The concept of HTPCs (Home Theater Personal Computers) hasn't really caught up in India yet, so when we decided to hook one up for ourselves we had a tough time finding the parts we needed at our local computer dealer. The fact that there wasn't a single concrete and easy-to-understand HTPC resource available online (call us simple minded, but most of the stuff enthusiasts spoke of went above our
heads, initially) made us tear our hair out in sheer frustration. So after spending what seemed like eons researching on what motherboard, cabinet, processor, graphic card, etc. would fit the bill, and cross checking with numerous local retails and wholesalers, we zeroed in on the best options available in India. Without further ado, we present an easy-to-understand, relatively jargon-free guide that will help even the least technology-inclined among us, build a fully loaded HTPC.
To start off, let us tell you a little about HTPCs - these babies are the one device solution to all your home entertainment needs. The HTPC's your DVD player, your BluRay Player, your music player, your place to store your movie back-ups, your Karaoke machine and should you choose, your gaming PC. What makes it different from a standard PC, you ask? Its form's much smaller than a normal PC and it's exterior's crafted to fit your living room both aesthetically and physically, amongst all the other high-end AV equipment - including any amplifiers, mixers etc. that you may have. Also, since they're designed to be a part of your living room, they've got to have high-end connectors such as an
optical sound out and HDMI output, so that you can connect it to your LCD, projector, and/or amplifier. Apart from that, they've got to stay cool enough so that they don't overheat during those long movie-marathon sessions; so case ventilation plays a vital role too.
With all that taken into consideration, we've narrowed our search down to the following - let us introduce you to the ingredients of this fine concoction, a taste of which will help you achieve AV nirvana -
The Chassis
GlacialTech Altair A381
The first and most vital ingredient is the chassis. To say that we had a bitch of a time finding one that suited our needs, would be an understatement. As I said before, the fact that HTPCs aren't popular in India yet, means that availability of niche HTPC
products such as casings are hard to come by. Since we couldn't locate one easily, we looked for
alternatives - considered case modding a normal case (but didn't go through with that since we're quite lazy), pondered keeping our components out in the wild (i.e. without a cabinet!), and did all kinds of retarded stuff, but we knew we needed a casing that was meant specifically for an HTPC; nothing else would do. Thankfully, after literally breaking our heads a million times over, we came across a dealer that sold GlacialTech's range of Altair cabinets.
This baby was just what we were looking for - small form factor, well designed interiors, good cooling, great looks, and last but definitely not the least - a remote! There are quite a few variations of the Altair A381 in existence, but the only one available at the time was the Standard variant which comes equipped with all the stuff I just mentioned, plus a 240-watt silent power supply, an infrared receiver, a built-in card reader, and an awesome external volume control that doubles as a power switch. The cabinet cost us Rs. 9,000. To ensure that you don't go through the same pain we went through, here's the dealer's email address - acromumbai@gmail.com (Mumbai). Get in touch with them if you wish to buy the cabinet.
The Motherboard
ASUS M3N78-EM
Next on the list was the motherboard - this is one area where we weren't short on
alternatives. We came across many motherboards that would fit our needs, and spent ages amongst spec sheets, trying to digest the buffet that lay before us. Our colleague and hardcore techie, Anand Tuliani recommended the ASUS M3N78-EM; trusting his word (and the fact that he knows a truck-load more about hardware than we do), we took the plunge and bought it.
The M3N78-EM features solid build quality and supports AMD's socket AM2+/AM2 processors. It supports DDR2 1066Mhz, has on-board
Optical S/PDIF output (optical sound out), and a plethora of secondary features, including an on-board NVidia 8300 video card. The board cost us Rs. 5,000.
CPU
AMD Phenom II X3 720
If you're going to back-up a lot of BluRay movies, or wish to do any sort of encoding/decoding, having a great processor is a must. We're aware that other than this, there's not much reason to buy a high-end processor, but we just wanted a strong work-horse that could do our bidding to its best.
Again, on Anand's recommendation we picked the AMD Phenom II X3 720 (we wanted to pick the 710, but it was out of stock almost everywhere). We had to pick between AMD's tri-core and Intel's dual-core processors (Core2Duo); since the extra core benefited us more (for smoother multitasking) than Intel's extra raw power, we stuck to to the Phenom II X3 720. The processor cost us Rs. 9,150.
Graphic Card
Sparkle Low Profile 9600 GT
We had a bit of trouble locating a low-profile 9600GT in the market, since most dealers had only 9400GTs. We finally came across the distributor named Abacus, that
sells Sparkle's low profile cards - one of which was the 9600 GT. Without thinking twice, we took the dive. The 9400GT might have worked too, but we wanted the best we could get at a reasonable
price, so that we can play all those 1080p movies without too much trouble. Also, should we choose to game, the 9600 GT is a respectable card! The card set us back by Rs. 10,000. If you face any difficulty in finding these cards at your local dealer, you can always email Abacus Peripherals at shreeya@abacusperipherals.com to know more about local availability.
Update: As some of you guys pointed out, the 9600 GT is available for way cheaper now (about Rs. 6500). We bought this card a while back, and didn't update the price. Sorry about that; thanks for pointing it out!
BluRay/DVD Drive
If you wish to invest in such a high-end setup, a BluRay Drive's a must. There are a couple in the market by Sony and LG that are pretty decent, but the problem is that since there's quite a shortage of units in Mumbai, so many dealers end up charging exorbitant prices. We got a good deal on a Sony BluRay DVD-ROM, that set us back by about Rs. 12,000. There are some great BluRay burners you can buy too, but their price tag's pretty high (the LG GGW-H20L is a terrific BluRay re-writer), but you might want to wait till the market restocks and pricesdrop a bit.
If a BluRay Drive seems a little out of your budget at the moment and you don't mind making do with DVDs for the time being, you could always go for a DVDROM drive (that will cost under Rs. 2000) until BluRay drive prices stabilize a little.
Hard Drive
Western Digital 1 TB
Memory
GSkill 2GB x 2 DDR2 800Mhz
Being the gamer I am, I picked the GSkill RAM (that's meant for gamers) that comes equipped with a nice heat-sync. The RAM's meant for long gaming sessions, which can be far more intense than anything an HTPC can throw at it. Since RAM prices are quite low now, we picked 4GB without denting our pocket much (we spent Rs. 3,000 on RAM, to be precise).
Keyboard + Mouse
Logitech DiNovo Mini
Call us extravagant, but we wanted a great, compact, wireless keyboard in spite of having the remote control we got with the casing. Using a remote would be enough for the media center features, but if you wish to use the PC for anything more you're going to need a functional keyboard + mouse.
The Logitech DiNovo Mini is a nifty little Bluetooth keyboard that's really compact, and features a touch pad that doubles as a mouse. The keyboard has a rechargeable Li-ion battery that lasts a while, savingyou the pain of replacing batteries every few days. The DiNovo Mini cost us Rs. 8,500.
As the OS of choice, we picked Windows Vista Ultimate (64-Bit). Now I know Vista isn't the best OS out there, but its Media Center functionality is really powerful and hassle-free to configure. If you want, you can even set up your OS to start up the Windows Media Center on start-up.
That's about all the stuff we pumped into the HTPC. If you wish to add a TV tuner card to the mix, Pinnacle has got its a range that's available at select dealers. If you wish to add a monitor, we suggest picking the 22 or 24 inch BenQ widescreen ones out there, which have reasonableprices and perform really well; although we'd much rather recommend that you use an HDTV and a high end sound system to do this high-end HTPC justice.
