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+-- Forum: Off-Topic (/forumdisplay.php?fid=34)
+--- Forum: Hardware for XBMC (/forumdisplay.php?fid=112)
+--- Thread: Poofyhairguy's HTPC Recommendation Thread (/showthread.php?tid=94268)
- eskro - 2011-07-19 02:45
hi zwat, i think you'd be best serve if you create a new thread completely!
i'll help u there!
Poofy, please advise: - nchall - 2011-07-20 19:20
Poofy, please advise:
Upgrading and old Dell SFF gx620 for my parents to use as an htpc with XBMC/7MC.
System willl be:
Pentium IV 3.0 ghz
Sparkle GeForce 8400 GS, 512MB DDR2, VGA, DVI, TV-out (You recommend)
Acer m780 (Dual Tuner for 7MC)
2 GB Ram (Could bump up to 4)
WD Caviar Green 1.5TB
DVD Drive
Would appreciate your opinion:
Obviously the processor is weak, but I think it should be OK for XBMC/7MC. Unfortunately the motherboard only supports Pentium and Celeron chips.
Computer is pretty cramped due to SFF but has an open IDE slot. Should I install a disk on here for the operating system to run on? Could I get away with running it off the 1.5TB drive?
- Superorb - 2011-07-20 19:45
nchall Wrote:Poofy, please advise:You'll be fine for XBMC Live, but I don't know about 7MC. I'm using a Pentium 3 with an 8400GS 512MB RAM and it works great.
Upgrading and old Dell SFF gx620 for my parents to use as an htpc with XBMC/7MC.
System willl be:
Pentium IV 3.0 ghz
Sparkle GeForce 8400 GS, 512MB DDR2, VGA, DVI, TV-out (You recommend)
Acer m780 (Dual Tuner for 7MC)
2 GB Ram (Could bump up to 4)
WD Caviar Green 1.5TB
DVD Drive
Would appreciate your opinion:
Obviously the processor is weak, but I think it should be OK for XBMC/7MC. Unfortunately the motherboard only supports Pentium and Celeron chips.
Computer is pretty cramped due to SFF but has an open IDE slot. Should I install a disk on here for the operating system to run on? Could I get away with running it off the 1.5TB drive?
- eskro - 2011-07-20 19:49
i think win7 would run ok,,,
- nchall - 2011-07-20 20:42
Should I put the OS on an old 2.5 laptop IDE drive, or would it be ok to have it on the same drive as media/recordings? Keep in mind this computer is just a glorified settop box--it won't be used for anything other than media playback.
- ARCHA1C - 2011-08-05 17:29
Agreed that the ATV2 is a great value for people with few requiremenrs.
XBMC runs great on it (albeit a bit sluggish in the interface transitions sometimes, but not painfully so).
If all you need is the ability to stream network stored content at 720p, look no further than the $99 ATV2.
The downsides are its lack or extensiblity (many add-ons do not work due to the iOS platform and lack of internal storage)
I stepped into the XBMC world with my ATV2, but now realize that I need to upgrade to a full-blown HTPC now that I've caught a glimpse of the possibilities.
Having all of those wonderful add-ons listed, and not being able to utilize them is pure torture. Namely, the Netflix add-on doesn't work due to lack of Silverlight support.
This is a major drawback because as many found out a few weeks ago, the native ATV2 Netflix App can be broken by Apple/Netflix during firmware updates, forcing everyone to update (re-jailbreak) the Apple TV2.
When this happens, you hope there is a new jailbreak available for the new IOS soon, or you're stuck with no Netflix.
Superorb Wrote:All it can be used for is streaming though, it can't be used to do anything else that's more CPU intensive. For example, you can't play games or any of the SAB/Couch, etc addons.
For many it would be perfect if they could get it to output 1080p, myself included. I have a server to do all those other addons and I don't play games.
- ARCHA1C - 2011-08-05 17:34
eskro Wrote:thanks bodhi, now at least i'll stop worrying...
To mitigate some of that RF interference, it's worth grabbing a Wi-Fi analyzer for your computer and seeing what's out in the are around you.
Many routers now do smart channel selection upon boot-up to pick the channel with the least competition/interference, but if your wireless router doesn't do that, it'd be good to know what your competing with, and manually set your radio to the best channel (6, 11 etc.)
Here's are a few utilities you can try
Android - http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/wifi-analyzer-the-best-wifi-channel/
Mac - http://www.airgrab.com/AirGrab_WiFi_Radar/
Windows - http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/
- LB06 - 2011-08-12 17:36
Why do you not recommend WD Greens for raid or ZFS? Because of the inability to turn on TLER? If so, as far as I know that's only true for hardware raid. Software raid and raid-like solutions do not kick drives from an array due to error recovery going on.
I've written something on hw raid vs sw raid in another topic recently: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?p=860588#post860588
Maybe it's useful.
- Superorb - 2011-08-12 18:20
LB06 Wrote:Why do you not recommend WD Greens for raid or ZFS? Because of the inability to turn on TLER? If so, as far as I know that's only true for hardware raid. Software raid and raid-like solutions do not kick drives from an array due to error recovery going on.Something like unRAID is fine with the WD Green drives, and there are TONS of members on the unRAID forums running them.
I've written something on hw raid vs sw raid in another topic recently: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?p=860588#post860588
Maybe it's useful.
- LB06 - 2011-08-13 00:04
Superorb Wrote:Something like unRAID is fine with the WD Green drives, and there are TONS of members on the unRAID forums running them.Yeah that's why I was implying that the TS be amended to incorporate said details
