6. Components Table

Computer Components
Case	Silverstone LaScala 14M HTPC Case (Black, retail: $150)
HD-DVD burner	Toshiba TS-L802A HD-DVD drive (not available thru retail, substitute Xbox 360 HD-DVD player, retail: $200)
Blu-ray drive	Pioneer BDR-101A Blu-ray drive (retails for $693, consider the Sony PSP 3 with integrated Blu-ray drive for $600 as an alternative, but it integrates at the A/V receiver, not through the PC)
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H (retail: $99)
Hard Drives	2 Samsung Spinpoint SP2004C, 200 GB, 7,200 RPM, 8 MB Cache, SATA/300 (retail: $55 each; $110 total)
Graphics	eVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTX 640 MB (retail: $330)
Power Supply	Zalman ZM460-APS Silent Power Supply - 460W (retail: $100)
RAM	Corsair Dominator TWIN2X2048-8500C5D 2x 1024 MB DDR2-1066 (CL 5.0-5-5-15) (Retail: $289)
CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra	A must for HD-DVD and Blu-ray playback (retail: $72)
Remote	Logitech Harmony 1000 ($435)
Wireless keyboard	Logitech diNovo Edge (Retail: $152)
Windows MCE 2005 PVR-500MCE, MCE remote, Nvidia DVD decoder bundler	Buy the PC Alchemy MCE bundle for $280: includes the OS, plus a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500-MCE, Microsoft MCE remote and IR transceiver, plus Nvidia's DVD decoder
HDTV card	AVerMedia AverTV HD MCE A180 HDTV tuner card (Retail: $90)

The total cost for the entire package is $3,299 with the CPU ($299), which isn't listed in the table above. This price includes no display. We assume you've got a 1080p HDTV set to which you'll find a way to attach your media PC, preferably using HDMI direct or through an A/V receiver. If you want to jack the price up further, consider making one or more of the following substitutions:

Replace the Silverstone case with an Origen AE x15e ($600, with 7" touch screen) or the Origen AE S21T ($1000, with 12.1" touch screen). Replace the two 200 GB drives with 400 GB ($100 each) or 500 GB ($120 each) Spinpoint T series drives, or the Western Digital WD Caviar SE 16 500 GB drives ($140 each). When it comes to investing in high-end touchscreen universal home theater remotes, the sky is the limit, with models including Philips (the RC9800i is priced at $600 and up), Monster Cable Home Theater and Lighting Controller ($450 and up) and the Universal Electronics NevoSL (available only from licensed installers as part of a turnkey system). It would probably be a good idea to replace the stock cooler with something a bit more capable, but still relatively compact (we're in an HTPC case, after all), such as the Zalman CNPS8000 ($52) or the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler ($30).

Depending on where you go with these suggestions, and where your own ingenuity takes you, you could add $730 or more to the price for the system as we built it. Have you spent enough virtual money to get a little queasy yet? One of your humble authors has two HTPCs that receive daily use at his house, where one cost about $750 a year ago, and the other retails for $1,200; this happy new total is nearly double that amount!