Spec'ing Hardware

On my lunch break I decided to price some hardware for a decent Home Theater PC (HTPC). I was surprised at what I could build for the money. I could get a decent microATX computer for around $356 after shipping. This included an Intel Dual-Core CPU (clocked at 2.5 Ghz), motherboard, case, power supply, 640 GB hard drive (with 32 MB buffer), 4 GB of RAM, and a 256 MB video card that outputs to s-video (and composite). This computer wouldn't beat any speed records by any means, but it would be a relatively cheap jump into making my dream a reality. I would most likely eventually want a better video card, better CPU, wireless mouse/keyboard, and a Blu-Ray DVD player which would almost double the cost of the computer. But I can start out slow and work my way up to bigger and better.