[LTParis]

So my first DIY XBMC box is having some issues (think it's the mobo) so I am looking to redo my setup. I wouldn't mind going with one of the many pre-built boxes like Zotac, NUC, or others, but I am seeing mixed reviews on damn near every one of them which is making me wonder if it makes sense to DIY again?

And if I DIY again what is now the preferred solutions?

In this case I would be doing one of two builds. #1 pure playback only. #2 would be playback, fileserver to other XBMC devices on the network, and running SABnzbd suite.

[LTParis]

No one has an opinion on if to build or buy a pre-built?

[Slack]

I am (soon to be) new to any Linux build. I came here to get familiar with the state of things...i.e. Hardware Acceleration on the different platforms.....It's been a while since I got a Revo - back then Windoze was the only build that supported GPU acceleration (so far as I recall).

I found eskro's thread and the links are quite useful (and not as stale as you might think from a sticky on a forum), you might also find theme useful. Some of the links are 'prebuilts' some are components only or 'DIY'. But I take it that all of them are proven builds that will run XBMC.
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=94199

[LTParis]

Yeah the sticky threads seem useful, and then I see some people posting random issues with any given build. At least for the bedroom playback I want something silent and rock solid. My old build from 3.5 years ago has been good so I hope to get as much life from that.