The Media Center Guide

A HTPC for less than $400?  It’s possible!  Here’s all you need to make it happen.

APEX MI-008.  This case is high quality, easy to work with, and is just the right size.  Includes a 250W power supply, although you can remove it if you wish as the motherboard we’ve chosen already includes a power supply.  Cost: $39.99.

ZOTAC IONITX-A-U Atom 330 1.6GHz Dual-Core 441 NVIDIA ION Mini ITX.  This all-in-one motherboard has a 1.6GHz dual-core Atom 330 processor and integrated Nvidia 441 Ion video chip.  Includes built in wifi, and a 90 watt power adapter. Cost: $184.99.

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800. G.Skill makes solid memory that is highly rated by the PC building community.  This 2GB dual-channel DDR2-800 kit should be plenty of memory.  If you need more, a 4GB kit can be had for about $50 extra. Cost: $49.99.

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS. This is a fast, quiet, and high capacity drive that should have plenty of room for all the media on your HTPC.  500 GB capacity.  Cost: $54.99.

LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-ray Disc Reader SATA Model iHOS104-08. This Lite-On Blu-ray drive can play Blu-ray discs, DVDs, and CDs.  It’s all you need to handle all of your high definition and standard definition movies.  Cost: $69.99.

This is the February edition of our HTPC hardware recommendations. We cover cases, motherboards, processors, memory, hard drives, DVD drives, video / audio cards, and peripherals.

This is the January edition of our home theater PC hardware recommendations. We cover cases, motherboards, processors, memory, hard drives, video / audio cards, and peripherals.