[blubyu]

gyrene2083 - I am currently running an AMD setup. I have the AMD X2 6000+ (3.0GHz) CPU. I can play about 95% of all the 1080p content I have come across. I can live with that. Can I play the "killa sample" that seems to be the benchmark? Not with out dropping frames. But I don't care. For what you want to do that CPU would be fine. Why people insist on telling everybody that the only way to enjoy XBMC is with an intel chip and board is beyond me. I paid less for my cpu and my MB then I would have spent on an intel cpu. My MB has on board Nvidia 6150, and optical out. I run off of a 4 gig usb stick and I have no problems with my setup.

I just wanted you to know that there are those of us out there that run an AMD system and are quite happy with what we got.

[gyrene2083]

blybyu,

Thank you very much again, I really appreciate you taking out the time to inform me on this. The purpose of me starting this thread was so that I could get opinions, and then I could make an informed decision. Being that I purchased Popcorn already, I just want something that I could tinker with. That motherboard you mentioned, think it would fit in an XBox?

Reason I ask is because I have an origianl XBOX that had the nic card go out years ago and I pretty much stopped using it, and since I have been using XBMC since it came out, I suppose I would like to pay homage to it.

-Semper Fi
gyrene2083

and before people flip out i have been looking all day for a pc mod in an Xbox and I am getting things from back in 04 in my google searches.

[blubyu]

This is the MB I am using. It is an old MB and I am not even sure you can buy it anywhere anymore

Abit NF-M2 nView

[gyrene2083]

Your right you really can't get that board, lol. So, if you were upgrading your board what would you suggest?

[BLKMGK]

gyrene2083 - I am currently running an AMD setup. I have the AMD X2 6000+ (3.0GHz) CPU. I can play about 95% of all the 1080p content I have come across. I can live with that. Can I play the "killa sample" that seems to be the benchmark? Not with out dropping frames. But I don't care. For what you want to do that CPU would be fine. Why people insist on telling everybody that the only way to enjoy XBMC is with an intel chip and board is beyond me. I paid less for my cpu and my MB then I would have spent on an intel cpu. My MB has on board Nvidia 6150, and optical out. I run off of a 4 gig usb stick and I have no problems with my setup.

I just wanted you to know that there are those of us out there that run an AMD system and are quite happy with what we got.

Why Intel over AMD? Because the Intel CPU handles it better than the AMD clock for clock - simple as that. I'm not a fanboi of Intel either, I'm an AMD stockholder! Until recently all of my computers were AMD too but no more - the C2D is a beast. Same with ATI vs NVIDIA, buy which works and move on.

You can play 95% of the 1080P? I can play all of it I've come across or encoded myself and if I need more grunt I can overclock further. Seems like the best I hear from AMD owners is "almost everything" and that generally from those running a higher end AMD. The CPU you quoted is running $92 at NewEgg, the 2.5Ghz C2D is $117. Guess which I'd pick to be sure I could run anything I wanted? That CPU will overclock to 3Ghz easily and run COOLER than the AMD. You bought the AMD CPU and M/B for less than $117? Wow, that's one cheap motherboard!

Yes, the Killa' Sample is a beast of a clip and a pretty tough test, that's why so many use it. Most content isn't that tough especially if you download it but watch the Planet Earth series at a decent bitrate and you WILL see skipping if you drop frames in Killa' Sample - which BTW is from the Planet Earth series. In my case at stock clock speeds I dropped frames in lots of BD rips and badly in that sample. I overclocked the CPU and it all went smooth when I approached 3ghz. King Kong from HD-DVD in particular gave me grief early on with panning shots in the jungle and chase scenes, but not with the CPU clocked up. I rip and encode my own content and I use high bitrates while still halving the size of rips. Your AMD would indeed have issues with much of the content I encode.

As for multi core support, I don't run the betas but the SVNs from which the betas have been built have had multi core support for somewhere around a YEAR I'd guess. Multi core support isn't new by a very long shot and it works great - for two cores. A search for CABAC patch in the SVN log or here would probably get you the exact dates of when ffmpeg was patched, I know it's worked for me ever since I built my system. If you're just getting one core working then something's not right for sure.

HDMI audio out, yes someone had it running and no I cannot find the thread. It was a short one, I'm pretty sure it was an Intel board, and I thought it was a G45 chipset. The thread was short and badly titled, I cannot find it now but I'm not going to spend too much effort on it either. Honestly unless audio over HDMI includes the ability to play the newer uncompressed audio codecs for say 7.1 sound (does it?) who cares? Skip the hassle and do coax or optical out. <shrug>

Here's yet another thread to read to find out about hardware support and examples of what has worked for others in XBMC. -> http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=28648

I keep up and read every single thread in this forum subsection, yeah it gets old reading yet another thread asking what hardware is compatible or which hardware is cheap, or which works "best". I have linked to two different lengthy threads on just that topic including one with HDMI Audio in the title! You'd get lots of information from either of those or the bunches of other threads like this one instead of having yet another. If the content in those is too dated for you then wake the thread up by asking for updates. Having the information in one place is nice, having to hunt and search many threads is a PITA. Probably about time one of those threads got stickied, not that it would help. <sigh>

[gyrene2083]

BLkMGk

Fair enough. I appreciate you taking the time to 'learn this 'ole Marine a thing or two. Honestly though, I like your setup and what you have. Makes no sense in me trying to reinvent the wheel. I just wish I would have come across this before I got Popcorn Hour, because if that was the case I wouldn't hesitate to have bought everything. You live and learn.

-Semper Fi
gyrene2083

[BLKMGK]

BLkMGk

Fair enough. I appreciate you taking the time to 'learn this 'ole Marine a thing or two. Honestly though, I like your setup and what you have. Makes no sense in me trying to reinvent the wheel. I just wish I would have come across this before I got Popcorn Hour, because if that was the case I wouldn't hesitate to have bought everything. You live and learn.

-Semper Fi
gyrene2083

Well, I've said it in another thread and it bears repeating - if I were doing it again from scratch I'd do it slightly differently.

The M/B I bought was too expensive, I bought it for the fancy onboard HDMI Intel graphics and then couldn't get them working. Others probably could but the NVIDIA I bought after was dead simple to setup! Buy a cheaper motherboard and simply make sure it has a digital sound output.

CPU - these days Intel 45nm CPUs are available and WAY cooler as well as more capable of being overclocked. Doesn't matter what speed it's marked just make sure it can clock to 3ghz and you ought to be fine.

Video - go NVIDIA, I don't regret this one bit. Let others fight over who's drivers are open etc. - this hardware works.

Case - I'd never do this again. Yeah it has a nice VFD display and an IRDA receiver - neither use standard software to run. If it worked OOB then great but it didn't. The MCE IRDA dongle worked in 2 secs flat, MUCH better decision. I should have learned from my XBOX not to care about a tiny display on the box too - who can see it?! The case looks good, that's it's biggest advantage - bleah...

In the end a Shuttle XPC with an MCE dongle and fanless NVIDIA would have worked much better. Some of the Shuttles have their slots on the opposite side from normal to allow for video cards to breathe. One of those would have been perfect! Considering the cost of the case and other parts the Shuttle might have been a little cheaper, certainly easier to build, smaller, and maybe even a little quieter. If I do it again I'll use a Shuttle XPC and be done with it even if I could maybe do it cheaper another way with piece parts. Hopefully someone will come up with something cheaper to change my mind but in the meantime the XPCs look pretty darned attractive to me. <shrug>

[gyrene2083]

Thanks to all who helped me out with their advice. Thank you BLKMGK for linking me to those threads, I indeed learned alot.

So, from what I gathered from everyone this is what I came up with. Let me know what you think.

Shuttle - SG33G5 (After looking at various models this was the best one for what I needed. I didn't care about finger biometrics or video display crap) I am wondering though would the 250W psupply be enough. But let me finish listing the rest of the items and you let me know what you think.

All Hardware is compatible with Shuttle I checked.

Intel E8400 3.0 (After reading the threads and looking at other forums, 3.0ghz is a must have, I was really on the fence about dropping the money for it but the bottom line is that I don't want any headaches in the future so I might as drop it now and eventually it will pay itself off in a few months.)
Gskill 4GB memory 2 x 2gb sticks
MSI N9400GT-MD512 GeForce 9400 GT 512MB
TRENDnet TEW-429UB IEEE 802.11b/g (I know this works in Ubuntu)
and finally I couldn't freaking help it the damn DiNovo. After clicking on BLKMGK's sig and seeing it on Youtube, I couldn't help it. Although I was thinking about using my Logitec PS3 Keyboard, which I know works in Ubuntu. But that damn mini keyboard is almost better than my Harmony 880. I love that damn remote control.

So, everyone please feel free to share your thoughts. Oh and BLKMGK your right that thread that was like 18 pages long should be sticky. I wouldn't have started this thread if I would have seen that up top.

-Semper Fi
gyrene2083

[BLKMGK]

Looking up the XPC you chose now, the key thing is which side is the slots on and can it take a video card with a decent heatsink? Looking at it I think you will find that the slots are on the right when what you want is to have them on the left. I cannot look tonight but I think I might have that machine in my stable. (lol) The power supply is fine. Despite everyone thinking you need mongo P/S that one should do well as it's a quality P/S and actually really puts out it's rated power unlike many of the super duper ones that claim big numbers. Take a look at this one -> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856101066 My concern with it is that the heatpipe CPU cooler appears to blow to the side instead of out the back like every other XPC I've owned. The 45nm Intels ought to run cool though. It has optical out and claims coax as well but it's not clear in the pics. In any case you can see what I mean about the slots, if you choose one with slots like you pointed out make sure you read reviews to see what video cards fit!

CPU - go slower and overclock IMO. Something like an E7300 maybe? The XPCs allow overclocking so check around and read up. I think you can save some cash by going for a slower XCPU and overclocking it but try to find one others have had success with and mind the multiplier\bus speeds.

Memory - this is cheap these days but IMO you don't need 4gigs. 2Gigs is fine and the Gskill I run works GREAT!

Video card - sounds good, is it fanless? do they make a 256meg model and is it significantly cheaper? I'd research this but it's late I do not think a 512meg card is really going to benefit you over a 256 so save money if you can.

The DiNovo is indeed pretty awesome. For some reaosn my tochpad mouse stopped working at the desktop on my system but I know it can be made to work easily enough, not sure what hosed mine. VERY nice I think!

My thoughts anyway...

[gyrene2083]

Regarding the shuttle it, your right the slots are on the right, also the video card I picked is on their compatibility list. It also has a fan on it, not sure if that would be a problem. The card only costs 54 bucks, but any penny I could pinch I will, I'll try to look for 256 model if they have one.

The 4 gigs of mem I found for a little over 40 bucks, but again if I don't need it I will shave off a few bucks there as well. Unfortunately I already shelled out the money for the cpu, so I have the e8400 w/ an Artic cooling freezer pro all for 149. I could use the heatsink on one of my other boxes.

Regarding the coax I couldn't see it in the pictures either. I did see the optical but not the coax, I wish it had it because I have a coax cable that's long enough. I was thinking of getting a 2.5 size sata hard drive, do I need some sort of adapter to get it to run?

Thanks for the help, oh I read this thread already but I wanted to confirm with you and get thoughts on Luigi's USB. I was thinking loading it on my 2gb usb I have laying around, and just slap a 300gb SATA I have laying around with a, DVD R I have laying around too.

Thoughts, comments, very much appreciated.

-Semper Fi
gyrene2083

[veeco]

(I've been lurking in the Linux section preparing my build, figure I'd chime in)

so I have the e8400 w/ an Artic cooling freezer pro all for 149.

Where did you find that deal? The e8400 alone is $170 on newegg.

Thanks for the help, oh I read this thread already but I wanted to confirm with you and get thoughts on Luigi's USB. I was thinking loading it on my 2gb usb I have laying around, and just slap a 300gb SATA I have laying around with a, DVD R I have laying around too.

I think you want to look at XBMC Live. Read the last page in that thread where they say it's dead because of XBMC Live.

I'd also like to know how a USB flash drive performs as a boot disk. Would it be slower or less responsive than an IDE drive I have lying around?

[gyrene2083]

Regarding the usb boot up, from what I read it's faster because it's stripped down, and the plus is no heat or very little, and you could utilize your hard drive for all your media. As far as the chip I got that deal from a friend. Lucky I guess, he bought it for a new build, and never used it.

I was under the impression that the usb stick was xbmc live, or did I misread? Nope just doubled checked my link its definitely titled xbmclive (formerly "LiveXBMC")USBStick v2.

Edit-Just read the last thread of that post and the post was deaded by author.

[BLKMGK]

Do not know about USB boot performance, it is likely not too bad and once booted it's good to go. XBMCLive boots a little slow, USB might be faster. Use a good USB stick, I cannot recall the best brand but at work we've speed tested a few and the speeds can really vary! The laptop SATA drives don't require an adaptor - mine came out of a WesternDigital pocket drive - about 320Gigs. $54 for a 9400 is outstanding and the price on that CPU is good too. I have been considering getting one for my HTPC, I have an e8400 in this desktop clocked to 3.8ghz and it SCREAMS. If that vid card fits in the machine you picked out, which is cheaper than the one I found I think, then go for it fan and all as that price is damned nice.

Oh, if you need a long optical cable check monoprice.com - they are CHEAP and ship fast! For coax I just use cheap RCA cable - it's all digital anyway.

GL and keep us posted.

[gyrene2083]

MSI N9400GT-MD512 GeForce 9400 GT 512MB - $59.99 (10 dollar rebate) 49.99

Patriot Xporter XT 4GB Flash Drive - $12.99

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $49.99

TRENDnet TEW-429UB USB 2.0, 1.1 Compliant Wireless Adapter - $19.99

Shipping Method: $10.87
Subtotal $142.96
Tax What's this? $0.00
Shipping $10.87
Order Total $153.83

Shuttle XPC SG33G5 - $204 I got this for 179 the 204 is with shipping.
Intel E8400 with Artic Cooling Freezer Pro - $149

Total - $506.83

Not to shabby I think. They should be shipping soon. I keep you all abreast as to what happens when I get them. Maybe I should add about another hundred for the diNivo too. lol