HTPC

multimate

Hey guys was wondering about this setup. I also need you to recommend a case? As cheap as possible.

Ram
Motherboard
CPU

What else do I need (1st time builder)
It'll be used for HTPC (OPENELEC-XBMC)
Thanks

* HDTV possess HDMI ports
* want to play SD movies (DivX, XviD)
* want to play DVD movies
* want to play 720P movies
* want to play 1080P movies

I think mobo will be alright as it has dvi not HDMI

luyolo

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=50576&agid=631
Good case for the price.
Don't know how good that setup is though.

Geforce 7xxx doesnt support VDPAU or VAAPI.

Means you cant use GPU-assisted decoding, so video decoding must be done on CPU. And currently that's not particularly efficient in XBMC. Certainly that Sempron won't be enough for 1080p H264. Also without HDMI how do you plan on getting sound out of it? If you're running a dedicated receiver you need to say so.

I would go with Geforce 8-series at a minimum.

aN.Droid

What you have listed is not going to cut it.

You have also listed laptop ram. You are going to have to go at least 250-300 euro for a decent build that will run XBMC and full 1080p without seems and lag.

What I would do is wait for the ivy bridge intels to come out and see what the cheapest HD4000 graphics chip they have will be.

This will remove the need for a graphics card aswell and they are apparently great for encoding.

What you will also need is a case, ram, PSU and a motherboard. If you want to go HTPC standard with an iTX/mATX case and motherboard then you are looking at 200-300 euro, but you can go cheaper then this with the 30 euro midi tower cases out there and using regular ATX boards. This ofcourse is not very pretty and isnt very htpc like.

I am in the planning stage of a htpc myself and this is my build so far

Item|Price
ASRock H61M-HVS (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX|€40.22
4GB-Kit G-Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€22.43
Silverstone SST-ML03B Milo Desktop - black|€52.49
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€40.88
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€175.01

As you can see I am missing the CPU in that build, that is because I am waiting for ivy bridge, so in my case I will be adding another 100-150 euro to that price. I will also probably add another 4gb of ram to the build as I will be using some other r am intensive programs but 4gb is plenty for just xbmc.

This also has a htpc case and will fit nicely above my TV on a shelf.

Ivy bridge is released soon too so you don't have long to wait to see whats coming.

Intel GPUs are no good for GPU assisted decoding in Linux (which is what OpenElec and XBMCBuntu are). It has been very hit and miss.

Better off to get a Nvidia GPU (1st choice) or ATI GPU (2nd choice). Nvidia has historically been better for video decoding in Linux but I don't know the current situation. When Fusion launched there was a push to try and get more stability from ATI.

You can always forget GPU-assisted decoding and just throw enough CPU power at it, but as I said already software-based decoding in XBMC is not very efficient, I don't think it is even multi-threaded. So you can have what you think is a decent modern CPU and still struggle with 1080p H.264, especially 40Mbps Bluray stuff.

aN.Droid

Deleted User wrote: »

Intel GPUs are no good for GPU assisted decoding in Linux (which is what OpenElec and XBMCBuntu are). It has been very hit and miss.

Better off to get a Nvidia GPU (1st choice) or ATI GPU (2nd choice). Nvidia has historically been better for video decoding in Linux but I don't know the current situation. When Fusion launched there was a push to try and get more stability from ATI.

You can always forget GPU-assisted decoding and just throw enough CPU power at it, but as I said already software-based decoding in XBMC is not very efficient, I don't think it is even multi-threaded. So you can have what you think is a decent modern CPU and still struggle with 1080p H.264, especially 40Mbps Bluray stuff.

That's the plan. I myself will be using windows aswell so much better on the compatibility side.

I got a look at a few of the ivy bridges on overclockers today and the cheapest ones have old graphics in them so it's not looking good right now. The i3 range hasn't been released yet though and more than likely there will be a cheap chip with the HD4000 graphics in one of those.

Yeah in Windows there's no real issue with GPU decoding on different cards.

Its just in Linux where the Intel cards seem to have trouble, and the ATI cards were historically not as stable as Nvidia either.

Lu Tze

Deleted User wrote: »

Geforce 7xxx doesnt support VDPAU or VAAPI.

Means you cant use GPU-assisted decoding, so video decoding must be done on CPU. And currently that's not particularly efficient in XBMC. Certainly that Sempron won't be enough for 1080p H264. Also without HDMI how do you plan on getting sound out of it? If you're running a dedicated receiver you need to say so.

I would go with Geforce 8-series at a minimum.

Would this not be an ideal situation for the AMD APUs? Something with an integrated 4550 maybe?

Limericks wrote: »

What you have listed is not going to cut it.

You have also listed laptop ram. You are going to have to go at least 250-300 euro for a decent build that will run XBMC and full 1080p without seems and lag.

What I would do is wait for the ivy bridge intels to come out and see what the cheapest HD4000 graphics chip they have will be.

This will remove the need for a graphics card aswell and they are apparently great for encoding.

What you will also need is a case, ram, PSU and a motherboard. If you want to go HTPC standard with an iTX/mATX case and motherboard then you are looking at 200-300 euro, but you can go cheaper then this with the 30 euro midi tower cases out there and using regular ATX boards. This ofcourse is not very pretty and isnt very htpc like.

I am in the planning stage of a htpc myself and this is my build so far

Item|Price
ASRock H61M-HVS (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX|€40.22
4GB-Kit G-Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€22.43
Silverstone SST-ML03B Milo Desktop - black|€52.49
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€40.88
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€175.01

As you can see I am missing the CPU in that build, that is because I am waiting for ivy bridge, so in my case I will be adding another 100-150 euro to that price. I will also probably add another 4gb of ram to the build as I will be using some other r am intensive programs but 4gb is plenty for just xbmc.

This also has a htpc case and will fit nicely above my TV on a shelf.

Ivy bridge is released soon too so you don't have long to wait to see whats coming.

Thats basically my build with a G630 (but i have a dedicated GPU for some
gaming). Be warned that motherboard has no pci slots, just a pci express x1 and a pci express x16

Lu Tze

Lu Tze wrote: »

Would this not be an ideal situation for the AMD APUs? Something with an integrated 4550 maybe?

Yep, but before you order I would go onto the OpenElec or XBMCLive forums and ask around about the current state of ATI video acceleration. Or check to see the number of problem threads.

Like I said, historically Nvidia were always recommended over ATI for Linux video acceleration (VDPAU and VAAPI), I think the drivers were better or more stable. But im a bit out of the loop and maybe the ATI bugs have been fixed. I know OpenElec had their first Fusion build late last year.

Nvidia have been rock solid which is why the Atom/Ion motherboards are so popular (and still quite expensive).