As Cable companies find themselves facing their impending obsolescence, we've seen a surge in interest for living room PCs that double as DVR replacements and gaming consoles; our original $357 gaming HTPC posts proved the affordability of these custom builds, but today we're out to prove their versatility.

Today's build makes use of Intel's i3-3220 dual-core IvyBridgeprocessor and accompanying discrete 2GB 7850 VGA, making for a significantly more powerful system than what integrated graphics (even the 7660D/G) can offer. For around $700, you end up with a small form factor gaming HTPC build that functions as a DVR and console replacement; the 7850 has been proven as a gaming-class card for mid-to-high settings and the i3-3220 performs admirably in nearly all gaming applications, perhaps with exception to Crysis 3 (which spawns more active threads and is fairly everything-intensive). More on CPU choice below.