The hardware
While acquiring other hardware was a cinch, I was unable to acquire an HTPC case that was both economical and functional. My issues with the various cases were dominated by the prevalence of cases with small, noisy fans, or no fans at all. Where are the quiet, well-ventilated cases? While my hunt continues, I chose the Antec 300 chassis as an interim stand in.
As I mentioned, grabbing core hardware to do the job was a easy. While the chosen components may not fit everyone with one size, the HTPC’s specifications can easily be upgraded or downgraded depending on your needs. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the products and their role.
A selection of the components used in the HTPC.
Motherboard: DFI Blood-Iron P45-T2RS
Given that nothing in the Blood-Iron is done to excess — including its price — there are few boards with a better price/feature ratio. It has the added benefit of providing some compelling selling points:
- Intel P45 chipset.
- 800/1066/1333 bus support.
- 2x PCI Express 2.0 X16 with CrossFire support.
- Onboard HD 7.1 audio.
- Onboard RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and RAID 5
- Very overclocker-friendly BIOS
There are other slightly more inexpensive options — like the ASUS P5Q SE PLUS, ASUS P5Q Pro, or DFI BloodIron P35-T2RL — that would also work well for the job. On the other end of the price the scale, $300 motherboards mean the sky is practically the limit.
Perhaps even overkill for our task, this is an extremely powerful processor that will handle anything we throw at the HTPC. If a quad seems outlandish, other viable options include the Core 2 Duo E8400, or the Core 2 Duo E7200. As an aside, I really feel that an AMD processor would not do as well for this type of application.
CPU Cooling: XIGMATEK HDT-S1284EE
While you don’t always need super cooling, I believe it is significantly preferred to the stock cooler that Intel provides. I opted for this Xigmatek sink because it is inexpensive and has respectable performance. Had I found an HTPC case that suited my needs, a lower-profile option may have been required, so keep that in mind.
Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
This 4GB memory kit is a high-quality product that is a real bargain. While you could easily go with 2GB of DDR2-SDRAM, memory is so cheap these days that there’s no reason not to go with 4GB. In terms of alternative options, there are so many good manufacturers like Corsair, G. SKILL, and OCZ that it pays to do a little homework.
Graphics Card: Powercolor Radeon HD 4830
We needed a robust and inexpensive card that could make quick work of content from sources like HD-DVD and Blu-ray, and the 4830 fit that bill. Additionally, we chose it because it’s one of the few cards that can process 7.1 audio over an HDMI connector. You’d be surprised how rare this feature is, so be sure to evaluate your choice carefully before finalizing your decision.
Hard Disks:
I decided to run this system with two separate drives: One 80 GB drive is for the operating system and applications, and a second 500 GB drive for storage. Everyone’s storage needs are obviously different, but the use of two separate drives is consistent with my basic philosophy of isolating the OS from my valuable files. Not only can this improve speed, it will definitely improve the reliability of your storage.
In this case, I chose the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST380815A for my OS and programs and the Seagate SV35.3 ST3500320SV for all my storage. I also keep a separate network drive for backups of all of my critical files. This is a good backup practice for everyone!
Optical Drives:
I went for two optical drives on this system, primarily so I could perform on-the-fly copying. I picked the Samsung 22X SH-S223F DVD burner for my heavy usage drive, and the LG Black Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM GGC-220L for playing BD and HD-DVD movies. I didn’t feel as though a good high-definition media system could be complete without the ability to play 1080p movies.
The LG combo drive is a great addition and worked very well once I got the firmware updated. This drive not only allows me to play future titles in the newly emergent Blu-ray standard, but also allows me to buy scads of HD DVDs for cheap. I have saved a ton of money on high-definition movies this way!
TV Tuner Card: Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1800 MCE Kit 1128
A good tuner card is an essential part of any good Media System, and this card has NSTC/ATSC/QAM tuners for DTV, Cable TV, delayed digital recording, and FM radio.
The included remote control is also Windows Media Center-compatible and worked very well with Windows Media Center. It also worked well for DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray playback, as the remote was compatible with the Windows XP MCE UI.
Wi-Fi Connection:
Any new system needs good Wi-Fi so I added the EDIMAX EW-7728In to my system. I chose it for dependability, but really any 802.11G or 802.11n card will do well.
Expandability: nMEDIAPC ZE-C138
I wanted to add more USB2.0 , HD audio, Firewire, and eSATA ports as well as a multi-card reader/writer to the front of the system, and this little gadget gets the job done.
Case: Antec 300
As mentioned above, I found this case to be much better for my needs than any HTPC case for the same price. It has excellent cooling and is still reasonably compact. The best part is that it was only $50!
Power Supply: Corsair CMPSU-650TX
I had originally included a PC Power and Cooling Turbocool 500 for this system, but I decided to up the power a little so as not to fall short if I decided to upgrade a bit down the road. Given the number of positive reviews for this unit, I would have been remiss not to run with it. It is very solid, holds its rails well, has very long cables, and is pleasantly quiet.
Peripherals: Logitech Wireless Slim Cordless Desktop S 510
I thought this would be a good addition to this system and that is all there is to it.
A front-on shot of the final build.
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