萬法唯心 - Impermanence

Since 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.