HTPC
$750 AM2
Part | Model | Price | Case |
---|---|---|---|
CPU | AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ | 94 | |
Motherboard | Asus M2NPV-VM | 119 | |
RAM | 2x 512MB Generic DDR2 | 68 | |
Hard Drive | 320GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 | 125 | |
Optical Drive | 16x Pioneer DVR-111D | 39 | |
Graphics Card | Onboard from motherboard | - | |
Case | Cooler Master CM Media 260 HTPC case | 105 | |
Power Supply | 430W Coolermaster Extreme Power | 48 | |
Cooling | - | - | |
TV Tuner Card | Twinhan VisionPlus VP3020C TV Tuner Card | 72 | |
Additional | - | - | |
Total Cost | - | 670 + Postage |
$1000 Core 2 Duo
Part | Model | Price | Case |
---|---|---|---|
CPU | Core 2 Duo E6320 | 255 | |
Motherboard | ASRock ConRoe1333-DVI | 129 | |
RAM | 2x 512MB Generic DDR2 - 2gb if going Vista | 68 | |
Hard Drive | 320GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 | 125 | |
Optical Drive | Asus 1814BLT SATA drive - comes with MPEG decoder suitable for MCE | 65 | |
Graphics Card | 256MB 7600GT w/HDTV | 145 | |
Case | Cooler Master CM Media 260 HTPC case | 105 | |
Power Supply | 430W Coolermaster Extreme Power | 48 | |
Cooling | - | - | |
TV Tuner Card | Twinhan VisionPlus VP3020C TV Tuner Card | 72 | |
Additional | - | - | |
Total Cost | - | 966 + Postage |
For MCE and Vista with analogue TV or a Foxtel/Optus box, the Hauppauge PVR150 is ideal. If you want to do DVB TV, get the Nova-T 500MCE as it has dual tuners - both of these cards are low-profile or standard height. For MythTV under Linux, the AverMedia A777 is natively supported - see www.linuxtv.org for more cards.