2010-07-21, 19:35
Hello all, long time listener, first time caller.
I'm working on building a brand spanking new HTPC, using all the knowledge i've gained from the one i'm currently using, which is a total frankenstein of hardware i had lying around the house. It's served me well, but it's time for something new.
I've got a good case, motherboard/cpu combo picked out (a core i5-based combination), as well as a sound card (i'm thinking a asus xonar), and a Solid-State hard drive.
My sticking point, however, is the GPU. It's been a long time since i've put together a new PC, and the numbering/performance options of gpus now completely baffle me. Here's what i'm looking for:
1) Smooth playback of 720p MKVs streamed over a gigabit network
2) Smooth movement/display of the XBMC UI ("Night" skin, i'm thinking this may have to do more with the CPU/HDD that the GPU)
3) Great performance in modern games. I'm not looking for it to be 100% picture perfect, maxed out graphics, but i'd like to be able to run something like Dragon Age: Origins with the detail cranked way up without dropping frames left and right.
4) QUIET. This one is for the "girlfriend test", as this PC will be in my living room and running all the time, and i'd like not to hear too much of a constant hum in the background when XBMC is idling. Some noise when running games is fine, but it'd be nice if it didn't sound like a jet taking off even then.
I'm aware that #3 and #4 may be mutually exclusive, but the closer i can get the better. I'm also slightly fuzzy on how HDMI passthrough works when setting up the motherboard/addon cards, so if someone can point me to a good tutorial on that, that'd be great.
So i put it to you, XBMC folks. You've all been really helpful in the past, so any recommendations you can give would be great! Thanks in advance!
I'm working on building a brand spanking new HTPC, using all the knowledge i've gained from the one i'm currently using, which is a total frankenstein of hardware i had lying around the house. It's served me well, but it's time for something new.
I've got a good case, motherboard/cpu combo picked out (a core i5-based combination), as well as a sound card (i'm thinking a asus xonar), and a Solid-State hard drive.
My sticking point, however, is the GPU. It's been a long time since i've put together a new PC, and the numbering/performance options of gpus now completely baffle me. Here's what i'm looking for:
1) Smooth playback of 720p MKVs streamed over a gigabit network
2) Smooth movement/display of the XBMC UI ("Night" skin, i'm thinking this may have to do more with the CPU/HDD that the GPU)
3) Great performance in modern games. I'm not looking for it to be 100% picture perfect, maxed out graphics, but i'd like to be able to run something like Dragon Age: Origins with the detail cranked way up without dropping frames left and right.
4) QUIET. This one is for the "girlfriend test", as this PC will be in my living room and running all the time, and i'd like not to hear too much of a constant hum in the background when XBMC is idling. Some noise when running games is fine, but it'd be nice if it didn't sound like a jet taking off even then.
I'm aware that #3 and #4 may be mutually exclusive, but the closer i can get the better. I'm also slightly fuzzy on how HDMI passthrough works when setting up the motherboard/addon cards, so if someone can point me to a good tutorial on that, that'd be great.
So i put it to you, XBMC folks. You've all been really helpful in the past, so any recommendations you can give would be great! Thanks in advance!
