I have been thinking about building a HTPC for a while now (over a year). However, the past year has been very busy and I never got the time. A few months ago, I was working in Canberra and my client there told me about his HTPC, which again awakened my desire to build my own. I spec'ed out a system and finally, today, I went out and bought all the pieces. Read on for a description of the specs and why I chose that component.
I have been thinking about building a HTPC for a while now (over a year). However, the past year has been very busy and I never got the time. A few months ago, I was working in Canberra and my client there told me about his HTPC, which again awakened my desire to build my own. I spec'ed out a system and finally, today, I went out and bought all the pieces. Read on for a description of the specs and why I chose that component. One of the most important criteria for the HTPC was that it had to be cheap. I did not want to spend over a $1000 on it. So, this one had to balance out cost with capability.
Case: Antec Fusion V2 - $249 from Scorpion Technology Computers
At $249, this is not the cheapest HTPC case around, and it is also the most expensive component in the system. I chose this case over others, as it comes with a 430W Power Supply included as well as VFD and IR receiver. The other case I considered was the Antec Fusion Black at the same price. I felt the Black one looked better. But, it did not have a IR receiver and came with an LCD instead. Not having the IR receiver is not a big deal as the TV Tuner card would have one. The LCD would have been better, but Linux support for the LCD is not available. I may be wrong now as it seems that the LCD does work with the lirc daemon. The Antec also had small extra things to make it extra quiet like silicone grommets to reduce HD vibrations.
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H - $99 from Scorpion Technology Computers
When I initially spec'ed the system, I chose a Asus M2A-VM-HDMI as it was one of the cheapest boards ($120) available with onboard TV-Out capabilities in the mATX range. However, when I went to buy a board, I chose the Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H instead. It was cheaper and better. The Gigabyte has proper independant HDMI and DVI outputs, whereas the Asus had only one port for DVI and HDMI requiring an adaptor. It was also available at a special price of $99.
CPU - AMD Athlon64 AM2 4000+ - $81 from MSY Computers
I wasn't too fussed on whether I got Intel or AMD. It turned out both the motherboards I shortlisted were for AM2 sockets, so that helped in narrowing my choice to the AMD Athlon64. I decided to go with the 2.1GHz 4000+ instead of the higher ones simply to keep costs down. As per the MythTV wiki, that should give me enough power two easily record two programs at once and maybe even stream a third stream to the output. Hence, I didn't see a need to go with a higher spec.
TV Tuner - Dvico HDTV Dual Digital 4 - $155 from Nexus Computers
The most important component of the system. This was a hard one to choose. My client in Canberra swears by Dvico. However, I wanted something that will work with MythTV. Also, from what I've heard USB TV Tuners are to be avoided as they are very unreliable. I preferred a dual card as that would allow the recording of two channels at once. Also, a lot of the Dual cards on the market have one PCI and the other USB. The Dvico Dual Digital 4 is the first one that has both decoders through the PCI bus. Thanks to some contributors from Brisbane, this card has also been shown to work under MythTV. The price is also extremely reasonable.
RAM - Kingston 1GB 667 DDR2 single stick - $40 from Scorpion Technology Computers
As per the MythTV wiki, 1 GB will be more than enough for a dedicated system. As such, I saw no need to go for a higher value. A Generic 1GB stick was available from MSY Computers for $31, but I decided to stick with a brand name in this case. I have had far too many bad experiences with Generic memory devices
Hard drive - Samsung HD501LJ 500GB SATA II - $150 from Landmark Computers
The first choice to make here was what capacity to get. HD TV takes up about 7 GB/ hour with standard TV about 2.2 GB / hr. The best price / capacity price point ended up being the Samsung 500GB drive. The higher capacity drives were significantly more expensive. For eg, a 750GB drive was nearly $300. On the day I was about to buy this drive, I also came across a Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II; drive from Scorpion Technology for the same price. A quick check on a few hardware review sites said that the Samsung was a much better device, so that whats I got.
DVD Burner - AOpen Dual Layer DVD-RW - $39 from MSY Computers
Initially, I was not planning on buying a DVD burner, but just salvage an old DVDROM from my other systems. This is because my laptop has a burner and I could always copy files across when I needed them. However, the DVDROM was no longer working and a new DVDROM was only slightly cheaper at $25. My initial choice as a Liteon Dual Layer burner, but they were not in stock, so just got the AOpen one. I don't think I will be using the burner much, so am not too worried about this. As long as it plays DVDs fine, I'll be happy.
Wireless card - No name card salvaged from my sister's computer
She doesn't use the wireless card, so I took it out from her computer. She probably won't even notice it missing. :)
This makes up all the components that I have purchased for the HTPC system. Over the next few months, I will slowly start putting it together when I get time here and there. The total cost of the system comes to about $813, quite a bit better than my budget of $1000.
Next challenge is to put the hardware together and then figure out the software installation.
Crazyguy.org
http://www.crazyguy.org/article.php?story=20071103192901414