A step-by-step text and picture guide explaining how to set up every aspect of home theater PC from the hardware all the way down to the software level. If you have been thinking about making your own PVR and you want more power than a Tivo you may want to take a look at this.

To start, we chose a processor that would be especially challenging to cool, an Intel Pentium D 820. It's one of the lowest priced 800 MHz FSB Dual Core processors, and definitely overkill for a system like this. It runs at 2.8 GHz and has two cores, for more effective multi-tasking. A HTPC can be built with a much less powerful processor, but for the price, we felt like this was a decent fit. If all you want to do is watch TV and record it, a slower processor might serve, but we felt like getting a processor with 64-bit compatibility (for the "just-in-case" factor) and excellent multi-tasking ability for under $250 was a pretty good deal. It also presented us with a challenge. How do we cool a hot processor nearly silently?

Answer: the Thermalright XP-90 heatsink with a Vantec Stealth 92mm fan. This is the smaller of the two Thermalright XP series, the larger one being the XP-120, which fits a 120mm fan. I chose the XP-90 because I was afraid the XP-120 wouldn't fit into the somewhat tight confines of the home theater case we chose.