PC Magazine is building HD WMCE PC; droping over two-grand into their high-def system, with a lot of RAM, large hard drive and multiple tuners for their high-def content. Additionally, their case choice of a SilverStone LaScala LC17 looks more component-like and less PC-ish. If you're interested at all in building a high-def capable home media center, this is another good article worth the read.


Case
SilverStone LaScala LC17 $120

Power Supply
Antec NeoHE 430 $75

CPU
Athlon 64 X2 3800+ $322

CPU Cooler
Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu $35

Motherboard
ABIT AN8 Ultra $115

Memory
2GB Kingston ValueRAM $168

Graphics Hardware
ASUS Extreme N6600 Silencer $109

DVD Decoder Software
nVidia PureVideo Decoder $30

Hard Drive
Seagate NL35 400GB $315

Optical Drives
HP dvd740i DVD Writer
NEC ND-3520A DVD±R DL $78
$50

Memory Card Reader
Mitsumi FA-405M $16

Audio Hardware
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi $116
Creative DTS-610 $99

Analog TV Tuners
ATI TV Wonder Elite (PCI) $110
PowerColor T55E-P03 (PCIe x1) $85

HDTV Tuners
Vbox Cat's Eye DTA-150 $89
Vbox Cat's Eye USB-A 3560 $109

Keyboard/Mouse
Microsoft ZV1 MCE keyboard $75

Remote Control
Microsoft Media Center Remote $35

Operating System
Windows XP Media Center Edition $125


Total Cost $2,276