Building a HTPC? Is it worth it?

I’m looking for something to play my downloaded movies through my tv. I considered buying some components and building a simple home theater PC, but I’ve never built a computer before so finding components that suit the specs I’m looking for is a bit daunting, plus the fear of cooking the processor within 4 seconds of booting the thing up is hanging over my head.

I had a look at some out of the box solutions and there are some pretty nice ones, particularly the Acer Aspire Revo 100.

Basically I just want to use some nice media software like XBMC, so buying a tv with a USB connection is not what I’m looking for.

Just wondering if anyone else has a set up that might be more suited to my needs or at least give me some ideas.

If all you want to do is play media files, then building your own PC is probably more hassle than its worth and would probably end up costing you more than an off-the-shelf box like the Acer (assuming you used decent components).

I speak from experience as I've built my last two PCs. While not that difficult, getting all the components together and assembling them does take time and you can easily spend £500-600 on a decent mid-range set-up.

No risk that you'd cook the processor (unless you didn't install it correctly) but making sure all the various bits are compatible can be a bit of a headache.

My advice would be to go for something like the unit you linked to.

Thanks for the advice mate. I'm definitely leaning towards an out of the box nettop type setup. Possibly set up a home network for storage too. Looks a good bit cheaper than a DIY build!