I'm building an HTPC to put with my HDTV and this is the case I'm building it with.

Got it from Newegg.com for $69.99 I'll update this post when I get the rest of the parts. Should be soon. SO far it's gonna have Bluray and HDMi output with 2-4gb's of ram all for less than $300

Apevia X-Master HTPC case - $69.99
Just added the following parts
Athlon II X2 250 3.0GHz Socket AM3 Dual-Core - $72.99
GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H w/HDMI m-ATX - $79.99
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit - $35.99
nMedia pc LCD kit Pro-LCD-B- $36.99
Lite-on Blu-Ray Drive OEM - $59.99
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The original Build was supposed to be under $300 but I upgrade the case to the apevia and added an lcd kitso total came to $355.94

I don't need any hardrives since I've already got about 7 and I can easy just take one and put it into this machineI'm gonna add windows 7Ultimate 32bit, not going to do 64bit till I'm sure there are good enough drivers for all my parts.I'll update once more with pics of the final build.

Looks sweet, not something that would grab your atention. Witch that is good because when you are watching TV. all what you need to do is get a LED display for the front, that displays what is being played, as well what the Volume and that box would be 1337.

Well this is a budget build and an lcd display on the front would drive the cost of the entire build $300 total.


EDIT: Actually I just took you up on that suggestion and found a cheap and nice looking one for $36.99

With the LED displays for the front you would have to program it to do that, but hte program that it comes with prob has something that allows you to tell it to report what the stats are, weather it is music, Vol.

this is the case i use for my htpc



also have you thought about tuner cards. In the usa i think they have something called cablecard that you can use to get digital tv from special pci tuners. Not sure though.

Also watch out for the board as some htpc cases only allow micro atx boards like the one i picked.

I don't have cable so I can't use a tuner card I have DirecTV satelite and satelites aren't compatible here in the states with tuner cards only in europe. I've been waiting for them to work but no dice so far. Also the board I have is Micro-atx I listed as such in ther first post. and the Case accepts micro and Standard ATX so there is plenty of room. Your case is nice but I couldn't spend that much that case would have blown my whole budget. I only had a $300 bonus from work to work with. And it's semi-sort of a birthday present for myself.

Humm i see but still it should work with the direct tv recievers you just need analog cards and the media center remote, i haven't done it myself but i know its possible.

Noir, Man that likes REALLY Shinny and expensive things. The Gun metal look is a little much. If it was a Dark charcole or a midnight black then it would be nice.
I like what Deno's got working out. You can get the wireless Media center remote for his box that runs off Radio FQ. Ebay that you can get a good price for that on Ebay prob.

X_X im sorry for my likes, you can get the original mce remote though and it has these infa red things that attach to your tuners say digital tv or sat dish and they change the channel on the receiver, that is if you are using teh media center software. Also the thing with my case is i got it for cheap.

I've already got a remote so thats not something I would need I have the media center remote from IMON it's basically the defacto remote for all media center HTPC's now a days it's really neat I like it , have had it a while but with no use till now. I jhave absolutely no need for a tuner card since I have tuivo sitting rigth next to my tv and will essentially be right next to the HTPC. The pc will be for lite gaming and movies only
This is the remote and receiver i have
iMON Inside 3.5" Bay IR Remote, Black (SKU: SG-IMON)

cost me like $50 two years ago

I also have an old streamzap remote that still works great too