Best XBMC HTPC Hardware with HDMI / HD / 1080p + HDMI Audio

I'm in the process of building an HTPC using an Abit I-n73HD, not tested optical out or hdmi yet, that comes tomorrow.

I've got XBMC (LiveUSB) running great on a monitor with analog sound, i didn't even have to setup anything

I'll let you know how i get on. (7100 chipset, spdif out, hdmi @ 720p & 1080p)

Shorty

I look forward to the report, Shorty. What processor are you using? Also, do you have the killa sample? I'd be very grateful if you could try running that. If you do not have it, or don't know about it, I'll track it down again (it is somewhere on these forums) and let you know where to find it.

ShortySco Wrote:I'm in the process of building an HTPC using an Abit I-n73HD, not tested optical out or hdmi yet, that comes tomorrow.

I've got XBMC (LiveUSB) running great on a monitor with analog sound, i didn't even have to setup anything

I'll let you know how i get on. (7100 chipset, spdif out, hdmi @ 720p & 1080p)

Shorty

I have that setup running already with an E8400 as CPU.

It drops frames on the KillaSample and the Audio stutters a bit. So i think the 7100 is not able to handle the KillaSample.

I might upgrade to a 8500GT passive or some, but for now it's only the 1080p Planet Earth Rips it wont play smooth.. and i found 1 or 2 other 1080p movies it has trouble with.

@ Jkrellner: The CPU is and E8200 and the ram is 2 x 1GB, some silent fans in a uATX case with a usb pen drive... that's it... so far.

I don't have the killa sample, but should be able to track it down eaisly enough, that's the one with the birds right?

@Razor_109: That's interesting, i'd hoped this would be powerfull enough, i hear the core 2 series overclock well and run cool, great for silent running... i'll see if a little overclocking can get this working, i gather that overall processing power is what makes the difference.

Shorty

i've got evga 7150-630i and both audio and video stutters in killa sample with an E4700@3Ghz with 2 x 1Gb 667 ram, but that's all the stuttering i had for now, i played other 1080p videos well with it

ShortySco Wrote:@ Jkrellner: The CPU is and E8200 and the ram is 2 x 1GB, some silent fans in a uATX case with a usb pen drive... that's it... so far.

What case do you have? I am just curious... And let us know if you have any issues finding the sample. Another one my 2.8 Ghz couldn't play flawlessly (even overclocked to 2.9 Ghz, which is the max I could do since the board on my old computer is an Intel) is the I am Legend 1080p trailer from Apple. It starts to stutter about halfway through (at the scene where all the people are bottlenecked at the checkpoint).

Razor_109 Wrote:I have that setup running already with an E8400 as CPU.

It drops frames on the KillaSample and the Audio stutters a bit. So i think the 7100 is not able to handle the KillaSample.

I might upgrade to a 8500GT passive or some, but for now it's only the 1080p Planet Earth Rips it wont play smooth.. and i found 1 or 2 other 1080p movies it has trouble with.

Damn. This is proving more challenging than I had originally thought. Back to the drawing board, I guess...

@jkrellner, that spdif bracket is really no option? i mean the header is on the motherboard it just needs to be connected...

icekiller Wrote:@jkrellner, that spdif bracket is really no option? i mean the header is on the motherboard it just needs to be connected...

I've got one of the ASUS SPID/F header cards. Had to get it off of eBay of all places but it hooked up no problem. Had to remove the bracket to fit my case, oh well. Dirt cheap too.

Glad to hear a separate S/PDIF will work no problem -- I had assumed that but someone said it could present software problems (although I am not sure what those problems could be).

pull crap its just like its onboard only its needs a pci slot.. its sort of the extra usb slots you have on your motherboard.