![]() ![]() DisplayPort, which is more common, is almost never found on televisions. At the time of this writing only the Nvidia GTX 970 and 980 have HDMI 2.0, and both are large, power-hungry components. While the latest Intel HD graphics can technically support 4K it’s never paired with HDMI 2.0, the only one-cable solution for connecting to most HDTVs. If integrated graphics for some reason is not available (a few high-end Intel chips come without it) then a $50 discrete card like the Nvidia GT 630 will do. The only option you need concern yourself is the output, but most motherboards offer HDMI-out. Any of the current integrated graphics chips easily handle 1080p. The graphics chip you select has become relatively unimportant unless you plan to play games (in which case you may want to read our recent take on rising system requirements for PC titles). Ultimately, you’ll probably end up spending around $50-150 on a good case, and it’s great to look at user reviews at that price point to see whether people had issues once they actually placed parts into their box. When choosing a case it’s important to make sure your basic needs are met: correct size, room for the components you need, and the right drive bays. While there are fanless aftermarket CPU coolers that will keep noise to a minimum and power level down, they also tend to be very large, so large that they’re unlikely to fit. Striking a balance between noise level and heat is essential, since a noisy machine will drown out the quiet moments in your favorite movies, but letting the machine get too hot will quickly reduce the lifetime of your components and could result in total failure of the machine. While liquid cooling is certainly an option for high-end PCs for its efficiency and near-silent operation, it’s far too expensive in the case of HTPC where the cooling alone would cost you more than all the other components put together. The noisiest component in a computer is usually the fans that keep the system cool, so some of the enclosures designed for media center use are fanless, relying instead on natural cooling, as well as the reduced heat concerns that go along with more budget-minded components. For this reason, most users choose a Mini or Micro ATX case and motherboard, rather than the standard ATX tower, since the cases are much smaller and come in various different dimensions. Unlike most PCs, which benefit from more air-flow and a larger form factor, a HTPC should fit right in with the rest of the appliances around your television set. It’s certainly an extra cost, but a few terabytes of networked storage in the right hands could be better than streaming. In some cases, the NAS may provide some extra features, such as access to the files from outside your local network, or redundant backups so that you never have to worry about permanently losing files. Transferring files from your desktop to your HTPC is fast and easy, because you can just store them on the NAS, and you’ll have access to those files from all of your devices. Usually local networks have more than enough efficiency to carry even large files across your wireless network, and it comes along with a number of other advantages. ![]() Rather than store all of your videos and photos locally, you could instead transfer them to a set of hard drives that’s connected to your network. If you think anything less than a terabyte just won’t do for your media files, buying a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device may be an even more efficient option. There are also drives that blend a large solid state cache with a disk, such as those from Seagate. You can buy a very small SSD for Windows alone and pair it with a big mechanical disk for files. Related: Seagate to 8TB hard drive for consumersĬan’t decide? There are ways to compromise. An SSD will feel quicker, but a traditional hard disk offers a much better per-gigabyte value, which is particularly appealing if you plan to store 4K movies locally. How to help fight the coronavirus with your PC using need to choose between a solid state drive and a mechanical drive for the Windows operating system. How to control Alexa from your Windows 10 PC 4 stupid PC building mistakes I’ve made (and how to avoid them)
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