With a limited budget for the HTPC rig, I have to decide on which components should I spend more money on and which components I should keep the pricing down.
Main components - 42% of the total price
Motherboard - ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO ( 13% )
CPU - AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE 2.8Ghz ( 15% )
Memory - 4GB DDR3 PC1333 Corsair XMS3 ( 13% )
This is what I consider the main components and technology investment for my HTPC rig. I have decided to go with a newer AMD 785G chipsets with a DDR3 motherboard. The flexibility for AMD CPU platform is that since the memory controller is built into the CPU, for budget constrain considerations, you can also go with DDR2 motherboard and ram and cut down the price significantly. I have also chosen a X3 Black Edition with unlocked multiplier but for a purely HTPC rig, a X2 or X3 non Black Edition would be sufficient.
Secondary components - 37% of total price
XQBOX HTPC800 chassis ( 11% )
Xigmatek NRP-PC501 Power Supply ( 8% )
Zalman CNPS 7800 LED CPU cooler ( 7% )
Hauppauge WinTV150 TV Input Card ( 11% )
For the HTPC chassis, the HTPC800 is considered low price compared to some full aluminum chassis. The front panel looks pretty decent with 2 temp sensors and 1 CPU fan sensors.
Initially I thought that I can save on the CPU Cooler by using the stock AMD cooler but once the heat built-up in the chassis, the stock CPU cooler was spinning at 6000 rpm and it is really noisy. I had to invest in the Zalman CNPS 7800 LED CPU cooler to keep the noise and heat at bay.
For the power supply, I believe a lower power rating could also be used and save up some money for others like a bigger hard disk or some.
Other components and accessories - 21% of total price
500Gb hard disk ( 6% )
Lite-ON DVD-RW ( 3% )
Bluetooth Keyboard with touchpad + Bluetooth dongle ( 9% )
Other accessories ( HDMI cables, extra silent fans, RCA splitters ) ( 4% )
For my case, I decide to go with only a 500GB of hard disk as I have an existing 500Gb on my NAS. I will upgrade to Blueray Drive later when the prices start to come down.
The keyboard and mouse pricing threw me over budget as initially I had chosen those Cordless keyboard and mouse combo but later found out that they do NOT work with HTPC setup as the wireless range is only like 2 to 3 feet only. I had to returned it and exchange for a Logitech PS3 Bluetooth keyboard with built-in touchpad and buy a bluetooth dongle to power up the Bluetooth keyboard. For choosing wireless keyboard, please do not use those cheap cordless ones and buy a good Bluetooth keyboard with built-in touchpad or trackball type. You can also have an option to buy a Bluetooth mouse if you do not fancy those touchpad or trackball mouse.
Summary :
Main components - 42% of the total price
Secondary components - 37% of total price
Other components and accessories - 21% of total price
This is my HTPC rig price distribution with a premium on DDR3 4Gb ram, Black Edition CPU and 500W power supply. The two components that I unexpectedly spend more was the CPU Cooler and Bluetooth keyboard + touchpad. If I choose a DDR2 2Gb, X2 CPU and 400W power supply, I might still be within my overall budget for this rig.
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