Anyone want to give me a primer on HTPC's?

http://www.overclock.net/htpc/

The best place to start looking for info is avsforum.com (http://www.avsforum.com), specifically this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=940972). It is the most comprehensive guide I know for all things HTPC. Here's my quick list of tips:

1. It's never been cheaper to set up an HTPC, and there are many options available. If you don't care about how it looks, you could obtain many parts (case, disc drives, even power supplies if you're feeling lucky) from garage sales or Craigslist. The other critical parts will be better purchased new.

2. Your choice of motherboard/CPU will depend on what you want out of the PC. (I am assuming here that you're interested in playing HD video.)
a. If you are looking at a smaller budget and don't care that you can't get surround sound out of the HDMI port, a 780G board (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200022%20107191003%201071937261&name=AMD%20780G) plus a 4850e CPU (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103255) are the best choices. You could substitute a 790GX board if you need a little extra graphics power.
b. If you want surround sound through HDMI, a G45 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200280%20107172715%201071742785&name=Intel%20G45)/E5200 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072) combo will prove sufficient.
c. If you want to play games, the choice of mobo doesn't matter as much, since you'd want a discrete graphics card. Any of the ATI Radeon cards, 3000 series and up, are best for HTPCs.

3. These types of PCs don't tend to require much power, so unless you're going for an overclocked quad-core CPU and dual graphics cards (in which case, you're probably getting the wrong kind of system!), you are better off getting a quality power supply that's rated for less than 500W. Granted, good low-wattage PSUs are in short supply these days, but Corsair, PC Power & Cooling, and Antec (Earthwatts series) are all excellent companies. If you're going really low power, you could go with a picoPSU rated for 110/120W, but you'd need to work at getting a system so low powered and have it remain useful.

(Sidenote: I am currently building a small HTPC-style system that would work fine with HD content, and I am using a large encyclopedia as a computer case. If anyone is interested in purchasing said system, I'd be more than happy to discuss something.)

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