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Can i build a HTPC for under £120

dvdbunny

dvdbunny

dvdbunny

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Joined
20 Dec 2004
Posts
1,122
Is this possible

I have seen some of the new ATI cards, they cost like £30 and they have HDMI outputs that carry 5.1 surround sound. hard drives are pretty small and cheap these days. I really want a case like an apple TV possibly a TV card as well. Is this all possible for HD video and for that price or under £200 to £250?

Thanks in advance
 
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2H AMD 740G (AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £38.99
(£45.81) £38.99
(£45.81)
Pioneer DVR-215DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (ST3160815AS) £22.99
(£27.01) £22.99
(£27.01)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4600+ 2.40GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £32.99
(£38.76) £32.99
(£38.76)
Antec NSK 4480 Mini Tower Case (Silver) - 380W Earth Watts PSU £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £24.99
(£29.36) £24.99
(£29.36)
Sub Total : £179.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £33.41
Total : £224.30

needs a TV card

the MB can according to the ocuk site handle HD media but im not sure if it has sound over HDMI if that is the interface you want.

you can always add an ati card at a later date if it doesnt

change the case if you want something nicer.

you need a bigger budget if blu-ray use is intended as well
 
jak731 said:
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2H AMD 740G (AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £38.99
(£45.81) £38.99
(£45.81)
Pioneer DVR-215DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (ST3160815AS) £22.99
(£27.01) £22.99
(£27.01)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4600+ 2.40GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £32.99
(£38.76) £32.99
(£38.76)
Antec NSK 4480 Mini Tower Case (Silver) - 380W Earth Watts PSU £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £24.99
(£29.36) £24.99
(£29.36)
Sub Total : £179.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £33.41
Total : £224.30

needs a TV card

the MB can according to the ocuk site handle HD media but im not sure if it has sound over HDMI if that is the interface you want.

you can always add an ati card at a later date if it doesnt

change the case if you want something nicer.

you need a bigger budget if blu-ray use is intended as well
Click to expand...

good post
 
Depends on how far into HTPC you want to be. I was given a HP Evo USDT the other day.

I put a spare bit of RAM I had lying round and a HDD and I'm very impressed with the job it does as a HTPC. Of course, no TV card or Blu Ray given the form factor but for free it's great. Very small and quiet.
 
Second Hand Kit is the best way. Then you can splash out on the pretty case.

I use an old 3Ghz P4 with a nVidia GeForce 5500. I had enough spare RAM to bump it to 1GB. And a couple of hard disks in there and a Pioneer DVD Writer.

Then add to that a Digital TV Card to record TV. (Recording up to a week in advance). I use a Nebula Electronics DigiTV card - excellent bit of kit, with slightly eccentric software. Only problem is that the manufacturers have gone bust so they are now only on second hand sites.

Even that naff old GeForce 5500 is good enough - but I have to stick with old drivers as nVidia trashed the TV Out support for it at some point during the 7x00 series.

I have my HTPC attached to an old PC monitor as well as my main Sony TV set. I use the monitor to check up on recordings, etc when I am watching something else on the TV.

Works great :D


Remember one important item - keep the PC quiet. So no uber graphics cards with fans on. Get the more basic fanless ones. Don't want the PC roaring away during those quiet films. :) Video cards have been able to do decent TV Out for years now... so no need to waste cash on anything too flash.
 
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You can't buying all new, with HD/BlueRay playback, HDMI out and decent size hard disk.

You can get by just scraping just around £300 if you really hunt around.

ABIT A-S78H 780G Socket AM2+ onboard VGA 5.1 channel audio mATX Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 4600+ X2 Socket AM2 Dual-Core OEM Processor
LG Electronics Blu-Ray & HD-DVD-Rom Combo 16x DVDRW Black SATA
Maxtor STM3160815AS 160GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 8MB Cache
OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL 4-4-4-15 PLATINUM XTC
Antec NSK 2480 MATX Desktop Case Black & Silver - With 380W EarthWatts PSU
Leadtek Winfast TV2000 XP Global TV/FM Tuner £21.45
Total ex vat: £312.67

There isnt much you can do to take it down closer to £250 or under you could:
Change the HDD to a 80GB for and save £2 (or if you have one already save £30 or s)
Change the CPU for a single core 3800+ and save £18
Get a cheapo media case or some other non htpc style case and save another £10 or more.

Depends what you want.
 
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thanks for your replies, i really want to play my DVD, HD-DVD and blueray movies that i have ripped to my hard drive. I want a case like the apple tv or mac mini if that's possible. Do you know?
 
No, no and No. Got it? If you want a Apple TV case forget it, buy an ATV, If you want a Mac Mini sized case PERHAPS you could get a mini ITX system but at the money you want you are dreaming.

Not being rude but have you tried Googling at all for mini ITX systems or Small FOrm Factor? It's kinda lazy to just expect someone else to do it all for you when you seem to have no idea what is even vaguely possible or affordable. :(
 
i know its a bit silly - pick up this months custom pc magazine
they have an all you need to know gide on htpc

i built all my old amd stuff into a mATX case and hide it behind my tv
its great - and cost me £10 for the case
 
Methanoid said:
No, no and No. Got it? If you want a Apple TV case forget it, buy an ATV, If you want a Mac Mini sized case PERHAPS you could get a mini ITX system but at the money you want you are dreaming.

Not being rude but have you tried Googling at all for mini ITX systems or Small FOrm Factor? It's kinda lazy to just expect someone else to do it all for you when you seem to have no idea what is even vaguely possible or affordable. :(
Click to expand...

I did try a google search before i started this thread, but didn't know what to look for. You have just simplified things. Thanks.

I have found now, http://minipc.aopen.com/Global/ i can get it for $680.

Or this linux one for $100 http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS6372429785.html

I am not really that much in know about these things, which why i am here asking you guys that know your stuff.

Would it be possible to make some changes to that $100 PC case and use vista rather than linux?
 
You are having a laugh aren't you? That Linux box is a 200mhz CPU x86 compatible. I doubt you could even get 1FPS on that box with HD video at all (you did say you wanted HD didnt you!??). That Llinux box won't run XP or Vista - it will chug on all but the most basic Linux distros too, thats why its so cheap!

If you could not tell that by its spec I think you would be well advised to just buy the AppleTV, its designed to be simple to use and not requiring much knowledge to get it running.
 
Methanoid

I know the specs are crap, i just want the case then take out all the bits and put my own stuff inside, is that possible? It's just the case i like for $100.
 
You'd pay a considerable amount of the budget for a case that probably wont fit standard equipment?
You're looking at buying used components tbh and even then you'll struggle, especially to get a decent case.
 
cant you just hide the box behind something and use a cheap case.. do you want a htpc for the functionality or just the look ?

Have u got any parts you can salvage? if so list them.
 
Methanoid said:
Buy an AppleTV, be cheaper for what U want and U can hack it to an OSX computer too
Click to expand...

1ghz processor and 256mb of ram ? I can't see it doing a very good job at fullHD video. Plus you're limited to stereo output.

If standard def video and stereo output is all you want then i guess it would be ok
 
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