Hey everyone. Built my HTPC recently. My situation was, I had a small android box Memohi T96 Pro 4k but did not like the way it handled media and was glitchy. So the decision was made to build an inexpensive, small and possibly silent HTPC.
First thing I did was went through my stash of extra parts lying around unused or almost unused but not really needed.
What was found:
500w atx power supply
Few wd green 1tb hdds
Kingston V300 240gb ssd
I also had 3x2gb of ddr3 ram but was a little skeptical of using this ancient stuff but still considering it if I went over budget.
What I needed.
I have a powerful gaming computer which is a main sourse for all media. I wanted a small computer that would be the middle man between the gaming PC and the receiver+speakers through wired network. 4k video support without any issues and stuttering was a must, that means a somewhat basic, low end cpu; low (relatively) amount of ram; decent motherboard and a dedicated gpu. In my case I also needed a small HTPC chasis that would match with all my other AV components and wanted to have a modern platform.
First order of business was finding a case suitable for my needs. After looking at many cases the choise was made to get a Silverstone Milo ML05 @ $52. Because it was cheap, small and matched my Home Theater.
After that it was time to fill that small chasis with parts, starting with a motherboard.
MSI H110I PRO was chosen because it's cheap, has two usb 3.1 ports, two full ddr4 ram slots, supports a wide range of kaby lake cpus and can be a stable platform for an upgrade in the future. $70
Ram: cheapest stick of ddr4 ram, 4gb is more than enough. $46.
CPU: Intel Celeron G3930 kaby lake was chosen. Because it has plenty of oomph for simple stuff and is cheap @ $59.
Storage: I already had an unused 240gb ssd but if I had to get one, ~$50 for a 120gb ssd from a respectable brand.
PSU: for low end components like that you would need is 200w and eve that is high. I had a 500w atx unit so great I thought, will save on that.......
GPU: the cheapest unit that will play anything and everything is a Nvidia GeForce GT 1030. A low profile one in my case. I got a Gigabyte low profile card with 2gb of memory. One can be found for ~$75.
The ironic thing was, all other components came first except for the case, it came last, so I found out the hard way that the atx psu does not fit into the Silverstone case even though reviews said it does fit. Well, another charge was for a Silverstone Sfx 300w psu @ $50.
So, lets recap all the prices:
Case: $52
Psu: $50
MB: $70
CPU: $59
RAM: $46
GPU: $75
Total: $352
For my build I also bought a FLIRC ir receiver for $22 and a Logitech c920 webcam for $40, getting the total to $414.
If you exclude the last two and add an ssd and a operating system for another $150, which brings the grand total to $502. And if you can live with an onboard (cpu) gpu, watching videos up to 1080p only without stuttering, the price goes down to $427.
In some pictures you will see two 80mm fans. I took them off for the final build because they were very loud! Without them two, there are only three fans in the whole system: cpu, gpu and psu, and it's silent! I mean you can hear it only when you bring your ear right to it. Six feet away, sitting on the couch you cannot hear anything.