Have thought about building a HTPC for ages, since ditching subscription satellite (Sky TV) I thought now would be a good time to build one. The primary purpose of the system is providing my bedroom TV with content, which it will be directly connected to. I am planning on setting up connectivity with other devices on my home network, the TV in the main room, brothers laptops and provide additional storage should anyone wish to use it.

I've got three key objectives for this build:

1.       Low power consumption

2.       Low noise levels

3.       Low overall cost

 

I’ve spent the past couple of days researching the different hardware, swapped between a few cases and have ended up with this parts list:

CPU: AMD 5350 2.05Ghz Quad-Core Processor  (£31.14 @ Amazon UK) 

Motherboard: Asus AM1M-A Micro ATX AM1 Motherboard  (£28.00 @ Amazon UK) 

Memory: Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£12.99 @ Ebuyer) 

Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 60GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£30.00 @ Amazon UK) 

Case: Fractal Design Node 804 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£76.47 @ Ebuyer) 

Power Supply: Corsair CSM 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£56.99 @ Amazon UK) 

Total: £235.59 (GBP)

 

Just ordered all the parts, looking forward to building it. Will update with pics when they've been delivered. Managed to get £2.44 cashback from eBuyer could of gotten more if I hadn't ordered half the parts from Amazon but they were considerably cheaper and the cashback wouldn't of made-up the difference, I'm hoping they both get delivered on the same day! 

 

Interesting but couldnt you just use something cheap like a Raspberry Pi?

That's a pretty well balanced build you made there nice one!

Interesting but couldnt you just use something cheap like a Raspberry Pi?

Yes, if you wanted too use a Linux OS instead of Windows on the HTPC