[elsmandino]

Hi there,

I am currently messing around with my current setup, which consists of a central standalone HTPC running XBMC and Argus TV and various clients which include a Raspberry Pi and a Revo Acer Aspire R3610.

The standalone HTPC sits in my living room and is used for the vast majroity of my TV/Film watching and consists of the following:

* Asus AM3 M4A785TD-M Evo
* AMD Athlon IIx2 240e
* 12GB RAM (4GB used for Time shifting via RAMDisk)
* Hauppauge HVR-2200
* Hauppauge Nova -S2
* Crucial M4 60GB SSD for OS.
* 3 x 2TB HDD for media.
* Yamaha YHT294 5.1 Amplifier
* Samsung LE40A656 TV.

As this is my main PC, I wanted to get playback as smooth and high quality as I can - not too bothered about the clients at the moment.

In addition to using XBMC, I occassionally use Netflix and Sky Go too.

I am generally happy with playback but things could definitely be better, especially when I playback HD recordings.

Do you think I need to make any Hardware upgrades to my setup? I did buy it a while back and might be a bit underpowered now.

I have heard that the very best way of receiving clear, smooth channels is via madVR but there is limited information on this and it is not clear if/how this works with XBMC.

I have various options, including:

1. Replace the motherboard and CPU with something a bit more powerful as far as onboard graphics go.
2. Add a discrete graphics card to my existing HTPC.
3. Keep my existing Hardware as a backend only and buy/build a new a sperate device for playback only.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

P.S. I also have a Desktop PC that has the following:

* MSI H67MA-E35-B3 Socket 1155
* i3-2105
* 8GB RAM

I could swap bits with this machine, if necessary.

[bluray]

For madVR, I preferred AMD GPU. You can check out this thread for more info- post #16....

[steelman1991]

I'll actually partially answer your question - madVR is a video renderer, isn't natively compatible with xbmc, but can be used with an external player. Whether it provides a better alternative is dependant on content and your eyes.

[Delver]

I'd be a fan of option 3. Use your current HTPC as a backend server for running all your tasks, and get a dedicated box for playback, a nice fast client like one of the i3 NUC's or something. You can keep everything nice and synced through the backend server then for all the clients.

[elsmandino]

I'd be a fan of option 3. Use your current HTPC as a backend server for running all your tasks, and get a dedicated box for playback, a nice fast client like one of the i3 NUC's or something. You can keep everything nice and synced through the backend server then for all the clients.

Thanks - I think I am inclined to agree - keep backend and frontend speparate. Is the NUC the way to go at the moment? I have heard of others like the Gigabyte Brix but NUC's get mentioned a lot on here. Is there any sense in building a mini-itx PC from scratch do you think?

Do you also think that an i3-NUC could handle something like madVR?

As steelman1991 says, madVR might be great but is it noticably better? What is the best XBMC compatiable equivalent at the moment?

[bluray]

As steelman1991 says, madVR might be great but is it noticably better? What is the best XBMC compatiable equivalent at the moment?

If you watch a lot of 480i sources, it is noticeably better using madVR....

[Delver]

It seems like the NUCs are handy because they're all the same hardware, so you get a lot of support as everyone has the same hardware. You can't really go wrong with any of the options, including building your own, or the brix. Each will have its benefits and downsides, the best way to figure out what's best its have a read of the massive threads on here

[elsmandino]

Hi,

I have decided that as I have a mini-itx case already under my TV, it would be cheaper (and perhaps quieter) just to buy a cheap mATX board, stick 4GB of RAM in it and run XBMC off an SSD.

Two quick further questions:

1. Could I use a PicoPSU to run this - would be quieter and the whole system should not draw much power.
2. Which CPU should I go with? I was thinking the i3-4330 - has HD4600 Graphics.

[bluray]

Two quick further questions:

1. Could I use a PicoPSU to run this - would be quieter and the whole system should not draw much power.
2. Which CPU should I go with? I was thinking the i3-4330 - has HD4600 Graphics.

This "picoPSU-120/10A 120W AC-DC" should be very sufficient. It'll give you some room to upgrade too....

[elsmandino]

Excellent - looks like I have my main XBMC sorted.

One other quick question while I am on here:

Whilst I want the absolute best quality in my living room, I have another couple of TVs that have XBMC devices on them - a Revo Aspire R3610 in my bedroom and a Raspberry Pi in my kitchen. Video quality and speed of use are less important but both these devices are still a little bit laggy for my liking.

I need something cheap and cheerful and was thinking getting a couple of the Celeron 847 NUCs.

However, I have just done a CPU test between the NUC and the Revo:

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Celeron-84...l-Atom-330

And they come out as roughly equal (surprise to me as I though the Revo was generations behind, technologically).

How are the 847s generally for Openelec use?