[blurr]

Hey all, just signed up and looking for some advice on building an HTPC

I currently use my 6yo old dell laptop as an HTPC, which was really starting to struggle on windows7, so had a play around with some other OS options and have fallen in love with XMBCbuntu. I've got it running how I want, just streaming all my video from my main desktop, with the chromium launcher add-on for live streams, and iplayer etc. I'd like to build a cheap HTPC to replace my laptop as it looks awful, it has no screen and missing loads of keys, especially under an HDTV and next to a ps3. and i use it alot so its a bit of a waste having two machines running just to watch some tv so want all my video on the htpc.

been looking at these bits and pieces....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-C60M1-I-Mot...ef=lh_ni_t

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001U...ROKL5A1OLE

will probably put in 4gb of kingstonvalue ram, & a 2TB HDD

I want to do this on the cheap really, and this would cost me just short of £200. I wont be playing games on it at all, i just want the integrated graphics to be able to take a reasonably high resolution as i cant get more than 1024x768 with my current set up.

I'm also a little confused with all the options and variants, and i'd rather have a case wit a built in psu, and a motherboard with a processor, and if there are two ram bays, but both separate colours i'm assuming it's not a pair... so can i just put one 4gb stick, or will it run better on 2x2gb?

oh and fyi, i've never built a computer completely from scratch, only ever taken them apart, fixed/upgraded them, and put em back together. another reason i don't want to spank £500 plus on parts and fuck it up :p

[RaggSokk3n]

1 ram vs 2 isn't going to make a huge difference so just go for the cheapest. I'm not very experienced with mini itx cases but from what I've read cheap cases with PSU included might give you some problems so a change of PSU in the case might be necessary.

[Dougie Fresh]

The memory controller on those motherboards is single-channel so having 1 or 2 sticks won't matter.

What flavor of XBMC are you planning to run? OpenELEC?

[blurr]

cool beans

was just going to go with XBMCbuntu, as i'm pretty comfortable with ubuntu. is there any real difference/incentive to use it? wots the setup like compared with the relogging to get into ubuntu? i like an easy to navigate os to put or my files in for xbmc, cba with to much coding or long winded displays like xbmc.

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....but basically those 4 components will be ok for my needs? will i have room/need for a case fan?

[Dougie Fresh]

I'd look in this thread: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=134834

I'd also do some searching about the performance of this board with XBMC/Linux. Maybe Google 'C60M1-I XBMC'. The E350M1-I gets mixed reviews (experience varies by what's trying to be done) and this is a slower processor so I would be sure what you want to do can be done with it.

[blurr]

thanks for that, think i'll go ahead and do it. if it doesn't work i'll just use w7 i think