DIY HTPC Projects (1 Viewer)

[Raul A]

I'm in the planning stages of building an HTPC, which is easy for me because I'm a PC technician, but only in the planning stages because I am currently broke as the proverbial joke.

In any event, I wanted to see some pictures of the HTPCs some of you have built.

What case did you go with? what hardware did you decide to use? What do you use YOUR machine for mostly? What kind of system do you have it hooked up to? What HDTV tuner, if any, did you use and how do you feel about it? What solution to general video out without being forced to use a crappy S-Video output did you use?

Style points can be awarded, do you have a crazy mod? is your HTPC made from a nerf football? How about a replica of R2-D2? Did you use a HTPC case that looks like a HT component, or did you build your own case? Did you silly light it out?

And of course don't forget, pictures, pictures, pictures.

Lets hear some war stories.

 

[Raul A]

*BUMP*

Youre not serious are you, no takers? Most of the topics here revolve around newbie tech support questions, arent there any cool success stories...?

Is this thing on?

 

[Scott L]

Sorry m8, here's some pics... 1st HTPC:



Currently:


There are 4 PCs in the house but this is my main one cuz of its location. It's built around a P4 2.4b OC'ed to 2.7ghz. I use it for gaming, PVR, & dv editing among other other regular stuff.

 

[Sihan Goi]

Mine's almost 2 years old but still going strong. For pictures and more info check out my website in my signature and click on "Home Theater"

 

[Joe Szott]

Raul,

I'm in much the same boat as you, have the know how and the desire, but short on extra $$$ right now (and of course WAF)

Here's the components I have looked at that would make a really easy and kick butt HTPC. No links, I'm sure you can google as well as I

* Case: Shuttle's SN41G2. It is a small form factor nforce2 bare bones system that only needs you to drop in an AMD CPU, memory, a DVD drive, and HDD. I highly suggest you check it out, a total powerhouse in a really compact PC.
* Obviously the CPU, memory, DVD, and HDD.
* A Radeon AGP card, probably an 8500 AIW or a 7500 (all you really need.) If you are going to game, then 9700 all the way.
* Maybe the MyHD card for HDTV/PVR and upconversion of normal signals.

With this setup, you can get SPDIF sound out of the case, use the integrated Geforce 4, or put in your own card, and even have svideo out of the gate no problems. For progressive scan or HDTV, ATi makes a VGA to Component dongle that works for most of their cards.