I finally gave a Home Theater PC a shot and am so impressed I don’t know how I got along without one. I am currently in the process of loading all of my CDs on to it. I really like how Windows Media Player puts all of the album covers and track names in its library. I no longer will have any need for the original CDs other than as backups.
Surfing the web on my HDTV is a blast as well.
I am not really a gamer, but I must say that Xbox on the bottom of my stereo rack is pretty cool. A friend of mine gave it to me two weeks ago. He had modified it so now it has I think every Nintendo and Super Nintendo game ever made on it. I have logged several hours already on Contra, Iron Tank, Tetris, and Bionic Commando. Takes me back to my childhood nicely!
This is a ghetto rig HTPC. The board is a retail Intel board with a P4 3.6GHz and 1GB of RAM. Graphics via a XFX 8600GTS. The major parts I had lying in a box. I bought a new 500GB drive, one rated to be very quiet at slientpcreview.com. Everything has the stock fan on it and the video card sounds like a leaf blower in 3D mode.
I already have all the parts to water cool this, but need to first fabricate a bracket to replace the rear fans which will allow my water line disconnects to be installed. Then it will be totally fanless aside from the 120mm in the power supply. The supply is a seasonic which is also rated to be very quiet.
Once water cooling is in place and I like how everything works, I will probably get a new board and a Core 2 Quad which I will overclock the hell out of. I also want to replace the video card with one which has HDMI built in. Lastly I will get a Blu-Ray drive and scrap my Sony S300 standalone Blu-Ray player.
I did not get a tuner for this and have no plans to. I don’t have any TV service as it is (no cable or sat), and I am so far out in the middle of nowhere there are next to no over the air HD channels.
I am clueless with Linux, so I never considered that route.
Wakeup wrote:Bunch of us here can probably help...
I work at a puter store...(senior tech...Cuz I'm old... )
Prices?? I would want some good components and a lot of storage room, but after that I'm clueless. I guess I would want it HD capable also, with a Blu-ray burner. I'm guessing that last part will break the bank huh??
How much did you spend Doc? I like the looks of it, is there a dvd drive of any sort on it??
There is a DVD drive. The HTPC case I purchased requires you to remove the front of your drive, and use some double sided tape to stick an aluminum panel on it instead. I also had to slightly extend the button adapter so it just touched my eject button on the DVD drive. All this was simple, but still the hardest part of the whole project.
I got a 500GB hard drive for it think $120. The case was also $120 I think. The graphics card, motherboard, RAM, and processor were free, so I have $240 plus shipping into it.
I just ordered a $170 keyboard, so that in itself added quite a bit to the project.
Here is a review of the case with photos about how the drives need to be changed…
Wakeup wrote:Bunch of us here can probably help...
I work at a puter store...(senior tech...Cuz I'm old... )
Prices?? I would want some good components and a lot of storage room, but after that I'm clueless. I guess I would want it HD capable also, with a Blu-ray burner. I'm guessing that last part will break the bank huh??
How much did you spend Doc? I like the looks of it, is there a dvd drive of any sort on it??
You really dont have to spend a whole ton of money on a HTCP.
It is not like a regular PC in that you need it to do a very limited amount of things. A PC has been able to play movies and music for a long time...
'98 Maxima gone
'03 350z gone
08' Silverado gone
13' Audi S4
My main area of interest with HTPCs is small form factor and total silence.
I've been pretty interested in building a VIA-based mini-ITX system to do this for a while but I can never justify the costs because I'm not already invested in an HDTV or programming (duh). It would only serve half the purpose I would want that kind of investment to serve.
I'd want an HTPC that can both act as a normal PC for day to day stuff (web, mail, etc.) as well as a media center and DVR that can record TV, play movies, play music, etc.
Without an HD display, only half of that is realized as daily computer tasks on an SD TV isn't worth attempting due to the low resolution.
Bfowler wrote:^you can buy a x-box for under $100, add a hard drive and you are set.
HTPC for ~150
Hmm, will it be able to play HD content ? I'm seeing lots more HD movies/tv especially in MKV format. I'd want something that can output HD signal + 5.1 audio. Can I do this for $150 ?
that looks great eric....maybe i should do the same for the proc cooling, throw away the heatsink and replace it with one of those .
Just got mine completed a month ago and must say, HTPC is great when its workin fine, took me some time though to get it working properly under vista with the stupid EDID issues. But now ,hddvd , bluray,avi,mkv .... it's all good . especially hi-def porn on the big screen is sweeet
" If u know the rules, then u can break them " - Vidal S
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Damn shady hacker-types.
