My first HTPC

[Beechus]

Hey there guys.

Your software has inspired me to finally build my first HTPC! I was very impressed with the functionality you guys provide, and very interested in the upcoming version of it! The only functionality it is lacking is support for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. This is important, as i have a large HD-DVD collection, however have accepted that Blu-Ray has won, but i wanna play both types of media - But for now, i can just plug a wireless mouse in and make PowerDVD go full screen

ANYWAY!! To my rig's spec....

Case: £75 Lian-Li PC-V300 Aluminum Case (Black) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CA-076-LL
This case is simply amazing, it's small, sleep,, takes full ATX, has firewire / usb / audio connections / takes two full size CD drives + floppy drive size drive and can take two standard sized hard drives. Plus it comes with 3 internal fans. Just to top it off, it's Lian-Li - need i say anymore?

Motherboard: £45 Asus M2A-VM HDMI ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MB-256-AS
The motherboard is where my rig really shines though...

• It's micro-atx size
• takes full size ATX
• PCI-E x16
• PCI-E x2
• x2 PCI
• 4 slots for DDR 2 ram
• On board HDMI + DVI + VGA. Yes, thats right, onboard HDMI!! For £45
• This thing is designed for HTPCs!

CPU : £43 AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ 2.20GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail

Memory : £27 OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2

Hard Drive : £25 WD 160GB SATA

HD-DVD / Blu-Ray : £180 LG GGW-H20L Blu-Ray Rewriter & HD-DVD ROM SATA Drive

What do you guys think? I've got most of the parts, just going to pick the CPU up in the morning. Any recommendations? If the devs need any help with testing the Blu-Ray / HD-DVD functionality, i'm free to help (My job is in the QA Team of a security / performance software house)

I should probably explain why i have such a tiny hard drive...

I have a Windows Home Server running 24/7 in my loft. This has 2TB of storage, 1.3TB of it is HD videos / music / photos





(The motherboard can slide completely out of it's case