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I recently built a Home Theatre PC (HTPC) to drive my new LCD TV.  The benefit of using a HTPC is that it can replace many components of a traditional home theatre system while adding the benefits of having a full fledged computer system in your living room.

I plan on keeping this system running 24/7 so it makes sense to make it as energy efficient as possible.

Here’s a quick list of the components used:

• Processor: AMD Athlon II X2 250
• Motherboard: Gigabyte MA-785GMT-UD2H
• Memory: Corsair XMS3 2x2GB DDR3 Dual Channel Kit
• Hard drive: 1TB Seagate Baracuda 7200.12
• Heatsink: Scythe Ninja Mini Rev. B with Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Paste
• Optical drive: Samsung DVD-RW
• Case: Antec NSK2480
• Speakers: Logitech Z-Cinema Advanced Surround Sound System w/Media Center remote

Motherboard
You might notice that I don’t have a graphics card listed, which may seem strange for a PC that’s built for high definition video playback.  The reason is because I’m using AMD’s new 785g chipset that was just released earlier this month.  This features an integrated Radeon HD 4200 GPU which is capable of smoothly decoding 1080p video.  This 785G chipset really has everything you need for a HTPC and is highly recommended in reviews by TomsHardware and AnandTech.

CPU
The AMD Athlon II X2 250 is one of the best value CPUs out there.  One can be had for about $70-$80 while providing two cores at 3.0ghz.  The best thing about it is that it is rated at 65w, making it one of the more energy efficient CPUs.  I could have opted for the 5050e which is only rated at 45w but I figure the extra processing power may come in handy for 1080p decoding.

Case and Heatsink
For the rest of the system, I decided to keep it as quiet as possible, opting for a passive heatsink cooled only by the case fans on the NSK2480 chassis.  The Antec NSK2480 case was designed by Antec in conjunction with SilentPCReview to give it the best airflow.  You can read a full review of the case here but let me just say, it is just beautiful and the attention to detail really sets it apart from other cases.  It’s also fairly inexpensive at around $100.

The case comes with a 380W power supply that’s 80+ certified meaning high energy efficiency.  Although the PSU isn’t that large, the low energy footprint of the individual components means 380W is already plenty.

Problems
The RAM that I got came with their own heatsinks which adds to the size of the modules.  This increased size coupled with the fairly large Scythe Mini Ninja CPU heatsink meant that the first two DIMM slots were not usable.  Luckily, Gigabyte arranged the DIMM slots so that the dual channel pairs were together.  As a result, I could put my two sticks of RAM into the 3rd and 4th DIMM slot while maintaining dual channel capability.  This means no more memory expansion though unless I get a smaller heat sink or memory modules without heat spreaders.

I’m also still missing a TV tuner to receive Over-The-Air HD transmissions.  I’m waiting for a nice one to go on sale.

Windows 7
For my operating system, I’m using a release candidate of Windows 7 which is simply amazing for a HTPC setup.  The Windows 7 media center is probably the best Microsoft product I’ve used so far and I haven’t found anything that really compares.  It’s highly moddable and coupled with the media center remote from the Logitech speakers, it makes for a very nice HTPC experience.  I recommend using the free media browser extension for extra eye candy and features.

Total Cost
I already had some of the parts so I only had to spend about $500 on this system.  Yes you can build a quad core system for $500, but you can’t get this type of HTPC experience whilst staying green!  All the components together, I’d estimate the final cost to be around $700.  If you wait for deals and bargains, you might be able to get it for less but many of these components are already fairly competitively priced.

Do you have an HTPC setup? What components did you end up using? Let me know in the comments!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 6:02 pm and is filed under Efficiency, Entertainment, Personal, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.