Tech and Talk > Gaming > PC gaming Tech > Tough build...HTPC for the wife

Tough build...HTPC for the wife

The only advice I can really offer is to let her pick the case. That has "trap" written all over it. lol. If she chooses and dislikes then that somewhat absolves you of any blame.
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Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Yeah man, she wants a pink case...but every one I can find online looks like it fell out of a Unicorn's butt. They're hideous.

I saw some nice white ones on Newegg, but I am no judge of girly for darn sure.

reply to McBrain
»www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···11144147

It's black and pink but its micro ATX.

Yea most of them are fugly imo.

I'm not certain, but I don't think the motherboard I've got will fit a microATX case. If it will, it opens up a whole new set of options for me. The motherboard measures like 12" x 8.6" if that helps.

reply to McBrain
My sister once asked me to find her a good laptop and stipulated that it be "Pink",......shudder,.....

Well I looked and long story made short I simply couldn't find one that I thought was right but I did give her some options. Impatient, she ended up buying some Dell laptop with a pink lid which never did seem to work well.

I use that as an example for a lot of things when I think someone is getting cought up in unnecessary details,...like when my daughter wanted a white iPhone.

Anyway, if it were me I would probably get the Wife a little HP Touchsmart or Compaq equivalent for the kitchen,.....

Yeah, I could probably buy a little miniPC or something for the price I could build one, even with salvaging the parts I've got...they just weren't built for what she wants.

Imagine a home theater PC with a GTX 570, full ATX motherboard, and Phenom II x4 965 with a giant Hyper 212 pasted onto it...talk about overkill...

Yeah, that's a bit overkill for a kitchen PC,...

Also note that a Kitchen or rather a typical well used kitchen is a poor environment for a standard PC. Heated water turns to vapor which is not favorable for a computer. Grease from animal fat and vegetable oils do the same and settle on / in whatever is in the general area.

If all the Wife wants to do is look up some recipes or watch some videos then maybe a closed system like an Android tablet or Apple tablet would do. Slap that thing on the refrigerator or countertop field expedient method style and you're good to go.

reply to McBrain
Just do 3 SLI Titans and tell her you will need a 60" 3D TV to make this work.

reply to McBrain
But to be srs. Just get her a freaking iPad/tablet. Lord. It's gonna be easier to use and she can take it all over the house/apt/hut.

I got my wife an iPad she uses in the kitchen and all over the house. So much simpler and tons of sammich apps.

+1 for this as well. My wife has the iPad and she watches it in the tub. Plus she can watch shows on TWC while I watch my shows on the big TV.

reply to Octavean

reply to McBrain
You can get an iPad for 329.99. Streams Netflix. Does everything she would need. No wires everywhere. Reliable. Consumes less power. Instant boot. Virtually no viruses. Quiet. Versatile.

Seems like the best choice, to me, for what she needs/wants. I don't know your setup, but a PC in/near the kitchen would drive me insane.
They have some decent Android Tablets as well.

reply to McBrain
If the TV has an HDMI connector what about an Apple TV box? I think they're still $99. I know it'll do Netflix & iTunes all day long, but not sure about Amazon Prime Video. The box is only like 4" x 4" x 1".

EDIT: Appears you cannot view Amazon Prime videos with a stock Apple TV. Sorry, but I tried

reply to Phantasee
She's got an iPad, but the little tyke ends up with it most of the time...any time he sees it, it's on like Donkey Kong. Little guy's gotta get his fix of Go Diego, Go!

reply to McBrain
I just bought a roku x2 XD for $79.99 at BestBuy and it works wonderfully for this. It's literally the size of the palm of your hand. Functionally, it does everything, Pandora, Hulu, Vudu, Netflix, amazon, etc. I don't think she's going to like something of the size that fits your atx mobo, (if she's anything like my wife anyway).

It works wirelessly and plugs right into the back of the TV with an HDMI cable (not included) or your regular coax cables.

»www.bestbuy.com/site/Roku+-+2+XD···p=1&lp=1

reply to McBrain
Get her an internet refrigerator. »www.samsung.com/us/appliances/re···HARS/XAA

reply to Blockfire

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Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?...Morons.

there's a $59.99 version for tv's that aren't 1080p, I believe it's the first gen version.