New HTPC
July 11, 2007 10:52 amSince the computer at home (HK) has been 5 years old now and all the DVD players and recorders are out of order, we have decided to get a HTPC. It’s cheaper and more fun to put together one myself and that’s what we did. There is no need for the best components out there, the priority was
- cost -> space -> performance
After looking at what was available in the Mong Kok Computer Center, the following components were picked:
- 2thMax 7GJ3
- Nice case, very small, came with a power supply and cooling was good
- Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2160
- Asus P5L-VM 1394
- Should have got a more experience one which support DDR2 800 but nevermind
- ADATA 2GB DDR2 800 (1GB x 2)
- Cheap!
- 啟視錄 E500 (Compro) TV card
- Support everything we need + Remote + schedule power on function
- Logitech EX111
- Cordless keyboard & mouse, valuable and good for normal use
- Grandmars ATI x1550 – 128 DDR2 – PCIE
- Lower end – enough for normal use
- LG 18x DVDRW – SATA
- Hitachi 160GB – 7200rpm HD
- from the old computer
All these comes to a total of around $3700 HKD, not much problem while putting it together except that I have cut the metal part of the grahics card to fit it in this low-profile case. Installed Windows XP and the program that comes with the TV card, i.e. ComproDTV, ComproDVD, ComproFM and scheduler. It is a lot faster than my Toshiba Tecra S1 in all aspects!
Out of all the components, I’m most happy with the case, I did look at many cases but most of them are very expensive and aren’t small enough. Could have gone for a barebone from shuttle but it’s generally too expensive. Other HTPC cases are usually a lot more expensive where this one is only $500 including the PSU. You can also choose to have it standing up-right or sideway too.
One Response to “New HTPC”
Nice. My Dell @ my office broke
spent the last few days trying to fix it. It said that my 500GB harddisk was “dirty” I am so annoyed…1 month worth of work :’( Anyway, backed up the important stuff and I formatted the harddisk. I will find out tomorrow if it works. The stupid thing is that DELL uses SATA for the Hard-disk (well its not stupid because its faster, but…BLEH)
Don’t buy Dell…Kawaii sou!!!!!!
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