How to Build a Home Theater PC

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X15E-HTPC-B People always ask me about my Media Center when they come over to my place. They love how it has all my movies, music and pictures in one place. I can also view online content (Apple Movie Trailers, YouTube, etc.) from the same place. Well, today I’m going to tell you how I would put together a new Home Theater PC today if I was going to start from scratch.

I’ll include the parts list assuming you know how to build a computer. (If you don’t, here is a great guide on how to do so)

First, here is a list of the parts that I would choose to use to build this machine:

Case

Motherboard

Processor

Memory

Hard Drive

Blu-ray Drive

Card Reader

Infrared Remote Control with Receiver


At the time of this writing, the total cost (with shipping) comes to $480.17. This is without buying Windows XP or Vista. You could also install Linux for free. You may notice that I don’t have a TV Tuner card as I plan to still rely on my cable provider’s DVR box.

main_logo copy Second, the software. The software that I use and love is called XBMC. It is a free program that runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and even the Apple TV. Eventually I’ll probably start using Boxee when that gets released for Windows. Feel free to ask me any questions via e-mail or Twitter.

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