17. Test Build 1, Continued

Here's an inside view of our HTPC with all hardware components installed.

After all the hardware was installed and we completed a burn-in test, we finally closed up the case. That's when we ran into our first small problem.

Not every graphics card is narrow enough to prevent vertical clearance problems (the wraparound heat pipe is the problem here).

We initially chose a fanless graphics card from Gigabyte with both TV and HDTV outputs. But as the photo above shows, this card was too tall to let us button up the case. In fact, it was nearly an inch (2 cm) too tall for this build. That's too bad, because it was our first choice for a graphics card.

That's why we had to switch to the eVGA fanless 6600. The card is a logical replacement, since even though it is more expensive than our preferred Gigabyte card, it is otherwise identical, and has no heat pipe to cause vertical clearance problems. And at least both cards have S-Video ports, which makes it easy to connect the HTPC to a television set.

External USB cables service the front connector ports.

With the cover on, the HTPC is ready to run.

Once the software installation is complete, the HTPC is ready to use. The master control in this HTPC was Cyberlink's Power Cinema software, which works something like the Microsoft Media Center Edition operating system, but instead runs on Windows XP Home or Pro. Power Cinema handles all multimedia functions, so you don't have to even deal with the Windows interface if you don't want to.

Power Cinema supports the the Avermedia TV tuner card both for direct viewing and use as a PVR for recording programs for later viewing. And everything can be controlled using either the remote control or via the wireless keyboard.