1. Introduction

Today, we build a low cost system priced at $1,004 for hardware only. Tomorrow, we’ll turn the tables on the cost equation and put a much more powerful Media PC together. In our third and final day of coverage on this topic, we’ll summarize what we saw and learned, and make some recommendations as to how one might make best use of the various systems involved, and we’ll show you some photographs of these two builds.

As we were working on a previous DIY story - one on HDMI PCs, in fact - we wondered what kind of media experience we could extract from one of the new media PC motherboards, without adding a graphics card. Simply put, this story picks up that thread and runs as far with it as it can. That’s because the best way to save money on PC component costs is to lean on the motherboard to provide everything it possibly can, thereby avoiding the costs of some separate add-in components.

Of course, this always involves a performance trade-off, which was what we learned as we worked our way through building and benchmarking today’s system. However, while we did experience some loss of performance, it was not enough to impact our media experiences too negatively.

The Components

Each Component Considered

In our DIY HDMI PC story, we presented a number of facts and opinions regarding the building of media PCs. At the same time we discussed the equipment and component choices that follow from these facts and opinions. Here, we’ll revisit that presentation briefly to echo their relevance and importance, and to discuss the ways in which cost containment can impact such choices.

Compact, horizontal PC cases fit entertainment centers better than conventional cases. You can spend as little as $50 on a so-called Home Theater PC (HTPC) case or as much as $1,000 for a model with an integrated touch screen, built-in IR receiver and other bells and whistles. For this build, we chose a low-end but not inexpensive case from Nmedia that includes front panel USB and Firewire connectors, plus a modest vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) for basic system status information. (We’ll cover all costs in a System Components table later in this story.) This case includes three built-in fans (two 60 mm side-by-side fans, right across from the CPU cooler, and an 80 mm fan that pulls air through the hard disk cage) all of which are mercifully quiet (smaller fans often make more noise than larger ones).

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