One important decision to make when building HTPCs is to pick a case that looks good, fit’s the components you want and keep them cool enough to run.  That is really only the first step.  Ars Technica offers some help on the next part, what components to stuff inside the case.  They have suggestions for everything, from the motherboard to the graphics to the OS.  Drop by to get a second opinion on what to stuff that case with.
“What’s a home media server? A central place to put all that data you have, from e-mail to music to movies. With multiple PCs becoming commonplace in the home, the need to push data through every room in the house via Ethernet or WiFi combined with the proliferation of digital-only content mean the storage demands of home users are rising quickly.”

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