[Micro-ATX] Pentium 2x2.6Ghz + GT210
#16
go for it!
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#17
How come you use discrete cards for your builds now? Wouldn't the onboard video from the CPU work just fine?
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#18
i use the HD6450 with an AMD triple-core on my HTPC upstairs
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#19
eskro Wrote:i use the HD6450 with an AMD triple-core on my HTPC upstairs
I can understand that but wouldn't the onboard video for Intel CPUs work for people that don't want a discrete video card?
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#20
yes, it works Geran, but just remember,
again, its been said alot in the past year,
INTEL graphix have the 24p problem...
just google it, i dont feel like talking about it again,, Tongue sorry
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#21
eskro Wrote:yes, it works Geran, but just remember,
again, its been said alot in the past year,
INTEL graphix have the 24p problem...
just google it, i dont feel like talking about it again,, Tongue sorry
I know about the 24p issue...don't need to explain it again. lol

I thought all GPUs had issues with 24p but I guess I was wrong.
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#22
well AMD APU's dont have problems like that.
its on INTEL's side only.
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#23
Geran Wrote:I know about the 24p issue...don't need to explain it again. lol

I thought all GPUs had issues with 24p but I guess I was wrong.
If you have the all-in-one AMD A6-xxxx and A8-xxxx APU, you don't have this issue and its iGPU is as good as discrete GPU.
>Alienware X51- do it all HTPC
>Simplify XBMC configurations
>HOW-TO Bitstreaming using XBMC
I refused to watch movie without bitstreaming HD audio!
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#24
Geran Wrote:How come you use discrete cards for your builds now? Wouldn't the onboard video from the CPU work just fine?
That depends who you ask.

There is a fairly simple fix for XBMC that stops the frame stutter which has the overall outcome of slowing down the movie to make all your films about 3 seconds longer over the length of the film. Purists would hate that solution, and in terms of pure video quality, AMD GPU is streets ahead of nVidia or Intel's PVR chips anyway.

So if you're a movie buff, go AMD.

If you just want a cheap build that works with a little bit of extra effort, go for a G530, and look up how to fix the 24fps issue. Someone on here has posted it - can't remember who or where - and it looks very straightforward. And be prepared to buy a G210 if you cant fix it Wink
baldmosher™
Trying to save his marriage with a HTPC
Current system: TV unit, 37PFL5405H, Microserver N40L (as HTPC), Xbox360, BDP-S370, FoxsatHD, Azur 540Rv2, Keysonic 540RF, Harmony 300
Planned W7x64 AMD mATX (HT)PC build: Case, PSU, RAM, Mobo, CPU Total £240 + IR + HSF? + SSD?
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#25
I'm thinking about building this one, looks nice.
However I'm really picky about noise, so I was thinking about replacing the PSU with a fanless one, like the Seasonc X-400 would that work out in this case?

Is the boxed fan from Intel noisy?
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#26
if its 6.3" deep (160mm), i wouldnt use that in the Sliverstone ML03b case...
dont get more then 5.5" deep (140mm)
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#27
oh thanks for the heads up, I didn't think about that.
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#28
I'm trying to find out what kind of cpu cooler that fit's into this case.
I saw that you had a couple of recommendations with different build heights.
What height of the cpu cooler do you recommend here ?
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#29
I helped myself and found a nice review of the case 70mm height is ok.
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#30
The following is not purely related to HTPC, so you are excused if you prefer to just skip this entry.
Also, please note that it's not my intention to hijack this thread with an unrelated discussion in any way: I just want to highlight the hidden potential contained in this otherwise untelling "budget build".

Now that you've been warned, if you feel like you have 5 minutes to spare for an educational reading, you can go ahead. Rolleyes

So... I recently built my HTPC based on the build on this thread by eskro with CPU Intel Celeron G530.
For the motherboard I used a very similar one, not the same due to local availability but that's another story.
For OS, I went with Linux Mint, which was a breeze to install even for this amateurish Linux n00bie.
There were some pains and a steep learning curve making audio to go through HDMI, but it all worked like a charm in the end.
Other extra Linux-only advantages posed no problems (remote ssh, VNC, automatic backups, etc.)

Soon after finalizing the HTPC and while I was still drooling every time I played a 1080p movie Big Grin, my digital life took an unexpected turn: all of a sudden I needed another computer in my house in order to build an Asterisk server (a VoIP PBX).
Damn! Buy another computer? And so soon? Crap! Angry

A VoIP-savvy friend of mine pointed me towards a good Asterisk distro (PBX in a flash) which should make my life easier because everything is pretty much self-contained and preconfigured. But it's a full distro, so it needs it's own machine for installing an OS and packages and a tremendous sh*tload of stuff in it.

Long-story short, the G530, despite it's budget-oriented price of just around $50, had a trick under its sleeve: VT-x or Virtualization Technology. In fact, I think it's the cheapest Intel CPU you can find with this feature.

This little feature, normally unused in any normal build like a dedicated HTPC, made it possible for me to install the PBX distro in a Virtual Machine, running it 'headless' or in the background without interfering in any way with the XBMC front-end. The VM uses about 5 to 7% of CPU and less than 512MB of RAM, so still leaving most CPU processing power and RAM available and unused for XBMC usage.

The physical machine is now turned on 24x7 so the phone system is up at all times and my wife can talk all she wants while watching a movie! Wink

So in summary, the "extra computer" was accomplished investing $0, just by tapping into the spare CPU cycles and Virtualization instructions. Just added a piece of software really (albeit a complex one), but the G530 proved to be an absolute beast capable of eating heavy-duty tasks with ease!
I guess you could say I'm sold!! Cool

PS: I'm not associated with Intel nor eskro in any way. I'm just an average budget-conscious end-user who takes pride in extracting as much juice as possible into the available resources. Call it a "life philosophy"
PS2: A hat-tip to the excellent work of the open-source community in general, and in particular to XBMC, to eskro for his hardware recommendations, to Linux, Asterisk and VirtualBox OSE. THANK YOU!
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[Micro-ATX] Pentium 2x2.6Ghz + GT2100