Related link: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/digitalmedia/2005/06/22/myth_tv.html
As an addendum to part 1 of my MythTV series, here is the cost (excluding tax and shipping) for each of the components in my system, from when I ordered the parts in late April and early May of this year. (The percentages do not add up to 100% due to rounding.)
| Component | Description | Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ($) | (%) of total | ||
| HD capture card | Two pcHDTV HD-3000 cards* | $320.00 | 26% |
| Case | Silverstone LC03V** | $207.45 | 17% |
| Power supply | Seasonic S12-330W | $52.95 | 4% |
| Mainboard | MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum | $137.00 | 11% |
| CPU | AMD Athlon64 3200+ (Winchester)*** | $195.00 | 16% |
| RAM | 1 GB PC-3200 (DDR) Kingston ValueRAM | $95.00 | 8% |
| Hard disk | 120 GB Samsung SpinPoint | $85.00 | 7% |
| Video card | Giga-byte GeForce FX 5200 8xAGP TV-Out | $52.00 | 4% |
| Optical drive | Toshiba SD-R5372 dual-layer DVD burner (IDE) | $49.99 | 4% |
| IR receiver | Home Electronics IRA-3 | $23.63 | 2% |
| TOTAL: | $1,218.02 | ||
* The price of the capture cards reflects a volume discount for the purchase of five, since I shared a purchase with other interested hobbyists to take advantage of a volume discount.
** I ordered the case from pcalchemy.com. The price of the case includes a bottom case fan that was so noisy I tossed it out, and a front-panel IO module.
*** As a comment to the article notes, a Venice core running at comparable speed would only be $145.
The biggest chunk of money is the outlay for dual tuners, a luxury I use only once or twice a week. I also spent significantly more on the case than necessary to get a case that would look good with all my other A/V equipment. It’s definitely possible to build a perfectly functional system for significantly less money. Naturally, the prices of many of the components have fallen by now, and you should be able to get an even better deal.
