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Go here for a good list of Power Supply part numbers: http://www.80plus.org/manu/psu/psu_join.aspx

Power supplies on that list are tested for efficiency at 20% load, 50% load, and 100% load. If they pass they get the 80 Plus efficiency rating. Newer 80 Plus ratings bronze, silver, and gold were added which have even stricter efficiency requirements.

Also sizing your power supply for your needs is critical. If your system is only going to consume 100 watts on load there's little reason why you should be buying a 600 watt power supply. If you're going to buy 4 video cards and/or 6 hard disks, then maybe. But for your standard single cpu, single video card, and one or two hard disk machine, a 400 watt power supply or maybe even less (depending on video card and cpu) might be all you need. That's because efficiency tends to drop-off under 20% of the PSU's load. So if our system consumes say 80 watts idle, then 400 watt PSU would be more efficient than a 500 watt PSU.

Another thing you should be looking at are the listed amps for each voltage line the psu can support. For example let's look at the following two PSUs at newegg: CHIEFTEC GREEN CTP-350-12G 350W and SeaSonic SS-350ET 350W. Both are rated 80 plus so they're both efficient and both have two 12V lines. But if we look at the output specs the Chieftec has 11A and 14A for the 12V lines while the Seasonic has 17A for each 12V line. In fact, the Seasonic PSU beats the Chieftec on all output voltages except the 3.3V which it loses by only 1amp. In this case the PSUs are rated exactly the same, but I've seen cheaper high wattage models with crappier specs than PSUs rated 50 watts or even 100 watts lower. The total output wattage might be higher but if each line can't handle the fluctuations your system can crash or your PSU can fail (sometimes violently).

Go here for a good list of Power Supply part numbers: http://www.80plus.org/manu/psu/psu_join.aspx

Power supplies on that list are tested for efficiency at 20% load, 50% load, and 100% load. If they pass they get the 80 Plus efficiency rating. Newer 80 Plus ratings bronze, silver, and gold were added which have even stricter efficiency requirements.

Also sizing your power supply for your needs is critical. If your system is only going to consume 100 watts on load there's little reason why you should be buying a 600 watt power supply. If you're going to buy 4 video cards and/or 6 hard disks, then maybe. But for your standard single cpu, single video card, and one or two hard disk machine, a 400 watt power supply or maybe even less (depending on video card and cpu) might be all you need. That's because efficiency tends to drop-off under 20% of the PSU's load. So if our system consumes say 80 watts idle, then 400 watt PSU would be more efficient than a 500 watt PSU.

Another thing you should be looking at are the listed amps for each voltage line the psu can support. For example let's look at the following two PSUs at newegg: CHIEFTEC GREEN CTP-350-12G 350W and SeaSonic SS-350ET 350W. Both are rated 80 plus so they're both efficient and both have two 12V lines. But if we look at the output specs the Chieftec has 11A and 14A for the 12V lines while the Seasonic has 17A for each 12V line. In fact, the Seasonic PSU beats the Chieftec on all output voltages except the 3.3V which it loses by only 1amp. In this case the PSUs are rated exactly the same, but I've seen cheaper high wattage models with crappier specs than PSUs rated 50 watts or even 100 watts lower. The total output wattage might be higher but if each line can't handle the fluctuations your system can crash or your PSU can fail (sometimes violently).

Seems strange that they charged a restocking fee for an Open Box item that was DOA. They game me a refund for the exact same problem, no restocking fee. "Return for refund within: 15 days" However, I did have to pay for the return shipping. http://www.newegg.com/HelpInfo/ReturnPolicy.aspx#8 They do not charge a restocking fee for DOA Open Box items.

I agree with most of what donaldm is saying. Though, you may want to check out a dual monitor setup (if your desk is big enough). It really is impressive and gives you the ability to have a web page open with game hints, while you are playing the game on the other screen. Also, if you don't have a clock, you can move the taskbar to that screen and see the clock. If your game crashes and it doesn't fall to the desktop, you've still got the second screen to do stuff in.

Check out what other people are building over at http://www.hardocp.com/.

My favorite shops have already been mentioned: Newegg, ZipZoomFly. I've also had some success with vendors that advertise on pricewatch.

I know Newegg is popular, but I've always felt their restocking fees were basically insulting.

Truly spoken like someone that has never run any sort of internet-based business before...there is an obscene amount of fraud when it comes to abuse of the return policy regarding pc parts and other commodity electronics.

MWave and ZipZoomFly are both very good alternatives to NewEgg.

I know Newegg is popular, but I've always felt their restocking fees were basically insulting.

Which makes me wonder how competitive a shopping list you could get using another company which has a much better return policy (something I find I appreciate a bit more for my components).

That sounds like a pretty good idea actually. RAM is cheap as dirt nowadays.

The SSD drives for this notebook in particular look awfully expensive to me. $50 to go from 4GB to 8GB?

You can get a full 16GB SSD (with USB interface) from NewEgg for just $35!

We're closer than you think. You can buy a BluRay drive for $140.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&SubCategory=598&N=2010100598&SpeTabStoreType=1

The way I see it, I bought a PS3 for $400. At the time, the comparable XBox 360 was $350. I got a BluRay player with the PS3 by spending the $50 extra.

The nice thing about the PS3 is that it has built in wifi, and I get firmware updates frequently adding all the new features before more other BluRay players get them, and it is even easier to install the firmware.

Yeah, I'm going through the same thing, only my current drive is 2 GB. Of course, it get's worse:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609296

I am currently telling myself that if 8 GB is available in that form factor now (apparently is uses a slower, denser type of flash), 32 GB will be available in that form factor real-soon-now, so I might as well wait until then to upgrade (plus, 8 GB will be $5 by then).

2 GB flash drives are $5-$10 these days:

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=522&name=USB-Flash-Drives

You have evidence HP is moving further towards Windows when they've been coming out with Linux netbooks along with Acer and of course Asus? Touch displays in Linux require software stacks that don't exist? That's an old video, but I like the music. ^^

Why did you get ranked insightful though, don't get it, oh wells.

You have evidence HP is moving further towards Windows when they've been coming out with Linux netbooks along with Acer and of course Asus? Touch displays in Linux require software stacks that don't exist? That's an old video, but I like the music. ^^

Why did you get ranked insightful though, don't get it, oh wells.

Not true. SSDs are already faster in every aspect than magnetic drives.

Easiest way for me to say this: Wrong. Here's the current king of the hill when it comes to magnetic storage http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ultrastar-cheetah-sas,2004-3.html . No SSD can come close to touching that drive in performance or price/GB... yet.

Even the price is no longer a big issue, 64GB SSD drives can be gotten for $270.

Wrong. 64GB, $250, $210 after rebate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227344 . And that's still a freaking insanely high price/GB. Here's let's do the math.
Cheetah 15k.6 450GB ~$900 so $2/GB
VelociRaptor 300GB ~$300 $1/GB
Most 500GB drives $65 $.13/GB
Any 640GB drive $85 $.13/GB
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB $99 $.13/GB (see the trend?)
Seagate Barracuda ES.2 1TB (Near-line drive, the most expensive 1TB available) $235 $.24/GB
OCZ Core Series SSD 64GB $210 $3.28/GB
One of the most inexpensive/GB SSDs is over 13x more expensive than a magnetic drive that's considered enterprise entry level (The ES.2) and over 25x more expensive than drives that are considered typical mainstream.

120mb/s sustained and sequential read and write. WD Velociraptor (the new 10k rpm drive) has that value much lower at 85mb/s sustained and 68mb/s sequential.

Wrong. The Velociraptor was not included in that benchmark. In fact, pre-release engineering samples didn't hit the benchmark sites for a month and a half after that article was published. Here's one that does include it. http://hothardware.com/News/OCZ_Core_Series_SSD_Vs_VelociRaptor_Sneak_Peek/ Also, "X sustained and Y sequential" doesn't even make sense. I think you meant read and write but even got those numbers wrong.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=149&Itemid=1&limit=1&limitstart=4

Those benchmarks are garbage. For starters they're 6 months old and a lot has changed since then. They're comparing a "brand new" latest generation SSD versus a "performance hard drive" 74GB Raptor that is now 2 generations old.

Most of the benchmark sites just piss me off when they're doing SSD reviews. They never put them head to head with the 2 market segments for which the drives are being produced and pushed. The mfgs want the high end drives in enterprise class servers that see extreme I/O levels, and the "mainstream" drives are for laptops due to power usage and durability. A lot of the enterprise class servers are already switching to 2.5" drives anyway for lower power draw, lower access times, and higher density per unit. Very few people are going to replace their 3.5" drive in their desktop with a silly expensive piece of flash ram. I'm leaning heavily toward getting one of those 64GB OCZ drives for my laptop, and it's as much for heat as anything else. The only reasons I'd look to put one in a PC is if I'm trying to accomplish making it silent or green, but none of the reviewers ever seem to realize that.

Try this external USB drive and put some velcro between it and the back of your display. When you don't need it, remove it. Problem solved.

Why not buy online vs a Box store? Compare Best Buy's customer service (eek) to Newegg's... Also, online prices are going to be more competitive, look at the EEE 16gig on Best Buy http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8905973&type=product&id=1213046768451 $449, windows Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220367 #379, linux

If you look at the current OCZ crop:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227345

Then admittedly, it still has some way to go in both price and performance, but at the current rate, I expect this capacity to hit the 200 mark within one year, not two.

it's pretty presumptuous to think that every one has the same needs/preferences as you.

I've been called presumptuous before. It doesn't bother me. That's the price I have to pay to school people on how stuff works. The thing is, I didn't say this would suit everybody. I said it would suit most everybody. The difference is that the people whose needs exceed the usual should expect to pay more. In this case, they should expect to exit the sweet spot and pay a lot more for the bleeding edge. To them it's worth it. For most folks, the sweet spot is a nice place to be.

You can get a 320GB USB powered 2.5" drive for cheap. They'll be selling them in your 7/11 soon, but you can get them at your favorite department or office supply store now. If your data needs are high (and mine are - I capture server images on one of mine), it'll deliver your data as fast as a laptop drive can. On days when you don't need to access your media library or capture system images to get your job done, you can leave it in your pocket and experience the joys of low power usage. Ain't choice great?

So it boils down to folks that can't get their apps installed in 16GB. For those few they do offer a 32GB SDHC for $230 delivered. That's a lot more, but it's not out of the realm of reasonable if you have those special needs. 12 months from now that'll be $80, and three years from now it'll be offered in the MicroSD form factor for your phone.

Dude! You're shopping at the wrong place!

I guarantee that the SDHC card you mention will not push any really reasonable speed.

I bought this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820208418

Then I went to Addonics web site and ordered a CF to IDE adapter. Well, at first I ordered one on ebay. Turned out it didn't fully support DMA...??? Like they didn't complete all the traces properly... anyways, for 70$ or so total, I have a diskless machine in my garage that boots Ubuntu and plays music; no more whiney 80gb hard drive there.

I think Linux reported hdparm stats of 25 to 30MB per second. Not too shabby; since the PC is only a 900 mhz athlon, I really can't tell if the CF is a limiting factor in speed. It feels just as snappy as when I had the original hard disk in; it probably boots a bit faster but I generally just turn it on and don't watch over it...

Try 16GB SDHC, available now for $50, delivered.

One for the OS and apps, one for the data. Need more? Put the other ones in your pocket.

"USB may well survive, but I'm doubtful; even RS-232 didn't last that long."
What????

First.
"The Electronics Industries Association (EIA) standard RS-232-C[1] as of 1969 defines:"
Okay we have a start date of 1969 for the official standard. There where of course implementations before it was standardized.
So we now have a start date but that is the problem.
It is 2008 and we have
http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=101&sku=26886
And this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121342
And this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158022

So almost 40 years latter we can still find USB to serial converters, Brand new motherboards, and cards all that support RS-232.
I would say that RS-232 is still around after almost 40 years.
So nope your wrong about RS-232.

"USB may well survive, but I'm doubtful; even RS-232 didn't last that long."
What????

First.
"The Electronics Industries Association (EIA) standard RS-232-C[1] as of 1969 defines:"
Okay we have a start date of 1969 for the official standard. There where of course implementations before it was standardized.
So we now have a start date but that is the problem.
It is 2008 and we have
http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=101&sku=26886
And this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121342
And this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158022

So almost 40 years latter we can still find USB to serial converters, Brand new motherboards, and cards all that support RS-232.
I would say that RS-232 is still around after almost 40 years.
So nope your wrong about RS-232.

That's ~$160 more that it should be and Dell is making 100% pure profit on. Vista Ultimate OEM costs a consumer or ma-n-pa small time system builder (any of your local PC shops) $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=Vista+Ultimate+OEM&x=0&y=0

Heck, you can buy the retail version for less than $350, it's $277.49 at Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116473

Dell is making even more profit than that because they they get Windows OEM licenses for much cheaper, or at least they use to. I don't have it handy, but I saw a spreadsheet a few years ago showing they were paying about $50 USD per license for XP Pro. Now that I'm thinking about it, that might have actually been the Germany government or some town in Germany. Wish I had that handy right now. Either way, the larger the organization, the cheaper they get software licenses for. Oh, and that was when an OEM license of XP Pro cost the consumer about $150 USD.

Vista Home Premium OEM is ~$110
Vista Business OEM is ~$140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=Vista+OEM&x=0&y=0

That's ~$160 more that it should be and Dell is making 100% pure profit on. Vista Ultimate OEM costs a consumer or ma-n-pa small time system builder (any of your local PC shops) $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=Vista+Ultimate+OEM&x=0&y=0

Heck, you can buy the retail version for less than $350, it's $277.49 at Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116473

Dell is making even more profit than that because they they get Windows OEM licenses for much cheaper, or at least they use to. I don't have it handy, but I saw a spreadsheet a few years ago showing they were paying about $50 USD per license for XP Pro. Now that I'm thinking about it, that might have actually been the Germany government or some town in Germany. Wish I had that handy right now. Either way, the larger the organization, the cheaper they get software licenses for. Oh, and that was when an OEM license of XP Pro cost the consumer about $150 USD.

Vista Home Premium OEM is ~$110
Vista Business OEM is ~$140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=Vista+OEM&x=0&y=0

That's ~$160 more that it should be and Dell is making 100% pure profit on. Vista Ultimate OEM costs a consumer or ma-n-pa small time system builder (any of your local PC shops) $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=Vista+Ultimate+OEM&x=0&y=0

Heck, you can buy the retail version for less than $350, it's $277.49 at Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116473

Dell is making even more profit than that because they they get Windows OEM licenses for much cheaper, or at least they use to. I don't have it handy, but I saw a spreadsheet a few years ago showing they were paying about $50 USD per license for XP Pro. Now that I'm thinking about it, that might have actually been the Germany government or some town in Germany. Wish I had that handy right now. Either way, the larger the organization, the cheaper they get software licenses for. Oh, and that was when an OEM license of XP Pro cost the consumer about $150 USD.

Vista Home Premium OEM is ~$110
Vista Business OEM is ~$140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=Vista+OEM&x=0&y=0

The ASUS EEE PC would probably fit the bill with a SD card as the storage media as well as a copy of the date on the EEE PC internal drive.

Bear in mind that most Eee PCs have a SSD, which is likely to lose its content within the given time frame.

I would suggest finding an Eee or other small, cheap laptop that has a hard drive (like this one). Take out the battery, but store the power adapter with it. Store several copies of the pictures on the drive to protect against bit-rot / bad sectors.

Make sure to install a flavor of *nix/BSD along with plenty of data processing and programming tools/software. Most likely some form of USB or Ethernet compatibility will exist in the future. Worst case scenario, you'll have to hack up your own custom protocol/driver and jury-rig a cable connection to a modern computer.

And a 640GB hdd goes for $85. Dont buy overpriced underpowered hardware.

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Hilariously, the hard drive recommended on their top end systems is very close to failing to cross the 1GB/dollar threshold:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136260&Tpk=VelociRaptor

There is only one, maybe two, things I'd disagree with you on. Or maybe three, as you don't make mention of it:

1) Don't waste your money, at all, on a cheap case. Throw down the hundred fifty dollars now for something which is of high quality construction, and it will not only last through multiple computers, but you'll have a quality case through multiple computers. How about something like this Coolmaster Cosmos case?
2) Do not skimp on a shit power supply. By "shit" I mean one which is not explicitly advertised as quiet: this also likely means it's one of the newer 90%+ efficiency ones. Also, a good power supply brand is well worth the money in reliability and consistency, in case you didn't know already. Antec is pretty good about that.
3) Shit RAM is one of the surest ways short of a power supply failure to get irritating and indeterminable errors. Don't go for "cheap" RAM, it's not worth the hastle 3 months down the road when it fails.

While $1,000+ is a bit extreme, and $2,000 is obscene these days (those fools have been using the same exact price points for entry/gaming/extreme computer creation since 1996! I doubt they know what they're talking about), when you pay a little bit more up front the first time, you don't have to throw everything away when you build a new system - and you get a degree of increased reliability and longevity.

A couple things. One, if you want something even more ridiculously overspecced for mudding and which will even work with the best mudding OS (Linux, naturally), try this on for size: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=4365528&WishListTitle=UltraComp Also, a really fun MUD: Temporal Rifts.

Dude, they're sixty bucks. Mow a couple lawns or something.

You used to have to buy writable 650Mg CDs for $1. Now you can get a gig of flash, near infinitely rewritable for $7. Impervious to scratches, can survive several trips through the washer, and have fast read/write speeds. I cannot understand how TFA is so optimistic. When CDs came out, it would take weeks to download a full CD, now I can download a 720p torrent in an few hours. My HDDVD player has a Ethernet jack... so how long until we stop spinning discs and start slinging bits?

... is the WINEGARD SS-2000 16" Square Shooter HDTV Antenna. It looks a lot better, and comes with its own mounting equipment. Can also be mounted on existing satellite antennas.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116473
both 32 and 64bit on a single disc.

Any good guides out there?

Good HTPC guides usually aren't updated as often as the "general" system guides (bugdet, midrange, high end) and they usually aren't "cheap," but they can have useful info about what hardware to consider.

• Tech Report's April 2008 system guide: The Couch Potato Mk. 2 and The Couch Potato Mk. 2 Alternatives
• Ars System Guide: HTPC edition (April 2008)
• ExtremeTech:Build a Windows Vista Home Theater PC (September 2007)

Since the HTPC guides aren't very cheap or up-to-date, I also recommend Tech Report's and Ars Technica's "general" system guides. Tech Report has an "Econobox" section and Ars Techinica has a "Budget Box" section.

• Tech Report's Summer 2008 system guide
• Ars Technica System Guide: May 2008 Edition

I'd like to put together a small format PC for this sort of thing. Alas, I can't use a cheap tower, it needs to be one of those small form factors that can fit in an entertainment center. I'd like to spend as little as possible

I don't know if the In Win BK Series (Mt. Jade) is small enough, but it's pretty small, cheap, quiet (if you use Intel), and flexible. I'm only checking Newegg, but Newegg has the BK623 for $59.99 + $17.50 shipping and the BK636 for $59.99 + $9.99 shipping, both with 300W power supplies (Fortron Source, according to some reviews).

For your entertainment center, note that the footprint of a BK6xx case (323mm x 276mm) is "equal" to the footprint of a Sony PS3 (325mm x 274mm), but the BK6xx is about 1.7 inches taller and is not "wedge-shaped" like the PS3.

So it's not "tiny," but it's compatible with all those cheap HTPC microATX motherboards (integrated graphics, HDMI, FireWire, digital audio out, etc) and it accepts a standard 5.25" desktop optical drive, 3.5" desktop hard drive, and 4 full-height expansion slots (for HDTV tuners).

Also note that the case's unique cooling system, which uses no case fans other than the CPU's fan (intake) and the power supply's fan (exhaust), only works efficiently with motherboards using Intel chipsets and an Intel retail CPU with its stock heatsink/fan. So that eliminates good, cheap HTPC chipsets like the AMD/ATI 780G and the NVIDIA 3200. Boards based on Intel's new G45 chipset are starting to arrive at Newegg, though.

There are several reviews of the BK Series on the Googleweb and In Win's BK Series product page has a "Reviews" tab (favorable only, I'd guess).

Any good guides out there?

Good HTPC guides usually aren't updated as often as the "general" system guides (bugdet, midrange, high end) and they usually aren't "cheap," but they can have useful info about what hardware to consider.

• Tech Report's April 2008 system guide: The Couch Potato Mk. 2 and The Couch Potato Mk. 2 Alternatives
• Ars System Guide: HTPC edition (April 2008)
• ExtremeTech:Build a Windows Vista Home Theater PC (September 2007)

Since the HTPC guides aren't very cheap or up-to-date, I also recommend Tech Report's and Ars Technica's "general" system guides. Tech Report has an "Econobox" section and Ars Techinica has a "Budget Box" section.

• Tech Report's Summer 2008 system guide
• Ars Technica System Guide: May 2008 Edition

I'd like to put together a small format PC for this sort of thing. Alas, I can't use a cheap tower, it needs to be one of those small form factors that can fit in an entertainment center. I'd like to spend as little as possible

I don't know if the In Win BK Series (Mt. Jade) is small enough, but it's pretty small, cheap, quiet (if you use Intel), and flexible. I'm only checking Newegg, but Newegg has the BK623 for $59.99 + $17.50 shipping and the BK636 for $59.99 + $9.99 shipping, both with 300W power supplies (Fortron Source, according to some reviews).

For your entertainment center, note that the footprint of a BK6xx case (323mm x 276mm) is "equal" to the footprint of a Sony PS3 (325mm x 274mm), but the BK6xx is about 1.7 inches taller and is not "wedge-shaped" like the PS3.

So it's not "tiny," but it's compatible with all those cheap HTPC microATX motherboards (integrated graphics, HDMI, FireWire, digital audio out, etc) and it accepts a standard 5.25" desktop optical drive, 3.5" desktop hard drive, and 4 full-height expansion slots (for HDTV tuners).

Also note that the case's unique cooling system, which uses no case fans other than the CPU's fan (intake) and the power supply's fan (exhaust), only works efficiently with motherboards using Intel chipsets and an Intel retail CPU with its stock heatsink/fan. So that eliminates good, cheap HTPC chipsets like the AMD/ATI 780G and the NVIDIA 3200. Boards based on Intel's new G45 chipset are starting to arrive at Newegg, though.

There are several reviews of the BK Series on the Googleweb and In Win's BK Series product page has a "Reviews" tab (favorable only, I'd guess).

Any good guides out there?

Good HTPC guides usually aren't updated as often as the "general" system guides (bugdet, midrange, high end) and they usually aren't "cheap," but they can have useful info about what hardware to consider.

• Tech Report's April 2008 system guide: The Couch Potato Mk. 2 and The Couch Potato Mk. 2 Alternatives
• Ars System Guide: HTPC edition (April 2008)
• ExtremeTech:Build a Windows Vista Home Theater PC (September 2007)

Since the HTPC guides aren't very cheap or up-to-date, I also recommend Tech Report's and Ars Technica's "general" system guides. Tech Report has an "Econobox" section and Ars Techinica has a "Budget Box" section.

• Tech Report's Summer 2008 system guide
• Ars Technica System Guide: May 2008 Edition

I'd like to put together a small format PC for this sort of thing. Alas, I can't use a cheap tower, it needs to be one of those small form factors that can fit in an entertainment center. I'd like to spend as little as possible

I don't know if the In Win BK Series (Mt. Jade) is small enough, but it's pretty small, cheap, quiet (if you use Intel), and flexible. I'm only checking Newegg, but Newegg has the BK623 for $59.99 + $17.50 shipping and the BK636 for $59.99 + $9.99 shipping, both with 300W power supplies (Fortron Source, according to some reviews).

For your entertainment center, note that the footprint of a BK6xx case (323mm x 276mm) is "equal" to the footprint of a Sony PS3 (325mm x 274mm), but the BK6xx is about 1.7 inches taller and is not "wedge-shaped" like the PS3.

So it's not "tiny," but it's compatible with all those cheap HTPC microATX motherboards (integrated graphics, HDMI, FireWire, digital audio out, etc) and it accepts a standard 5.25" desktop optical drive, 3.5" desktop hard drive, and 4 full-height expansion slots (for HDTV tuners).

Also note that the case's unique cooling system, which uses no case fans other than the CPU's fan (intake) and the power supply's fan (exhaust), only works efficiently with motherboards using Intel chipsets and an Intel retail CPU with its stock heatsink/fan. So that eliminates good, cheap HTPC chipsets like the AMD/ATI 780G and the NVIDIA 3200. Boards based on Intel's new G45 chipset are starting to arrive at Newegg, though.

There are several reviews of the BK Series on the Googleweb and In Win's BK Series product page has a "Reviews" tab (favorable only, I'd guess).

Changelog:
seemed to fall under $500!

Link: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=8203211&WishListTitle=HTPC%20base

The Xbox 360 can: link

Looks like the PS3 and Wii can too: link

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833129104
You may continue.

You can still buy XP without hardware:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2060350368+1179212716&name=Professional

Nobody pays the premium OEM charge for their "downgrade to XP rights and media disk" unless they intend on NOT using Vista and only using XP...

Some OEMs don't charge extra to "downgrade" machines to XP. e.g. Dell. Also, with downgrade rights, you always have the option of installing Vista without an additional license.

So today, I can buy machines with Vista licenses, but with XP preinstalled for no extra cost. After I'm done with the current replacement cycle, all my machines will have valid Vista licenses, so if I wanted, I could choose to convert all of them for no additional license costs.

Firefox 3 already does this, to a degree. Plaintext (http) has a white address bar and favicon. Unverified certs change the favicon to a blue background, and verified (example) turns it green. On any of them, you can click the favicon to get expanded details.

The problem is that it's not especially obvious, and that it has very little meaning to most people even if they do notice. The only way that people will notice without a doubt is to make self-signed certs as obtrusive as they currently are - block the page entirely and proceed on if you allow an override. That doesn't fix it having little or no meaning to most people, but that's an entirely separate issue.

Microsoft only needed 2 generations to make a Zune MP3 player that is better and has more features than a 7th generation iPod.

I thought of marking you insightful. But then I figured responding would be better.

He's got a point - a Zune is more featured (wireless sharing, bigger screen, built-in FM radio) than the 7th gen iPod, and is cheaper (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16855604016 vs http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16855101072).

Disclaimer: I have an iPod, and like it (though don't like Apple products, for the most part). Am no Microsoft shill, let alone fanboi.

When I saw this product on newegg I had to wonder why anyone would buy a console that has so many heat issues. You're supposed to be able to put the thing in your media center and forget about it. Even better are the comments by people about how this product sucks cause their 360 still gets too hot (just ignore the comments about the fires). Hello? Did you ever think that the 360 getting too hot had nothing to do with the aftermarket cooler you bought and instead was a result of the crappy hardware inside the 360?

The cost saving measures were probably a response to Microsoft eating $150 every time they sold an original X-Box. nVidia is probably suffering the same fate. ATI kept beating them to the lower nanometer process, which are cheaper. The radeon 2900 was first to 65nm, while the 8800 was originally built on a 90nm process. Even the newer 8X00 series are still 65nm (while the 9X00 and radeon 3k and 4k series are 55nm). I wouldn't be surprised if the substrate issues were one of numerous desperate attempts to keep their already ridiculous price down (wasn't it $600+ at release?).

It's not a laptop but they're available. My friend brought in an Intel Atom "desktop" motherboard today. 64 bit. Dual SATA. Two channels of IDE. Onboard video. Hyperthreading. Windows XP-64 bit ran just fine when he added his 1GB stick of DDR2. 1.6GHz. ESX wouldn't install easily. Ubuntu Hardy didn't support the onboard NIC (yet?). $83 delivered MB + CPU. We'll both be buying several more. We haven't tried Xen or other distros yet -- Intel gifted a platform specific one of course.

The CPU has no fan. It pulls a max of 2 1/2 Watts. Even with Folding@home running the CPU heatsink was to touch indistinguishable from ambient. I can't wait to swap the MCH cooler with a video card cooler on the low profile version, add a SDHC->IDE converter, sub the PSU for a Pico-PSU and see how small a box I can fit it in. It would make a great robotics controller, thin client or car backbone to support media playback, GPS apps, file and cellular wifi sharing and heavy browsing. There's a smaller form factor board you can use that fits in the box your playing cards came in but I don't feel like diddling with LVDS video and I don't need 'em that small. There's already a British hosting vendor leasing racks of these for cheap because the cost and power requirements are low. I guess that's so they can fill out the caverns left by their power sucking but very dense server->bladeserver project and because the thing is dirt cheap.

That's all the review I've got after one day. More later.

This is the platform the next billion users are going to use to join us on the Internet. Many of them have money. Few of them have Watts. Trust me, we don't want them to build out the Watts.

But don't buy it to run Vista on. That's a non starter.

NOT FAIR: GO to NewEgg and get the ULTIMATE Vista for Home System Builders for $179.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116493

Just a few days ago while browsing through mobos offered at newegg, I had the very same question.

Buy a drive intelligently. Maybe they should check out these drives. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227344 http://www.hothardware.com/News/OCZ_Core_Series_SSD_Vs_VelociRaptor_Sneak_Peek/ The 32GB version that would be suitable for a linux boot drive is going to have a $140-160 price point I believe. I'm considering a 64GB for my Vista laptop to reduce the heat it generates.