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crowTrobot · Rated R

I'm torn between several choices for having a HTPC setup.

Right now I have an old dell system I use for playback. My main concern is the power consumption on that thing is a little too high for my taste and it looks ugly having it in the living room. I have a DLNA capable TV and I am getting that cheap LG BD player ($150-200 USD) that has MKV and DivX playback support so I'm thinking of ditching that HTPC and just running a DLNA server on my computer (once I figure out how).

I feel that if I am going to have an HTPC I should have it able to play PC games so I can play on my TV. The problem is cost. My P4 semi-HTPC uses a lot of power, ugly, hot, huge and can't even play any games.

My option is either to save money and just buy wireless adapters for my BD player and my TV (the adapters for each costs $80 + tax so its $160 at least) plus an HD based 1080p media player like a WD TV Live Air + LG BD/DivX/Mkv player and have my main computer act as a DLNA server since its on 24/7 anyway (just in sleep mode when I'm away) so total cost should be around $500-600 or Should I spend more money and build a new HTPC capable of gameplay and something that is lighter on the electricity bill like the new i3s + 5000 series ATI?