Sufficent Power?

[HandBanana]

Hello Ladies and Gents!

I've been a longtime user of XBMC on my XBOX and it's time to upgrade. I'm aiming to build an HTPC capable of 1080p and (eventually) blu-ray playback. Initially, I am looking at the following equipment:

-APEX MI-100BK Black Steel Mini-ITX Tower Computer (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154093)
-ZOTAC IONITX-C-U Intel Atom N230 Mini ITX ION Platform Motherboard/CPU Combo with 90W PSU (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500028)
-Crucial Ballistix 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148211)
-Western Digital Caviar SE WD800AAJS 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136195)
-DVD player that I already have

My main concern is whether XBMC will be able play 1080p from that equipment. Will this work? Will it also be able to display blu-ray movies when I eventually get a player for it? I was hoping that XBMC would rely on the GPU (NVIDIA GeForce 9400M) more than the CPU to display 1080p content.

(my apologies if this is posted in the wrong area. Thanks for any input!)

[HandBanana]

I should clarify. From an XBMC perspective, are there any benefits to installing a beefy'er CPU when the GPU is perfectly capable of handling the video processing.

I just found this thread (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=50862)about the Zotac ION motherboard and will follow that. I'm always looking for input on this though.:grin:

[Haohmaru]

I don't know if the single core atom is enough for 1080p but as a reference I can tell you that my AMD LE-1150 (single core @ 2Ghz ) plays with Nvidia 8400GS even the killa sample flawlessy. But I need to resize the fanarts to max 720p res for smooth browsing. Aeon is slow too. No problem with Mediastream though so the system is perfect for me.

[althekiller]

The n230 chokes on PM3HD at <720p res. So yes, the n330 will do you well in the GUI.

[HandBanana]

so it sounds like the GUI primarily uses the CPU while the GPU is used for video playback? Zotac's mobo with the n330 is a little pricey. Perhaps this is a good alternative?

Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072)
ZOTAC GF9300-D-E LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9300 HDMI Mini ITX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500022)

[AllanMar]

so it sounds like the GUI primarily uses the CPU while the GPU is used for video playback? Zotac's mobo with the n330 is a little pricey. Perhaps this is a good alternative?

Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072)
ZOTAC GF9300-D-E LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9300 HDMI Mini ITX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500022)
If your using VDPAU (Nvidia's hardware decoding in linux) with XBMC then the GPU is used to decode h264 & VC-1. Otherwise the CPU is used.

The reason ION is interesting because it is low heat/low power. Not because it is some new impressive technology. If you dont care about heat/power there isnt really a good reason to get an Atom platform.

[koscica]

so it sounds like the GUI primarily uses the CPU while the GPU is used for video playback? Zotac's mobo with the n330 is a little pricey. Perhaps this is a good alternative?

Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072)
ZOTAC GF9300-D-E LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9300 HDMI Mini ITX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500022)

I agree but I expect this would be much noisier than the ion platform. On the other hand I am worried that even n330 ion will have problems with more demanding skins like aeon.???