[BLKMGK]

I don't see any reason why AMD would not work. It's the same instruction set. It's only video you have to worry about compatibility with.

Now that I understand why BLKMGK suggested the case he did, perhaps it's better to get one with the PCI slots on the other side.

I FULLY agree that there's nothing about the AMD CPU keeping it from working. However so far I'm not sure anyone with an AMD has gotten it to play that clip smoothly. I just think that right now the Intel CPUs are that much better for the REALLY demanding stuff. I'm an AMD stockholder and it pains me to say that let me tell you but the C2D simply kicks butt - and overclocks to the Moon too <sigh>

If you poke around the Shuttle XPC site you may get better views of the MBs and the guts of the various XPC. Maybe they have done something to clear more room on the later ones but my SG33G5 has the video card on the very last slot up against the side of the case <sigh>

[malloc]

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you're going to stick your TV tuner in there, you're not going to have room for a dedicated GPU with a fan in a shuttle case. You may not even want a fanless dedicated GPU in there (too much heat, not enough room to keep it cool.

[BLKMGK]

I wouldn't know. Maybe 3.0GHz? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819103274. Would you mind linking to the sample?

If you plan on playing the birds sample over and over again, I guess go with what you've got spec'd. Otherwise, I have a feeling the $50 AMD can do the job for the content you'll be playing on a regular basis.

Here you go -> http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...ight=killa

That is a pretty extreme clip and everyone whines that it's not representative blah blah. Except I encoded that same scene myself using the same settings I use for other things and YUP I saw dropped frames until I bumped my CPU speed up. I als used to notice dropped frames in movies occasionally if I watched the stats. The jungle scenes in King Kong were pretty noticeable when they panned across foliage etc..

So, while the Bird Scene might be higher bitrate than junk you DL off the 'net I think you'll find that well encoded BD and HD-DVD files can also prove pretty taxing. I've ripped\encoded a TON of that kind of video, since I clocked up to around 3Ghz I've not been seeing dropped frames anymore. I guess it depends on your sources but if you can play the Bird clip you ought to be able to play damned near anything.

Edit: Yeah a TV tuner card in there will get pretty tight. Maybe snag an HDHomerun?

[malloc]

Good to know. But we should also have GPU decoding soonish which will alleviate some of the work of the CPU.

[BLKMGK]

Good to know. But we should also have GPU decoding soonish which will alleviate some of the work of the CPU.

I sure hope so! I've been following the GSOC thread too and didn't get the impression it was near here yet but that would be good news indeed.

Honestly as XBMC has matured I've seen less and less demand on the CPU, 3Ghz might not even be required now but I've not turned my CPU down to find out. I've got a 65nm CPU too, if the 45nm C2D get much cheaper I'm going to have to pop for one! The 45nm run so much cooler it's not even funny - I have an E8400 running 3.8Ghz in this machine and it's pretty cool, 45C idle