[Project] $400-$500 Wood Case HTPC

[The Razor]

 
The Point:
 

1. A nice HTPC for both of my TV's, one with the main desktop and another with the Virtual Machine for streaming.
2. Ability to only run off of two wires: HDMI + Power cable 
3. Bluetooth compatibility for my phone and controllers.
4. Wireless internet capability.
5. Atleast enough horsepower to beat the next-gen consoles. (Update: This doesn't seem too hard now.)
6. A custom made wooden case with a nice polish. (<-- This is the hard part)
7. Audio Splitting for the VM and the main desktop.  
8. Full documentation of entire build process (this is where this forum comes in  )
9. Maintaining the budget. ($450-$500 USD)
10. Super fast boot time.

 

 

The Parts:

Warning! Will constantly change in both parts and price depending on when I decide to order. I still have some financial business to get out of the way along with some personal family problems.

 

CPU Intel Pentium G2120 3.1GHz Dual-Core $66.99                                             (Because it's basically my processor now without the Hyperthreading.)

Motherboard Foxconn H61S Mini ITX LGA1155 $49.99                                           (Because it's the cheapest Mini-ITX?   )

Memory Kingston Blu Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 $48.96                      (Cheapest dual-channel RAM?)

Storage A-Data Premier Pro SP600 32GB 2.5" SSD $39.99                                     (Cheapest SSD?)

Video Card HIS Radeon HD 7850 1GB $129.99                                                        (Basically my GPU without 1GB of vRAM)

Wireless Network Adapter Encore ENUWI-1XN45 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 $11.85         (Cheapest antenna USB wireless adapter?)

Case Fan Kingwin CF-012LB 40.0 CFM 120mm $3.99 X2                                         (Cheap!)

Power Supply Rosewill 300W TFX12V $28.98                                                            (Cheap and fits the design sketch, considering it's dimensions.)

Keyboard Gigabyte KM7580 w/Optical Mouse $19.99                                                (Cheap!!!!!!!!)

Custom PC Power Switch $5.00                                                                                  (Cheap? No?)

PSU Adapter for VGA $5.00                                                                                        (To be able to run the GPU)

PC Remote $5.00                                                                                                        (For being a couch potato!)

Bluetooth Adapter $4.00                                                                                              (Also for being a couch potato.)

PC Blue 1 Meter Light $11.00                                                                                      (Why not!)

 

The Pics:

 

None so far!

[legopc]

i once tried to make a wooden pc... it was an epic fail 

[Roan_Smeets]

 

Storage A-Data Premier Pro SP600 32GB 2.5" SSD $39.99                                     (Cheapest SSD?)

 

 

 

Power Supply Rosewill 300W TFX12V $28.98                                                            (Cheap and fits the design sketch, considering it's dimensions.)

What do you want to store on it, and what OS will you be running, because 32GB is a bit small, unless you have a NAS for storage

And I would check with the PSU Rosewilll has made some crap before, look at reviews and tests

[The Razor]

What do you want to store on it, and what OS will you be running, because 32GB is a bit small, unless you have a NAS for storage

And I would check with the PSU Rosewilll has made some crap before, look at reviews and tests

I will be using both an external for games and a NAS.

Funny thing that I'm using a Rosewill PSU in the PC I'm using right now, I think they have a bad name thanks to some of the stuff they have made in the past, not to mention in terms of TFX Psu's that aren't completely over budget this is as good as it gets.

[silencerbob]

did you include the cost of windows?

[The Razor]

did you include the cost of windows?

I already have a copy THAT I BOUGHT (Yeah, I'm looking at you, nameless accuser). 

[Raboo]

Cool idea.

[The Razor]

Cool idea.

Thanks

[Lil Chillbil]

I can't wait to see how this turns out man,

[megadarkwood]

You should read this guys post: https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/44548-wood-case-first-self-made-finished-1109/

you could learn a bit from him.

[Andrew48]

sounds like a good idea. Lets see how it turns out

[ShearMe]

I think the hard part will be keeping it under budget with a custom case, but we'll see.

[The Razor]

I think the hard part will be keeping it under budget with a custom case, but we'll see.

I've already made a partpicker list for people who don't want to make the case from wood (which works out since "normal" psu's and mobo's are MUCH less expensive). But yeah, everything should be underbudget.

 

Thanks for all of your support guys. I plan to order within the month or so, depending on how fast I can get the rest of the garbage in my life sorted out.

 

I also like that other dude's wooden PC, but mine's gonna be a bit lighter and glossier (not going steampunk for this one) and much, much smaller. I'm trying to keep it smaller than the x51 and consoles, which shouldn't be TOO hard.