Building a budget HTPC? (1 Viewer)

[Banyon]

As the title says, I'm looking to building a HTPC on a budget. Somewhere around the 300-400 dollar mark.

Decided to come ask for suggestions here since this seems like a good community and I decided on MediaPortal after testing a bunch of front end programs.

Heres what I want to be able to use it for eventually

Listen to streaming music
Listen to MP3s and CDs
Listen to and record FM radio
Watch Live TV
Record T.V.
Watch downloaded movies
Watch DVDs (optional since I have PS2 and it plays them fine)
Watch streaming video
View Photos
Web browser
RSS feed

What I don't need at the moment or already have (if usefull)

TV Tuner (don't need right away)
FM Tuner (Don't need right away)
Hard drive (I have a spare IDE one to start with)
Optical drive (I have a spare CD drive to start with)
I have a GeForce FX 5500 AGP card just laying around if it can be used for this
PSU (I have a spare 400w I can use)

Now I've tried many different configs for making a budget machine, from mATX to mITX, to full sized ATX, onboard video, everything, but I can no seem to make a setup for less than $400.

If I can't make a decent setup for less than $400, I'm just gonna buy a extra case, rebuild my gaming computer and put the parts from my old gaming computer into a LC-17 case.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[rtv]

With a good AM2 mATX Board it would be possible to build a good, cheap HTPC. However a HTPC is about tweaking, finding suitable hardware, failures, etc. Many people weren't pleased by their low-budget approaches..

 

[Spragleknas]

Try:
NSK 2400
690G mobo
X2 3800+ AM2 CPU
1 GB DDR2 (667 or higher)
MCE remote

 

[Banyon]

Wow, thank you very much Spragleknas, thats exactly what I was looking for.

Its got just about as much power as the gaming computer I was designing minus the PCI-E video card (has PCI-E slot for future expansion), and my gaming PC would have had 1 more GB of memory.

Assembled the whole thing you listed with 1 Gb of Patriot extreme DDR2 800 ram for just under $370. (Minus the remote, but I am getting the remote and keyboard separate)

 

[Buddha]

Its quite possible to make a HTPC on a budget I had many leftover hardware so I decided to make one as well:

Athlon XP 2500+ 1.83GHz (leftover)
MSI VIA Socket A mATX motherboard (leftover)
512 MB Ram (about 40 euros)
Ati 9250 128mb AGP (about 40 euros as well)
Hauppauge PVR150 with MCE remote (60 euros)
Lite-on DVD drive (leftover)
Maxtor 40 Gb HD Drive (leftover)
Seagate 320 GB HD Drive (80 euros)
Antec Fusion Case with PSU (150 euros)
together with a 17" TFT which I also still had

This all works perfect for my needs: Watching DVD/TV/videos, music, webradio, feeds etc. I'm still considering buying an extra stick of 512mb ram because Mediaportal can run kind of choppy now and then, but most of the time it works without a problem. The only expensive thing was the Antec case, but can still go for cheaper alternatives.

 

[Jean-Marc]

Hi Spragleknas!

I think your configuration is interesting.
All this can work without the need of fan? Silent?
To work only as a client, there is no need of HD. Is it possible to install Windows xp and PM software into a memory flash card? In this case, witch interface is needed on the mobo?

How is done the AC supply?

My questions may look stupid, so excuse me, I never had a motherboard on hands !
How would be, more or less, in your opinion, the final cost for 1 unit as described above, without case and screen, in Europe?

Many thanks!!

 

[Banyon]

The case he has posted has 2 120mm cooling fans and a built in PSU..

If you didn't want to use a hard drive, I haven't done a network install in years, but I'm guessing it could be done.

 

[Spragleknas]

For further infor on case, read this excellent review by SPCR: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article591-page1.html

For further tips, see the forum thread

 

[Maedhros]

Well..... Spragle has something there..... the hardware he proposed earlier, I can back up.... it's more or less like my hardware... except my CPU is an Athlon64 3200+ only.

I checked the price in Denmark for the hardware Spragle suggested.... It's only 2000 dkk..... That's including VAT and everything.... only ~$370..... And knowing that you'll be able to get it somewhat cheaper in the U.S. ..... I would say that you could do it for around.... hmmm.... $200-250.

You won't have the fully rigged super-duper HTPC, but it will run MediaPortal and use all of the features without a problem.
My own HTPC has a 7600GS added to it + a PVR500-MCE TV card.... but otherwise a very similar system. With the GeForce I am able to utilize PureVideo. I run everything in MediaPortal + Emulators + Yetisports (the full 3D game) without a problem.

Standard start-up boots with:
MediaPortal SVN
TV Server (incl. SQL 2005 Express)
uTorrent (Generates much of the disk I/O)
FTP Server (File serving for family and friends)
Web Server (Simple web interfaces, nothing special)

Sometimes, it is under pressure a bit though.... but that's because of harddrives (aaaaalways the bottleneck!).

 

[Banyon]

For anyone that might stumble acrossed this thread looking to build budget wise, This setup did just the trick.

I built exactly what spragle put there, and it works fine as a HTPC.

Only issue I found with it, is that there is no simple TV out solution on this on-board video chipset, so i ended up spending another $30 on a ATI X1050 for its video out, and everything is working fine now... the on-board video tends to also sent a large chunk of RAM aside for itself as well... by installing a PCI-E vid card, I managed to regain almost 256Mb of the RAM I installed... this thing screams... even had it do a AV scan while watching movies and listening to radio and I didn't notice it was doing the scan till I heard the clicking of my hard drive.