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 with more bang for my buck. Not to mention that none of these options have TV tuners, which is a must for me. Here's the breakdown.
- Hardware
- Motherboard/Processor: ECS H55H-I
Mini-ITX board with an Intel Core i3-530. The processor is 2.93GHz with a 4MB L3 Cache. I've decided to switch from the Atom to the Core i3 processor for a few reasons. First, the i3 will give me MORE POWAHHHHHH! Also, the onboard graphics can handle HD video. The Atom mobo had the Nvidia Ion chip, but had mixed reviews on its HD capabilities. The motherboard has dual-channel DDR3 RAM slots, where my previous choice used DDR2. Also, the ZOTAC board did not have a PCIe slot, making it quite difficult to add a TV tuner. Finally, switching to the Core i3 didn't really change the price that much, and what cost it did add, I think is worth it [MoBo] [Chip].
- Memory: The motherboard will support up to 8GB of RAM, but I really don't think I need that much. I found a good deal on 4GB of G.SKILL DDR3 1333 RAM, so that's what I'm going to use. The timings are 9-9-9-24, which I may or may not try to tweak. It'll get the job done [link].
- Storage: I still considered getting an SSD in the early planning stage, especially since prices have come down since January. I still can't bring myself to shell out for it. I've recently come into a 640GB 2.5" WD Scorpio Blue hard drive, so I'm going to use that. Also, free, which is cool. [link] As far as media storage, I have a WD MyBook World Edition II 2TB mirrored network drive. Good stuff.
- Case: Yes, I was in love with that case. It was amazing and fanless and tiny. But alas, it no longer meets my needs. I'm sticking with the mini-ITX board, but because I want that tricky TV tuner in there, I would have had to do some serious modification to the M350. So, I've chosen the hec Micro-ATX Media Center case, which comes with a 300W power supply. That is more than I will likely EVER need in an HTPC, but better safe, right? The case has an 80mm fan in the front, but I imagine this will be loud and awful like most included case fans of its size. I'll upgrade this, and maybe even try to stuff another fan into the case somewhere. [link]
- TV Tuner: This is one are where I decided not to go cheap. I'm going with the current top-of-the-line Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250, which has dual ATSC/NTSC/Clear QAM tuners, an FM tuner, and hardware encoding, which will take some strain off of the processor. It will allow me to pull two channels into the PC at once, letting me watch and record one channel while I record another. [link]
- No Optical Drive: I'm omitting an optical drive from this build for mostly the same reasons as before. The only difference is that this time, the case DOES have room for an optical drive, in case I want to add a Blu-ray player in the future. Thinking ahead.
- Software: My OS plans have changed slightly since January. I'm still planning on using Mythbuntu, but essentially just to play around with. Since Netflix Watch Instantly does not currently work with any Linux OSes (thanks a lot, Silverlight dev team), I'll end up buying another copy of Windows 7 and using the Media Center as my base of operations. I'll likely end up waiting for a sale, since I feel like someone somewhere will eventually sell Win7 Home Premium for less than $100. [Mythbuntu] [Win7]
So...this computer is STILL small, though not quite as quiet, and it will be able to handle streaming HD 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 still relatively cheap at right around $450, so if in time my family and I are able to wean ourselves off of for-pay television, the machine will still pay for itself in a matter of months, just a few more than it would have before.
Next up: Kitchen enhancements (hopefully?)
