[flangefrog]

Hi

I am building an HTPC for my family and I'm looking for some opinions on which CPU I should get. They will be watching DVDs either straight from disk or from remuxed or h264 encoded rips. I have also bought a Sony PlayTV and the TV backend will be on the same PC which means it needs to be able to record wile also playing another stream. The highest quality streams here are 1080i50 and I've also heard they switch to 1080p25 for some content. I would like it to be able to play remuxed or h264 encoded bluray rips in the future. The theme I want to use is Aeon Nox.

I have an existing Nvidia GT 220 and that seems to be alright for this purpose, but the only spare CPU I had was a Celeron D with a Passmark score of around 288. The CPU was pegged to 100% for most test files. I also tried a Raspberry Pi but it wasn't very stable, and the interface was slow. It also didn't work with Aeon Nox even when the interface was running at 720p.

The products I am looking at are the following:
http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1008934
http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1606814
http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=528887
http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1603123
http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1992344
http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1864916
or maybe a second hand Athlon II X2 processor.
I also have a spare Intel Core2 Duo E4300.

The AMD E-350 would be nice to get, but would it have enough power for Aeon Nox and also to record TV while playing another stream? Is all the content that I mentioned able to be hardware accelerated? And would the onboard graphics of the AMD E-350, AMD FM2 or Intel 1155 CPUs be enough or would it be better to use the Nvidia GT 220? Please remember I would like to go for the lowest cost option that can do what I listed. Low power would also be nice as it will probably be left on most of the time.

Thanks

[Dougie Fresh]

No doubt in my mind I'd get the G1620 and pair it with your GT220 or even try it with just the G1620's on-board GPU. I would avoid the E-350 and D2700DC -- too weak and overpriced or just not supported.

[Hedda]

Same advice as for http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=179896

If you go with Nvidia then recommend one that features fifth-generation PureVideo HD (sometimes called "PureVideo HD 5" or "VP5") which all supports Feature Set D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Pure...reVideo_HD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Pure...ture_Set_D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Pure...HD.29_GPUs

GeForce 410M, GT 520MX, 510, GT 520, GT 610, GT 620 (OEM)
GeForce GTX 675MX, GTX 680M, GTX 680MX, GTX 660 Ti, GTX 670, GTX 680, GTX 690-
GeForce GT 640M, GT 645M, GT 650M, GTX 660M, GT 640 (non-OEM), GTX 650, GT 630 (28 nm)
GeForce GTX 670MX, GTX 650 Ti, GTX 660
GeForce GT 730M, GT 735M
GeForce GTX TITAN

[/quote]

[Dougie Fresh]

Since you already have the GT220 and most likely whatever CPU you get (exception being LGA775 but there's no need) will have on-board GPU I would try those first to see if you really need a new GPU and only upgrade if it's not working or you don't like what you see/hear.

[flangefrog]

Ok looks like I'll go for the G1620 then, it's the cheapest option at around $125 apart from the E-350/D2700 at around $100.