[Lee Von]

Hey all,

Looking to build my first HTPC and am looking for something that is able to:

watch and record live TV
watch videos from the system (including HD)
watch dvd's


So far I have come up with the following:

Antec NSK2480B with 380W PSU http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main...ts_id=6704
ASUS E35M1-M PRO Motherboard http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main...s_id=17025
Corsair CMV4GX3M2A1333C9 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main...s_id=13237
3 x Western Digital Green 2TB WD20EARX http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main...s_id=17282
Lite-On IHAS324 24x DVDRW http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main...s_id=11487
Hauppauge HVR-2210 Media Centre Kit http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main...s_id=15342

Any ideas or improvements over anything i have listed ? Or will it do the job fine ?

[wsume99]

You didn't say but I'm assuming you are planning on running windows.

I'm using that MB and a tuner card that is similar. I don't watch any DVDs so I cannot comment on that but everything else works just fine - recording SD & HD shows and playing mkvs & VOBs streamed from my server. My only gripe is that the CPU is a tiny bit sluggish when I'm navigating around in WMC. Everything works pretty well in XBMC (I'm using Confluence). Overall I'm satisfied with my rig - especially it's low power use.

[Lee Von]

Yeah i will be running windows on it.

That's good to hear it works well recording SD and HD shows and playing files. Plan on using Aeon MQ2 for XBMC.

Don't mind if it's a little bit sluggish while navigating around in WMC as long as it can record and playback without any issues

[eskro]

i think it will be ok but,
if you plan on multi-tasking with your HTPC,
i think you'd be better off with a slightly more powerful CPU.,,

I would aim for the dual-core CELERON E3400 or PENTIUM 5700,
or even the ATHLON X2 250!!