Whats good for a htpc nowdays?

[SuperStrokey]

I was looking at making one of these for my house but i honestly dont know anything about these. What all should a person get for specs? I would like something that has good video quality and good audio (obviusly lol) but would also like something easy to use and relatively decently priced. Also something slim and quiet would be good too. Does anyone know some ideas from the case all the way down to the coolers. thanks

 

[AmberClad]

Definitely have a look around Silverstone's website -- they've got more HTPC case offerings than any company I know. Some of those come in ATX form factor, they don't only sell the smaller form factor variety.

In general, I think people tend to go with either midrange video cards or decent IGPs (nVidia ones) for HTPC. Nothing super high end.

Anyways, have a look around at the cases and see if there's anything interesting. Which case you pick is going to impact what type of motherboard and how larger of CPU cooler you can use.

 

[SuperStrokey]

TTT

 

[Zap]

What are you planning to use it for, just video playback? DVD playback? TV Tuner? Most things now don't require any more horsepower than even low end (new) components, with the exception of 1080p decoding if done on the CPU. So, low end new components and a low end video card that has the connections your TV uses.

 

[GullyFoyle]

See the October 2007 Midrange Buyers Guide article on the AnandTech main page. There is an HTPC config listed there.