[locky]

Built my first HTPC over 2 years ago and now find that its slow using XBMC Aeon Nox skin, playback is OK but sometimes it freezes and sometimes is not smooth.

I believe the E350 CPU is struggling although usage is typically 20-30% during playback.

Asrock E350M1, 4GB RAM, Win 7 64 bit, 2.5" 250GB for OS, 3.5" WD Green 1TB (full) and 3.5" WD Green 2TB (30% full) for media, VRC1100 MCE remote. PicoPSU 80W with 60W brick, Silverstone ML03B case.

I just use it for movies, 720p and 1080p and music via Yamaha AV receiver and Panasonic plasma TV. No gaming.

I dont know whether a clean OS install will help, or change skin, or its better to bite the bullet and upgrade the CPU.

I have a budget in my head of about £100, so was thinking

Intel G1610 Box Celeron Dual Core Processor (2.6GHz, 2MB Cache Socket 1155) which is about £30
ASRock H77M-ITX Motherboard which is about £70. This board will allow future upgrades to i3/i5 if required.

Hope to be able to use the existing RAM 4GB DDR3 1066 memory and PicoPCSU 80, but concerned that the latter will not be sufficient.

Hope this makes sense and there are users of similar hardware that can help.

[tboggie]

I would suggest a cheaper motherboard and a better CPU.

You can get an Intel Pentium G3420 3.20GHz 3MB for £49 and a Micro ATX Gigabyte B85M-HD3 for £47.73 which is within your budget

If your case only fits a Mini ITX case, you can go with Asrock H81M-ITX for £55

Here is the comparison between G1610 vs G3420. As you can see, G3420 is a better choice

[falc410]

I also want to upgrade my E350 since it doesn't play all Hi10p Anime and navigating through the menus is slow and not fluid. I also have a similar Silverstone Case with VfD Display and also a Yamaha AVR. Only that I use Openelec instead of Windows.

So I was looking at different combinations of motherboards with a regular Desktop CPU. Power consumption was not that important to me since it only runs for a short time a day anyway. But I always ended up, spending around 100 Euros. CPU and motherboard would be 40-50 Euros each + shipping.

So I really plan to purchase a Intel NUC Kit DN2820FYK, it's available for preorder in Germany for just 116 Euros (plan an additional 20 Euros for RAM). I think once it's available more widely it should be around 100 Euros. And it uses way less power than the other solutions.

Here would be my shopping list for Intel: http://geizhals.at/eu/?cat=WL-388334
And for AMD: http://geizhals.at/eu/?cat=WL-324668

I would go with the Haswell Solution since it's newer and the graphics chip should be better than the one you posted. The PicoPSU should have enough Power I guess, but it probably doesn't handle the deep state for the Haswells, not sure if this might an issue.

In the end I settled for the NUC and once that arrives I will just sell my old HTPC as it is

[locky]

I would suggest a cheaper motherboard and a better CPU.

You can get an Intel Pentium G3420 3.20GHz 3MB for £49 and a Micro ATX Gigabyte B85M-HD3 for £47.73 which is within your budget

If your case only fits a Mini ITX case, you can go with Asrock H81M-ITX for £55

Here is the comparison between G1610 vs G3420. As you can see, G3420 is a better choice

Thanks, I've checked and my case can take micro-ATX, which seems to be cheaper than mini-ITX.

So, looking at the Pentium G3420 for £48 and how about ASRock H77M for £53.

Would the H77M be OK with G3420?

Just realised it wont be as wrong socket,

What about ASRock H81M-HDS Motherboard (Socket 1150, Intel H81, DDR3, S-ATA 600, Micro ATX, PCI Express 2.0, HDMI, USB 3.0, DVI-D) at £35?

[locky]

The PicoPSU should have enough Power I guess, but it probably doesn't handle the deep state for the Haswells, not sure if this might an issue.

Anyone used a PicoPSU with Haswell?

Is the problem relating to C6/C7 power state?

[tboggie]

Thanks, I've checked and my case can take micro-ATX, which seems to be cheaper than mini-ITX.
So, looking at the Pentium G3420 for £48 and how about ASRock H77M for £53.
Would the H77M be OK with G3420? Just realised it wont be as wrong socket,
What about ASRock H81M-HDS Motherboard (Socket 1150, Intel H81, DDR3, S-ATA 600, Micro ATX, PCI Express 2.0, HDMI, USB 3.0, DVI-D) at £35?

Yes it is compatible and a good budget motherboard. Here is a list of motherboards compatible with Intel Pentium G3420
http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/CPUs/Intel/Pe...oards.html

[locky]

Thanks, I've checked and my case can take micro-ATX, which seems to be cheaper than mini-ITX.
So, looking at the Pentium G3420 for £48 and how about ASRock H77M for £53.
Would the H77M be OK with G3420? Just realised it wont be as wrong socket,
What about ASRock H81M-HDS Motherboard (Socket 1150, Intel H81, DDR3, S-ATA 600, Micro ATX, PCI Express 2.0, HDMI, USB 3.0, DVI-D) at £35?

Yes it is compatible and a good budget motherboard. Here is a list of motherboards compatible with Intel Pentium G3420
http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/CPUs/Intel/Pe...oards.html

Thank you, that compatibility list is a great tool.

Now just gotta work out my PicoPSU one has enough power and two will work in sleep with Haswell.

[falc410]

If the psu does not support you can disable it in bios. Will consume a little more power then when idle, but should be no problem.

[manojdemel]

I use a Celeron G1610 + GigaByte motherboard + 8GB Ram with a cheap casing/power supply.

I have Windows Server 2012 R2 as my file/media server. I am also running XBMC and Plex Home Theater on the same machine connected to my Panasonic VT50.

The above setup runs without any issues. I have so many different types of files and addons and they all seem to work flawlessly.

It can play 25GB mkv with DTS HD without any problem.

I can also pass-through:
Dolby Digital
DTS / DTS HD