HTPC of sorts

axon1988

axon1988

New member
Hello folks!

Out of curiosity and the need for some home entertainment I have decided to look around for a DIY home entertainment system of sorts. Like a fun little home project.

The basic requirements are:
  • No desktop or anything bigger then a microATX sized chassis
  • Should look very neat and have the basic computer requirements
  • You could load either XBMC or any other home theater software in it
  • Not too worried about sound for now, will look at that in the near future

So who here wants to help out with ideas? I'm thinking the HP microserver, as it has everything I want and more at a good price. But I'm open to other ideas. Maybe a APU system?

Obviously this is only really going to come into fruition later this year when HDD's become more wallet friendly.

For now, here's the HP server: http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/za/en/sm/WF05a/15351-15351-4237916-4237917-4237917-4248009.html?dnr=1
 
I'd absolutely love to read the responses here to help out the OP as this has been something I've been thinking about as well. Getting really tired of lugging around hdds to my TV or laptop, and the hassle of transferring something from one piece of tech to another. Really looking to sort of centralize it all. Like OP said, any great (and affordable) DIY suggestions?
 
I've been looking into this as well, I've decided that microAtx is still too big for my liking. My brother uses the HP microserver with a low profile Nvidia card which is handy as it does the audio over the hdmi as well, the only prob was the heatsink was chunky, so we took a couple of fins off.

What I've been looking into is the Mini-ITX platform, so an all in one APU, on one of the following boards: Sapphire PURE Mini E350 (IPC-E350M1) or the Asus E35M1-I DELUXE. These boards are perfect as they have all the functionality you need, such as hdmi, optical audio, etc.

As far as casing goes, this is where it gets a bit interesting because locally it seems a bit tough to find them. The ones I've really liked are: Antec ISK 310-150 or Gigabyte i3140 (my first choice). I've seen some Lian Li ones as well, but they are quite pricey, I've seen some nice Silverstone ones but you'll have to import those :(
http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=133&area=en

Software wise, I think XBMC wins hands down, the latest version even fixes the MCE remote issue, and it's video acceleration and streaming service makes it an easy option.
 
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