i3 build, with guide/tips (mostly linux)

Nice build. I'm really thinking about going for the i3-2120T.
I just have one question. How is 24p content working for you. Do you get lots of frame drops?

@__phil. Thanks.
My 24p content works great. I just watched "Grindhouse" last night. Over 3 hours, and not a single frame dropped.

As mentioned before, I've got audio-delay, with Eden. Dharma too..
But same problem on my Asrock ION.

I look forward, to a new stable XBMC, with Audio Engine, that hopefully will fix this problem.

(it's 250 msec delay for almost all 24p content).

Thanks morfeus. Thats great.

Well then the only question left is which mainboard I should buy.

ASRock B75M-ITX
or
ASRock H67M-ITX/HT
or
Something else

The B75M-ITX is cheaper and a newer model I think. However, for the H67M-ITX/HT I at least know that it works for you with linux.

Awesome build. Thanks for sharing.

Any regrets in moving from VPDAU to VAAPI? quality and crashes etc?

I'm considering doing the same, moving to a SB integrated gfx from a GT430 to save power.

@__phil - Not sure what to tell you
In the end, I wen't for the Asrock /HT. I didn't read the small print. The reciever is only good, with the Asrock board. And the reciever/remote is so bad. You can read about this, in other posts, from others. I hoped, when orderring, that I could use the reciever/remote on another computer. My bad.
Either way, don't order the HT, for the reciever/remote thing. The real plus, is the WiFI. I don't use it. But it could come in handy some day.
But don't order it, for the reciever/remote option, it's crap/poo.
Maybe @blu-ray has some pointers for the motherboard. I know he's got hand's on experience, with Intel boards.

@nate922 - Thanks
Nope, not so far. No crashes at all ! My build plays all that is in my library.
As in even Nvidia, it's not perfect.
My setups on ION and Intel HD Graphics, both have audio delays, depending on what fps/hz playing.
I believe this is an issue inside XBMC.
Only issue I've seen, on the Intel HD so far, is with 1080p content. Not framedrops or choppiness. But the colors, seems to fade or boost. It's almost nothing, but i notice.
I hope I will have time, to check this further, in the near future. Need to try these 1080p movies, without VAAPI, to rule it out.

I've put the system together and everything seems to be working ok.

I noticed what you meant by colors, on the Intel it is a little dark but putting up the brightness on the TV fixes it.

Power usage is awesome. I'm not getting any any audio delays.

Only problem is the the quality. the 430 de-interlaces and 720p looks great. However deinterlacing is unstable on vaapi.

Not sure what I want to do now

@nate - Hope you'll be happy with your new system

I've tested a bit more, and it's something with my new box/intel and/or my Sony HX723 LED TV.
My TV has some auto brightness/LED control, but it dosen't affect normal TV, and TV-shows mkv's, on XBMC, are not affected.
Only mkv movies. (what i've come up with so far).
So i guess i have to rip my movies with other options....or the Intel drivers are just a bit off at the moment...or Xorg...don't know, have to look closer...

About audio delays...have you got Plasma or LCD/LED Screen?

An update, for what it's worth after a long time.... Hope it will come Linux HD Graphics users in handy.

My weird color issues, seems to have been solved, in newer kernels. Upgrading to Ubuntu 12.10 quantal (Uname....3.5.0-19-generic) seems to have solved it.
It's seems to read correct EDID now. Me like.
Most importantly, rename/backup your xorg.conf. It's included in the kernel now. It can prevent your Intel HD Graphics system from starting up.
Another issue has appeared instead. Upgrading to the new 12.10 introduced the Unity 3D. The temps on my i3 + HD2000 raised ~20c.
Even sitting in the XBMC menu, or hitting "pause", will raise the temps. Only way to "cure"/cool the temp, is to start a vid, og exit XBMC.
Going to install a simple Gnome Shell desktop instead. Only using Gnome for XBMC anyways.

Still got the audio/picture delay, which seems to be a common bug in XBMC. Hope it'll be solved in Frodo, though it seems the problem exists, even with the new audio-engine
(not an Intel issue and or Win/Linux issue, but argh! anyways).

And as the great "Beer", have pointed out in his thread, this case-psu, is poop. Buy a PICO PSU instead!
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=128009

I live with it. My i3 never hit's the 65 watt barriers (only 28-32 watts, more with the new Unity 3D of course, as temps rises also). But if I make a power down, the system won't turn on. Only after 1½-2 hours.
My bad/cheap solution...never power down Otherwise, go for the PICO.

HTH,
Morfeus