Ok... here is a great build for an HTPC. This system will handle all of your HTPC needs. If you are a gamer, it is recommended that you go with an optional add-on video card. You can get this little beauty for $285 plus shipping. The system will be housed in a sharp looking Athenatech HTPC Media Center System Cabinet and will look sharp. all you need is a speaker system, a wireless keyboard with media controls and maybe a wireless mouse pointer and you will have a sharp HTPC setup. below are our recommendations for the HTPC build:
CASE
This is a great little case that will allow add on cards and give you plenty of room for a HDD and a DVD Burner in your HTPC. Detail Specifications Type: ATX Desktop Color: Black Case Material: Aluminum Face Plate / Steel Chassis Power Supply: No Motherboard Compatibility: ATX / m-ATX / Flex ATX With Side Panel Window: No Expansion External 5.25" Drive Bays: 2 External 3.5" Drive Bays: 1 Internal 3.5" Drive Bays: 1 Expansion Slots: 7 Front Ports: 2 x USB2.0 ; 2 x Audio Cooling System: 2 x 80mm rear fan Dimensions: 13 .8' x 7' x 15' ( W x H x D ) Weight: 18 lbs Warranty: 1 year
Athenatech A3701BB HTPC Media Center ATX Desktop System Cabinet - Retail
MOTHERBOARD
Biostar GF8100 M2+ TE GeForce 8100 mATX Motherboard with DVI. This motherboard has onboard video connectors to allow hooking up to a VGA and a DVI/HDMI display. If you are a gamer, then we recommend an add-on video card. This MoBo features the NVIDIA GeForce 8100 chipset and supports up to 8 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 533/667/800/1066 MHz memory!
With onboard NVIDIA GeForce 8100 GPU graphics, Realtek ALC662 6-channel HD Audio and Realtek RTL8201CL 10/100 PHY Ethernet controller, there's no need to buy a separate video card, audio card or network card for your computer! For future upgrades, this Biostar GF8100 M2+ TE Motherboard includes one PCI Express x16 2.0 slot, two PCI slots and two 240-pin DIMM sockets!
Other features include four SATA/300 controllers, 15-pin VGA, DVI-I, 10 USB 2.0 and audio ports. This Biostar GF8100 M2+ TE supports AMD Phenom, Athlon 64 X2, 64, FX and Sempron Socket AM2/AM2+ processors with HyperTransport Technology up to 5.2G!
CPU
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 2.3GHz 2x512KB Socket AM2 Dual-Core CPU. Dual-Core technology is like having two processors, and two working together is better and faster than one working alone! This AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Dual-Core Socket AM2 CPU operates at 2300 MHz Core Speed, features two 512 KB L2 Caches and provides support for future 64-bit applications!
MEMORY
Micron 2GB DDR2 RAM PC2-5300 240-Pin DIMM will be plenty of system memory. if you are a gamer, then get 4GB total. 2 GB of memory capacity provides applications with the room they need run free! Its PC2-5300 rated speed transfers up to 5.3 gigabytes of data per second.
Micron 2GB DDR2 RAM PC2-5300 240-Pin DIMM
HARD DRIVE
A SATA Hard Drive for the OS and some file storage. 250 GB is plenty, if you want more storage, then use another PC on your home network. The Barracuda 7200.10 is the largest, most reliable disc drive around. New perpendicular recording technology supports vertically stored data bits, enabling increased areal density - and dependability - for workstations and performance PCs.
Seagate 250GB SATA/300 7200RPM 8MB HDD
DVD BURNER
This will allow you to Play DVDs and make backup copies of your movie library. This DVD burner writes to DVD±R at 16x, rewrites to DVD-RW at 6x speeds, burns DVD+R DL discs at 8x and reads DVDs at 16x! This drive is capable of burning CD-R media at 48x, 32x CD-RW rewrite speeds and 48x CD-ROM read speeds. The 2 MB buffer offers fast, reliable writing every time! The LightScribe technology allows you to create personalized discs for your pictures, music and movies.
16x DVD±RW DL IDE Drive w/LightScribe (Black)
OPTIONAL for Gamers
This is for the hardcore gamer. The NVidia chipset will speak well with Ubuntu Linux on your HTPC and is recommended. Another factor in recommending this card is the absence of a fan which will make noise. Click on the link below for more info. Geeks.com has low-profile cards with 512mb of memory for the radical gamer.
Put all of this together and add Ubuntu 8.10 OS and you will have an awesome HTPC. Now get going and tell the cable company all you want is internet service and enjoy !
