[JoshShafe]

I guess, technically, it's not my first HTPC...but it is the first that I've built from scratch. I've been using my old desktop PC hooked up to my TV for the past couple of years and it has worked great. However, it is a giant tower that sits next to the TV and I am looking to change it up and get a HTPC built which would basically sit with our other set-top boxes and look like a Cable Box/Blu-Ray Player.

I'll give a run-down of what I am looking to do with this HTPC, as well as the parts that I have found, and I am hoping to get some input from anyone around here who might be able to give some insight as to how this would seem.

- OS will be Windows 7...only programs that I want to run would be XBMC, SickBeard, SABnzbd, CouchPotato and a Media Manager program which I have not looked into fully yet.
- Playback will include 720p Movies/TV Shows on my External USB WD HDD (2 drives, one at 2 TB & the other at 1.5 TB)
- I do not need any sort of drive for DVD/Blu-Ray for this HTPC. All of that will be done on my old gigantic desktop that is being replaced by this one.
- Low power consumption...I will probably set it to sleep/hibernate at a certain time & if my remote could be able to turn this sucker on, that would be great. If not, I'm not too concerned. I currently use Windows 7/Vista MCE Remote, which has given me no issues but has NOT been able to start up my desktop from sleep/hibernate/off.

[CASE] Silverstone MicroATX ML03B
[MOBO] ASRock A75M FM1 AMD A75
[CPU] AMD A8-3850 Llano 2.9GHz Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core
[SSD] SanDisk Extreme 128 GB
**OR**
[HDD] WD Caviar Green 2TB
[PSU] SilverStone Strider 400W
[RAM] G.SKILL Ripjaws 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
[FAN] Cooler Master 80mm (x 2)
[TOTAL] ~ $400

I've been going back and forth with this for awhile and am looking to pull the trigger on actually building the HTPC for the living room, finally, but was looking for some input from you guys. Anything I should remove, change, add?

As for the SSD v HDD...I'm looking at the HDD for the additional space and was looking at the SDD for the increased speed of everything on the system. However, I'm wondering if I'd even notice the speed if I don't mind the time it takes to boot the HTPC right into XBMC. So, part of me is thinking I might go with storage space over speed...but I can be swayed.

Thanks guys!

[KraziJoe]

I would do the SSD just for heat and sound. Speed is meh in the HTPC but heat and sound are things I want to avoid in mine.

[JoshShafe]

You know, I wasn't even thinking about the heat or sound...I was mostly just looking at storage space. I'd imagine with the SSD, you really wouldn't hear any sort of spinning from the drive itself, which would be a nice change of pace from my current system. Thanks for the input!

[JoshShafe]

I'd like to pull the trigger on this sucker by the end of the week...any additional thoughts on the build or anything I should change for performance or even price?

[GortWillSaveUs]

Looks good,..seems like you did your homework,....pull the trigger,..but then let us know how it all comes together.

[bluray]

I would add these "Scythe SCBSK-2100 BIG Shuriken 2 Rev. B and SilenX EFX-08-12 80mm Effizio Quiet Case Fan" to the list to make it silencer....