HTPC

[Dragon]

I'm looking to build a decent low-budget home theater pc. This will primarily be for playing blu-rays & as an emulation system (nes, snes, n64, etc). Has anyone here built their own? What setup are you running? Thanks!

[Dragon]

No one has a htpc? I'm probably going with an inexpensive low-power cpu like the AMD 4850e. I need to find a motherboard with a built-in gpu capable of hd & a htpc case that looks okay...

[EvolutionXtacy]

ill help u out there my pc is all around, so yea here are my specs

Mother board: ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX
^^^ has a built in ATI 3300HD on board gfx 128mb DDR3, but i recommend u get a new gfx but make sure u get a ATI chipset one. since this mother board supports crossfire X.Â* also has 2 PCI-E slots which is a A+++++ in my book

CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor

Memory: G. SKILL 4GB (2x 2GB sticks) DDR2 800mhz

GFX:ATI CHIPSET Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 <~ if u want to do gaming not recommended; but plays blue-rays like a charm :D

hard drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM <~ 84.99 on new egg (= steal :D

sound card: well im using my stock sound card. but since u doing a home theater pc get a 7.1 if ur doing surround.

CD/DVD drivers: ur basic 8x /24x cd/dvd driver..
If u want blu ray >>Sony Optiarc Black 2X BD-ROM
Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* 8X DVD-ROM
Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â*24X CD-ROM
Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â*SATA Internal 2X BD-ROM
^^^ i dont have blu-ray but if i wanted to Optiarc would be my choice

cooling: Cool Master 120mm Green LED Case Fan

^^ i got 2 of these one for the front (intake) and one for the read (exhaust) just like a car.. haha suck in the air..dispose of the hot air lol

power suppy: COOLMAX CUG-950B 950W

^^ can keep ur PC runnig the way it should be (=

monitor:Sony - BRAVIA / 26" Class / 720p / 60Hz / LCD HDTV <~~ yea my TV is my monitor xD

well thats all i have in my PC please note * i started off with a media model pc form gatewat that i bought for 300 dollar and for the past year i have been replacing an adding on new parts that i listed above..so its a semi build. by the time i finished with my build.. i had another desktop so win win :D

sheesh sorry for the long post lol hand hurts and alot of boxes of the parts i listed on my bed lol

[jscupp]

All you need is a decent core 2 duo or above. I run Boxee on my core 2 duo pc with 1080p videos ripped using Makemkv from Blu-Ray discs. I have my entire music, picture, video collection at my fingertips. You don't need a super powerful pc to do this. I would recommend a mac mini with Plex, but macs don't play blu-ray.

You shouldn't need to spend more than $200-300.