Custom HTPC: Starting at $400
The Athlon II X2
250 Regor 3.0GHz processor is the perfect pick for your HTPC costing roughly $58.99, youcannot go wrong with this Dual-Core 2 x 1MB L@ Cache Socket AM3 65W processor. This processor should be all the power you need to run your HTPC to its full extent.
The Asus M4A88T-M HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard includes 2×240 pin memory slots allowing up to a maximum of 8GB of Dual Channel DDR3 memory. A built in Audio chipset allowing 8 channels of sound using Realtek ALC887, and 6 x USB 2.0 real panel ports (5 onboard USB 2.0 ports), 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 port just in case you want to add a future graphics card for gaming etc, 1 x PCI express x1 port, and one PCI port.
In this build I included a Mushkin Enhanced Essentials 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory, a SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive, an Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power, a good SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model SH-S222L LightScribe Support – OEM, and chose the nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Acrylic / Steel HTPC 1080P Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case with the option of picking a combo that includes the Rosewill WMC Remote control/Rcvr RRC-127 for Win 7.