One of the considerations I make for an HTPC is noise/power since I use mine as a media server and it's easier to have it running 24/7.
Ours is super quiet because it's fanless. The case is the heatsink. It's brilliant. I got it from quietpc.com, who are also brilliant. A quick consultation to cover "what do you want to do with it?" and "what are your priorities?" and trust their advice. They couldn't offer me anything with built in infrared receiver, suggested FLIRC, but warned that I could well have problems achieving all of my goals with it.
I asked them to give me a week or two, took a punt and ordered FLIRC usb receiver. Plugged that into my old, dying, howling HTPC, and got it working acceptably using it as a new device for my Harmony remote. The guy at QuietPC was surprised when I placed my order, and asked me to confirm I was happy with the FLIRC approach. To me, this is very good customer service because, of course, he could have just taken my money without checking first. It's the second time I've used them.
The first was back in 2017. As you can see in that thread, I was
very nervous about this, but here I am, seven years on, no fans, and it's yet to let me down.
I'll dig up specs for the HTPC at the weekend if you're interested?