My $400ish HTPC

[ngrigsby]

Bought and assembled my MediaPortal HTPC about a month ago, with a goal to keep the cost under $400 (with some repurposing of older parts). Just about made it. Here are the specs:

Case: Antec Solution Series NSK2400
Motherboard: Asus M2NPV-VM
CPU: AMD Sempron 64 3000+
RAM: Kingston ValueRam 512MB (2x256MB)DDR2 533
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint P Series 250GB (OEM)
TV Tuner: PowerColor T55E-P03
CD/DVD: Repurposed MSI 52xCDRW,16xDVD Combo Drive
Keyboard & Mouse: Repurposed Logitech Wireless Combo
Remote: Repurposed ATI Remote Wonder
OS: Windows XP Pro (free from school)

Pics and more details on my blog:
http://web.mit.edu/ngrigsby/www/

I'm pretty happy so far. Took me a while to configure everything properly. I still have had a few seemingly random skipped recordings, I suspect related to wake-up issues. For some reason, hibernating seems to be more reliable than stand-by.

My biggest frustration has been my inability to get the system to wake with the Remote Wonder. Have tested the advice of several posts to no avail. System definitely gets power to the USB device, but just doesn't wake. Some posts suggest the Remote Wonder just can't do it. I dunno. Looks like I'm stuck with the power button for now. The indignity!

Thanks to the MediaPortal community for their support!

[Lyxalig]

When you get the money, I encourage you to upgrade your RAM to 1GB..

[Spragleknas]

-deleted-

Sorry!


EDIT: Might as well put somthing usefull here...

I build a simular rig for a friend:

NSK 2400
Asus AM2 nF430/6150 mobo
AMD64 3200+
1 GB DDR667
320 GB Seagate HDD
Hauppauge 150MCE
NEC DVD-RW - SILVER
... the silvered NEC mathes the case very well.


Rig works like a charm (using MP 0.2.0.4 and MCE... as OS only, off course)

[DonBogo]

Same buget and same conclusion, I've planned to by the Asus M2NPV-VM motherboard too.
I have just one doubt about this mobo: how about the AUDIO out ? I've found only analog out in it's datasheet, S/PDIF still only inside.
Do you use it ? Did you found easily an adapter from the internal connector the the standard coaxial (is it coaxial?) connector ?
(I want to buy it from an italian web shop but they haven't this adapter!!)

Thanks

[Ralph]

Hi guys,

I'm trying to build a HTPC for my girlfriend, too. Just small budget.
Looking at your specifications I'm wondering how do you pay only $400 for that?
Could you please post the prices you paid for the each item, please?
Even searching at Ebay for low prices it's hard to get a full HTPC for less than $400.

Regards
Ralph

[ngrigsby]

Originally Posted by Ralph

Hi guys,

I'm trying to build a HTPC for my girlfriend, too. Just small budget.
Looking at your specifications I'm wondering how do you pay only $400 for that?
Could you please post the prices you paid for the each item, please?
Even searching at Ebay for low prices it's hard to get a full HTPC for less than $400.

Regards
Ralph

Here's what I paid for the various components from Newegg.com:

Case: Antec Solution Series NSK2400 - $85
Motherboard: Asus M2NPV-VM - $84
CPU: AMD Sempron 64 3000+ - $60
RAM: Kingston ValueRam 512MB (2x256MB)DDR2 533 - $51
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint P Series 250GB (OEM) - $70
TV Tuner: PowerColor T55E-P03 - $74 - $10 rebate

Total after rebate: $414 + shipping (about $30)

And then these I reused or got free:
CD/DVD: Repurposed MSI 52xCDRW,16xDVD Combo Drive - Free
Keyboard & Mouse: Repurposed Logitech Wireless Combo - Free
Remote: Repurposed ATI Remote Wonder - Free
Windows XP Pro - Free from school

This was a month or so ago. Looks like Newegg raised the price of the case, but are now offering a rebate to make up the difference.

I could have built an even less expensive system had I not been so concerned with future upgradability. If you wanted to save a few more bucks, you can probably find good deals right now on AMD Socket 939 motherboards and processors. At least, they were cheap and plentiful when I was searching (bargains may be more rare now).

Good luck!

[ngrigsby]

Originally Posted by DonBogo

Same buget and same conclusion, I've planned to by the Asus M2NPV-VM motherboard too.
I have just one doubt about this mobo: how about the AUDIO out ? I've found only analog out in it's datasheet, S/PDIF still only inside.
Do you use it ? Did you found easily an adapter from the internal connector the the standard coaxial (is it coaxial?) connector ?
(I want to buy it from an italian web shop but they haven't this adapter!!)

Thanks

Yeah, the lack of an S/PDIF bracket is annoying. For now I'm just using the analog 6 channel out and haven't had any problems with it. But it's definitely not ideal - all those cords snaking around, and your audio receiver has to support it. From what I hear, Asus is pretty responsive to customers. You should be able to order the adapter straight from them, but I have no idea how much it would cost.

[ngrigsby]

Originally Posted by ngrigsby

My biggest frustration has been my inability to get the system to wake with the Remote Wonder. Have tested the advice of several posts to no avail. System definitely gets power to the USB device, but just doesn't wake. Some posts suggest the Remote Wonder just can't do it. I dunno. Looks like I'm stuck with the power button for now. The indignity!

Responding to myself 'cause I solved my remote problem. Well, sort of. I had assumed that the Remote Wonder would be the superior remote to the generic thing that came with my TV card. But I just discovered that, indeed, it cannot wake the system from standby. As a lark, I plugged in the Cyberlink remote that came with my PowerColor TV tuner, after installing the Cyberlink software. Pressed the power button: instant standby. Pressed again: instant wake from standby. Only problem was, most of the buttons are mapped to the stupid Cyberlink PowerTV software. But I fixed that with help from this genius post:

Cyberlink / PowerColor remote mapping for MediaPortal

And now I don't have to get up off my lazy ass to power up my system. Hurrah.

Thanks to user brainbone!