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

I would like to build a HTPC with installed XBMC LIVE on it (or maybe UBUNTU + XBMC).

It will be built on the back of an element of TV-furniture with the necessary electrical grounding of course.

Costs should be stay low (under 200€ / 250$), and HTPC should be future-proof (upgradable).

MOBO & GPU:
GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket AM3 - GA-880GM-D2H (rev. 1.x)

"GA-880GM-D2H is integrated ATI Radeon HD 4250 (DX10.1) graphics engine"

I read good opinions about Gigabyte Products, and as I know the GPU accelerated decoding is available / will be available for this card soon under XBMC live too.

CPU

AMD Athlon II X2 250 3,0GHz AM3
("e" version if I can get one)

PSU:

Codegen psu 400w 12 cm fan

Cheap & silent - I hope.

RAM:

1x2 GB / 2x1 GB DDR3

How big is the performance-loss if I use one module instead of two (no dual channel)?

HDD:
WD 1TB 7200RPM 64MB Green Power SATA II (WD10EARS)

(not only multimedia storage, some home backup also)

(Optional RC & SD card reader (& tuner card)

It would be great to get a "trainable" infra RC in order to control the other boxes too.
Which card reader is compatible with XBMC live?
Are any DVB Tuner which is 100% compatible with XBMC live (works out-of-the-box, or with a small configuration?)
)

As I checked this PC needs ~170W power under heavy load, power consumption in idle state - no idee, how could I find out?

Please criticize my config / my idee!

Thanks!!

Three things:

1. Love the Gigabyte Mobo, but don't count on AMD XBMC Live support. If you want XBMC Live, get a Nvidia card.

2. 1TB is a small HD. 2TB is the sweet price point.

3. What case?

First of all Happy New Year!

Thanks for the advices!

There will be no case, the furniture itself contain the components (with proper ventillation of couse).

What about upcoming "AMD Fusion"?

As I heard it get strong linux support from the vendor, what do you think, is it worth to wait?

Hello,
I'm new to this forum and don't have much experience in htpc's
I would like to ask for help in hardware advice for my home theater.
targets:
1.torrents
2.recording video from tv ; tv-tuner
3.about 1tb hdd: samsung f3 ?
4. watch and listen all kinds of video and music
money about 400eur
i ant to make it all work on linux

Regards,
Alex

moddder Wrote:Hello,
I'm new to this forum and don't have much experience in htpc's
I would like to ask for help in hardware advice for my home theater.
targets:
1.torrents
2.recording video from tv ; tv-tuner
3.about 1tb hdd: samsung f3 ?
4. watch and listen all kinds of video and music
money about 400eur
i ant to make it all work on linux

Regards,
Alex

If having a tv-tuner is one of your top priorities Im not sure how well it will work, especially if you dont have much experience. The PVR branch of XBMC is still in development. But I can vouch for the Sammysung F3's, I have 4 of them in my server running as a RAID 5 nicely. Very silent and actually stay at around 28C.

EDIT: I didn't realize this post is from 2008..

I had enough shit with ati on my laptop, so:

MoBo:
Intel DG43RK

CPU:
Intel Dual-Core E5700 3GHz LGA-775

GPU:
Asus PCIE ENGT520 SL/DI/512MB DDR3 LP

+small SSD for boot
+micro-ATX box -> Idee (good quality & reasonable price)?

LGA-775 is an old platform,,,
i'd go for LGA-1155 platform,,,

I would go for it too, but costs much more.

Slope Wrote:I had enough shit with ati on my laptop, so:

MoBo:
Intel DG43RK

CPU:
Intel Dual-Core E5700 3GHz LGA-775

GPU:
Asus PCIE ENGT520 SL/DI/512MB DDR3 LP

+small SSD for boot
+micro-ATX box -> Idee (good quality & reasonable price)?

how about these-

mobo- MSI G41M-P28 LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

cpu- Intel Pentium E5700 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 2MB L2 Cache

gpu- ECS NGT430C-1GQR-F GeForce GT 430

ssd- Patriot Memory Torqx 2 Series 32 GB

case- Rosewill R379-M Black/Silver Slim MicroATX Computer Case with 300 watt Power Supply

ram- Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066