My next "Upgrade"
#1
Hi,

I currently have a HTPC running XBMC on a P4 3.0 GHz machine. This is all good and plays anything I throw at it (ui is a littly laggy sometimes but is still pretty good).

The problem is that it gets left on 24/7 (very rarely it does get powered down) and I was thinking about an "upgrade" to a Dual Core Atom D150 specifically for much better power consumption and noise level.

The board I'm particularly looking at is http://www.pointofview-online.com/showro...uct_id=146

I know there is a thread in here which briefly talks about this board but i'd like to know if anyone has any experience using a dual core atom with XBMC particularly in regards to how the UI handles? Would the UI be more laggy than my P4, if so this would be a deal breaker for me.

Was thinking about trying it on Windows 7.

Playback won't be a problem, I was thinking about a G220 or something similar.

Thanks.
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#2
I think I can help you, as I have both a Pentium 4 XBMC Frontend and a ION (so dual core Atom) Frontend.

Honestly I feel like my ION box's interface is MUCH snappier, but I admit part of that is the SSD. I do know that my single core ION Netbook (overclocked just a tad) feels about as snappy as the P4 without a SSD, so you are not looking at a downgrade.

There is a reason the Atom box is in the livingroom and the P4 gets scrub duty....
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#3
[QUOTE=There is a reason the Atom box is in the livingroom and the P4 gets scrub duty....[/quote]

With the amount of noise my P4 makes, I can totally understand this.

Thanks for your quick reply - this is good news!

One other thing, I am tossing up between the board I mentioned above and a Zotac board with onboard ION. Any suggestions?
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#4
I would say go for a Zotac board. That is what I did. The other way you are recreating the ION in a way. If you are concerned about GPU upgradeability (like say for 3D some day or something) then get one with a PCI Express slot. That is what I did.

Here is my build thread:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=71784
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#5
Picking up the Zotac with onboard ION today.

Thanks for your help on this.
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