[LINUX] HTPC - 1080p + Wii/PS2 Emulation
#1
Been working on this for a few days, and I think I've worked out most of the details. I've done a fair deal of research on each part, but I would like a second opinion before pressing 'buy'.

HDD:
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
Item #: N82E16822152185

Going to see if I can find a better deal on a bigger HDD, but for now this isn't bad.


Motherboard:
ASUS M4A88T-I Deluxe AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 HDMI Mini ITX AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131659

This motherboard worries me a bit. It came highly recommended and apparently can use the integrated graphics along with a seperate video card to increase the performance. It looks to be a laptop motherboard though, using laptop memory... that worries me.


PSU:
Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power ...
Item #: N82E16817371033

This PSU works well with the case (verified by several owners).


Remote:
D-Link DSM-22 Boxee Remote for PC & Mac
Item #: N82E16833996124

Friend has one of these, works well.


CPU:
AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto 3.2GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Desktop Processor - C3 Revision HDZ555WFGMBOX
Item #: N82E16819103846

As far as I know, PS2/Wii emulators will only utilize 2 cores, so I didn't see the need to go with something more powerful. I can't help but think I'm cutting corners with this though.


Memory:
G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-8GBSQ
Item #: N82E16820231342

Cheap laptop memory.. still worries me (see above, motherboard)


ODD:
SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Combo SATA Model SH-B123L/RSBP LightScribe Support
Item #: N82E16827151232


Case:
SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum skin reinforced plastic front panel, 0.8mm SECC body MILO Series ML03B Micro ATX Media Center ...
Item #: N82E16811163174

Case looks simplistic and small yet has enough room for a few components without being too cramped. I'm fairly settled on this.

GPU:
HIS H675F1GD Radeon HD 6750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
Item #:N82E16814161379

Doesn't explicitly say 'low profile' on it, but it looks thin enough.. think it will work fine with the case. Not 100% sure on it's performance, but it looks good.


Software:
GeeXboX

A Linux distribution dedicated to XBMC. Looks awesome, but I have no experience with it.



I'm not looking for a great deal of help, but if anyone sees something here that may be a concern, please let me know.

Thanks for reading,
Jeremy
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#2
My first post on the forums here, hoping to give some good advice and keep you from buying incompatible parts.

Main issue I noticed is that the video card will not work with that case. When the case description says the expansion slots are 'low profile' it's not referring to the width of the video card, but the height. If you look at a picture of the case from the back, the pci slot covers are just slightly taller than the case / motherboard opening, meaning their half heights(aka low profile slots) and will not accept a full height video card. The best low profile video card I could find on newegg was this but there may be others. The video card you linked will not fit in that case.

I would also think about looking locally for a hard drive. Ever since the Thailand flooding newegg's hard drive prices have skyrocketed, but you can probably find a 2tb at best buy, etc. for the price you're gonna pay for a 1tb on newegg. I recently bought a 2tb at best buy for $85(and that was well after the thailand flooding that drove prices up).

I would also avoid buying a dual core processor especially at that price. This is not much more expensive but is a much more powerful processor, or maybe even look at moving to a 95w 6 core Thuban for a little bit more(quick glance at the website for the motherboard looks like it won't take anything over 95w)
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#3
Thanks for the reply, icecold!

Thanks for verifying the video card...
Unfortunately, the only low profile 2.0/2.1 video card supporting CrossFire is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814129142
.. doesn't look TERRIBLE..
If I don't use the crossfire, it kinda defeats some of the point of the board... but I guess it's not a huge deal.
Edit: Ugh, doesn't even have a HDMI output. Looks like I'm not gonna get to use CrossFire.

I just checked out my local staples/best buy, saw 1TB - 1.5TB drives for 100-150, good call.



The only reason I went with a dual core was because of the emulator support. I figured a 3.2 dual core would out-perform a 2.8 quad core since the emulators would only utilize 2.
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#4
Recent subversions (SVN) builds of PCSX2 (the Playstation 2 emulator) now supports quad core, just FYI.

But your logic is sound. Go for the best GHz rating of the processor.

http://pcsx2.net/svn.php
Edit: Added link
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#5
Oh! Thanks, Digital Vortex.. I didn't realize that. Quad core it is.

So I like the video card icecold posted
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814102958

And a similar CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819103808
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#6
your sure your Linux Distro supports ATI GPU's?
because Linux = Nvidia GPU!
make sure you read on that!

if your afraid of the RAM size and MOBO,
why not just buy something else 'normal' so to speak?

and overAll, have u read my HTPC guide?
tons of good stuff in there!
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#7
eskro Wrote:your sure your Linux Distro supports ATI GPU's?
because Linux = Nvidia GPU!
make sure you read on that!

Well, on the GeeXboX site, right on the front, it says

"Video Drivers:
Support for Intel, nVidia, ATI, Matrox and VIA GPUs.
Support for CRT, LCD and HDMI output devices.
OpenGL and OpenGL|ES hardware assisted graphics acceleration.
VDPAU, VA-API and Crystal HD hardware assisted video decoding for nVidia, Intel and Broadcom GPUs."

So I'm assuming this means I can use an ATI GPU .. ?

eskro Wrote:if your afraid of the RAM size and MOBO,
why not just buy something else 'normal' so to speak?

Yeah, now that the whole crossfire thing is out of the question, a normal motherboard and ram would probably be better.

eskro Wrote:and overAll, have u read my HTPC guide?
tons of good stuff in there!

I did take a look at it, yeah.. but it didn't seem to mention anything about emulation (which is my biggest concern in this build)



EDIT:
So hows this for a "normal" motherboard and memory?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813130254

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231311

Assuming the distribution supports ATI ... any other concerns?
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#8
again, what if i say yes, it does seem to support ATI,
and u buy all your stuff and it doesnt?
Better for you to ask on their main website somehow...
i dont know that distro and cant comment about it....
all i can confirm is that NVIDIA is the way to go for LINUX...

im not to keen on MSI...
doesnt mean its bad but, why not go for a tested by Beer40onze MOBO
[mobo] ASRock 880GM-LE AM3 μATX ($55 + $0)
cant go wrong!

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820145315

good luck
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#9
eskro Wrote:all i can confirm is that NVIDIA is the way to go for LINUX...

Is there anything you can recommend? I'm honestly having a hard time finding a 'quality' low-profile NVIDIA card

Edit: Here's one I found on Newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814133356

Even though it's rated highly, it just doesn't look powerful enough.
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#10
well, lets take a look at PS2 recommended requirements...

PS2 Recommended
* Windows Vista 32bit/64bit
* CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.2ghz or better
* GPU: 8600gt or better
* 1gb RAM (2gb if on Vista)

so, that card would be good! Tongue

or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814261078
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#11
eskro Wrote:your sure your Linux Distro supports ATI GPU's?
because Linux = Nvidia GPU!
make sure you read on that!

Out of curiosity - when was your last experience with an ATI / AMD GPU on Linux? I remember several years ago(like 5+) ATI cards were crap on Linux, but I'm running an ATI 4850 on my Phenom X6 Ubuntu box and haven't had any issues. And the GPU in my media center PC(running Ubuntu + xbmc) is a very low end ATI Radeon (3450 or something along those lines) and I haven't had issues, even the HDMI out has worked flawlessly. I'm not saying your wrong(and maybe there are some specific features on ATI cards that don't work in linux that i'm not using or something) but was just curious when your experience was.

And I agree with you about that MSI 760G board linked, I have that running in one of my machines and it's a piece of crap.(half the time it boots it won't recognize any video except the onboard, won't even POST with so much as a 100mhz overclock, etc.)

JTG2003-
Big thing to keep in mind when picking out a motherboard too is what CPU's it supports. Just because it's AM3 doesn't mean it supports all AM3 cpu's, a lot of cheaper boards don't support anything over a 95w processor(meaning that Phenom X4 that you linked wouldn't work in it). I definitely wouldn't get a dual core processor at this point if the price is anywhere near a quad core, even if the clock speed is higher. Down the road you may want to do more than just emulation(video encoding, gaming, etc.) and a dual core will hold you back. If the dual core was half the price of the quad it'd be a different story. Alternatively, you may want to look at AMD's llano offerings, that could make it to where you don't even need to buy a video card.
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#12
i cant stand linux Tongue
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