How to Build A Quiet PC or Home Theater PC

Before I go into the ins and outs of how to build a Home Theatre PC (HTPC), I shall first explain exactly what one is for those who don’t know or are unsure. A HTPC takes your DVD player, your VCR, your Hi-Fi, your DVD recorder, your PC, and your personal video recorder (pause and rewind live TV using a hard drive i.e. PVR, SKY+, TiVo, etc) and lump them all together in one box.

That sounds amazing I hear you cry! And while it is, the fact of the matter is that HTPCs are relatively new and uncommon. One of the main reasons for this is that fundamentally a HTPC is a fully functioning PC with a few extras that connects to your TV, and obviously with a fully functioning PC comes the PC price tag which is primarily what puts people off as you can buy a DVD player for as little as £20 nowadays.

I’m going to tell you how you can build a Home Theatre PC (the same principles can be applied to building a regular PC) for less than the new ones advertised or for less than these so called experts tell you you can build one for.

Step 1 – Choose your case.

One of the things you’ll hear HTPC enthusiasts rave about is how they’ve crammed a AMD Dual Core 4400+ processor, 4 gig of ram, and 2 x 500gb hard drives into a matchbox sized case or small form factor PC case (SFF PC). While this is ultimately the most desirable scenario as it takes up little or no space, and in theory it is technically possible to achieve, you encounter a whole host of problems that you wouldn’t find when building a HTPC using a standard size case.

While the availability of small form factor PC cases are becoming increasingly widespread, as is the availability of small form factor motherboards and components, the choices aren’t as varied as standard size cases and components. Also you’ll find that small form factor components tend to be more expensive.

The next thing you’d have to contend with is the problem of heat. Cramming the latest technology into a tiny case inevitably puts components that generate a huge amount of heat (CPUs, graphics cards, northbridge, etc) closer together which then puts a greater emphasis on cooling. While you could cool the tiny rig with large fans you then encounter another problem, sound. Sure your teeny weeny home theatre PC is smaller than a poodle puppy and looks good near your TV but it generates the equivalent sound of a 747 during takeoff. Defeats the object I think you’ll agree.

So your stuck with a dilemma, do I go for a small HTPC which will ultimately look better but will cost more and wrestle with the cooling/sound problem? Or do I go for a larger cheaper HTPC which will do the same job and eliminate all my problems?

Which do you think I’m going to recommend? You got it, ditch the dreams of an ultra small HTPC because it’ll just cause you headaches. Me personally, I value functionality over aesthetics, with that in mind I went for a huge full tower PC case which was built for quiet operation and has the bonus of looking good too. I went for the Thermaltake Armor case in black. After a while you do get used to it in the front room and it becomes part of everyday life. Don’t forget that you don’t have to place your HTPC case near your TV, you could tuck it away behind the sofa (bearing in the mind the cooling issues I’ve just mentioned and you don’t have to go for a case as big as mine, the choice is up to you). If your case is going to be on show it’s a good idea to choose your components so that they match colour-wise, i.e. if your case is black then you would want a black coloured DVD drive etc.