Three choices

The three options I'm looking at are:

Dell E521:

• AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+
• Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition
• 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
• 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
• 16x DVD+/-RW Drive
• NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU
• Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio

Pros:

• Impressive processor- dual-core
  
• Includes everything, OS and case
• High-tech: SATA optical drive, SATA hard drive
• Assumed to have a quiet PS
  

Cons:

• Does not have component- out. My projector can take a direct VGA input, so it isn't a deal-breaker
• It's a Dell, dude
• Case would be tossed

Price:

• $439
• Case $120
• $560

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Build-your-own

	247076 Quantity Limit: 20 Asus M2NPV-VM GeForce 6150/nForce 430 Sempron/Athlon 64(FX)(X2) SktAM2 DDR2 M-ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail ***Free Shipping*** Remove		$91.99	$91.99
	80701-8 Quantity Limit: 20 AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3200+ Socket AM2 (62W) Retail ***Free Shipping*** Remove		$88.80	$88.80
	85016-56 Quantity Limit: 20 Kingston HyperX KHX6000D2/1G 1GB DDR2-750 PC2-6000 Memory Retail ***Free Shipping*** Remove		$111.00	$111.00

Pros:

• Fully control each component
• Has SPDIF and Component-out
• Drivers and software available
• Upgradable
  

Cons:

• Compared to Dell, not a deal
• Processor is single-core
  

Price:

• $400 + Case + Powersupply, $550
  

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A configured (Linux) system:



Ultra quiet, super small, transformable elegance for Linux and Windows. These system are loaded with features: TV-Out(SVideo and Composite), DVI, Component Video, VGA, Card Reader, Front USB/1394 and Sound. Equipped with a 280Watt ultra quiet14dba power supply, front access to 9 in 1 Memory card reader as well as front USB/1394, Mic and Headphone IOs for easy access to your digital and analog media. The NVIDIA® GeForce™ 6150/nForce™ 430 MB offers 2 PCI, 1 PCI-X x 16 and 1 PCI-X x 1 half height expansion slots.

This system is the same motherboard as above, but comes with a nice case and HTPC-specific power supply.

So, I'd have to add in the processor ($89), the RAM ($110) and hard drives and optical drives (another $100).

Pros:

• Purpose-built HTPC components
• Remote control included
  

Cons:

• None known
  

Price:

• $350 + $300, $650