[jnash]

After trying to spec a physically small and powerful box fox XBMC it seems that i really cant find one.

So assuming that all i want to do with the box is play local media, would the atom suffice for outputting to HD, reading MKV's, ISO's soley

Probably using XBMCbuntu?

Otherwise for the price range im basically buying another computer which defeats the point.

Thanks

Jonathan

[Ned Scott]

Pretty much, since the video decoding is normally handled by a hardware decoder in your GPU. Heck, we even have XBMC running on ARM processors (iOS and Android).

[RaggSokk3n]

atom is fine but then you'll need a dedicated GPU, and you'll still be better of with a g530 $ wise.

[Dougie Fresh]

There are some D2700/GT520M and D2700/HD6450A combinations out there. I would compare though to a G530 + discrete GPU or even w/o GPU since the HD graphics is fine for 1080p.

[teaguecl]

I have an Atom based system running XBMCbuntu and it works great for local playback - even bluray rips. It doesn't work well at all for streaming from the web browser, though most streaming plugins do OK. The biggest advantage with the Atom is low power, meaning you can build a completely silent, fanless, no moving parts machine. If you're not doing that, then you might as well just upgrade to a CPU that can do decoding like the i3.

[Kirky99]

Two of my boxes are Atom/ION PCs and work fine. I do lots of bluray rips, even some HD OTA TV without a problem.

[artrafael]

I have a 2+ year-old Intel D510MO motherboard/CPU and it plays 720p and 1080p content from a USB external drive without issues. Streaming video wasn't as smooth as I would have liked, but adding a Broadcom BCM70015 took care of that.