System Buyers Guide: PCs under $800

AMD HTPC

Everyone asks for HTPC component recommendations, and then when we publish them readers can't wait to throw rocks at our recommendations. Perhaps this is because the HTPC, more than any other computer class, is a very personal machine. It needs to meet the specific needs and demands of the end users, who vary widely in what they plan to do with their new HTPC. So let's first talk about our concept in these two HTPC configurations.

We are assuming the user already has the HDTV (likely) or display he plans to feed, along with a sound system for that HDTV. The motherboards we recommend can reasonably feed audio signals for your Blu-ray movies, but they are not integrated audio amplifiers. Since most end-users are on cable or satellite for TV, we will make no recommendations at all for a TV tuner. Of the many possible uses of an HTPC the great majority of end-users store, play, and stream movies with their HTPC computers. That is mostly what their HTPC systems are used for and that is where we have concentrated our recommendations. In general the processing power in both systems has increased since our December 2009 guide, but costs have gone down a bit.

The CPU chosen for the AMD HTPC computer is the new triple core Phenom II X3 710 with 6MB of L3 cache. You get the expanded processing power of the Phenom II, which is always useful in an HTPC, at the same price as the older Phenom CPU chosen in the December guide. The three CPU cores each run at 2.6GHz, each with a 512KB cache, and a shared 6MB L3 cache - the same L3 cache sized shared on Phenom II quad-core processors. We hesitate to call a Phenom II X3 CPU a low-end chip, but this is certainly the most reasonable Phenom II you can buy. It has plenty of power, however, to drive your AMD HTPC to most anywhere you choose to go.

With DDR2-800 so reasonable these days we equipped the HTPC with 4GB of G.Skill memory. We aren't really interested in overclocking this HTPC (though it's technically still possible), and spending additional money on even higher performance RAM just doesn't make sense. 4GB of memory, however, does make perfect sense in an HTPC box.

The $90 ASUS M3N78-EM is based on the NVIDIA GeForce 8300 chipset. The board features one PCI-E x16 slot, one PCI-E x1 slot, two PCI slots, 8GB memory support, NVIDIA Gigabit LAN, 7.1 HD audio, 12 USB ports, five 3Gb/s SATA ports with RAID support, IEEE 1394a, one eSATA port, HDMI/DVI/VGA output, and full support for the Phenom 140W processors. This board offers overclocking capabilities along with being a top notch HTPC capable board. We highly recommend the GF8200/8300 series for the HTPC market due to hardware accelerated Blu-ray/H.264 playback, multi-channel LPCM output, and very good application performance.

As we discussed in the HTPC introduction, we did not include a TV tuner in the configuration since most end-users are now using their cable and satellite feeds. Few users, therefore, have any real need for a TV tuner card. There's something else to consider in this, and that is the US government mandated deadline to end analog broadcasts (which is now in June), so older/cheaper analog tuner cards are now useless unless you have an analog Cable/Satellite signal. If you truly need a Digital TV tuner, one option that is pretty unique on the TV tuner side is the HD HomeRun from Silicondust USA. This is a dual HDTV tuner/recorder that functions over a network and provides ATSC/QAM support. The price of $169 is more than many other options, but this is arguably a more flexible overall solution - particularly with the mandated move to digital and away from analog.

What's the point of having an HTPC if you don't have a lot of storage space? To that end, we selected a newly affordable 1TB (1000GB) Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EACS SATA hard drive at just $105. The WD Green is a variable speed energy saving design that we found to be among the quietest drives we have ever evaluated. For an HTPC, quiet operation is paramount and this WD Green will not disappoint. The WD Green is a bit slower than true 7200RPM 1TB drives, but the real performance difference is very minor. Another excellent HD option is the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000333AS 7200RPM 1TB at $110. Performance of this 1TB drive has been exemplary in early testing at AnandTech, and the drive has proved to be reasonably quiet. Seagate also makes a super-reliable 1TB drive optimized for video storage and retrieval called the Seagate SV35.3 ST31000340SV 1TB at $150. This "video" Seagate features 24x7 reliability with > 1 million hours MTBF and improved read/write reliability. For those willing to pay the small premium the "video" Seagate would be a good alternate choice.

The optical drive is certainly an upgrade to the entry and budget systems since a reasonable HTPC requires Blu-ray playback capabilities. The LG Black 6X Blu-ray SATA fits the bill without breaking the bank. It provides 6X Blu-ray playback and the fastest recording and playback of DVD and CD media. The current price is around $110, but this drive sometimes goes on sale for $100 so look out for specials. There are also Blu-ray options under $100 from Lite-On and a 6X Blu-ray player at $105. We do not have much experience with this Lite-On drive, but Lite-On drives in the past have proved reliable. That would make the Lite-On Black 6X Blu-ray SATA a more reasonably priced alternative where every penny counts.

Our choice for an HTPC case is the audio component look in the Silverstone LC13B-E, which is an extremely flexible design with two silent fans and silent power when combined with the PC Power and Cooling 500W Silencer power supply. This solid Silverstone case can handle either ATX or Micro ATX motherboards, with space for four internal hard drives in addition to two 5.25" External bays and two 3.5" external bays. If your plans for your HTPC include lots of comportments and storage the Silverstone is an excellent choice. If you prefer a small cube case the Lian Li PC-V350B is a gem of a small black aluminum case. The Lian Li is our choice for the Intel HTPC system on the next page, and you can find more information on that case there.

Since most will place their HTPC near their HDTV or big screen monitor, a wired keyboard and mouse are not really very useful in most setups. Control is more often from across the room, so a wireless RF Logitech keyboard and mouse were selected. At just $25 for the pair, the Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110 wireless keyboard and mouse is a great value. This is also the HTPC preferred RF wireless set, which does not require "line of sight" that is needed for IR wireless.

The final price of the AMD HTPC comes to just $740. That has to be considered a bargain considering the triple core Phenom II CPU, 4GB of memory, and 1TB hard drive all housed in a quiet Silverstone HTPC case with a PC Power and Cooling Silencer 500W PSU. You can certainly spend even less on a basic HTPC box, but we doubt you can build a more powerful or quiet system for the same money.