Cheap system and specs that will run XBMC Linux really well

[untg99]

Just letting people know of a system I just banged up yesterday which runs 720P very nicely (haven't tried 1080).
I was surprised at how smooth and well it ran, considering the price.

CPU 1.6Ghz Core2Duo - $57
Mobo Cheap - $69
1GB 667 DDR2 - $70
Asus 8600 Geforce (Silent/HDMI/HDCP Compliant<(For an Xbox 360 HD DVD Drive) - $126
$287

I had the other items (case, power supply, Old HDD) so they weren't factored in.
I could get away with 512MB of RAM I think as well.

My dad saw XBMC Linux on my machine and was so impressed that he's going to use it to play his high def content.

After seeing my brothers xbox 360 'media center' piece of crap there's only one option for my dad and that's XBMC for linux. My brother was very disappointed with his 360 and kept asking me 'why doesnt this work the same as my xbox' I kept telling him that the feature was part of the xbox media center (XBMC) and microsoft has decided not to support it in the 360 (samba shares and divx a good example). I was considering a 360 but after seeing my brothers there's no way I would subject myself to that console.

[untg99]

That is $AU287 That's about $US220.

[knatsch]

You get a C2D for about 50 US $ ?? Here in Germany the cheapest models are about 100 € which is about 130 US $ !

I wonder if XBMC is actually using the GPU? Or have you selected this one just because of the HDMI/HDCP part? An onboard card with DX9 capabilites should do the job also, not?

[Bizzeh]

thats because, in europe, we get raped for all electronics... and if you think you have it bad in germany, cheapest C2D here is £120, which is around $240 USD.

and yes, xbmc will use the gpu, since it uses sdl, which draws with opengl.

also, microsoft didnt "decide not to support divx and samba shares" they cant.. since if they support divx, they are supporting a brand, and have to pay for it (dont even start about microsoft has lots of money) and they would have to offer tech support for it, and samba, they cant support that without getting sued, because someone somewhere will accuse them of some anti-trust bullshit suite because they only support SMB which is a "windows only" software, even though the samba server is around for linux... microsoft support raw mpeg4, since there are no licencing issues, and they support usb hard drives.. also, no licencing or suing issues... there is a reason behind these things, dont just go flapping off complaining... xbmc can do all these things it does, because it infringes on several IP's and copyrights and patents and all that crap... since its free, and the project doesnt carry any financial backing, there is no point in suing xbmc because of this stuff, because all it will bring is bad publicity.

[untg99]

Hmmm, I wasn't aware of all the issues, it does pay to be courteous.

[untg99]

Originally Posted by knatsch

You get a C2D for about 50 US $ ?? Here in Germany the cheapest models are about 100 € which is about 130 US $ !

I wonder if XBMC is actually using the GPU? Or have you selected this one just because of the HDMI/HDCP part? An onboard card with DX9 capabilites should do the job also, not?

Yeah, it's because we wanted the HDMI/HDCP part, otherwise we would have gone for a cheaper card, probably a 8500, although this one was only $126 so it was actually really cheap anyways...

[sho]

Originally Posted by Bizzeh

thats because, in europe, we get raped for all electronics... and if you think you have it bad in germany, cheapest C2D here is £120, which is around $240 USD.

Can't speak for our friends down under, but Europe for the most part has 20-25% sales or value add tax which factors heavily in any pricing discussion. Whereas in the US it ranges from 0-6% (correct?), and is usually not in any advertised price.
Although the jump from 50 to 240 USD has to be explained with something else

[untg99]

Originally Posted by sho

Can't speak for our friends down under, but Europe for the most part has 20-25% sales or value add tax which factors heavily in any pricing discussion. Whereas in the US it ranges from 0-6% (correct?), and is usually not in any advertised price.
Although the jump from 50 to 240 USD has to be explained with something else

Yeah, we used to have something similar in Australia called sales tax, from memory it was 22% on computer goods, that was replaced a few years ago by a flat 10% on every, called the GST (general sales tax) (as different items has different tax rates).
Which was handy for computer people if nothing else, instant 12% saving...

[szsori]

Yeah, in the US our sales tax is anywhere from 0-9%, depending on the state you live in. Internet purchases aren't taxed in any states that I know of, unless the online retailer exists in the state you live in. In some instances the retailer will charge the tax no matter what to make things easier on their end. Some states try getting people to claim Internet purchases on their taxes at the end of the tax year, but people rarely do this.

For you European folks, can't you just have a retailer in the US send you the computer parts and label them as "gift"?

[sho]

Yes, if you find someone willing to commit an international fraud