htpc, mini pc advice wanted

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im after a new pc to run through my hdtv. the sort of thing ive been looking at is the

acer aspire revo 100 and the r3610
asrock core 100ht bd

they seem to get good reviews but are there any others out there that i should consider? ive also had a bit of a look at a self build pc which i really like the idea of but think it may be way over my head

ideally id like to play blue ray dvds so i can sell my player. it will be a htpc so will want to watch movies on it store music, pictures and view the internet. gaming wont be necessary.

are there places that will build a pc to your spec? are they expensive?.

what are people running?

[Mike_S13]

I built mine myself and it does everything i want it to!
The spec is:

Coolermaster Elite 360 case
Asus M4A785-M motherboard
Phenom 9850 CPU
Nvidia 8800GT Graphics card
2GB DDR2 memory (needs more than this really)
Samsung 2TB System Hard drive
Samsung 1TB Games / Storage Hard drive
LG Super Multi Blue HD-DVD / Bluray drive
Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T 500 dual TV tuner card
Microsoft Media Remote
Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre 3

I've got all my music on there, most of my DVDs are ripped to the hard drive, it records TV and i can browse the internet or read emails from ther comfort of my sofa. The onboard graphics are fine for playing blurays etc, but i stuck the 8800GT in there to play games... my xbox360 is redundant now, lol.


I like the look of that Asrock Core 100HT BD, only thing that would bother me is the limited scope for upgrade.

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cool i like the sound of building my own as there is some cool looking cases out there. just not sure how you go about physically putting it together how do things connect together?

[DLowe]

get a case and cpu/mobo/ram bundle of somewhere like ebuyer

got my silverstone case from thier, its a full size tower that lies on its side, much better than a mini case, as you don't have to buy everything slim-line

EDIT: this is mine - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...-case-(w-o-psu)

my first HTPC was a bought of the shelf Fujitsu Scaleo e system that was very good, only sold it as I needed more SATA II ports for blu ray and extra hard drives

give Overclockers a call, they will be able to show you what you need

[DLowe]

also overclockers are doing a twin tuner DVB-S card at the min, so you can get freesat that will record the same as SKY+ (watch one while recording the other)

make sure your graphics card has a hdmi out, its just easier and if you want to run a amp from a digi output win7 dosnt support both analogue and digital sound out.

other than that you can't get the plugs wrong, they only fit ion the right places

[ads.r]

cheers i will thanks

your link brings up the web page but it says file not found

if i do do thid myself im after a case roughly the size of my av reciever. i like the look of the thermaltake stuff

edit; whats mobo? says it with the bundle you suggest

[DLowe]

my silverstone is exactly the same size from the front as my yamaha av amp

model of mine is: SilverStone SST-LC17B

don't know why the link didnt work?


the slimline ones are the same width as my amp, but only half as high, almost identicl in size to a older vcr