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Best Configs - Home Theater PC

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Which Home Theater PC do you like the best?

Total: 123 votes (17 blank votes)

  • The Jrb427 Build
  • 22 %
  • The ScrewySqrl Build
  • 65 %
  • The kureme Build
  • 15 %

Our editorial team has selected the top builds submitted by users for our Best Configs feature. Please vote on your favorite of the following builds:

Jrb427
2x Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
ASUS M4A77TD AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
SAPPHIRE 100253HDMI Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Low Profile Ready
COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS-500-PCAR-A3-US 500W ATX12V v2.3 Power Supply
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ
AMD Phenom II X2 550 Callisto 3.1GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Desktop Processor
LG Black Blu-ray Disc Combo SATA Model CH10LS20 OEM LightScribe Support
nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Acrylic / Steel HTPC 6000B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

Link to Build

ScrewySqrl
Classy Wood Case
AS Rock 880G Motherboard
3-core AMD Athlon II X3 Rana 440 processor
4GB of Mushkin DDR3 1333 Ram
Samsung F3 Spinpoint 1 TB Drive
HD 5570 Graphics Card
Rosewill wireless keyboard and mouse
Seasonic 350W 80+ Bronze PSU
Dual-channel HDTV receiver
Blue ray Burner

Link to Build

kureme
ASUS AT5IONT-I Intel Atom D525 (1.8GHz, dual-core) BGA559 Intel NM10 Mini ITX Motherboard/CPU Combo
RAM: 2x Kingston 2GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM Unbuffered DDR3 800 System Specific Memory Model $48.99 +$0.99 Shipping ea = $97.98 + $1.98 Shipping
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $74.99
Case/Power Supply: hec Black 0.7mm Thickness SECC (Japanese Steel Metal) ITX ITX200B Mini ITX Media Center / HTPC Case $49.99 + $9.99 Shipping
DVD Burner: LG Black 8X DVD+R 5X DVD-RAM 6X BD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA Internal Blu-ray Super-Multi Combo DriveModel CT21N - OEM $139.99 + $5.99 Shipping
Wireless Network Adapter: BUFFALO WLI-UC-GN IEEE 802.11b/g, IEEE 802.11n Draft 2.0 USB 2.0 Nfiniti Wireless Ultra-Compact Adapter WPA2, WPA-PSK (AES, TKIP), 128/64-bit WEP $27.99
TV Tuner: KWORLD Hybrid TV Stick UB445-U USB 2.0 Interface $59.99
Wireless Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech Cordless Desktop EX 100 Black 102 Normal Keys USB RF Wireless Standard Keyboard and Mouse $29.99 + $2.99 Shipping

Link to Build

More about : configs home theater

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I'm sorry but ScrewySqrl's description is lacking. "Blueray burner", how about part numbers? This is a parts list not a general description. How about:
"fast processor, lots of memory, large hard drive" come on. Even if some of the parts he did list were better than the other builds, I find his lack of detail not worth my vote.
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DaddyW123 said:
I'm sorry but ScrewySqrl's description is lacking. "Blueray burner", how about part numbers? This is a parts list not a general description. How about:
"fast processor, lots of memory, large hard drive" come on. Even if some of the parts he did list were better than the other builds, I find his lack of detail not worth my vote.
The lists are abbreviated descriptions. If you click the "Link to build" you'll get the exact part listed. Screwy's list (if you clicked the link) is actually quite detailed.

@Jrb427
The processor you chose heats too much; 2 HDD is overkill unless you're willing to do RAID-1 for safety and use it as NAS; the motherboard is the heart of your rig so you shouldn't save on it.

a side note... why didn't anybody include a laser disk drive in thier build... i'd love to watch my mallrats laser disk on one of these ;) 

kids these days with thier lack of backwards compatability in mind

I picked ScrewySqrl's build because it's the only one here that can support HD audio bitstreaming over HDMI. The HD4650 and the ION2 do not support Dolby TrueHD/DTS MA.

I am surprised there are no H55/Clarksdale builds in this list. For HTPCs, I would consider that the ultimate solution since it's the one that gets you HD audio bitstreaming over HDMI without the need for a discrete graphics card and is also going to be the lowest power consumption. Even the 5770 is overkill for an HTPC but at least it has the latest audio support.

I personally would not build any of these 3 builds.



K2N hater said:
@Jrb427
The processor you chose heats too much; 2 HDD is overkill unless you're willing to do RAID-1 for safety and use it as NAS; the motherboard is the heart of your rig so you shouldn't save on it.


Two 1TB HDDs is not overkill.

I have 4 1TB HDDs in my HTPC to store media.

jaguarskx said:
Two 1TB HDDs is not overkill.

I have 4 1TB HDDs in my HTPC to store media.


I concur, my HTPC(Member Configuration) has a 500 GB OS drive and 1.5TB Media Drive. In 3 months I've filled 1.2TB. WMC saves High Def in pretty large files, and those 2 hour Hell's Kitchen are like 12GB each.

I would delete them but there something special about watching Gordon Ramsey calling some flat-faced ex-stripper a "F-ing donkey!! GET OUT!"

Also I voted for Squirrel as well because of the HD Bitstreaming.

cmcghee358 said:
I concur, my HTPC(Member Configuration) has a 500 GB OS drive and 1.5TB Media Drive. In 3 months I've filled 1.2TB. WMC saves High Def in pretty large files, and those 2 hour Hell's Kitchen are like 12GB each.

I would delete them but there something special about watching Gordon Ramsey calling some flat-faced ex-stripper a "F-ing donkey!! GET OUT!"

Also I voted for Squirrel as well because of the HD Bitstreaming.



thanks. One thing that should help with my build is I included a Blu-Ray *burner*. so you can convert those shows you really want to keep into blu-ray discs and take em off the hard drive

Hi All -- new to the forum.

All of the nice HTPC builds I see posted here are in the $600 range. Can you still build a respectable HTPC that can stream HT quality content (i.e. network channels) and act as a DVR w/ tuner card for around $400?

I'm in the "gotta sell it to the wife" stage... as we already stream through our PS3 and are going to drop cable. $400-450 is a much easier sell than $550-650.

Here's a build that I've seen floating around... how can I shave a few bucks off it?




Best,
Zach

sixty8falcon
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