mine

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Gigabyte G31MX-S2 mother board
2 GB Ram
ATI 2600XT
Onkyo PCI 2100 sound card
Silvertone LC03 casing
Asus DVD rom
Silvertone 520w power supply
660 GB HDD
Window XP Pro
HTPC software : Media Portal, VLC, FooBar, Media Player Classic
Connect to 32" LCD TV
Sound down mix to stereo, output to Audio Lab amplifier and AE floor standing speakers


IMHO, HTPC spec is depend on what kind of media files we want to play, if just some RMVB/DVD/AVI file, a pc with less than RM1000 (minus monitor and good looking casing) will do the job just fine. The real challenge is to play those 720p or VC-1 file.

This post has been edited by kepco: May 4 2008, 09:50 AM

it depend on what player we use to play h.264/x.264 files (720p and 1080p included), there is no HA for VLC so C2D E6xxx series is prefer at bare minimum, but if using Media Portal or Media Player Classic, C2D E4xxx series should be fine due ot these player utilize HA.

to ozak: today PC component still doesn't ready for BD play back yet, for example, there is no hardware exist yet (rumour got lah) for video/audio stream on HDMI cable, the price paid for BD drive can get a lower end pc already. Today graphic card processing power are able to handle BD 1080p resolution just fine but there is no stable playing player yet.

---

Added on May 5, 2008, 10:57 pmI've tried Shuttle X, is SFF, dead silence with high performance as well, down side if MB gone 2 years later, there is no replacement and come with freaking asking price....oh you are not getting any fun out of DIY.

This post has been edited by kepco: May 5 2008, 10:57 PM

jerromeccm, ever heard of Media Portal?

best part is this software is free.

btw, nice case there.

thought for HTPC, ATI will be better bet compared to Nvidia due to Avivo.