Components, Part I: The HTPC

***DEPRECATED - UPDATED HTPC POST HERE***

It will probably be a little while before I can start on this project in earnest, but in the meantime, I'll do a series of posts on the specific hardware I'm planning to use for each aspect. First up, the HTPC. While I could use my primary PC as my media server, it's an Intel Core i7 rig, so it's pretty power-hungry. I'd like a low-profile, low-power machine that will serve my media throughout the house, allowing me to save power by keeping my main PC off most of the time.

There are plenty of ready-to-buy options out there from Asus (EeeBox), Dell (Zino), Acer (Revo), CompuLab (fit-PC) and the like, but I think I can build a better machine for less money. Here's the breakdown.

• Hardware



• Motherboard: ZOTAC IONITX-A-U Mini-ITX board. It's one of the most full-featured mobos in this form factor that I've found. It has a dual-core Intel Atom N330, and NVIDIA Ion North Bridge, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics, built-in 802.11n, HDMI out, an eSATA port, and 10 USB ports. Newegg has it for $185 [link].
• Memory: The mobo supports 4GB max, but I'm just going to go with 2GB to keep costs down. I don't have a specific brand in mind, since the prices are always changing, but if I were to buy right now, I'd get the Crucial DDR2 667 2GB dual-channel kit from Newegg for $48 [link].
• Storage: Early on I considered getting an SSD so the machine could be utterly silent, but for the sake of the almighty dollar, I've decided to pull the 80GB HDD out of my old laptop and reformat it. It's a modest 5400 rpm, so it won't be too loud or power hungry, and most importantly, it's free.
• Case: I'm in love with this case. It's the Mini-Box M350, and it's $40 from Mini-Box [link]. It's VESA, DIN-rail, and wall-mount compatible so I can stick it pretty much anywhere, and its footprint is barely larger than the mobo's, so keeping it out of the way will not be a problem. Also, it's fanless, which means silent, which is good.
• No Optical Drive: I'm omitting an optical drive from this build for several reasons. First, my current setup includes both a PS3 and an Xbox 360, so I'm pretty well covered as far as reading discs goes. Second, over the course of this project I'll be backing up all of my physical media onto networked storage. Eventually I will only be using the optical drives for gaming. Third, optical drives are loud, and I don't want to. And finally, the case doesn't have room for one.




• Software: I'm almost definitely going to use Mythbuntu [link], since I don't want to pay for another copy of Windows 7 and I like the idea of not paying for PVR capabilities, which I currently do with DirecTV. I'm also a big fan of Ubuntu. I would like to eventually get to the point where paying for TV is unnecessary, and we can get all of our entertainment over the air and the internet. Whether this will be possible is anyone's guess.

So this computer is small and quiet, and it will be able to handle streaming media both from my home server and over the internet. It is easily upgradeable, so when my needs change I won't have to go out and buy an entirely new machine. And finally, it's relatively cheap at right around $300, so if in time my family and I are able to wean ourselves off of for-pay television, the machine will pay for itself in a matter of months.

Next up: Kitchen enhancements