Best XBMC HTPC Hardware with HDMI / HD / 1080p + HDMI Audio

[savovich]

Good day!
Someone has used this platform as the Zotac ION, based on Nvidia ION + Atom 330?
Is the enough performance for HD movies?

[scrp]

Originally Posted by savovich

Good day!
Someone has used this platform as the Zotac ION, based on Nvidia ION + Atom 330?
Is the enough performance for HD movies?

How about searching instead of hijacking a thread?

[savovich]

Originally Posted by scrp

How about searching instead of hijacking a thread?

in all the 44-pages of tread - nothing concrete.

[vikjon0]

There are other theads... If this topic is not the most discussed it must be a close second.
Short answer, it will work fine if ýou set up the GPU correctly.

[Onetrack]

Hey all, I'm just starting a project for an htpc, and while I looked at build-your-own and pre-builds that are ion based, such as the aspire revo, the funtwist fiona and others. I actually settled on a refubished e-machines sff box as it looks like a perfect candidate for an xbmc system.

Here is the link to the system

Its a 2.4ghz athlon 64 with an onboard geforce 8200 (which should be fully supported by vdpau?) 2gb ram, (shared up to 256mb) and a 160gb hd, hdmi out. It wasnt a bad price at 219 cdn, and comes with a mouse and keyboard.

While I could easily build my own, and have built many systems in the past, I was checking around and there wasn't much as far as xbmc candidates for ~200.

Thoughts?

First post here, I read through this post (44 or so pages) and some other hardware forums.. don't mean it to be a threadjack, just offering a system idea for someone who wants to install the live edition on the cheap.

The 160gb hd will only be used for the os, caching thumbnails and fanart, the files will be elsewhere on my network.

[Kaimon66]

@BLKMGK, All:

I am trying to decide which platform to use for xbmc for my home theater setup. I've pretty much settled on the following sff which seems like a very sweet deal. Before I pull the trigger, though, I'd like to ask if anyone sees a problem:

BUY.com is selling the following sff for $280, free shipping; and with a "$10-off-$200" coupon it's be only about $300 shipped!

ASUS Essentio CS5111-AP008
- Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200 2.5GHz,
- 4GB RAM
- 640GB SATA HDD
- HDMI out
- DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM
- Flash card reader
- 7.1 audio / S/PDIF
- Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
- Gigabit Ethernet
- 802.11 b/g/n(draft)
- GPU: Intel GMA X3500 Dynamic Video Memory Technology 4.0
- 11.2 x 3.1 x 7.9-inches (H x W x D, approximate)
- 120W external power brick
- Refurbished

USEFUL LINKS:

$280@BUY.com (http://www.buy.com/prod/asus-essenti...212446722.html)

BUY.com $10-off-$200 coupon (http://www.buy.com/retail/coupon.asp?prid=82955137)

Asus: CS5111 Dounloads page (http://support.asus.com/download/dow...Language=en-us)

I definitely consider this a much better / more powerful option than all the Apple-TV-like boxes out there!

An important question: should I just stay with the Vista 64bit that comes with the machine or load Linux (I am definitely a Linux newb)? It just seems that people are always having problems finding Linux drivers for ALL the hardware in most PCs.

Or would XBMC Live! be a better choice?

Thanks!

[ccMatrix]

The CPU is strong enough for 1080p and since it doesn't have an Nvidia GPU you wouldn't have that benefit of Linux anyway. If you don't want to hunt down drivers you should stay with Vista 64bit. Most stuff should work out of the box on Linux today - I think audio might be some work for a Linux newb. Card reader and wireless should work if these aren't totally noname stuff.

One thing I'm not so sure is how quiet this thing will be since it might have stock coolers which tend to be louder.

[Kaimon66]

@ccMatrix,

Thank you for the information!

Regarding the CPU cooler: as you can see in the tear-down report at the link below, the CPU cooler is a custom job. From what I've read in various reviews, the CPU fan noise is pretty low.

NOTE: the tear-down is for the CS5110 rather than the CS5111 I plan to buy. From all I've read, the CS5110 is very similar, but it adds a a discrete graphics card that results in better GPU performance. HOWEVER, it seems that Asus have had serious thermal management problems with this model, and as a result it's practically impossible to find anywhere.

http://vr-zone.com/print/asus-essent...-mxm/5903.html

[Ballu]

Originally Posted by Kaimon66

......the tear-down is for the CS5110 rather than the CS5111 I plan to buy. From all I've read, the CS5110 is very similar, but it adds a a discrete graphics card that results in better GPU performance.....

I am seriously thinking of CS5110 system. This will be my first HTPC.

But how upgradeable is system:
1) If want to add new Graphics card, is that possible (not much details are available).
2) External Power supply: Seems like, not possible to upgrade the PS.
3) Adding new graphics card: Will that conflict with on board HDMI/Video...