Tom's Hardware > All Reviews > Special > Miscellaneous > DIY Home Theater PC Part II: The Quiet and Powerful Equation

DIY Home Theater PC Part II: The Quiet and Powerful Equation

06:45 - Tuesday 28 February 2006 by Siggy Moersch

1. DIY Home Theatre PC
2. 3R Systems HT-1100 Features Lots Of Room Inside
3. Side And Interior Views
4. Side And Interior Views, Continued
5. Side And Interior Views, Continued
6. Antec Overture II-EC: Cheap Looking Exterior
7. Side And Interior Views
8. Side And Interior Views, Continued
9. The CoolerMaster CM Media 260's Cramped Space
10. Side And Interior Views
11. Side And Interior Views, Continued
12. CoolerMaster CM Media 250: Solid Workmanship
13. Side And Interior Views
14. Side And Interior Views, Continued
15. Lian Li PC-880B: Outstanding Workmanship, Minor Flaws
16. Side And Interior Views
17. nmedia HTPC200: Ho-hum Plastic Case Front Door
18. Side And Interior Views
19. Side And Interior Views, Continued
20. Silverstone LC16M-B: Sleek And Expensive
21. Side And Interior Views
22. Side And Interior Views, Continued
23. The Silverstone Sugo SST-SG01's Unusual Appearance
24. Side And Interior Views
25. Side And Interior Views, Continued
26. Thermaltake Bach VB8000BNS: From Bach To Mozart
27. Side And Interior Views
28. Side And Interior Views, Continued
29. Thermaltake Mozart VC4000SNS: DVD Eject Button Missing
30. Side And Interior Views
31. Side And Interior Views, Continued
32. Thermaltake Rhythm CL-W0042: External Watercooler
33. Thermaltake Rhythm CL-W0042, Continued
34. Supported Motherboards: Keep Your Eyes Open While Buying

35. Asus A8N-VM CSM, Continued
36. Biostar TForce 6100-939
37. Gigabyte GA-8I945GMF: No HDTV Support
38. Gigabyte GA-K8N51PVMT-9: HDTV-Support
39. Gigabyte GA-K8N51PVMT-9, Continued
40. Aopen I915Gmm-HFS: A Premium Pentium M Mobo
41. Foxconn 865M01-G-6LS: Socket 478 Lives On!
42. AMD Athlon 64 Or Intel Pentium M?
43. Intel Pentium 4 Series
44. System RAM: DDR Or DDR2?
45. Kingston DDR2 533 MHz
46. Gigabyte i-RAM
47. Passively Cooled Graphics Cards With Video-Out
48. Gigabyte GV-N66256DP With HDTV Output
49. EVGA GeForce 6600 Heatsink Edition
50. TV-Cards: OTA HDTV Or SDTV Tuner Cards
51. Power Supplies
52. Antec Phantom 350
53. Multimedia Goodies
54. VL System M-Play 202, Continued
55. Soundgraph IMon
56. Soundgraph IMon, Continued
57. Sound Graph IMon RF Solutions
58. Soundgraph IMON 2.4G DT Receiver
59. Thermaltake Media LAB
60. Asour VPC 2000 Multimedia Hub
61. Asour VPC 2000 Multimedia Hub, Continued
62. Test Build 1: Living Room-Ready And User-Friendly
63. Test Build 1, Continued
64. Test Build 1, Continued
65. Test Build 2: Everyday DVD And Radio Playback
66. Test Build 2, Continued
67. Test Build 2, Continued
68. Test Build 2, Continued
69. Conclusion

Many options, few uses?

In Part I of our "Do-It-Yourself Home Theatre PC" article, we opted for a slimline case from Hiper. However, this resulted in many problems with hardware installation and heat dissipation inside the case. Since then, numerous other vendors have introduced new cases designed specifically for Home Theatre PC (HTPC) use, so we thought we would broaden our selection here in Part II.

Our goal for today is to create a quiet, multi-function PC suitable for living room use that can play back a wide variety of video and audio formats. Looking ahead to the 2006 Soccer World Cup in Germany, we also want HDTV to play a role in our system. Our HTPC should be able to record and play back HDTV programs and play DVDs. This PC must also support a wireless remote control or a wireless keyboard that can handle all Windows and multimedia functions easily and without having to jump through too many hoops. We also tried to select only those hardware components for this system that would do the job nicely, and not lead to unpleasant surprises during assembly and testing.

The Case: Rebirth Of The Desktop

Black and silver are undoubtedly the dominant colours for HTPC cases. Like tower cases, steel, aluminium and lots of plastic also show up in HTPC cases as well. One new trend is discernable as far as front panel doors go, for those cases that feature them: instead of a swing-out plastic door, most HTPC cases use aluminium instead. These not only look better by themselves, they also boosts the general look and feel. Some of our test candidates also include a front-panel display, which not only provides information about the system or its files, but can also serve as a receiver for a multifunction remote control.