The system sits in the living room next to the TV, so I wanted quiet components. Much of the selection was heavily influenced by favorable reports on silentpcreview.com; I haven't been disappointed:
| Price | Component | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| $50.99 | Antec SLK3000-B | |
| $79.99 | Seasonic Super Silencer 400 | |
| $279.99 | AMD Athlon64 3500+ | AMD PowerNow! allows CPU clockspeed to ramp down for low-temperature, low-power idling |
| $109 | Soltek SL-K8TPro-939 | AGP motherboard has both optical input and output |
| $49.95 | Thermalright XP-120 CPU heatsink | |
| $20.97 | 3 x Yate Loon 120mm fans (D12SL-12 x 3) | rear case exhaust, front intake, and CPU heatsink, undervolted to 5V |
| $199.98 | 2 x Samsung SP1614C (160GB x 2) | |
| $53 | Chaintech SH5200-128-DVI (nVidia FX5200) | fanless |
| $99.99 | 2 x 512MB Crucial PC3200 RAM | |
| $357.39 | 2 x pcHDTV HD-3000 | |
| $49.99 | Terrestrial Digital DB2 | This is technically an "outdoor" antenna (it lacks a stand, so you have to attach it to some kind of mast, or else just leave it on the floor and lean it against the wall or something), but is small enough to be indoors. It is by far the best indoor antenna I have used. I have also used with success a pair of Radio Shack 15-1868 VHF/UHF indoor antennas with aluminum foil. Neither the Zenith ZHDTV1 "Silver Sensor" nor the Radio Shack 15-1878 (indoor amplified antenna) worked very well. |
| $29.97 | Radio Shack 15-2116 universal programmable remote control | Joyfully programmable, but a little clunky; cannot be compared to a TiVo remote |
| $14 | JP-1 cable kit | Interface the RS 15-2116 to a PC for full programmability |
| $40.40 | Lite-On "Airboard" IR keyboard (SK-7551) | Eliminates the need to fiddle with LIRC |
| — | Generic CD-RW drive | cannibalized from an older system |
| — | Toshiba 42H83 rear-projection TV | HDTV |
| — | Toshiba SD-43HT cheapo home theater-in-a-box DVD player and audio receiver | 5.1 surround sound |
| $1435.61 | Total | |
The system runs 24x7, drawing 80-122W (3.118kWH for an average day) depending on system activity (measured with a Kill-A-Watt). At $0.18/kWH (according to my last few electricity bills), this comes out to $0.56/day, or $15/month (!!).
Configuring Wake-on-LAN to shut down the system in between scheduled recordings is not really an option; the MythTV system is separated from the main wired network (holding the main always-on machine) by a flaky wireless bridge. There is a risk that Wake-on-LAN might fail, leading to a missed recording.
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