[Roti2000]

Hello,

The boss is letting me have an old Dell Optiplex GX745 small form factor.

Processor: Pentium Core2Duo @ 1.86 Ghz
Memory: 1 GB
Optical Drive: CD RW/DVD RW
Hard Drive: 80 GB


Ideally I would like to install XBMC Live (or some variant) and keep the processor.

I am looking for advice for a compatible video card, TV Tuner, wifi card, and RAM upgrades

Thanks!

[Bram77]

You'll probably need a low profile video and TV card (or you could use a USB TV card like the Anysee E30). So that will limit your options and make choices easy You won't need any more then 2GB RAM. It really doesn't matter a lot which brand. Just buy cheap DDR2 RAM. The difference with 4GB isn't really noticeable if you run XBMC on Linux (I know from experience).
The nvidia Gforce 430 and 520 are very good and cheap low profile HTPC video cards that you can buy passively cooled.
Your CPU is more then capable for XBMC using Linux. Using Windows results in a pretty massive negative performance impact compared to XBMC Live or OpenElec but it will run.

If you want to invest in something that will give your machine a performance boost... buy a SSD drive. You machine will be a lot faster, quieter, cooler and it will use less power.

[Roti2000]

Thanks, Bram77.

I am definitely planning on running it on Linux.

OpenElec sounds preferable, but I didn't see the GX745 on their supported hardware list.

Are you using MythTV to view live cable/broadcast channels?

I have read that it can be tricky to set this up.

[Bram77]

I think TVheadend is the best option. I've tried http://www.yavdr.org/, XBMC PVR for Linux (TVheadend), XBMC + MythTV and XBMC + MediaPortal (Windows). But because I have a paid subscription with Ziggo (encrypted channels) I have been unable to configure everything to my satisfaction.

I think TVheadend is the best option for Linux, but it does not support Timeshift, which made it a no-go for me. In the end MediaPortal worked best for me. But I do not like windows and it was a big compromise in speed on my ION HTPC. So much that channel decryption was unreliable. So I gave up on PVR functionality with XBMC for now. I'm thinking about buying a Dreambox or a Humax 5200c or 5050c (FTP support).
If you have SD TV or HD TV without encryption, setting up XBMC PVR with Linux is pretty simple. Your hardware is capable enough. Just don't buy a ATI card to run with linux. You'll regret it. No matter how expensive or fast the card is.... you'll regret it because ATI Linux drivers are terrible.