| htpc | Item | Cost |
| PC system | Dell Dimension 4550 2.0 GHz Pentium 4 256 MB RAM DVD-ROM 120 GB nVidia GeForce TI 4200 |
$769 [Dell.com] - purchased November 2002 |
| Upgraded processor | 3.06 GHz Pentium 4 | $223 [zipzoomfly.com] |
| Upgraded RAM | 1 GB RAM | $170 [zipzoomfly.com] |
| Upgraded video card | ATI Radeon 9700 | $202 [zipzoomfly.com] |
| Extra hard drive | Maxtor DiamondMax 7200rpm Ultra ATA/133 w/8MB cache | $146 [compusa.com] |
| DVD decoding software | CyberLink WinDVD 5 | $30 [gocyberlink.com] [not sure if I really needed this, though] |
| Sound card | Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS | $84 [buy.com] |
| TV tuner card | ATI E-Home Wonder with FM tuner | $74 [newegg.com] [OEM part - not available at retail] |
| Remote control | Windows Media Center Edition 2004 remote control | $34 [newegg.com] [OEM part - not available at retail] |
| HDTV adapter dongle | The purple one from ATI | $50 [ati.com] |
| Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 software | - | - |
| Cables | Radio Shack 42-2444A [1/8" mono miniplug to RCA phono plug] - Audigy 2 ZS to digital input on receiver | $6 [radioshack.com] |
| Cables | 3 Radio Shack 42-2551 [1/8" stereo miniplug to dual RCA phono plugs] - Audigy 2 ZS to 5.1 analog inputs on receiver | $18 [radioshack.com] |
| Cables | Radio Shack coaxial cable - antenna to TV tuner | $10 [radioshack.com] |
Total damage so far: $1,816... not too bad. If you were to order something similar from an OEM, it'd set you back about $1600 as of March 2004. For comparison, the TiVo DirecTV HD receiver is $1,000.
Note: Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 is not something you can just go out and buy, alas. You need to buy a PC with MCE preinstalled, or take out a MSDN subscription [about $700].