Need ideas for a cheap HTPC for emulation purposes.

[M47R1X]

I have way too many things cluttering my bedroom ATM. My living space has a mere 3 consoles (the current gen systems), but my bedroom has a Gamecube w/ GB Player, SNES, NES, Dreamcast, 3DO, N64, PS2, Sega Genesis/CD/32X, Sega Saturn, and an oXBOX, as well as a plethora of handhelds. I have three power strips for all of it and it's a nighmare behind the entertainment center, not to mention all of the ways they hook up to the TV (hint: no RF adapters used).

My TV is a 32 inch Vizio 1080p and I think a good HTPC with ION or better graphics would probably suffice (at least for most of the 8-32bit systems, maybe even the N64, and some of my Steam games would be nice), but I'm new to HTPCs and don't really know what all to look for. Cash is a little tight, so an all out mini-ITX with DDR3 ram, Radeon HD5650/GTS 450 low profile and i7 is out of the question tho I do want it so. I've heard of the Zotac ZBOX which for $175+HDD+RAM isn't too bad and it is quite petite, but it seems like it might be a little underpowered. I'm sure ASUS has some HTPC answer, but this is all I've realy heard of. Searching for all of this stuff on my 2G iPod Touch is maddening, so I thought I'd ask the friendly folks here. Any ideas? I'd like to stay under $500 if possible. Blu Ray/other disc drive not really needed as I have a portable DVD drive and my PS3 on an HDMI splitter from my living room (house is kinda small, so it's not as rediculous as it sounds). Thanks!

[CRTGAMER]

God I hate acronyms. Still trying to figure out why you have an ATM in your bedroom. As far as the best bang for the buck go with a Desktop. 500 bucks is a real basic Home Theater PC.

[neilencio]

a desktop with a wolfdale e5200 (or even the newer e5500) with a 9500 GT will be very cheap, and can do a little bit of PS2 and GC emulation, any other emulator less demanding than that will be a piece of cake. (I know this for a fact since my other PC is exactly like that. OCs like a dream too, can do 3 ghz on stock cooling).

[M47R1X]

God I hate acronyms. Still trying to figure out why you have an ATM in your bedroom. As far as the best bang for the buck go with a Desktop. 500 bucks is a real basic Home Theater PC.

Lol, my wife jacked it when she worked at a bank. Not really tho. Would the case on that be really big? Is the mini ITX the way to go? It can't be really huge. At least not bigger than the Sega Mushroom Tank (Genesis).

[M47R1X]

Okay, I looked around Newegg and found two setups that seem acceptable. I have an unused copy of Windows 7 which I'll probably use. If not that, then Ubuntu. I'm not buying another OS anytime soon.

Setup #1:

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811108241
Mobo: ASUS M4A88T-I Deluxe AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 HDMI Mini ITX AMD Motherboard
CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition Callisto 3.3GHz Socket AM3 80W
RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
This totals to $325.
VC I may add later on down the road: HIS Silence H557HR1G Radeon HD 5570 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card
Jacks the price up to just over $400. Even more if I decide to put a DVD drive in.

I already have a 1TB WD Green SATA hard drive, so that's why you don't see one here. Also have a 2TB drive, but that's for something else on down the road. 1TB should hold rips of all my disc based games (maybe even PS2 and GC games) and I could FINALLY de-clutter my sleep-space. 5.25 slot may be used for HDD #2.

Not really a big fan of AMD, but if it works, it works, and that Asus motherboard is choice.

Setup #2:

Barebone kit: Zotac ZBOX ZBOXHD-ND22-U Intel dual core CULV SU2300 NVIDIA ION graphics processor 2 x 204Pin Black / Silver Mini / Booksize
RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Essentials 4GB (2 x 2GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066
HDD: Western Digital Scorpio Black WD5000BEKT 500GB 7200 RPM 2.5" SATA

The ZBOX I mentioned. Comes up to $390. While nice and small, it doesn't seem to have the same bang-for-buck.


Thoughts? I know that Radeon 5570 looks like it'd be a tight fit, but it has HDMI already and wouldn't need an adapter, and if it doesn't fit, I could just return it for the Sapphire. Fanless for an HTPC seems really nice to me.

Also, I would like to have it standing vertically, but I'm not quite sure how well that would work with a DVD drive. Are they normally fit for playing on the side? Don't have one on me right now to tell. Thanks for the input!

[GSZX1337]

I'll look up some parts when I get home, but for right now, if you're considering a pre-built machine, maybe consider the Acer Revo or the Dell Zino HD?

[M47R1X]

That Revo is in my price range, but for the $500+ I'd rather get a Mac Mini or the Zotac. Could even slap 1TB (5400RPM) and 6 or 8GB of RAM in the Zotac for an expensive build. Of course that much RAM in an HTPC is kinda dumb. I would like 4GB though just in case I decide to do some Photoshop on it. I'm like that . Too bad that Revo doesn't have Wi-Fi, and that it's a single-core Atom. If I were to go the teeny ZBOX way then I shoulda nabbed the Lightning Deal on Amazon last week when it was $175 (Atom and not Celeron Dual Core CULV, but still that's like $50 off).

[M47R1X]

Woo, just looked into it and the AMD processor has two latent cores that can easily be unlocked on that Asus mobo to make her a quad core. I may just like AMD now a little more. Just a little. Their pack-in heat sinks suck eggs.

[Hobie-wan]

Woo, just looked into it and the AMD processor has two latent cores that can easily be unlocked on that Asus mobo to make her a quad core. I may just like AMD now a little more. Just a little. Their pack-in heat sinks suck eggs.

You don't need a quad core for an HTPC. Might as well go for something lower power so it runs quieter and cooler.

[M47R1X]

Well the options are kinda limited, I just like the freedom of being able to, ya know? The lowest wattage I found was 65W, and the Phenom II I have listed is 80W, so it's FAIRLY low power. Lower than my old C2X, that's for sure.