8 Effective Home Theater PC Upgrade Ideas

Do you have an older HTPC system that needs upgrading, but you are not sure which components to replace to get the best value for your money? Or maybe your system is already more than adequate to play all the videos you have, but heat and noise are things that would be nice to reduce?
In this guide, I will highlight the key components you should consider upgrading to speed up your HTPC while making it quieter.
Please treat this list like a menu. You do not need to upgrade them all, but it will give you ideas as to which area you might want to address when getting components for the next upgrade.

What to Upgrade?

1. Solid State Drive (SSD)

Improvement areas: faster user interface and quieter operation

A solid state drive (SSD) is the single best upgrade you can make for a HTPC to improve the speed while make the system quieter.
An SSD will make your user interface feel snappier, for example by helping with the loading of 1080p fanarts and other metadata. As an additional benefit, your system will boot and shut down much faster and the system will just feel much snappier.
My recommendation: Samsung 840 EVO-Series 120GB SSD

2. Discrete Graphics Card

Improvement area: better picture & audio quality

Media center software such as XBMC tries to use your GPU hardware acceleration as much as possible. You could get a new CPU with a built-in graphics, but then you would need to get a new motherboard as well, so it will be cheaper and more practical to get a passive cooled graphics card.
In addition, with a newer graphics cards, you will get support for 7.1 high bitrate audio and 3D Stereoscopic image, if you want to get the most out of Blu-ray disc movies.
I have been using the Asus GeForce GT430 (Nvidia) and more recently the Asus Radeon HD 6450 (AMD) graphics cards.
While the GeForce GT430 is more powerful, I actually prefer the Radeon HD 6450, because it consumes a lot less power and is passive cooled. Sure, you can get passive cooled versions of the Geforce GT430, but they are often too big for small form factor cases and consume more power.
My recommendation: Asus Radeon HD6450

3. Aftermarket CPU Cooler

Improvement area: quieter operation

I’ve been using both Intel’s and AMD’s stock CPU fans, and in principle they are okay to use. However, if you want to have a truly silent HTPC you should replace the stock CPU fan with an aftermarket cooler such as Scythe Big Shuriken 2 if you are using a micro ATX or ATX case.
For most mini ITX cases the Scythe Big Shuriken 2 is too large, so if you have a mini ITX case, you should stick with the stock fan.
My recommendation: Scythe Big Shuriken 2 CPU cooler

4. Quieter case fans

Improvement area: quieter operation

Larger 120 mm case fans move air much more efficiently with less noise compared to smaller fans. Be sure to check dB (slower RPM) and CFM (air movement capability) ratings in the fan and get the lowest dB and highest CFM combination possible.
Try to limit the number of fans in the case, as more cooling fans means more noise. For example, I had three case fans in my Silverstone GD06 case, but I removed them all and added one Noctua NF-S12B ULN, which is sufficient to create enough airflow and is much quieter compared to the stock case fans.
My recommendation: 120 mm: Noctua NF-S12B ULN or 80 mm: Noctua NF-R8

5. Passive Power Supply

Improvement area: quieter operation

One big issue is the power supply’s fan noise. A fanless (passive) power supply that’s rated at 80Plus Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum is a slightly more expensive option, but this way you will remove the PSU fan noise completely.
Alternatively, if you already have a low TDP processor and your system’s power consumption is less than 200W, you should consider getting a completely silent Pico PSU.
If you are planning to use a discrete graphics card, make sure your PSU (power supply) is capable enough to handle any upgrades such as a discrete graphics card. If you don’t know your HTPC’s power consumption, you can estimate it with this handy power consumption calculator.
My recommendation: SeaSonic SS-400FL2 400W 80+ Platinum Fanless PSU or Mini-Box picoPSU-160-XT

6. Network Attached Storage

Improvement area: more storage

Network Attached Storage (NAS) is storage that can be accessed over a home network as opposed to single computer access. In other words, a NAS server allows you to share media files between several computers and other devices. An additional benefit is that NAS servers include multiple HDDs, which allows you to backup and mirror media files.
There are several commercial NAS devices available on the market with different speeds and sets of features. According to my experience, the Synology DiskStation 2-Bay NAS is an excellent option.
Alternatively, if you want to build your own media server, your top choices are unRAID, FreeNAS or Storage Spaces software.
My recommendation: Synology DiskStation DS213

7. HDMI CEC Adapter

Improvement area: better user experience

If you are using a modern TV already, then you should get a HDMI CEC adapter. I currently own a Samsung UN46F6400 46-inch HDTV and it works great together with Pulse Eight’s USB – CEC adapter.
HDMI CEC adapter is a new technology that allows your devices such as TV and HTPC to talk with each other over the HDMI cable. In practice, this means that you can use your TV’s remote to send key presses to XBMC or any other application that supports libCEC on your home theater computer.
My recommendation: Pulse-Eight USB – CEC Adapter

8. Operating System

Improvement area: better user experience

Lastly, when upgrading new parts, you should start with a fresh install of the operating system, so why not consider switching to a more appliance feel by installing OpenELEC operating system that is running XBMC media center software.
My recommendation: OpenELEC operating system (free)

What’s Next?

As you can see, there are many affordable ways to upgrade your old HTPC to improve system performance and make it quieter.
I did not include upgrading a processor as an option in this list, because it can be intimidating and difficult to many. When upgrading a new processor you will most probably need to buy a new motherboard and memory modules as well. In my opinion, it is better to build a completely new home theater computer if you need to upgrade a processor.