[n4mation1990]

Im going to build a windows 7 htpc with xbmc, i will be playing .mkv 1080p high def movies and tv shows on this thing and i want to make sure i have enough power to do so, plus im want a blu ray player on it as well any tweaks or ideas to change would be greatly appreciated. here are the specs im buying from newegg.

The 3 main questions i have i guess are
1. Is that GPU going to be powerful enough to handle the 1080p movies and hulu and stuff? if not what is a cheap nvidia alternative since this motherboard has a pci express slot?

2. Is the processor good enough? i know everyone loves intel, but i have a budget and to get all the stuff i want in i have to go amd.

3. Do i need SSD for a boot drive or will the 2TB be enough if i partition it into 2 sections, 1 for windows and xbmc and the other for storage?

I appreciate yalls help.

Motherboard/GPU (motherboard has ATI Radeon HD 4200 GPU, this is my biggest concern if it will broadcast everything i throw at it in high def 1080p and 720p)
GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813128394

Processor
AMD Athlon II X2 260 Regor 3.2GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819103873

Hard drive
Western Digital Caviar Green WD15EARS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6822136514

Blu Ray Drive
SAMSUNG Black 8X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Combo Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6827151199

Memory
PQI TURBO 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820141366

Case
hec Black 0.7mm Thickness SECC Steel 7K09BBA30FNRX Micro ATX Media Center 300W Power Supply / HTPC Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811121100

[aptalca]

1. That gpu will play all 1080p mkvs with dxva enabled (win 7). Hulu desktop or in browser is finicky, because it still (unfortunately) relies mostly on cpu power. I have a radeon hd 3200 coupled with athlon x2 5000. Hulu desktop plays everything fullscreen at 1080p, but cpu utilization is 70% and I get tearing during camera pans. If you watch the same videos with the Hulu plugin within xbmc, they play with 5-10% cpu utilization and no tearing, perfectly smooth.

2. I love amd, you get a much better price to performance ratio. That cpu should be fine for everything in an htpc setting. (Possibly including fullscreen Hulu desktop, because it is faster than mine and mine handles it for the most part)

3. Ion owners are all about SSD, because it kinda compensates for the lack of cpu power in menu transitions and stuff. I don't know about a green drive, but I use a 3 year old 7200rpm drive to boot, and I think it's snappy enough. You might even try putting in a small 7200rpm drive (if you have an old one laying around, anything more than 20gb should suffice) just to boot, and use your green for the media.

[poofyhairguy]

1. Is that GPU going to be powerful enough to handle the 1080p movies and hulu and stuff? if not what is a cheap nvidia alternative since this motherboard has a pci express slot?

I would look into getting a dedicated GPU. My recommendation is a Nvidia GT210.

2. Is the processor good enough? i know everyone loves intel, but i have a budget and to get all the stuff i want in i have to go amd.

With the GPU I recommend its more than enough.

3. Do i need SSD for a boot drive or will the 2TB be enough if i partition it into 2 sections, 1 for windows and xbmc and the other for storage?

Get the SSD. It is ALWAYS a bad idea to put the OS on the data drive- let the whole drive be data! Plus a SSD will feel 10 years faster.

[n4mation1990]

thanks for the input, makes me feel a whole lot better about things, to compensate on price i could always drop down the 4gb and make it 2gb of ram, that would give me a little extra cash to spend on the gpu or ssd. i really appreciate it. if anyone else has any thoughts please share, thanks again.

[ion_man]

I would look into getting a dedicated GPU. My recommendation is a Nvidia GT210.

With Windows 7 there is no need for a Nvidia card, the on board ATI GPU is enough and the chosen cpu is more than powerful enough to play anything at 1080p even with plain software decoding.

[ragnaroc]

Hi

Ok for win7 but on linux this GPU (ati hd 4200) will work ?

[ashlar]

Hi

Ok for win7 but on linux this GPU (ati hd 4200) will work ?

I don't think so. If I'm not mistaken Linus still relies solely on VDPAU to decode. Another vote for SSD. It's the biggest performance jump I've seen happen in the past ten years.

[n4mation1990]

so if i go with a SSD drive to be only used for windows 7 and xbmc would the 32gb be enough? the OCZ's are only $59 for the 32gb but all the ones that are 64gb are over $100, 32gb should be enough right? again appreciate everyone's help this is helping me out alot. since we everyone is about 50/50 on the onboard gpu im going to try the onboard out first to see how it runs then if i have issues im going to get the nvidia gt210.

[poofyhairguy]

The onboard will work well in Windows 7, but for Linux (aka XBMC Live aka "What I recommend") you really need an Nvidia card. That is certain, sorry I wasn't clear earlier.

As far as SSD- yes you CAN dual boot on 32GB but it will be tight. No big apps (like even a MS Office) on the Windows 7 side if you do that....

[jeeva420]

can you please let me know the link to the hulu plugin for xbmc?

thanks in advance.