Budget: 500-600, if it can be cheaper then lets roll with that.
Planned time until purchase: 3-5 days
Do you need an Operating System?: plan on using linux, unless you would recommend me running windows
Do you have any specific preferred components?: Intel for mono+ Cpu. This Cpu wont be running games obviously, so just need a gpu that can run 1440p etc.
Do you need a sound or wireless card? Wireless would be nice, don't need the soundcard Atm.
Do you want stock cooling or do you plan on overclocking?: do I need to of an htpc? Lil.
Do you need a monitor? mouse? keyboard?: is there a remote I can use? This will be my first htpc so any advice is welcome.
ZIp code/location? (Shipping costs): 17057

for motherboards check out the asus p8z77-i delux (built-in wifi)... i would recomend the asrock z77e-itx but the wifi antennas are not as good
you probably dont need to overclock (considering you want to keep your temps low)

What front end do you plan on running?
You can do a basic HTPC for 1080P movies for 200$~ if you want to use XBMC

Something like h67 motherboard with HDMI output, intel 530, basic case, 4gb of ram. You can pick up a cheap rosewill remote for 20$.

i would go amd llano all day for this..

i would go with an apc or a raspberry pi for this instead of building one

Didn't know about the raspberry pi, seems interesting. Will do some research on it. What's an APC??



Did some research this week, probably gonna roll with an a8-3850 since they are 110 this week, or just go for super cheap a6 build.



Was probably going to do this, but i think im better off with an a8 since cpu + gpu + board is about 150 and i'd want to run better than intel integrated gfx, getting a gt 620 would be like 60 bucks i think. I'll probably just get a corsair cx 430, a8-3850, fm-1 board(haven't picked a specific one yet, probably asrock or asus one), already have a 1tb 7200 HD and 4 gigs of ram.


My biggest question to ask i guess is this. Should I go with an ITX or micro ATX board?? I'll probably end up getting a video card tuner down the road later, but the a8 already has a gfx card. Would it be worth my time to go small, or can i get a good micro atx case that looks like an htcp case?

ultimately it boils down to what you want it to be, if you want a cute lil case, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146077 is about 40$ atm.

http://apc.io/

Went with a llano build.

A6-3500 - 59.99 microcenter
Gygabyte a75m-ud2h - 79.99 microcenter
Ocz fatality 60gb ssd -64.99(54.99 after mail in rebate) @ microcenter
samsung green 4gb ddr3(2x2) 1600mbps -27.99 @ microcenter
Rosewill micro atx tower(challenger I think) - 39.99 @ newegg
Corsair cx 430 v2 psu - 44.99(34.99 after mail in rebate) @ newegg
Samsung Dvd r+w 22x oem - 15.99 @ microcenter

Gonna try to run xbmc live or xbmcbuntu since I hear xbmc has driver issues with AMD. Maybe ill just put In windows so I can play emulators on my Tv. Case and psi get here Monday. I'm pretty excited =). Might add a 1tb he'd from my main rig.

Not a bad build, would have gone for a larger HDD, but if that works for you, not bad.