|
Looking to put together a budget HTPC for the new apartment. We're hooking up to a 37" Toshiba Regza (720p). I've already got 2 500gb external USB 2.0 hard drives full of media and will probably get some more external storage eventually, so looking to put the smallest hard drive possible into the machine itself (just for OS and apps). We have an HD DVR and are unlikely to bother with TV capture on the HTPC. I think the only special requirement (really just a nonbinding preference), is that I have a nice 21" samsung LCD monitor that I used to use with my desktop (which I didn't bring with me to the new place, it's pretty defunct anyway), so ideally I would like to have this monitor set up in my room plugged into the HTPC in the (adjacent) living room. This could easily be accomplished with a 15' DVI or VGA cord. But it does mean that I probably want to be able to have HDMI out to the TV and DVI or VGA out to the monitor simultaneously. Here's what I've put together so far: Case: nMEDIAPC HTPC700BA PSU: Logisys PS480D "480W" (300W) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H CPU: Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Brisbane (bundle from Mwave) RAM: 2 x Crucial 1GB DDR2 667 (bundle from Mwave) Hard drive: Seagate 80GB SATA300 7200rpm DVD: Lite-On lh-20a1p Keyboard: Either Adesso Wireless Rf Mini Multimedia Keyboard with Trackball or nMEDIAPC MCEKB with trackball This build comes out to $373.48 before shipping. Given that we're trying to make this as cheap as possible, is it dumb not to also get a separate graphics card? Does anyone have any substitutions or ideas on better deals? Should I just go ahead and order this already? Also I know basically nothing about what software to run on an HTPC as this will be the first one I've built. I'm sure everyone has a different opinion, but I'd appreciate suggestions on OS and/or Media Management applications. The external hard drives are Buffalo Drivestation 500gbs (which I got for $80 each at Fry's on Black Friday   ) so whatever it is will have to be compatible with those (I doubt that will be a problem). I'm willing to put some effort into learning Linux if there's a compelling argument to go that route over a Windows based system. We are definitely looking for something easy to use and intuitive though. I really appreciate any insight and advice you guys can offer. infix fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Jan 8, 2008 |
#
¿
Jan 8, 2008 00:21
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 20, 2024 08:31 |
|
|
edit: I'm retarded and fixed my problem 20 seconds after making this post.
infix fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Feb 1, 2008 |
|
#
¿
Feb 1, 2008 22:31
|
|