about playing PC games at all
5) Have a front end that will allow me to access all of my media with a wireless keyboard
Based on those assumptions here is what I think would work best and why. Let me know if you agree/disagree(if you disagree please provide an alternative solution or state that there is none and the HTPC is not really ready for prime time yet):
Case-Antec M FusionRemote 350(microATX HTPC case w/350w P/S that is 80% efficient, room for one HDD and one Optical Drive)$89
M/B-Asus M4A785TD-M Evo(has onboard ATI Radeon4200 that can pass 1080P video and uncompressed 7.1 audio via HDMI)$94.99
Ram-4GB DDR3 1600(DDR3 runs at 1.5v not 1.8v like DDR2 so less power draw and it has twice the buses of DDR2) $85
CPU-AMD Sempron 140 Sargas 2.7Ghz single core(only draws 45w, needs no fan only heatsink, still pretty fast, cheap)$35.99
HDD-Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB(big, cheap, low power draw)$85
O/S-Windows 7 Home Premium(comes with Windows Media Center, easier to run than XP or Vista which were hogs)$105
Wireless Keyboard w/trackball or touchpad-IOGEAR GKM561R(this seems kinda spendy may be able to find better)$49.99
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