Hey Everybody. Been thinking about building a HTPC, but am currently on a pretty tight budget... want to price some stuff out and see if it's worth it.
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: In the next month or so.
BUDGET RANGE: $300-$400
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Playing HD/SD Video (mp4, avi, mkv, etc...) HDMI out to my 40 inch LCD TV. Some media serving to Xbox / PS3, web-based streaming to my TV. (hulu etc...) Ripping DVDS.
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, keyboard, mouse. Don't need a blu-ray drive... but probably will want a DVD drive for ripping etc.
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg (tax free, usually free shipping)
PARTS PREFERENCES: I'd prefer Intel for the processor. And would like to go with a small case, as I don't want to add a TON of bulk to my media center.
OVERCLOCKING: Maybe... not all that familiar with it, would rather stay away from anything that will bring reliability issues into play.
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Must be reasonably quiet, IR receiver would be great. Small case, but I would like to have the ability to add a TV tuner card for HD OTA video recording, as well as a better video card if i want to use the computer for light gaming. I've got a 2 TB usb drive that has all my media on it currently, and would like to hang this off this computer, but hard drives are cheap, so i'd like the ability to add an additional internal media drive in the case as well.
A case like this seems like the right fit, but might be a bit expensive for my budget.
Antec NSK1380 Black/ Silver Steel MicroATX Cube Computer Case 350W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129038
Thanks for your help guys.
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: In the next month or so.
BUDGET RANGE: $300-$400
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Playing HD/SD Video (mp4, avi, mkv, etc...) HDMI out to my 40 inch LCD TV. Some media serving to Xbox / PS3, web-based streaming to my TV. (hulu etc...) Ripping DVDS.
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, keyboard, mouse. Don't need a blu-ray drive... but probably will want a DVD drive for ripping etc.
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg (tax free, usually free shipping)
PARTS PREFERENCES: I'd prefer Intel for the processor. And would like to go with a small case, as I don't want to add a TON of bulk to my media center.
OVERCLOCKING: Maybe... not all that familiar with it, would rather stay away from anything that will bring reliability issues into play.
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Must be reasonably quiet, IR receiver would be great. Small case, but I would like to have the ability to add a TV tuner card for HD OTA video recording, as well as a better video card if i want to use the computer for light gaming. I've got a 2 TB usb drive that has all my media on it currently, and would like to hang this off this computer, but hard drives are cheap, so i'd like the ability to add an additional internal media drive in the case as well.
A case like this seems like the right fit, but might be a bit expensive for my budget.
Antec NSK1380 Black/ Silver Steel MicroATX Cube Computer Case 350W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129038
Thanks for your help guys.